Can Disney take on the world of villains and superheroes?
Comic-book fans in Columbia were surprised but hopeful on Monday when they learned the Walt Disney Co plans to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc for $4 billion in cash and stock.
''You could so do 'New Mutants' as a TV show," said Chris Sims, comics manager at Heroes & Dragons comic shop on Bush River Road, imagining the possibilities.
Under the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, Disney will acquire the rights to 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by comic-book legend Stan Lee.
The news stunned comics fans nationwide, who lit up chat sites on Monday with visions of Wolverine sporting Mickey Mouse ears and candy-cane claws. The question was whether Disney would be able to expand Marvel's reach without damaging the comic-book company's brand.
Sims said he feared Disney would inject its family-friendly brand into the comics company. Some comics have adult themes and violent characters.
''The fan part of me is a little worried they're going to take a hands-on approach," Sims said.
Sanford Greene, a Columbia artist who draws Marvel comics, was on the phone with other artists on Monday morning after learning the news.
''We were trying to figure out what this means," he said. "For the first time, you feel like you're part of the corporate world."
Greene has been doing work for Marvel for about a year and he just wrapped up a Hulk/X-Men special and a Deadpool project that will come out in October.
The buyout left him and many others in his circle wondering if they would still have jobs.
Earlier Monday, Disney CEO Robert Iger said Marvel's comic books, TV shows, movies and video games amounted to "a treasure trove of content." Iger said the deal would bring benefits like the ones Disney got from buying Toy Story creator Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006.
For Marvel, Iger said being in the Disney camp would mean better global distribution and better relationships with retailers to sell its products.
Susan Cornett, who works at Silver City Comics in Cayce, said she hasn't been happy with some of the Marvel movies, including "Wolverine." But she is concerned with Disney taking too many liberties.
''I'm not really sure yet," she said. "It could go either way."
Marvel would follow another storied comic-book publisher into the arms of a media conglomerate.
DC Comics has been under the wings of a major studio since 1969, when Warner Bros. bought the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
The only bad thing to come out of that, said Columbia's Sims, has been "four terrible 'Batman' movies."
Chris Foss, owner of Heroes & Dragons, called it a "minor miracle" that most people had not heard about the merger until Monday morning, especially after a summer full of comic-book conventions nationwide.
Foss said there was no mention of it even at the king of all comics conventions that recently wrapped up in San Diego, which featured representatives from both Marvel and Disney.
''It's hard to keep a secret like that," Foss said. "It's going to be very interesting."
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