Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men: Thinking about the Marvel/Disney Union

The four billion dollar acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Group by Disney naturally has me thinking about comics in a new light. I can see a Marvel Team-Up with Steamboat Willie and Spider-Man looming in my future....not. Seriously, for academics and comic fans alike, there is something to be said about the mighty merger of brands. Disney got a lot out of this deal. If you have kids, sign your house over to Disney now, soon they will have your little boy just like they have your little girl (cue evil villain laugh:)

That may be extreme, but the merger of corporate culture will be key to the success of this deal and that will create unique opportunities for both companies. I doubt many people remember Disney's decision to license characters for the Playstation 2 game Kingdom Hearts. Produced by Square Enix, the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise, the game was a crazy blend of Final Fantasy game play and Disney characters and worlds. The result was surprisingly playable. This is one, but probably not best example of what could come from a Disney-Marvel merger. We don't know what we will get, indeed the chairman of Disney was clear that Disney did not intend to "interfere" with Marvel's business. Let's hope not. After years of failure, Marvel has finally done a great job marketing it products. With the announcement of the new Spider-Woman motion comic for sale on I-Tunes, a slate of iconic character movies building toward a Avenger film, and solid monthly sales Marvel has everything it needs to be successful. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), Marvel recognizes it has a problem. The direct sale comic market (the comic shop) is frozen. This explains at some level the push for graphic novels for every monthly (for resale in bookstores like Borders) and the push to get comics on the new media platforms like video games and cellphones.

Indeed, Marvel's upside in this deal has everything to do with Disney's global marketing muscle. Combining Marvel's 5,000+ character library with Disney product channels can only make money. It will also mean that Marvel character will have greater media exposure. With Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men sitting on another book acquisition editor's desk, this works for me:) With that in mind, I asked the contributors to sound off on the Mighty Marvel-Disney team-up:

Lance Eaton, author of, "Superman’s True Enemy: Injustice and Oppression in the Late 1930’s"examines the audience of comic book readers in the late 1930s and considers the question of who made up the majority of Superman fans when he first appeared on the scene and what can we deduce from this demographic make-up offer this observation:

To some degree, I think it's a non-event. Or rather, it's not something
that I foresee effecting the comic industry or Marvel Comics mainstream
continuity all that much. Disney is interested in the money potential; so
fears of a Disneyized Wolverine or Punisher are highly unlike events (Maybe
visited in the "What If" series at best).

But what will be most striking is how Disney's power might propel product
awareness of Marvel characters. If DC Comics blesses Six Flags, I bet
within 5 years, we'll see X-Men, Avengers and the like as regulars at Disney
World/Land etc. Disney's overall marketing and introduction of characters
into (albeit children) mainstream could easily be applied with the Disney
magnitude and might. Think about characters like Pocahontas and Mulan.
There were nobody kids knew in the 1980s but now, they're part of the Disney
princess line-up that many kids know.

When the dust settles, I think it will be much like DC Comics as a property
of TimeWarner. A useful line of licensing for TimeWarner but still an
entity that enjoys some sense of autonomy

Next up, Joe Sommers author of, “From ‘Excelsior!’ to Emocore and Back: On the Cyclical Evolution of Marvel’s Flagship Comics from Dime-Store Fantasies to Multi-Billion Dollar Motion Pictures,” explore the tension between Marvel's fan and the depiction of Marvel characters in film offer this insight:

Mostly a move of convenience for Marvel: it puts them on par, now, with DCs arrangement with Warner Bros. (Even though their revitalization of their franchises has been, thus far, more cohesive and successful n the grand vision.)

Ultimately, this puts Marvel in the excellent position of being able to utilize the Disney marketing arm to really offset costs while, like Pixar, not having their overall vision messed with. Per the conference, call: Disney will not be messing with any of the existing licensing... so the next Spider-Man trilogy will go off at Paramount, and all plans for existing franchises will stay the same. The interesting news is that Disney, eventually, will want to control pretty much the bulk of the 5000+ character stable. (So, Universal's use or the Marvel Universe at their parks may be limited or shorter than expected.)

But, the day to day biz in the comic, the movies, games, toys etc. SHOULD be business as usual... Pixar is the real analogue here. Disney loves that partnership, and I foresee them working Marvel Studios remarkably seriously after the Sony, Paramount etc movie deals expire. But, they're not gonna mess with what already works! Quesada will still likely remain EIC, and his vision, for better or worse, will hold!

But... for all of us watching the 3D revolution unfold, we could see alot of the new Avenger tentpole pics being released in Disney's 3D tech. Likewise, with the new funding, we could see a lot of those off discussed characters finding their way into the theaters! Kinda exciting. Of course, I'll be particularly interested to see if there is fanboy backlash. I'd certainly hope not as this should just all equal incredibly solid movies. (I can really see Branaugh's Thor benefiting from a bit of Disney gravitas!) It SHOULD cement the studio and even fast track more TV projects like the Spec Spider-Man and thd new Iron Man on some of Disney's sub-channels!

The Marvel Revolution just got mouse housed! I just hope they don't take Cap's wings and replace them with Mickey's ears :)

One of the editors, Thomas C. Donaldson, who contribution to the Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men, "Ineffectual Girl Among the Legions of Superheroes: The Marginalization and Domestication of Female Superheroes, 1955-1970” examines gender in Silver age comics offers this insight:

I do not foresee radical changes for Marvel in the near future. Disent has a reputation for "wholesome family values uber alles" but that does not neceassilly jibe with corporate realities. Disney owns ABC (Wife Swap, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives); Miramax (producers of many edgy/indy films, including Tarantino's Kill Bill films) and Dimension Films (producer of a whole host of churn-'em-out, beaten-to-death formula, B-movie fare). Marvel will simply be another piece of the media pie in this regard.

In the long term, I think Disney will hold on to Marvel's catalog of characters from now to the end of time. Disney will exploit any proven piece of intellectual property as much as possible. Marvel characters will become regular fare at Disneyland/world, meaning Universal's park will either lose its licence at some point, or Disney will take it over. Marvel's brand identity might erode in a manner similar to that of Hanna-Barbera's. I am confident that Marvel's days of drifting from parent company to parent company that have marked its past corporate history will be over.


Next, John Donovan author of “Clobberin' Commies During the Cold War: Superheroes and Nationalism,” offers this cautionary observation for Disney fans:

It should be interesting. Some readers may be wary of the Disneyification of Marvel, but maybe they should be more concerned about Marvel's influence on Disney. I can see it now:

Dark Mickey
Goofy goes Psycho
Donald Duck and his Quacking Commandos
The Little Mermaid's Revenge
Beast vs. Beast: The Smackdown
The Disney Divas with Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck
Obama vs. the Disney Zombies

As Stan Lee would say: 'Nuff Said

Turn Your Eyes Toward March

Don't worry if the title doesn't make sense, give it a minute.

Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men is coming along. Our contributors are finishing up the last touches and the editors are making our list and checking it twice. As I have mentioned in the past, the book's contributors offer a complex and interesting look at comics and comic culture in the United States. Nonetheless, sealing the deal in regards to this book is keeping me working during my summer "vacation." I'm starting to miss the regular grind of grading papers and hearing student complain (I'm kidding...mostly). Anyway, I think the key to this process is to stay focus and work the process. The book exists, it just not in its final form. As it always the process, there are some people sending things in late, but most people have the their submissions done. We are a little concerned about length (the problems of a down economy, everything is more expensive--shaving a few pages from each submission will put us in a better position with the publisher).

Editing aside, I can see from our submissions that we have something to offer for comic fans and scholars alike. I'm not sure how to get the word out to the average comic fan (how many can be reading this blog? hundreds? thousands?), but for scholars the process is go to conferences. We have gotten together at the Florida Conference of Historians and the next step is to go to a bigger conference. The Popular Culture Association meeting is a good choice, but another great choice is the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. The IAFA is a scholarly organization devoted to the study of the fantastic (broadly defined) as it appears in literature, film, and the other arts. The purpose of the organization is to promote and recognize achievement in the study of the fantastic. This may seem like an interesting choice, but it makes sense--it sure to have a big audience and given our interdisciplinary approach, we may attract more readers or perhaps contributors for a second volume. I know it crazy to consider what happen after the book you haven't gotten a contract for is published. On the other hand, those that don't consider their options are likely not to have any. The next meeting of the IAFA is March 17-21 in Orlando, FL. Look for panels based on Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men.

See that title makes sense now:)

Working the Edges of a Problem: Comics and Race in the United States

I recently got feedback on Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men from a prospective publisher. It a tough process, getting feedback from someone who doesn't know all the work you have put into something. It is honest feedback and I will take it and make sure the final product answer the editor's questions. We have done a lot of great work on the book, but publishers are a cold and objective bunch slow to hand out praise (and contracts). As I scramble to reply to the press, I realize I have not done much with one of the chapters I am writing for the book. My chapter looks at the introduction of African-American superheroes to the Marvel Universe in the 1960s and 1970s. The decision to introduce minority characters to a fictional universe may seem petty compared to the titanic struggles occurring over Civil Rights during the 1960s, but those struggles drove the decision to incorporate minorities into comics. The question for me is what does the Marvel Comic experience integrating person of color into the superhero community tells us about the broader struggle to accepted the end of segregation in contemporary society? My belief is that it tells us a lot. If you consider the first black superhero, the Black Panther you can see both the hopes associated with Civil Rights and the problems.

While both Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos (1963) and the Amazing Spider-Man (1963) had black supporting characters, the first black superhero did not debut in Marvel Comics until 1966. T’ Challa, Black Panther, debuted in Fantastic Four volume 1 issue 52. T’Challa was the king of Wakanda and leader of the dominate religion, the Panther Cult. The Black Panther was an African royal educated in the West and more concerned with protecting his homeland from outside threats than battling crime. Indeed, his costume was not a costume; it was the traditional tribal dress of the Panther Cult’s leader. In his debut he invites the Fantastic Four to his home to test them before asking for their help against Klaw, a mercenary responsible for both the death of T’ Challa’s father and attempts to steal Wakanda’s natural resources. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Black Panther leads a technologically advanced African nation that was never conquered by European powers. The Black Panther has the intelligence, resources, and ideas to act as a hero, yet his most striking trait, his race, is not mentioned. Indeed, the Panther’s African origins, wealth, and motivation represent a subtle acknowledgement that white colonial experience had a negative effect on African development. The Black Panther represented a mythologized black self that might have been achieved if whites had not come to Africa. Thus, the Fantastic Four’s assistance in repelling a white invader has a cultural symmetry rooted in the contemporary race debate, but it is never explicitly racialized for the audience. The Black Panther offered a commentary on race without facing the problems associated with racism in the United States. The fact that T'Challa is not an American, that his people have no experience with slavery, that he lives in a wealthy African country untouched by colonialism seperate the character's experience from race issues of the day. Yet, from the perspective of Marvel creators, the decision to create a black superhero pushed the boundaries of societal acceptance. The presence of a black hero, even one that is not overtly concerned about racial injustice highlighted the assertion of common humanity so central to the Civil Right Movement's public message between 1955 and 1965. I believe this period represents the essential "Golden Age" of modern Civil Rights Movement. At this point, the argument in favor of Civil Rights were framed by white and black Civil Right leaders as a struggle to end de jure segregation--specific laws barring African-American participation in normal society. These laws existed in direct violation of African-American legal right to participate in normal activities such a working, owning a home, or traveling freely. The key to the Civil Rights Movement's success between 1955 and 1965 was the leadership's ability to garner sufficient public support from the white majority to reject these restrictive policies. At some basic level, they did this by getting a sizable part of the white population to accept the idea that southerners violence refusal to accept African-American attempts to vote, eat in public restaurants, and ride public transportation was unreasonable(and un-American). In that vein, Marvel Comic's decision to create black heroes, not supporting characters, but heroes, worked as an affirmation. If the heroes in comics could be black, then the message that acknowledging African-American rights in the real world was good and right was inescapable. The reality was, of course, much harder for Americans to realize.

Rejecting blatant racism like that found in Alabama or Mississippi was not the same as acknowledge that deep rooted prejudice created a de facto segregation that limited opportunity, enhanced economic inequality, added to political and social disadvantage while not being codified into specific laws. The power of de facto discrimination to effect minority participation was as great or perhaps greater in the minds of Civil Rights advocates, but not as easily seen or accepted by the mainstream white public. The battle over Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court will once again brings this argument to the forefront of public debate. Judge Sotomayor has written again and again of her belief that her background and identity allows her to have different perspective on issues. Critics argue she may be unable to be fair because she bias in favor of Hispanic rights. While a similar argument is never leveled against a white man, neither is her argument always dismissed. The assertion that Judge Sotomayor has made is the same one made by white women advocating for affirmative action policy for more than thirty years. The problem seems to be that an assertion that racial identity provides a unique perspective is a problem when the person is not white. The fear that minorities assert greater power when allowed to participate, the reality is that discrimination against minority persists. If my article comes together as I hope, my exploration of the African-American characters introduced to the Marvel Universe after the Black Panther will highlight the rising tension over de jure and de facto segregation as presented in superhero comics. While this might not get to the core of the problem, it will add to our understanding of the development of racial thinking in the United States.

Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men or Art in Society

One of the things that proves to me the new Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men edited volume will work for a broader audience is that I see evidence of comics and comic culture in everyday life. The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival is a big annual event in Winter Park, FL. I discovered this artist's display on a visit this year and had to take a picture. The artist is Unmarid Eitharong. I do not know much about the artist, but clearly the use of Superman set against a picture of the D-Day landing gives one pause. Comic book influences are everywhere. Look for more information on comics and society and the book coming your way.