Disney Buys Marvel Comics for $4 Billion

The big media news this week is the Disney Company's purchase of Marvel Comics for $4 billion. The move is designed to pick up the one major demographic that has eluded Disney all these years, teenage boys. With its cartoon franchise, Disney is the player for children's entertainment, and its Hannah Montana franchise has made huge inroads into the adolescent female market. Adults will go along with whatever their kids want in this area, so the Marvel deal looks like it will give Disney an even tighter hold on family entertainment.

The recent Hollywood trend to make blockbusters out of comic book heroes shows no signs of abating, alas. Ahead lie more X-Men, Spiderman and other equally mindless films. While there is the occasional flash of brilliance (Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"), these cinematic offerings are usually heavy on special effects, light on acting, and lighter still on writing. They are ideal for those who are easily fascinated by sparkling objects, but they are largely forgettable. Sadly, with Disney's marketing muscle behind them, the 5,000 superheroes in the Marvel stable are all likely to get at least one shot at the silver screen. Google "Squirrel Girl" for a sense of how depressing this could be.

Artistic grumbles aside, this is a great move for Marvel and Disney. No less a man that Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman and former Marvel executive, said in a statement issued by his publicist, "I couldn't be happier with this agreement. It's a great move for Disney, for Marvel and for my company Pow! Entertainment since Pow! has a first-look deal with Disney. From every possible point of view, the merger of Disney and Marvel is a match made in heaven. Just imagine, with this deal Marvel gives Disney a library of literally hundreds of unique and colorful characters that have the potential to make great, high-concept movies and long-lasting franchises -- and nobody knows how to play in that ball park better than Disney. This is a great day for the two companies and for the entertainment community as a whole. To sum it up as simply as possible, when you combine the best with the best, everyone wins!" Present company excepted.

This arrangement, though, doesn't mark the beginning of a huge wave of merger and acquisition activity. Disney is in a unique position in that it can afford to fund a cash-stock deal like this in the current economic climate. Research firm Dealogic has been keeping records of M&A volume since 1995, and August was the slowest month it has ever seen. As Michael Corkery of the Wall Street Journal wrote, "many of this year's deals have been driven by the interests of near-term survival, not primarily by long-term growth. Pharmaceutical giants have acquired bio-technology companies to replenish badly depleted drug pipelines. Mergers in the energy, agriculture and home building sectors have been driven largely by a belief that bigger companies are better able to weather a global recession and falling commodity prices." The Disney-Marvel deal is so different that one cannot make comparisons.

Comic fans have noted in the blogosphere that there is something of a cultural clash ahead. Disney has always been a clean-cut smiley-faced company. The heroes of Marvel tend to be rather dark if not down right twisted (for example, Ironman). DC Comics, with its superheroes of mild weaknesses, might have been a better fit. Still, Marvel was for sale, and one takes what one can get. The hard-core fans must pray that the Mouse doesn't alter their favorites too much. Then again, thanks to Disney, they will be seeing a lot more of them. More's the pity.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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