When Disney built Euro Disney (now Disneyland Paris), it was required to partner with a French company that borrowed heavily, couldn't get out from under its debts, and ended up beholden to creditors who forced it to limit spending on the park, trapping it in a cycle of unpopularity and underinvestment. Read the rest

On Saturday at New York Comic-Con, Marvel was scheduled to do a splashy launch event announcing the crossover between the Avengers and Northrop Grumman, a notorious arms dealer whose stealth bombers and drones have been front and center in the US campaigns of assassination in many theaters of war, declared and undeclared, in which literally uncounted civilians have been collateral damage. Read the rest

The original concept for Disneyland's Haunted Mansion was a walk-through "Museum of the Weird" featuring spooky exhibits (as always, the best place to read about this is Long Forgotten, far and away the top site for Haunted Mansion history, theory and context). This has been revived for a Marvel/Disney series of comics that pick up on the "New Weird" genre motifs and also kicks off a new series of comics based on Disney attractions and their storied histories.

This is pretty danged awesome. Spooky wunderkammers, surreal horror, and theme-parks? Please add me to your mailing list. Read the rest

Chris Weston's poster for a notional "Carry On X-Men" has me wanting very badly to inhabit his alternate universe. He says of the film, "Despite the bawdy humour, 'Carry on X-Men' is in many ways more faithful to the source material than Bryan Singer's films. Definitely one of the best of the later 'Carry On' films."

Carry On X-Men poster

(Thanks, Fipi Lele!) Read the rest

Oh hell YES. DeviantArtist ArtistAbe has crossed Batman with the stretching portraits at the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. His substitutions are extremely well-thought-through and well-wrought. The fact that these are DC comics mixed into the Disney/Marvelverse gives it all a rogerrabbitesque mind-bend, too:

Harley Quinn and Killer Croc- This was the last one I did because I was still unsure what I wanted to do with Harley Quinn's outfit. Sure I could have made it easier on myself just to put her in her standard costume, but I'd miss the opportunity to put her in a dress. I'm not that great at fashion, but this was one of the ideas I had for her outfit that I finally settled on. Pretty happy with how it turned out. :) I thought about giving her the umbrella for a split second, but then it's Harley! So I gave her a croquet mallet. Croc was the obvious choice to replace the crocodile.

Joker and Scarface- The original portrait had his pants down, so who better to pull that off than the Joker! He's doing the drinking water while still having the puppet talk trick, just fyi. I didn't intend to have at least two Batman characters in each portrait, but it kind of happened that way. I've always liked the Scarface character so I jumped at the chance to draw him in this piece...

Haunted Arkham Asylum

(via IO9) Read the rest

This much is certain: Gary Friedrich created the Marvel comics character Ghost Rider. Freidrich sued Marvel (and its new owners, Disney) because he claims that he never signed away the rights to his character, and thus the feature film based on the comic was illegal. Freidrich also apparently launched his own, rival line of authorized Ghost Rider merchandise.

Disney/Marvel has countersued Freidrich, claiming that the boilerplate legalese on the back of his paychecks were all the assignment they needed to assert ownership of his character. What's more, Misney has broken with the industry-standard practice of turning a blind eye to creators doing sketches of their own characters for money at conventions, and singled out Freidrich for punitive, retaliatory legal claims for doing what every artist in the field does.

Finally, Misney has sought to prohibit Freidrich from publicly identifying or marketing himself as the creator of Ghost Rider, on the basis of the ancient legal principle of fuck you I said so and I can afford more lawyers than you so shut up.

As payback, not only can Friedrich no longer sell his own Ghost Rider merchandise, he can’t even represent himself as its co-creator, thereby robbing him of any potential financial gain he might accrue from convention appearances and the like. (He will, however, still be able to sign officially licensed Marvel merchandise, either with ink or bitter tear stains.) In addition, Marvel is also demanding $17,000 from the unemployed, financially destitute 68-year-old, which Comic Book Resources surmises will serve as a warning to all others who currently enjoy the privilege of selling their own unlicensed merchandise, and should maybe just keep their mouths shut then.

A slightly podgy fellow who dresses like a low-rent Spiderman terrorizes Warsaw with silly string and ill-advised climbing stunts.

Polish Spiderman Wreaks Havoc

(via Neatorama) Read the rest

Loving Andrew Harkins's Winnie the Hulk art: "I also wanted to attempt to create a comic book feel, as if you were reading a page from a longer story. I'm not a color expert, so it's a little gaudy there, and the layout feels a bit 90's but in the end I had fun."

One More I Forgot To Add (via Super Punch)

Daniel Valdez built this steampunk Professor Xavier wheelchair (complete with bubbling cranberry and vodka tubes on the back). It's powered by an Adafruit Waveshield -- an Arduino-based audio kit -- that gives it a series of awesome SFX. It's built around a 19th century rocker, with pistons from a steelworks.

Steampunk Professor Xavier Wheelchair Project - powered with an Adafruit Waveshield!

(Thanks, PT!)

Kirk Manley sez, "I Just finished a series of illustrations for Fast Company magazine, for an article in the March issue on the Disney company. Each illustration presents key Disney executives and deal makers as famous Marvel Comics superheroes."

Disney's Own Superheroes

(Thanks, Kirk!)

T Campbell sez, "The last word in Marvel/Disney satirical mashups. 50+ characters attempt corporate synergy, with hilarious results."

"Epic Misney" by T Campbell and John Waltrip

(Thanks, T!)