Posted in: Comics | Tagged: big hero 6, Comics, disney, entertainment, marvel

Marvel Agreed With Disney Not To Put Out Big Hero 6 Comics

Published Tue, 02 Sep 2014 11:00:39 -0500

Axel Alonso told CBR when they asked,

Another thing from the past couple weeks — last week, Marvel's November 2014 solicitations arrived, and it's been pointed out that's the same month the "Big Hero 6" Disney animated film is scheduled for release, and there was no tie-in material listed. It left people wondering if there are plans for the characters — so I thought I'd put that question to you. Are there any plans for "Big Hero 6"?

Alonso: There are no plans.

Any particular reason why?

Alonso: The characters and stories that have appeared in our comics are very different from what they are in the film. Releasing material that would be viewed as movie tie-in product would be a disservice to filmgoers. We wanted the Disney folks to be able to create their own unique style and story, unencumbered by those older stories.

Marvel did do some reprints a while ago, when the movie was first being talked about.

Alonso: Yeah, we have a catalog of stuff that we can reprint, but we have no intention of doing anything related to the movie.

Or anything new with those characters?

Alonso: At this stage, no.

Bleeding Cool ran this as a story a few weeks ago. Since then, we have been reliably informed that the reason that Marvel are not publishing any Big Hero 6 comics, rather, is that they have an agreement with Disney Animation that lets Disney Publishing handle all the print publishing.

After all, the reason given by Axel doesn't compute with Marvel's actions in the past. Note, that they didn't cancel Journey Into Mystery when the adult Loki was in Thor. They were happy to republish the Days Of Future Past collection when the very different version was in cinemas, that bore little resemblance to the original. And you can bet when Avengers: Age Of Ultron movie comes out, they won't remove the remarkably different Marvel version from the shelves.

The key point is that they aren't even publishing any Big Hero 6 comics based on the movie's versions of the characters either.

When it comes to print, Disney Publishing will be the ones commissioning and publishing the work, not Marvel. As this impressive list shows. Which is why Marvel may not publish the currently-serialised Japanese version in the US, instead Yen Press (also distributed through Hachette) will get the rights.

Final pub date is still to be determined, but we are ecstatic to reveal that we'll be publishing the manga adaptation of @DisneysBigHero6 !

— yenpress (@yenpress) September 1, 2014

It was said that when Disney took over Marvel, that the deal wouldn't change the books Marvel published – or at least, not the superhero books. This is one example where that's just not true.

Which also means the price of the Big Hero 6 comics that Marvel did publish way back when? Likely to rocket even higher.

Supply and demand, you see.

And what Marvel got out of the deal? A strengthened relationship with Disney. Which may be handy to cash in at some point down the line…

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!