Hi guys, Does anyone know the extent to which the Disney deal covers the literature? Will Disney be allowed to reprint stories published under Banthan and Dark Horse and be able to use all EU characters and environments?
Does Disney have its own internal publishing house? The characters, environments and situations are owned by Lucasfilm, not Bantam, Dark Horse, etc.
Disney publish comics through Marvel I believe, and I read that future Star Wars comics would go out the same.
I'm not certain that Disney has actually publish Disney characters in Marvel. But there is a group called Disney Publishing Worldwide
Disney absolutely has the capability to begin publishing the books itself, and it absolutely has the rights to do so. The question is to what extent they're willing to continue the established licensing programs for certain products--no one really knows yet, but it appears they're more interested in selling toys than dealing with publishing programs.
I would imagine they won't continue any current or past EU stories or plot lines, but start things a new. I was more wondering if they can.
Yes they can use all EU Characters and Characters. Dark Horse will probably lose the license to Marvel. Publishing Wise Del Rey is likely to keep stuff.
Well, they can't break licensing contracts (unless a specific provision addressing this eventuality was written into them). They'd have to wait for expiration. Moreover, it's Kathleen Kennedy and the executives of LFL who would make these decisions, not the majority shareholder (Disney).
Actually, that's debatable. We've been focusing more on DH because Disney has such a high-profile comic publisher in Marvel, but they could just as easily do the novels themselves if they really wanted to.
Disney owns Hyperion, among other publishing houses. I would think they'd want to publish SW EU through their own company, when the Del Ray license expires.
Does Marvel care less about quality then Dark Horse does? i don't read that many comics and usually from smaller publishers like BOOM.
Since the big Disney thread has eerily made it to page 2, I figure this thread is the best place to post this article. I originally saw it when Ryder Windham shared it on facebook. One can only hope, eh?
The Beguiling is a great comic book store, I haven't been in there in a while but they always do a lot to promote independent comics. Good to see them weigh in on Dark Horse's side, I'm hoping they keep the licence. Their omnibus program is a lifesaver for people like me who missed out on the earlier stuff, but want to catch up now. Makes me feel like I should bring my business back there... curse you amazon and your temptingly low prices!
This is a sort-of related question. If it doesn't belong here, feel free to direct me elsewhere. How will this affect fan-made stories, both printed and on video? Previously, Lucasfilm was OK with them, provided the makers didn't profit from them or try to mis-represent them as official material. However, Disney is somewhat...noted for taking legal action against those who make use of their properties without official permission.
There seems to be a mixed view about this. Like you mention, some think there's a danger given Disney's past examples; others have said there's more money in allowing the Star Wars brand to thrive on its own. So it's just wait and see, really. Personally I suspect it'll be some of both. I can easily see them being more picky about fans selling home made lightsabers or stormtrooper armour due to how much money Disney probably intend to make from the potential merchandising that hasn't ever been officially tapped (well, Master Replicas covered lightsabers once... then that stopped, but I can see Disney bringing quality, non-toy replicas back again if they think it'll make them some more money). Wookieepedia... I dunno. I imagine it's too big a can of worms to try and stop it, but if they're not making any money from sourcebooks I wouldn't be surprised if they just decided not to bother releasing more and told us to suck it up and be happy with the SW.com stuff.
Does Disney own John Carter? I remember seeing some John Carter comics, not sure from which publisher.
Regardless of whatever happens, Star Wars is not Boom comics and all the other stuff from the article. Star Wars will do fine wether it stays with Dark Horse or goes to Marvel. The big difference with Marvel, is that somewhere along the line we will probably see more direct to dvd animation videos. Something that hasn't really been done. Most lilely, if there is any shift to Marvel, they may only decide to cover the time frames of the new trilogy of movies instead of the combobulated stuff from the Prequel and Orginial trilogy. Unless they plan a reboot which I don't see happening.
Ugh, I hope not. I mean, I like StarWars.com too, but it's no substitute for printed guides. I see so much of the "not going to buy XYZ, will just wait the eighteen hours til it's on the Wook" that I'm starting to worry about shooting ourselves in the foot in the long run. Wookieepedia is like Cliffs Notes: it's not supposed to replace reading the original material. Worst case scenario, admittedly, but new content isn't produced for free after all.