Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

I'm tempted to say that Blakey from 'On the Buses' reminds me visually of a notorious Historical figure, Lew-----but I'll pass on that one!

Lew Stringer
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by Lew Stringer »

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:I'm tempted to say that Blakey from 'On the Buses' reminds me visually of a notorious Historical figure, Lew-----but I'll pass on that one!

:lol:
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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

Here we go, Lew!

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Lew Stringer
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by Lew Stringer »

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:Here we go, Lew!

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"I'll get you Churchill!"

:lol:

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tony ingram
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by tony ingram »

Lew Stringer wrote: (* Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, not Stan and Jack from On The Buses.) :lol:
Actually, I can see certain similarities between Mrs Leiber's little boy and Reg Varney's character. Both Stan's display a kind of relentless optimism forever totally unscathed by the harsh realities of life which could really make you want to punch them after awhile...

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paw broon
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by paw broon »

OOOPS, sorry about the BtCat ref. and just to show my singular lack of taste, I also quite like King Cobra, The Impy Top Imps, Captain Hornet, Marvelman, many of those weird British Marvel ones etc. and On The Buses.
There used to be a site for Ace Hart but it seems to have shuffled off this mortal coil. Fortunately, I downloaded all the issues from it a couple of years ago.
Other great British costumed heroes - what about The Falcon?
This is good 'cos its got me looking through my old comics yet again. And, having given this a bit of thought, not all, in fact few, American costumed heroes are really original and many haven't been handled well for a long time, if ever and while much of this is a matter of personal taste, I'm glad the British heroes were there in their own, sometimes distinctive way. Now, what about all those non English language masked men - there are lots of them and some are rather tasty.

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Niblet
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by Niblet »

Who says the British don't do dynamic superheroes? http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/wher ... _at_night/

Er, oh sorry, there IS an American connection it seems.

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tony ingram
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by tony ingram »

Managed to work up a piece on this for the Broken Frontier comics news site. Whether it will do any good opr not, I don't know-but at least it draws some attention to it. There's a comments section if anyone's interested.

http://www.brokenfrontier.com/blog/p/de ... for-disney

And also on the Crikey! website

http://www.crikeyuk.co.uk/TonySoapbox.html

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paw broon
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by paw broon »

I took the liberty of mentioning this topic on Digital Comic Museum and GAC. You may be interested in a response from a DCM member:-
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/ind ... 692.0.html
A completely different take on things. Comments? Or join DCM and continue there.

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chrissmillie
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by chrissmillie »

Really they should use their lead in time to make a UK superhero a la Marvelman / Capt Marvel. No idea how long they've got or licensing requirements but including either a free promo or changing the title to Spider-Man and Super-Invertebrate-Man then running with it, might well be worth it. Bit of a risk, sure, but with potentially huge benefits.
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philcom55
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by philcom55 »

Having grown up on a diet of American and British comics I'd say there was a very definite contrast between the types of heroes that developed within the two traditions. To me America was a kind of 'Never-Never-Land' filled with skyscrapers, spaceships and cowboys, where larger-than-life characters such as Superman and Batman seemed completely at home. By contrast British heroes were always much more grounded in everyday life so that with a radio-controlled plane it was entirely possible to imagine myself as General Jumbo, or fighting bullies with my 'Q-Bike' and water pistol. Even grown-up characters such as the Steel Claw, Robin Hood and Tim Kelly were easy to copy with a painted glove, a bow and arrow or one of my Mum's cheap broaches. I loved both types of hero equally, but it soon became clear to me that there was something a bit inadequate about most British attempts to copy the American style, whereas few Americans had even encountered British comics at that point.

However this simultaneous exposure to two heroic traditions meant that during the 1960s a whole new generation were able to grow up in the UK equally at home with both styles. Thus, when they came of age, writers such as Alan Moore, Pat Mills, Mark Millar, Neil Gaiman, etc., were uniquely qualified to apply a new, more realistic approach to US superheroes that had begun to seem increasingly dated - hence the famous 'British Invasion' which laid some vital groundwork for the genre's current success on the big screen (which is what attracted Disney to it in the first place!).

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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

The Brits have definately left a mark on US comics as yourself and Lew have pointed out so clearly, Phil.

The Superhero industry created by the US was and is massive, with instantly-recognizable characters, but the genre proved to be too one-dimensional over a prolonged period, and I suppose something ad to be added to pep it up and modernize---hence the infusion of British blood.

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tony ingram
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by tony ingram »

paw broon wrote:I took the liberty of mentioning this topic on Digital Comic Museum and GAC. You may be interested in a response from a DCM member:-
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/ind ... 692.0.html
A completely different take on things. Comments? Or join DCM and continue there.
I don't think British national pride is an issue-the poster in question seems to have missed what I consider to be the real issue, that this further diminishes the British comics industry and provides one less way in to comics readership for British kids. A lot of kids read those titles, and moved on from there to other stuff. Now, they won't.

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tony ingram
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by tony ingram »

chrissmillie wrote:Really they should use their lead in time to make a UK superhero a la Marvelman / Capt Marvel. No idea how long they've got or licensing requirements but including either a free promo or changing the title to Spider-Man and Super-Invertebrate-Man then running with it, might well be worth it. Bit of a risk, sure, but with potentially huge benefits.
Thing is Chris, that might have worked when Miller's were publishing Captain Marvel/Marvelman, but back then kids would read damn near anything if it looked exciting. These days, they're much more aware of branding and established names-I doubt a lot of them would be interested in a new character which just appeared out of nowhere with no apparent connection to any of the more recognisable brands, now. And they'd recognize a cheap knock-off for what it was immediately.

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philcom55
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Re: Disney ban non-American Marvel comics

Post by philcom55 »

It's worth remembering that the scarcity of American comics in postwar Britain resulted not, as many people assume, from the contemporary paranoia about US 'horror comics', but rather from a deliberate import ban with which the Government hoped to protect a home-grown publishing industry that had been crippled by wartime paper shortages. In effect it was about British jobs, and it's hard to imagine that companies such as TV Boardman, Westworld, Miller, WDL, Thorpe & Porter, Alan Class, etc. would have ever got off the ground without this kind of support - even if they did reprint a lot of American material at the same time as giving employment to the likes of Denis Gifford, Ron Embleton, Don Lawrence and Mick Anglo.

Given the current state of the world economy one can't help but wonder whether Disney is simply responding to the same sort of political pressures in favouring American workers wherever possible. :roll:

- Phil Rushton

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