Episode 29 has been uploaded as Sidewinder, Chad, and Matthew crank up the release schedule for their excellent comic-themed podcast! This thirty-seven minute episode focuses on G.I. Joe #52 from Marvel Comics. The aftermath from the Battle of Springfield still lingers as Cobra has discovered the location of The Pit… Larry Hama at his finest!
Rosa from Newsy.com was kind enough to direct me to a video on their site offering some insight from the recent news about the Marvel Comics and Disney “merger” (or takeover, as would be more appropriate). They posted a great video looking at different media angles as well as fan opinions, and I’ve embedded it below:
Time will tell what this ultimately means for both companies, as well as their licensors (like Hasbro), but you can be sure there will be some sorts of changes coming down the pipe. You can find the original video on their site here.
Damn. Long time readers of my site know that back in the day when G.I. Joe news was a bit less constant and frenetic than it is now know that I used to talk quite a bit about Marvel, but mostly in regards to their cartoon and movie endeavors, and not so much about the comics themselves. See, I was a Marvel Comics fan for nearly twenty years until repeated retcons, convoluted stories, and annual massive “EVENTS” took the luster off my love for the medium. But I never lost my love for the characters. Spider-Man, Wolverine, the X-Men, Captain America, Daredevil…they’re all timeless characters that I really love, even if I was growing a bit tired of what was being done to them in the series of 22 pages every month.
And then a funny thing happened…while I was a devout comic fan I laughed and scoffed at the various cartoons, TV elements and movies based on the comic characters. They didn’t match the stories I was reading, they were never mature enough, and often written for the average attention span of a 5 year-old. Recently, though, I’ve done an about-face. While I don’t have the time, energy or inclination to read the monthly Marvel titles, I am a huge fan of the films, the cartoons (Wolverine and the X-Men ROCKS!), the video games, and the characters still ring very true.
So immediately this news hit like a ton of bricks. Is it a good thing? Will some Disney backing ensure more Marvel animated fare or better quality movies? I dunno, Marvel’s been doing a pretty damn good job on their own these days. Will there be any shake up in the Films or Entertainment division? Let’s hope not.
This is an interesting move that could prove to be very good for the future of the Marvel Comics enterprise, or could it also suddenly offer a frustrating series of legal impasses similar to how Warner and DC go about their Hollywood endeavors?
How will this also impact the toy world? Mattel is a long-standing Disney licensee for many of their toy offerings, while Hasbro has the license for all Marvel related action figures and associated toys. Will this offer any sort of conflict between the two?
Amazon has posted new listings for a couple of upcoming IDW products, including Marvel reprints Volume 6 and the COBRA Trade Paperback. There are no covers posted yet, but it’s very interesting to note that Volume 6 of the Marvel reprints will likely start reprinting comics that have not been collected as of yet into previous Trade Paperbacks, so it’s a great chance to pick up where you left off on the Marvel series.
