It's May, So That Must Mean It's Max Payne Month...

With Rockstar teaming up with Marvel Comics and rolling out a Max Payne 3 comic (digital and limited retail release), the game arriving soon afterward and a bunch of ads all over doing their thing, I'm predicting old Max will be feeling better about himself once he's back in the gamer eye for a bit. I'll be covering the game on the NEW DAF blog, so remember to boogie on over thataway to see what I think of Rockstar's wrap-up to the series (well, it's looking like some sort of finale, but I'm expecting to see Max pop up elsewhere at some point in some playable form)...

E3 2011: Captain America Prologue

Can Cap rescue Sega from the not quite stellar superhero game doldrums? Well, I think it can, but I guess it's up to you guys and gals with the wallets to decide. Here's a look at a cool CG movie from the upcoming game. Remember kids, "When he's led to a fight and a duel is due, then the red and the white and the blue will come through..."

How to Save Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark? Turn On the Camera, Julie...

While I haven't been to a Broadway show in decades, you can't go twenty minutes or so here in NYC without hearing or reading some more awful news about the show's numerous problems. Forget my own opinions about bringing such a risky project to life at such a huge expense during tough economic times and the hugely inflated but highly creative egos behind the show's development. I'm more concerned about stopping this overblown train wreck before there's a death on stage or off. Given the history accidents in some preview performances and the fact that this is a live show of such length and scope with never-before seen wire effects taking place every night means it's only a matter of when and how a fatal incident occurs.

However, I think there's a way to "save" the show and possibly recoup some of the production costs while turning an actual profit... eventually.

2D-X Interviews Spider-Man Voice Actor Dan Gilvezan

Hey! The folks at 2D-X have scored an EXCLUSIVE interview with Dan Gilvezan who voiced Spider-Man in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends back in the 80's. He talks about his work in Activision's upcoming Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions, a bit of Transformers, and the craft of voice acting. Head on over and check it out as it's quite a fun read (don't forget to get back here at some point!).

News: Disney Buys Marvel (*yawn*) And Why You Should Just Go About Your Regularly Scheduled Lives...

I was taking a few days off for some personal stuff, but given all the "Hulk Smash!" *rage* I've seen and heard about this, I'm back today for this one post. I'll resume regular updates on Wednesday.



First of all, folks: Disney more likely than not isn't going to interfere in any MAJOR print successes Marvel is currently having. Why mess with censoring any part of the publishing arm that's financially successful (and lose massive sales in the process)? If things get to that point, the sales figures will show and Disney will have to let Marvel continue to create the books their way. Unless of course, this is some sort of cosmic justice at work toward Marvel's mistreatment of Jack Kirby and other artists in the "distant" past many of today's comics fans have little to no idea about. Update: although given some of the artwork I've been seeing online since the announcement, a lot of folks are probably giving Disney some ideas the artists who drew up these pieces might regret...

What will happen with the comics? Who really knows? Perhaps we'll see a new Disney comics line geared toward a younger user base joining Marvel's current lineup. Or maybe some interestingly wacky one-shot Disney/Marvel crossovers will come from Marvel writer/artist teams who happen to be longtime fans of the House that Mouse Built. Either way, both companies would be completely insane NOT to capitalize on each others' strengths and wealth of popular licensed characters by working on a unique property or three. That's just a smart business and creative decision, whether you understand it or not. You'll get this by the end of this post. Besides, doesn't anyone know who Carl Barks was? Geez.

By the way: "Sold" doesn't mean "slavery," period*. In the end, it's both Disney and Marvel who will decide what they want to do with their properties and YOU the fans who'll decide with their wallets if whatever projects that come out of this deal are worth your hard earned money. If I'm somehow wrong here and Disney pushes Marvel around enough by trying to force some sort of family-friendly agenda onto the more mature books, you'll see creative folks hoofing it out the doors double time in short order. With stories to tell, NDA's or not...

Second, the movies: Some will get made, some won't get made as soon as you want them to and some may not get made at all. Who cares, really? Are you absolutely going to miss another crappy Punisher or Fantastic Four movie or cry a river into your bunched-up Underoos that Thor won't get a second chance at life? His first outing stank, by the way.

(No, that's not Tim Conway grinning at you in that pic on the right...)

Nope, I didn't think so. Given that there's a substantial enough segment of Marvel's hardcore fan base that dislikes the filmed versions of their comics for any number of reasons, that crowd should feel a bit more secure knowing so much money isn't being lost on more properties. Most of which go into theaters for too brief a time period and then straight to video in about what, six months? Besides, the hundreds of millions of dollars they save on NOT making and marketing every hot (or not so hot) property into a movie can go toward making better games based on the comics rather than games based on highly altered versions of the source material (that too often end up not being anywhere near as fun as reading the books they were derived from in the first place *whew!*).

Third, to those whining endlessly about the "Death of Marvel Comics!" and/or hanging off ledges threatening to leap off regarding any potential Marvel/Disney character crossovers or Marvel going 'Kiddy' all of a sudden. Either jump now (please, thank you!) or take your marble and go home. You're obviously not old enough to remember Spider-Man literally hanging out on The Electric Company on PBS from 1974 to 1977, Marvel's own Spidey Super Stories comics and hell, pretty much every Marvel animated series that was watered down GREATLY from the source material and made for your little brothers and sisters (or YOU, if you go back that far).

Oh, and two more words to the fools going off the deep end about the Disney thing and any possible collaborations ending up as junk:

KINGDOM. HEARTS. *Boom!* goes the dynamite, as no one says. Like it or not, Square Enix and Disney teamed up and produced two successfully spectacular PlayStation 2 games, a Game Boy Advance game and seven other current or upcoming titles using many characters from both companies in a really fun crossover series where everyone's personalities and differing visual styles remained intact. Now, I'm not at all suggesting or speculating there's going to be a Disney/Marvel game down the road. I'm simply pointing out the fact that the needless fears about Marvel going down the toilet thanks to this buyout are unfounded at best and insanity deluxe at worst.

Hell, someone HAS to be the voice of reason here, right?

Excelsior!

*That sentence above might be seen as controversial to some (puh-leeze). However, after hearing some of the ridiculous end of the world bile spewed about both Marvel and Disney from folks acting as if they'd been"betrayed" by both companies over a simple business survival decision (as if there weren't other, more pressing things in the REAL world to get fussy over), a little reality check is in order. Oh, and please stop threatening not to buy any more Marvel stuff or go near a Disney anything "ever again." If either company suffers any sort of huge "boycott loss" because you're too crazed to wait and see what's going to change, if ANYTHING in the future... well, you're probably a lot dumber that you think THEY are.

At the end of the day... it's comics and cartoons, people - grow up and enjoy life.