The Four Color Media Monitor

The AP/Worcester Telegram reports that the Disney Corp, having bought into Marvel, is considering even minor characters to milk for dough:

LOS ANGELES — Moviegoers have shown a willingness to be entangled by Spider-Man’s web over and over again. Now, as Disney prepares to buy the comic-book powerhouse Marvel, it faces the question of whether fans will also get attached to characters as obscure as Ant-Man and Iron Fist.

I wouldn't go so far as to call them "obscure", as I don't think that describes them well at all. Just minor would do.

This article does contain a little something that bugs me more though:

“With Marvel, it’s not just about ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Hulk,’ ” Caris & Co. analyst David Miller said. “It’s all about the other 5,000 characters that you and I don’t even know about yet.”

The deal has already spawned a bout of speculation in the comic book world about who will be the next big Thing.

Possibilities include classics such as Ant-Man, the alter-ego of mad scientist Dr. Henry Pym, and Dr. Strange, the mystical go-to guy whenever there’s an extradimensional threat. Both are connected to The Avengers line of characters that Marvel had started developing for the big screen long before Disney made the deal; Iron Man and the Hulk are among the Avengers that Marvel already has tapped.

Hey, what are they saying here? I know that Hank Pym was put through an ill-advised story in 1981 where he smacked down his ex-wife Janet VanDyne, the Winsome Wasp, but not only did he do his best to redeem himself in later years (until that too was ruined by later writers), he was hardly what you could call a "mad" scientist. That's one part I find objectionable.

Also, Doctor Strange is not connected per se to the Avengers, but rather, to the Defenders. Which shows how poor the MSM's understanding of comic book history is.

There are about 5,000 more characters, including obscure ones such as martial arts master Iron Fist from the 1970s and up-and-coming ones such as the Runaways, a street-savvy pack of teenagers that have become a recent Marvel comic-book hit.

Now wouldn't that be nice if they could bring even the more minor-ranking superheroes to the forefront, and let their own history in comicdom be known? I do hope it happens. In fact, maybe it'll prompt Time Warner, for as long as they're in charge of DC, to start giving its own minor superheroes some much needed attention of the same sort, and one can hope that'll lead to some repair jobs for the damage done to them under Dan DiDio and Joe Quesada as well.

Labels: marvel comics