Panel Laughs: Seven Rounds For Seven Dwarves (12)

Fairy With Guns IV

FABLES Find Their Way To TV -- Thanks To The BBC (America)

We haven't tuned in faithfully to BBC America since Absolutely Fabulous ended, but any anglophile (with a taste for fine comics fare) who has recently may now have bragging rights for witnessing first-hand a veritable moment in comics history.  Late last month, the network began airing an advertisement for Bill Willingham's Fables, one of Vertigo Comics' most popular, innovative, and longest running series. 

We've never seen nor heard of comics being advertised on television, much less in a campaign initiated by the network itself. Truly a comics' first, dabblers, and if you're familiar or have read Fables, we're certain you'll agree the BBC couldn't have picked a better book to broadcast.  If you don't know Fables, you should; in fact, Fables might very well be THE comic that gets you hooked on the medium itself.  

The series, which began in 2002 and is quickly approaching its landmark 100th issue, tells the real tale of Snow White, Little Boy Blue, Cinderella, Bigby, the Big Bad Wolf and many other characters from fairy tales and folklore who collectively refer to themselves not as human, but as 'Fables.'  At one time, the Fables lived in their magical Homelands far separated from humanity. But a war with The Adversary forced many of them to flee to the our world, the world of the 'Mundies,' and live clandestinely among us in a small New York City burrow called Fabletown.

If you're thinking Fables sounds too much like a Walt Disney cartoon, think again.  While a few of Willingham's characters -- like Babe the Blue Ox and the other non-human Fables that would be noticed in the City and live instead Upstate at 'The Farm'-- talk and are cute enough to be cast in a Mouse movie, Fables is more aligned with Aesop or the Brothers Grimm than anything Disney.

But enough from us. Check out BBC America's Fables spot and we'll meet ya down below.

Short, but damn it looks sexy! Could we be more right? If it's Disney at all (which it ain't), Fables is the one that got the triple-R stamp for loads of violence, sex, and mystery -- and that's from just the bit with the Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe. 

That said, ABC was actually interested in turning Fables into a series,  and in December 2008  ordered a pilot  from TV mega-director David Semel.  But not much has been said since that time, and we'll be interested to see what effect, if any, the BBC spot has on Fables' mass appeal.

Or, for that matter, if Fables' ad leads to more comics going commercial on TV -- a medium publishers have never before directly utilized to promote or sell their monthly magazines.  Unless, of course, you count cartoons or live action shows like Wonder Woman or The Incredible Hulk. We did say, directly.

By now, we'd bet all the goose's golden eggs that the uninitiated have gotten mighty curious by now and are dying to find out  what Fables is all  about. If that describes you, take BBC America's advice and go now to check out Fables' first issue. You can download and read it for free from the Vertigo Comics website- HERE.

Buried Treasure: Disney Archives 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

One of several pre-production drawings from 1953, depicting early visions of the famous battle between Capt. Nemo's Nautilus and a giant squid in Disney's 5th live action film, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.  The drawings -- along with other movie props, costumes, storyboard art, and more -- belong to the Disney Archive, and have never been made public. The Los Angeles Times blog Hero Complex will be revealing additional pieces as Disney makes them available [here.]

MARVEL'S Downtown DISNEYLAND Debut

Speaking of 'Dismay,' the Orange County Register reported earlier this month that - for the first time since Black Monday - Marvel Comics merchandise has been spotted on sale at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. The newspaper documented a sizable display of superhero stuff at Disney's D Street, a Downtown Disney store.  But while Iron Man and Spidey merch was stacked floor-to-ceiling, D Street didn't exclude DC from its inventory. When there's a buck to be made, even Mickey is a bi-partisan Mouse.

How Did You Feel The Day DISNEY Ate MARVEL?

31 August 2009: a day that will live in infamy, and be forever remembered as comics' own Black Monday.  Nine months later, the blow may have softened, but the punchline has yet to be delivered. Whether you choose to reflect on the past or face the future, the same sentiment is felt by all: Dismay. It's unavoidable, so we say why not make it fun, too? Your friends will think you're either emo or clever, while you give the Mouse your middle finger.  Just $25 at Red Bubble, [here].

YGI: The LITTLE MERMAID Incident and 22 Comic Covers Fred Wertham Would Love To Hate

Gutters can be dirty places, but every once in a while. all of our minds occasionally tend to drift into them.  Because no matter how filthy they are, our inner kid delights in making messes our outer-adults have to clean up. Even the most restrained parent can't suppress a chuckle when their five-year-old's latest word happens to be the four-letter one they don't understand yet nevertheless chose to scream during the middle of Sunday Mass. 

There's a kid-like thrill adults get when they're being a bit naughty, so for some of that naughtiness to pop up in kid's material made by adults almost seems like a given. It makes sense, and most folks probably deplore the possibility in public while secretly applauding the subversion in private. Disney animation and theme park artists have spawned numerous urban rumors of hiding subliminal sexual images in their work; the most notorious of them all being The Little Mermaid's secret stash of phallic spires.

Surely you've heard the tale: people of all ages began seeing a penis featured prominently in a piece of promotional artwork (above) used for the animated movie, said to be the handiwork of a disgruntled Disney employee. (From his year and a half working for the Mouse,  our  own dear Dabbler will attest there's no short supply of disgruntled Disney employees.)  Apparently, the truth of the story is that the artist - commissioned and not employed by Disney (yeah, right) - completed his masterpiece late at night (makes perfect sense) and didn't even notice his unintentional phallic protrusion until Disney called him on it. After which, of course, the artwork on countless Mermaid VHS covers and promo posters was promptly replaced.

The Little Mermaid incident proves that subliminal perversion does happen. And if it goes down at Disney, it can just as easily happen at DC, Marvel, Archie, or any comics publisher.  Maxim online pulled together an awesomely hilarious collection of 22 comic book covers that can't help but catapult any adult reader's thoughts straight to the nasty.  Probably not too tough a job, but the one they did is pretty bang up.  It definitely made us wonder: are these 4-color snafus the creation of unintentional innocence gone wrong, or are they instead the work of mischievous pranksters?

Wonder Woman #68  (DC Comics)

World's Finest Comics #14  (DC Comics)

Betty & Me #16  (Archie Comics)

Dr. Fred Wertham, the distinguished psychologist who thought comic books, with their hidden social and sexual messages, were bad for kids and who lead the public movement for censorship of comics industry in the late 1940's, would likely mouth an 'I Told You So' if he  had chanced to see the seven covers on the comicsblog today. As luck might have it, only one  -- the soon-to-be skinny dipping Dynamic Duo on the cover of World's Finest #14 published in 1944 - was on the racks during Wertham's reign of terror.   The other covers range from Wonder Woman #68 (1954) to Alf #48 (1992), which coincidentally Marvel canceled just two months later.

Don't get us wrong: if Superman and Batman plan to jump naked into lake full of bare-ass teenage boys, we've got no problem with that - for what else could it be but a portrayal of a simpler, kinder bygone era?  But is Archie Comics Betty & Me #16, published after pop culture met sex, drugs, and rock and roll in 1968, just as simple and innocent? It certainly makes sense that "Beat off," a verb with origins dating back to 1697 and meaning "to drive something away," is something Archie could say to describe his warding off of Betty's other (likely aroused and amorous) suitors. But "beat off" of the masturbation inclination is what we first thought of - and we know you did, too; coincidentally, the two-word term picked up its more vernacular meaning in the mid 1960's.

Double entendre, you say? Never let it be said we comics folk aren't clever little fucks. 

 

Be sure to satiate your graphic imagination by checking out rest of Maxim's naughty but oh-so-funny collection of inappropriate comic book covers [here]! 

Giving TRON The (Retro) Credits It Deserves

As tough as we were on Disney World's new Tron-o-Rail, both the once and future Tron movies captivate us in too many ways. Disney's first Tron made its debut almost twenty-eight years ago, introducing audiences to the concept of The Computer as Environment at a time when computers themselves were brand new technologies yet to be embraced. But that was then, this is now. And today, especially in (neon) light of the upcoming Tron:Legacy,  Tron 1.0 looks like pure Retro.

Vimeo user Hexagonall thought so, too, but took his Retro-spectives one creative step further...or farther - back in time. Drawing from the minimalistic graphic art and film title designs of Saul Bass, the man who reinvented the movie title as an art form, and especially Bass' opening sequences for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and North By Northwest, Hexagonall recreated Tron's opening credits.  And from the bright blue lightcycle-like lines to the video's horny audio track, we're sure Saul Bass - and even Mickey Mouse - would approve. [via] Hexagonall on Vimeo: link

Tron (Untitled) 

by Kayrock & Wolfy, Silkscreen, 26′x20″, 2001 [via]

Tron Poster for Alamo Drafthouse, by Brad Klausen

Silkscreen (w/ glow-in-the-dark ink!), 24″x36″, 2008 [via]

Disney's TRON-O-RAIL Cuts More Dangerous Corners Than A City Bus

Though it's far from news and barely topical,  this is the sort of smokescreen advertising that would embarrass me out of my Mouse Ears and trample them beneath my feet-- if I was still working at Walt Disney World. Thankfully, those E-Ticket days have passed and I'm not there to see Mickey's latest faux-attraction, the Tron Monorail. 

'Disney Zombies' are a formidable contingent here on the 'sphere, so we're not surprised that many of our blogging kin have been hyping the Mouse's conversion of a Monorail train to a 'Tron-o-rail' as some sort of marketing miracle. It's no secret that we dabblers are looking forward to Tron: Legacy as much as the next guy, but frankly, Ultimate Destroyer of Marvel Comics, we (almost) expected better. 

Only a few blogs (and a fair number of the theme park's guests) have gone so far as to call the single Monorail's makeover blatant advertising - which it is.  It's a one-track commercial, but that's not what really ticks us off.  And we're not that ticked off that the Mouse is trying to disguise and upgrade their blatancy by turning it into an 'attraction', either.  They might not bill it as such, but by giving only one of its eleven trains the Tronorail treatment (to keep it subtle) , by making the train's only route run through 'futuristic' EPCOT Center (to keep it unique), and for the simple fact folks wait in line  for the ride, that's exactly what it is, Mickey Mouse.  In the end, Tronorail is exactly what we'd expect from Disney: just enough  Pixie Dust to misdirect the masses and keep 'em wanting more.

And that's what really ticks us off. 

Michael Crawford, publisher of the Disney news and history devoted blog Progress City USA, said: "...the hard sell has been creeping in [at Disney] further and further. And finally it’s come to Monorails as moving billboards."  Michael, sure it has -- we just thought they'd be good billboards. 

For a company that spent over $4 billion dollars buying Marvel Entertainment last year, pasting Tron decals on both sides of a Monorail to promote a futuristic, high-tech movie seems as obvious as it is cheap. Disneyland introduced the Monorail in 1959 -- over a half-century ago. Mopeds and brick phones are more futuristic.  Hell, we've seen better advertising on BART than Disney's afterthought of a Tron homage.  The only difference is the Pixie Dust.

Like so many other companies, cutting corners on projects and products has become commonplace at Disney.  The Tronorail isn't an idea that's clever or cute or cutting edge; it's a concept that has  all the signs of a lower-level manager taking the initiative on an idea he found at the bottom of a suggestion box in the backstage employee cafeteria.  Disney isn't just cutting corners financially; they're cutting corners creatively, too.

But as we've already said, the vast majority of people, including the transient critics, are happy, snapping photos with disposable Kodak's as the half-assed Tronorail cruises by overhead. It's a testament to modern day mass appeal in America -- and if that doesn't tick you off, it should.

Disney's Latest TRON: LEGACY

Tron: Legacy's light-cycles tear it up for Disney's newest tease released last weekend. [via]

TRON: LEGACY Trailer Lights Up The Web...and Today's 'Coming Attractions'

We capped off our 2009 blog with the final teaser poster for Disney's most-anticipated film of the past several years: Tron: Legacy.  Today, Disney released their first official trailer for Legacy,  the sequel to their original Tron from 1982. Fresh off his Oscar win Sunday night, Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn for Legacy, as does Bruce Boxleitner for the role of Alan Bradley. In the original film's 'electronic world,' Boxleitner's Bradley was also Tron  - but whether this aspect of the character continues into Legacy hasn't been revealed to us inquiring dabblers...yet.  Considering a name like 'Legacy,' we're thinking the 'Tron torch' gets passed for this film, probably from the get-go. Newcomer Garrett Hedlund (in the role of Bridges' son, Sam) appears to be the focus - and we bet, the next of the film's namesakes. 

Here's what Disney has to say about its new sci-fi commentary on simulated reality:

Tron Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn, looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years.  Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant (OLIVIA WILDE), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber-universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

And here's what we - and Disney - are stoked to show ya:

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Tron: Legacy opens December 17th, 2010.  (To turn our Tron Lightcycle image into an awesomely futuristic desktop wallpaper, right click to enlarge and then once more to save.)

Coming Attractions: Oscar, The State of The Animated Film, and Pixar's TOY STORY 3

We want to give a loud round of applause  to San Francisco's amazing little animation studio that could, Pixar Studios, for bringing Oscar home yet again last night.  Up scored big-time at Sunday's Academy Awards, winning the best animated film award while beating out its parent company Disney's The Princess And The Frog as well as comic book writer and fantasy author Neil Gaiman's  Coraline.  Interestingly, Pixar's Up was made using computer-generated imagery; unlike in previous years,  Up was sole CGI nominee for this year's award. Disney's Princess was created through hand-drawn animation, while Coraline was an exercise in the pain-staking art of stop-motion. 

Understandably,  comics fans and the talented illustrators and artists who create the books they read might, like us, feel somewhat inclined to favor more traditional styles of animation. But Up's win last night doesn't signal the end of classical animation.  If anything, last night's ceremony was an indicator good news -- nominees like Princess and Coraline are welcome signs that the field of motion picture animation is rekindling its romance with the art of animation.  Up's win isn't a suggestion of CGI's superiority, either. Not that Up's CGI wasn't stellar, because it was. But so was Up's story -- and that's why another little gold man now stands on mantle in Emeryville. 

We'll admit that our position - that strength of story won the night for Up and not its SFX -- is arguable, although we'd only need to step outside the Academy's animation category to find support.  In case you hadn't heard, the highest-grossing movie in recent history -James Cameron's Avatar - lost its Best Picture bid to a film that cost just $11M to make, Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker. To be fair, the Academy's decision to award Oscar to Locker and not Avatar - or any of the other nominees - was likely based on many factors, from the oft-waved argument of 'film as art' versus 'film as SFX spectacle', to politics, to the PR campaigns waged by both the studios and representatives of both films and how well or poorly those campaigns were managed.  We'll avoid details on both sides. Suffice it to say that neither Avatar or Locker were in a very good position relative to the other; there was no sure-fire, hands down, easy choice of one film over the other and as such, no single , official answer can be given. 

Unofficially, we'll claim that there is -- and it's story, pure and simple. Avatar was expected to perform really well last night -  yet the film only managed three Oscars  - in technical categories: best cinematography, best visual effects, and best art direction.  Awards from the 'bigger' categories went Hurt Locker’s way.   

For Cameron, Fox, and probably many viewers and industry executives, Avatar's loss is likely seen as  some kind of upset -- an upset, moreover, that films classified as 'science fiction' or 'fantasy' have endured before.  At the 1977 Academy Awards, Star Wars  - as much of a break-through movie in many regards as Avatar -  lost top honors to Annie Hall; thirty years later, Star Wars' loss is nearly unfathomable.  Then, five years later, at the 1982 Academy Awards, upset came again to the genre, as  Gandhi 'peaced-out' E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. In retrospect, the films that lost outweigh in cultural significance the films that won by a hundredfold. 

Whether or not there's some truth to an Academy bias against SciFi movie makers, Avatar's performance at last night's Oscars was based solely on the film's own merits.  As far as 'Best Picture' goes, all we had to do was ask ourselves this question:  Is Avatar the Star Wars or E.T -  two of Science Fiction's very best films - of 2009?

Our conclusion would be 'nope.'  Now, we're not going to say that science fiction movies - much like science fiction stories of any type, be they movies, comics, novels, etc - don't have their work cut-out for them when seeking or deserving critical acclaim in any realm. Clearly, as fervent fans of the four-color industry and the much under-appreciated comic book, we're well aware of the biases against our kind of fun. Nevertheless,  Avatar wasn't a victim of bias, but of ego.

Somewhere between Avatar and Up's performances at the Academy Awards lies the true State of Animation today.  But that's not the only place to find the truth, either.  GeekTyrant posted the picture at the top of today's blog back in late February.  Created using CGI by Brazilian graphic designer Raoni Nery of Seagulls Fly Studio,  Nery  wanted to portray what a 'real' Buzz Lightyear would look like.  Buzz, of course, is one of the two heroes from Pixar's classic Toy Story and Toy Story 2 animated films. 

It's great work, because Nery nailed Buzz to a 'T.' But which Buzz would you rather see? The one above, or the one below:

The State of Animation today clearly tells us that our animated capabilities can produce both to the point of believability, but we wouldn't want to see Nery's realistic Buzz take the place of Pixar's in Toy Story 3. If he did, no matter how well, we' d be sacrificing story for effect, substance for style - just like James Cameron.

 

Buzz is coming back - and soon. Featuring the voices of actors Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Keaton,  Bonnie Hunt, Timothy Dalton, and Joan Cusack, the third chapter in their toy story - Toy Story 3 - opens June 18th.  Buzz, his pal Woody, and the rest of the now college-bound Andy's trust toy collection, are thrust into an uncertain future amongst a gaggle of all-new toys. Pixar will be introducing 14 new toy characters in their third movie, including Ken Doll (voiced by Michael Keaton), a magenta-hued Care Bear, a Masters of the Universe insectoid action figure knock-off, the adorably plush Peas-in-a-Pod, and a keyboard playing triceratops.  'No Toy Gets Left Behind' is the motto moving forward - and we're sure that even our old Dabbler will find himself moving toward the theater once this movie opens.  It looks good, and although it wears a 'Disney label,', we'll throw Pixar's next flick the financial support it deserves.  

Dabblers, get down to our Back Issues and tell us if Toy Story 3 will be part of your summer viewing! And while you're there, chime in on your reactions to last night's Oscar party. Was Avatar robbed? Or did Cameron's epic movie get the Hurt it deserved?  And was Up your favorite animated feature in 2009...or was it Coraline? We want to know! Just like some of you want to know where to find a great preview for Toy Story 3 -- ask and you shall receive, HERE.

Don't Believe Everything You See: Disney's EXTREME MAKEOVER of Marvel Comics

People don't read comic book stories 'for closure', and they sure don't expect it - foreclosure - from being on the receiving end of an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves...

Since its premiere in 2005, each episode of the Disney-owned ABC show is a masterful illusion on par with those Disney creates inside its theme parks.  Despite costumes and characters, Disneyland surrounds its guests with a fantasy they quickly and easily believe because they want to believe in the  make-believe world of show. Makeover's no different; instead of Mickey Mouse and friends, Ty Pennington and his crew literally build a four-walled fantasy for his show's guests, a process which also elicits investment from Makeover's subscribing public.  Ironically, each week's lucky, unfortunate family is whisked away for a Walt Disney World vacation while their new dream home is being built; they're indoctrinated by Disney fantasy long before their rented limo returns them to Ty. It's a brilliant metaphor not just for their experience, but for Makeover's home audience's as well.

Extreme Makeover does its sleight-of-hand job so well that it's easy to dismiss, overlook, or even forget that not one episode would be possible without the direct hand of  its corporate sponsors -- all of which, from Disney to Sears, are mentioned throughout. In essence, Makeover serves as an hour-long commercial and tax write-off for these corporations and their charitable works.

Good deed done and witnessed by millions, none of the Makeover's corporate sponsors provide much if any follow-up to the families whose lives they just renovated.  For as much as both sponsor and audience invest in the show and its beneficiaries every week, neither invests much in them once the cameras stop rolling.  The result: the fantastic bubble busts.

A comic book's story with superhero characters is necessarily open-ended, and the closure it offers is limited and fleeting; a hyper-benevolent reality show's story with desperate or overwhelmed characters is necessarily closed, and the closure it offers is often permanent and prefixed by fore.  If you haven't heard about the dozen or so families that, once profiled on Makeover, have since been unable to financially manage or afford their new dream homes and thus faced foreclosure, well, the information abounds. The most recent report - from last December - is HERE; The Huffington Post reports HERE; The Washington Post HERE; and yet another detailed report HERE.

It's into this at best misguided and at worst irresponsible and contrived PR vehicle of Deus ex Machina TV that ABC/Disney brings its newest acquisition, Marvel Entertainment.  While comic book fans have been split about whether or not the 2009 Disney buy-out of Marvel Comics was a good thing, those for as well as against have been keeping a watchful eye out to see just how the new ownership will impact the once-rebellious House of Ideas.

That vigilance comes to an end at 8pm (7pm Central) tonight, when Extreme Makeover's Ty and team (assisted by members of the rock band, KISS) rebuild a home for the Wagstaff's,  a Gainesville, Florida, family who started a nonprofit music school for the community.  Disney enlisted Marvel Entertainment to help them out with tonight's episode; they'll be designing  TJ Wagstaff's bedroom in all-things Marvel, filling it with merchandise, even featuring TJ  alongside Marvel's famous Avengers characters on the cover (designed by artist Todd Nauck) of a forthcoming comic book (below).

We'll be the first to mention that TJ's in for an awesome treat; there won't be one Marvelite watching who won't be happy for the kid, and just a little bit envious of him, too. But the bigger picture is what Marvel fans should paying to attention to, and it's a picture much larger than the front of a comic book.

Disney's move is ingenious, actually. That Marvel's involved - a boon for them, certainly - is also certain because Disney's their Dad.  Yet their participation isn't directly related to their parent; Marvel's equated as a sponsor, like Sears.  Moreover, Marvel  -and more importantly, its superhero characters - becomes associated with the charity and benevolence that Extreme Makeover oozes.  If anyone watching has any objections to superheroes or their kids reading comic books or playing with action figures, Disney's countering those tonight. 

There are other, more subtle connections being made by Marvel's participation, too. Establishing a superhero theme through will surely cast Ty and his team as the figurative superheroes they are.  And the KISS cameo, while slightly obscure, also carries the theme along quite well; for the last three or more decades, KISS has been a one of the few rock bands to be consistently portrayed as being 'superheroes' in comic books. There's a KISS Comics imprint, several iterations of KISS action figures over the years, and even Marvel Comics published a KISS comic book (or two) back in 1977 (below). 

Aside from a few reports of Disney's plans for developing minor Marvel characters into movie properties, the Disney-Marvel connection and its ramifications hasn't yet been played out.  Tonight, as far as we know, is Disney's first move with their Marvel piece - and, on the surface, its nearly invisible and to the extent it is visible, it looks pretty good.

The again, so do the quasi-mansions Extreme Makeover leaves for its weekly recipients.  In too many cases, the dream structure's left standing, but its much-changed occupants no longer are. We can only hope that a similar fate won't be shared by Marvel, although, as the saying goes, the writing may already be on the (newly remodeled kid's bedroom) wall.

* * * * * * 

If you'd like to nominate your family or a family you know to be on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, online applications can be found HERE and HERE. Good luck!!

Bob Dob Gives Mickey A Shiner

Black-Eyed Mouseketeers by Bob Dob

Like any comic book artist worth their page rate, painter Bob Dob considers himself a 'visual storyteller' - and we'd have to agree.  While he hasn't tackled the comics medium yet, he's made quite a show with his paintings like his darkly comedic Black Eyed Mouseketeers series.  In fact, most of the characters in Dob's painted 'stories' convey adolescence - but it's a quality trapped within a world where the darker side of human nature doesn't remain hidden.

Dob unveiled the dark Mouseketeers at his last opening in August at Phoenix's contemporary Perihelion Arts Gallery, but we'd spent our Frequent Flier miles and couldn't make the trip. Lucky for us - and you - A Paper Tiger recently released Bob Dob's series as one of their newest art prints.  Black Eyed Mouseketeers is now available as a limited edition 12″ x 12″ giclee for just $100.  And with only 25 printed, who wouldn't want to be one of the  proud few to sock it to the Mouse with such style? [A Paper Tiger]

Disney and the Many Possibilities of MARVEL TV

Mickey's corporate Mousketeers have had a busy two weeks.  Yes, it's been exactly fourteen days since Disney officially assumed ownership of Marvel Comics, and it doesn't surprise us to hear that the reverse-imagineering has already begun full throttle.

According to our buddy  'Honor Hunter' on the quite excellent, Disney-centric Blue Sky Disney blog,  Mouse execs are closely scrutinizing Marvel's many Tier 2 and Tier 3 characters to identify those heroes   best positioned to attract the attention of the elusive young boy demographic.  Although their DisneyXD Channel (formerly Toon Disney) is geared towards young males, Disney's been unsuccessful capturing their attention a la Hannah Montana.  If you've ever tuned into DisneyXD, you'll fully understand why.

Disney's CEO Bob Iger's never made a secret of the goldmine his company believes Marvel's lower rungs to be, and the rest of us will likely find out how prescient he was before the end of this year.  Considering Iger wants as close to instant cred as he can get with his new heroes, maybe even before then.  

We've always harbored a secret desire for an exclusive cable  superhero channel, and Disney's definitely going in that direction. They're expected to green light at least two new Marvel projects for DisneyXD  shortly, with more to follow.  While no official time-line's been given, we're thinking DisneyXD's lineup will become very superhero-heavy just before we're buying tickets for Thor.                                                                                               

Of course, there's still the small and potentially conflicting matter of Marvel's animated  projects in development pre-Disney. A Black Panther cartoon is set to debut this Spring, and The AVENGERS: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, featuring Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Giant Man and Wasp, is expected to  for broadcast in 2011 to coincide with the release of The Avengers feature film.   Will Disney be assuming these developing projects, or be limited by pre-existing deals  set to prevent the Mouse from reaping Avengers guaranteed bank?    

With all that's involved, it's a tad premature to be calling DisneyXD MarvelTV.   But with everyone's attention tuned into TV, we've got to wonder how Disney's XD Directive will impact the future of Marvel comic books.  After all, isn't that about what we're most concerned?  

If the new Disney 'toons prove as popular at Marvel's Super Hero Squad,   we can probably count on each new show getting the comic treatment. Bolstered by Disney marketing and distribution, we're as certain of their success as we are of the precedents these comics will be setting.  Disney's superhero cartoons may be the first real litmus test of their Marvelous purchase,  as well as a clear sign of what's to come. Perhaps it's in this way that Disney will wrest editorial control, with the extent of its reach being measured in cable subscriptions and by boys twelve and under.   Source: [link]