Okay, you (plural) don't like PotC, which is cool. I'd still contest that they were movies Disney did relatively well and were generally successful critically, finnancially, and um, entertainingly. At least, I thought they were. (I'm not trying to sway your opinion of the movies.)
Still, Pixar? Miramax? The Miyazaki movies that they distribute? (Ponyo, Princess Mononoke.)
Disney is a corporation, as was/is Marvel. But they've done some stuff I enjoy and I'm definitely willing to give them the benefit of the doubt right now with Marvel. Especially considering this:
If you don't think Marvel is already pumping out books based on a corporate mentality rather than a creative vision, I have bad news for you.
What Dave said, basically. I ran a comic shop for seven years and that whole time, there was a rolling deadpool on when Marvel would finally fold at numerous message boards. They weren't producing good comics, they weren't reaching out to new audiences, they weren't growing.
That same company, barely a decade later, is worth four billion dollars.
They're not perfect, that's certainly true, but Marvel have pushed the envelope pretty constantly for the last few years, been unafraid to try new approaches both to old types of story and new ones and fundamentally, have been happy to step outside their normal story frameworks. They've done work which is either good or popular and often both and that's been reflected in this sale.
This is going to have minimal effect on comic content, because Disney know what they want, know where they're strong and where they're lacking and know when to leave well enough alone. Don't forget, one of their companies produced and distributed Kill Bill and the last time I checked, Donald isn't leading the Crazy '88s in the closing fight.
Plus, Rich Johnston, a UK comics journalist has made a really interesting point about Disney buying up a comic company which, via a distribution deal with Panini, has digests of Marvel titles on sale in every major newsagent in England, a country where Disney comics have precisely no market share at all. At least part of this deal may well have been motivated by the desire to change that, to establish Disney in the comics industry in England the same way they have in Italy (Where Mickey X, in which Mickey Mouse is a paranormal detective is massively successful).
Basically , pretty much all this will change, at first at least, is that the next Kingdom Hearts game will have a much more varied roster.
