The twitter gags have been going all morning:

@JoshGorfain: Xavier’s School for Gifted Students Musical 5: The Messiah Complex

@J2Metal: NEW PUNISHER LOGO! Could this be the new look for Frank Castle? #disneybuysmarvel http://tumblr.com/xrn2wzqu5

@warrenellis: so I got this phone call from Joe Quesada and it was just the sound of him rubbing himself with money and now I am confused

Believe me, the #disneybuysmarvel tag is full of poignant commentary on the whole situation. Even some of my followers are up in arms. Citing things like ABC’s failure to provide original programming, and Pixar (for some reason).

Well, the kids at Disney and Marvel had themselves a little talk today. They did it on the interbuttz so everyone who wanted to could peak in and speculate amongst themselves. According to Comic Book Resources, there were a few revelations that came from this exchange of ideas, the most exciting of which follow here:

• The Iron Man movies (and other Marvel films) will stay exactly where they are. Favreau will direct, all existing movie deals stand where they are. However, it is in Disney’s best interest to EVENTUALLY acquire the rights to those films.

• Disney has no interest or intention of interfering with the Marvel creative staff. Their take on the subject is that Marvel has been managing the franchise for years, and knows how to handle themselves in an intelligent business sense.

• Pixar Creative Execs and Marvel Creative Execs have met and discussed several projects. Lots of excitement came out of those meetings.

So regardless of how you feel about the Eisner days of Disney, this could be a great thing. If you will recall, Disney never interfered with Pixar’s productions, thus helping a fledgling studio become a recognizable name. Let us not forget the current success of Ponyo, a Disney distributed title produced (independently) from Studio Ghibli.

The lesson here? Disney is not an evil corporation bent on destroying franchises with cute characters and childlike innocence masking an empire of sex and fashion trends. They are an evil animation studio bent on distribution. This means that if nothing else, you should see an influx of Marvel animation and the occasional crossover.  Also, fans of comics across the world will hopefully get some Marvel international stuff heading their way.

And for those of us that doubt the integrity of a cross over, I’d remind you that Marvel currently produces an all ages line of comics, perfect for this kind of zaniness. Hopefully what we will see is some sorely needed financial backing, an in house animation studio capable of putting together exciting content, and the same growth of talent Joe Quesada has been bolstering since he took his throne as Editor in Chief.

So roll up your sleeves and let loose. Do you agree that this is a great chance for amazing talent to gain prominence and a relatively obscure industry to gain massive exposure, or is this the same dump truck load of Mouse crap we’ve been getting since the Eisner days?

Richard Bashara
Rich@comicimpact.com