If you ever fantasized about Spider-Man fighting Mickey Mouse, today may be your lucky day
The Walt Disney Company announced today that they are buying Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. From AP Business:
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee.
Analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. said the acquisition will help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel’s superhero fare in recent years. That contrasts with Disney’s recent successes among young women with such fare as “Hannah Montana” and the Jonas Brothers.
“It helps Disney add exposure to a young male demographic it had sort of lost some balance with,” Joyce said, noting the $4 billion offer was at “full price.”
Young male demographic? Has David Joyce stepped into a comic book shop lately? Though he’s right about the male part, there is nothing young about the comic book demographic. Middle-aged male demographic more like it.
Comic book featuring a woman in a bikini angers Nebraska woman
Physha Svendsen, a mother in Millard, Nebraska is upset that her 6-year old son brought home a Spider-Man comic from his school library that she believes is too sexually explicit for an elementary school library. She wants it removed from the school library.
The comic in question is J. Michael Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man Vol.2: Revelations. It was published in collected form in 2002 and was rated “PG Ages 12+” by Marvel Comics.
I actually find myself almost agreeing with Physha Svendsen about this. What is a comic book rated “PG Ages 12+” doing in a grade school library where a vast majority of kids are not even 12 years old? Not that I think anything shown in this book is even slightly damaging or harmful to children. It features an image of Mary Jane in a bikini. Big deal.
I think that it would be better if the library had comics on the shelves that the children might actually enjoy reading. Though J. Michael Straczynski is truly a gifted writer, I don’t think he writes comics for 6-year-old children. Do 6-year-old children even have enough reading skills to read a comic book?
I’m actually surprised this type of thing doesn’t happen more often. Too many people, including librarians, think comics are just for kids. They’re not.
Barack Obama to appear on the cover of the comic book
The cover of Amazing Spider-Man #583 will feature Barack Obama doing his best Fonzi impersenation. The book appears in comic book shops everywhere on January 14. I think you can also get this issue without Fonzi Obama on the cover being that this is labeled as a “variant edition” cover.
I think this stunt on Marve’s part has to do with the fact that Obama admitted in an interview that he used to collect Spider-Man comics when he was a kid. That was news to me in that I didn’t know one could buy Spider-Man comics in the radical Islamic jungles of Hawaii. Like most people, I figured he was too busy running around blowing up hospitals with Bill Ayres and memorizing the Qur’an to do anything so ordinary as to collect comic books.
Now that Spider-Man is single he can work for the UN
The UN has announced that it is joining forces with comic book publisher Marvel Comics. Together, they will publish a special comic featuring Spider-Man fighting alongside UN aid workers and UN peacekeepers. Marvel creators are supposedly working on the book for free. They aim to publish one million copies to distribute to American school children. Something tells me that it might very well be the first comic book many of these children will read. Kids don’t read comics unless it’s Japanese manga.
Let’s hope it doesn’t suck.
Of course former US envoy to the UN and all around douche bag John Bolton called it an “act of desperation”. He said that the UN should concentrate on improving its overall performance and that putting Spider-Man in a special UN funny book wasn’t going to change anything. Did he know that Spider-Man had struck a deal with Mephisto (Satan) making him single? Maybe Bolton only thought the UN publishing a special Spider-Man comic was a waste of time when Spider-Man was in a loving and committed marriage.
Speaking of of which, has anyone ever seen John Bolton and Mephisto at the same time? I never noticed this before, but these two cats look and act an awful lot alike. If I didn’t know better, I would think perhaps that they are the same person. The only difference of course is that I’ve never seen Bolton wear a red cape and I’ve never seen Mephisto wear one of those retarded looking walrus mustaches. Every time I see John Bolton, I expect someone is about to toss him a raw fish as some time of reward. Then again, he’s never really done much of anything worth rewarding.
Other then that, they are dead ringers for one another.
What’s Joe Quesada’s problem with divorced people?
Comic Book Resources continues with part 3 of a 5-part interview with Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada concerning the recent storyline involving Spider-Man. Quesada has long made it known that he believes having Peter Parker/Spider-Man married to Mary Jane Watson was a big mistake. He believes that it somehow curtails good story telling by having the character married. Or he thinks that kids can’t relate to a married character. It’s hard to keep track of the many reasons Quesada has for not wanting Spider-Man married.
Quesada’s reasons seem to change a lot.
If the belief that Spider-Man must be a single to craft interesting stories seems silly, the method Quesada uses to achieve this objective seems absolutely insane – Spider-Man makes a deal with the Devil that will save his elderly aunt from dying if he allows the Devil to not only magically undue his marriage, but to make everyone magically forget that they were even married. As though the marriage never happened. Oh, and the Devil also agrees to make everyone magically forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. A fact everyone knows ever since he removed his mask on national television and announced that he was Peter Parker (see CIVIL WAR #2).
Needless to say, fans have been critical of this magical storyline.
In the Comic Book Resources interview, Quesada is asked why he didn’t just have Peter and Mary Jane get a divorce. It’s a good question. Here is Quesada’s reply:
Sure, that would have been a very easy solution. However, how would a parent feel when they had to explain to their kid that Spider-Man just got divorced from his wife? How would that headline read across the AP or on USA today? The same can be said with an annulment. Sure, divorce is a reality of life, but Peter Parker and Spider-Man are not the types of characters that would do that. Spider-Man is a worldwide icon and is considered one of the good guys, like Superman.
Not the type of characters that would do that? What is that supposed to mean? I’m sure the people that have gone through a divorce would like to know. Speaking as just such a person, I certainly would like to know.
Someone can’t be considered a good guy if they have been divorced? This hits a nerve with me. Normally one only finds this type of ignorant bigotry at an evangelical church, not in a comic book.
So Peter Parker isn’t the type of character to get a divorce, but he is the type character to enter into a magical arraignment with the Devil? The inference is that it’s better to strike a deal with Satan then it is to get divorced. Either way Peter is breaking his marriage vows. One requires him to enter into an unholy pact with Satan, the other requires him to sign a bunch of paperwork and pay a lawyer.
Joe Quesada picks option number one evidently because it makes him a better person.
Quesada claims parents would have had a hard time explaining Spider-Man getting a divorce. Imagine how hard it will be for them to put a positive spin on Spider-Man entering into an agreement with Satan.
How is that preferable to getting a divorce?
The Sensational Spider-Man #41
Writer J. Michael Straczynski
Pencils: Joe Quesada
Inker: Danny Miki
Colorist: Richard Isanove
This book turned out not to be nearly has bad as I thought it was going to be. My expectations were extremely low. The Internet told me what was supposed to happen in this story. Plus, the cover looks remarkably like a cover of Wizard magazine. I can’t help but think that’s a bad sign.
It really wasn’t that mad. I still don’t agree with the path this story is taking the Spider-Man franchise. I’ve already explained why that is. Straczynski’s writing is up to it’s usual greatness and Quesada certainly knows what to do with the pointy end of a pencil.
This comic cost a whole $3.99 and the story was over before I even hit the staples. The rest of the book contained a long and detailed bio on Mephisto (Satan). Stuff you wont find in the Bible. It also contains a reprint of THE SILVER SURFER #3. It’s the first appearance of the Mephisto.
It wasn’t that bad.
What does Joe Quesada have against marriage?
I don’t normally read Spider-Man comics. That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the character as one of the most popular characters that Marvel Comics has. He’s a very popular character. Just not with me.
I was surprised to read on the Interents that Marvel Comics is going to do a major change to the character. Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker is married to his high school sweet heart Mary Jane. Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has never liked the fact that Peter Parker was married. He supposedly thinks it makes the character non-relatable to the younger readers.
Marvel Comics has younger readers? And to think I thought the kids were reading creepy Japanese manga where everyone has the really big eyes.
So Joe Quesada thinks Spider-Man being married makes youthful readers less inclined to relate to him? Never mind the fact that he can shoot web goo from his wrists and that he has superhuman strength and dexterity. It’s the whole “married thing” that confuses the youngsters and makes it so they can’t relate to him.
The most retarded thing about this whole story is how they are going to make him non-married. Instead of just having him divorce Mary Jane, they are going to place him in a situation where his Aunt May is going to die. The Devil (seriously, the Devil) makes a deal with Spider-Man: The Devil will save Aunt May if he agrees that his relationship and his marriage with Mary Jane will have never happened. Aunt May will live, but Peter and Mary Jane will not only not be married, they will have no memories of even knowing each other.
That has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.
Who in their right mind would give up the love of their life just so their enfeebled old aunt can defy nature and go on living? Aunt May has lived a full life. It’s time for her to go join Uncle Ben.
Joe Quesada must really hate being married. If this even sounds slightly plausible to him, his wife is in trouble.
I’m willing to bet the TV in Joe Quesada’s bathroom that this has less to do with appealing to youthful readers and more to do with getting publicity in the mainstream press. I think Quesada is addicted to seeing his name in the USA TODAY.
Who still reads Wizard magazine?
There’s been an uproar on some comic book blogs over the fact that Wizard has decided to crown itself the #1 men’s pop culture magazine. The idea is that by Wizard declaring themselves to be a men’s magazine, they are purposely and unnecessarily going out of their way to exclude female comic book fans.
I don’t see why that is such a bad thing. To be excluded from the intended demographic of this particular magazine can only be looked at as something positive. To be excluded from Wizard is a good thing.
I can’t imagine why anyone – man or woman – would want to read Wizard. Anything that can be learned from the pages of Wizard could have been learned months ago online on Newsarama or Comic Book Resources. When was the last time something broke in Wizard? It was the New York Post and not Wizard that broke the story that Spider-Man was going to take his mask off in CIVIL WAR #2. It was the New York Daily News that broke the story that Captain America was going to be killed in CAPTAIN AMERICA #25.
It wasn’t Wizard magazine that broke these stories.
Wizard has become irrelevant and outdated. I get my comic book news and information from sources that update content on a minute by minute basis, not on a month to month basis like Wizard. That’s not to say there wasn’t a time for a monthly comic book magazine that could be purchased at any grocery store. That time has simply passed.
Sometimes I wonder if the only people still reading Wizard are female comic book fans looking for something that offends their feminist sensibilities. One has to look no further then to the website When Fan Girls Attack to see this strange phenomenon in action. Why else would they go out of their way to read something they know they’re going to find offensive?
If Wizard is in fact the #1 men’s pop culture magazine, whatever magazine came in at #2 must be really bad.
Chasing the all mighty comic book smut dollar
I don’t understand why Marvel Comics would give the go ahead for something like this. Is this really how they want one of their main properties to be displayed? All sexed up? I was under the impression that they kind of liked Spider-Man and valued the entire Spider-Man property. If that’s true, why resort to making Spider-Man’s wife a bare foot, thong wearing laundry tub slut?
I’m no prude. I’m also not one to get offended. I just think this is stupid and even a little hypocritical. My favorite monthly Marvel comic Alias was supposedly canceled because writer Brian Michael Bendis was not allowed to use top-line Marvel characters such as Spider-Man. Alias dealt with stories more of an adult nature in content.
Just because there are statue companies out there that make sexed up weirdo friendly Japanese anime figurines, doesn’t mean Marvel Comics needs to do it too. They should let other companies, companies not called Marvel Comics corner the creepy pervert adult figurine market.
Marvel Comics should be above this.
Ok, I’m back. After typing the above sentence I broke out in uncontrollable laughter which resulted in me falling down, hitting my head, and blacking out.
I feel much better now. What was I blogging about? Oh yes, the pervert Mary Jane statue. I’ve been reading that people have been letting both Marvel Comics and Sideshow Collectibles (the company that is making the perv statue) know what they think about this statue. People have been leaving comments on both Marvel Comics and Sideshow Collectibles websites detailing their displeasure with this statue. Both Marvel Comics and Sideshow Collectibles have been responding by deleting these comments. They have allowed all the other comments to remains. The comments left by pervy men wanting to buy this statue.
What’s Marvel Comics trying to do, attract even more weirdos to the medium of comic books?
Ragnell over at Written World blogged about someone leaving a comment on Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada’s blog asking him if he’d please write about the approval process for this figurine. Regnell writes that two hours later, the person’s comment had been deleted.
Talk about dealing with a problem head on.
I think this statue is disrespectful. Not only to women in general, but to one of their own intellectual properties. So what will Marvel Comics do next, approve the making of a collectible statue showing Spider-Man putting on a condom?
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