Disney's takeover of Marvel. A view.

This week there has been a lot of talk about Disney's recent takeover of Marvel Entertainment, theres been much talk about the future of the Marvel characters that fans know and love, many fans feel that Disney will gain creative control of the content of the comic pages, watering down the storylines to satisfy a younger audience.

While it is true the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "Disney" is the likes of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and lately Hannah Montana and High School Musical, products that are geared towards children and pre-teens, what most don't realise is that Disney also owns Miramax which distributes films such as Pulp Fiction, Gangs of New York and City of God, hardly films which are suitable for children.

Marvel's biggest rival DC Comics is owned by Warner Bros which also produces content for children as well as adults. Warner's influence on DC editorial is minimal if that, what Warner Bros does do is allow DC the oppurtunity to keep low selling titles off the chopping block for a little while longer than normal because of the financial backing and support it recieves from Warner Bros allowing titles such as Manhunter to get several chances of publication. DC also has the Vertigo imprint which prints comics aimed at mature readers with no demands by Warner to tone down the content which may give comfort to fans of Marvel's Mature Readers line Marvel Max.

In short Disney's $4 billion takeover of Marvel should help it in several ways, within the comics division of Marvel Entertainment low selling titles will have a slightly longer shelf life than what they normally would have had and as such can get an extra boost to keep it on the shelf with new storylines or crossovers with titles that sell better. With the help of Disney Animation/Pixar, Marvel can begin experimenting and creating more Motion Comics with better animation skills and the benefit of a larger pool of voice actors to utilise. Finally Marvel Studios will have access to considerably more funds to get movie projects into production without the need to rely on the success of previously released films and comic sales to help generate extra income, which means that budgets for films like Thor and The Avenger's can not only help pay the actors but also fund greater special effects.

Another benefit of the takeover is now Disney has something to market to pre-teen boys, which it has noticably been lacking with franchises such as High School Musical and Hannah Montana being one of the main focuses of Disney's marketing.

There is one company who may not benefit from this merger, independent comic company BOOM Studios is currently printing several Disney/Pixar titles including Mickey Mouse and Friends, The Muppet Show Comic Book and The Incredibles. It is unclear whether BOOM Studios will be allowed to continue to publish these comics once the current contract (which was agreed upon in 2008) runs out.