Marvel and Mouse

I don't have any insight to share at the moment beyond the fact that most of the jokes — some of them made as much warily as humorously — are just that: jokes. The House of Ideas, as Marvel was once known, won't be "Disneyfied" by The Mouse House (or The House That Mickey Built; choose your colorful correlative). Disney also owns ESPN and Miramax, remember.

 

Plenty of mash-up artwork has made the rounds since the announcement, some of it done for just plain fun long before yesterday's acquisition news. While many of the character smooshes are quite good, and it's interesting to see that Wolverine is as prevalent as Spider-Man when choosing a signature Marvel character to cross with Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, my favorite is this in-joke (although it should have used the original red-headed Marvel character instead of Eeyore). One of the best-looking and oldest illustrations circulated is the above piece drawn by Jack Kirby and colored by Craig Yoe for Yoe's coffee-table book The Art of Mickey Mouse, in which famous artists of all stripes interpreted the icon; its resurgence in this context shows how closely Kirby is associated with the quintessential Marvel style when he's really genericizing himself and not the publisher.