The irony on this announcement is absolutely off the charts.  As you may recall, Walt Disney Animation Studios adapted a little-known Marvel comic for the film Big Hero 6.  You may also have heard that the Disney Channel will start showing Big Hero 6 The Series in June. Will there be a comic to accompany it?  Absolutely.  Will Marvel be publishing it?  Nope.

Instead, IDW has the license.  Technically, I suppose they have a license to do a comic based on the film adaption, rather than a license to continue the original Marvel title and it’s probably along the lines of IDW having the all ages/younger reader Star Wars comics.  Still, IDW is working on a Marvel licensed book if you look at it from a certain angle.

Hannah Blumenreich and Nicoletta Baldari will be the creative team.

Official PR follows:

Debuting on Disney Channel on Saturday June 9, Big Hero 6 The Series will usher in new adventures of legendary superhero team Big Hero 6 — Hiro, Wasabi, Fred, Go Go, Honey Lemon and Baymax — for viewers. To coincide, IDW will be bringing even more excitement to readers in an all-ages comic book series! The fun kicks off this July with the first issue of an ongoing series.

Protecting San Fransokyo is no easy feat, but Hiro and the team are up to the challenge. “Big Hero 6 The Series features an amazing cast of characters. I couldn’t love them more, and I couldn’t be happier to be working on this book,” said Editor Joe Hughes.

Catching attention with her online comics and zines, burgeoning writer Hannah Blumenreich will lead the new comic series, writing the debut issue with Nicoletta Baldari (Star Wars: Forces of Destiny) providing stylish artwork to bring the characters to life. The first issue will also feature covers by Gurihiru (Gwenpool) and Sophie Campbell (Jem and the Holograms, TMNT).

“I am so excited to write this comic series,” exclaimed Hannah Blumenreich. “I know these characters are near and dear to a lot of people and I hope to do right by them.”

Look for the action-packed first issue available wherever comic books are sold this July, and don’t miss Big Hero 6 The Series this summer beginning Saturday, June 9 on Disney Channel.

 

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Another reason this is weird: Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth made the Big Hero 6 team part of the Marvel universe.

  2. In some ways, this actually is not surprising at all. Marvel’s track record in recent years is to do very little in the way of publishing for younger readers. They always seem to have some sort of small publishing line for younger reader versions of the main Marvel Universe characters, but otherwise all of that stuff gets farmed out. Prime exhibits are the Disney/Pixar animation characters and the recent IDW young readers Star Wars comics. Publishing for the young reader market as compared to the Diamond direct-market requires a different set of specific skills and expertise. I’ve come to the conclusion that Marvel has made a conscious decision to not make the investment in hiring personnel with those skills and expertise, and that they would rather take the more expedient route of licensing out those kinds of projects. One can argue as to whether that is a smart strategy for the long run, but I think it is pretty clear that is the current policy status quo at Marvel.

  3. The mishandling of this property is pretty amazing.

    – Movie comes out, and it’s awesome, a big hit, sequel is announced.
    – No, wait, we’re not doing a sequel, we’re doing an animated series.
    (Three years pass, sound of crickets)
    – The animated series is here!
    – In the intervening three years, there have no comics featuring these characters, to keep interest while they work on the animated series.
    – But now that the a animated series is (finally) here, there IS a tie-in comic….not published by Marvel.

    It’s like Marvel/Disney doesn’t even care about fans of their characters who are under 13. Weird, right?

  5. If it was indeed easy, then Marvel would have done it. But publishing to the young readers market requires a different type of editor and most definitely a different type of marketing as compared to publishing for the Diamond direct market. Marvel doesn’t have people on staff with the necessary expertise, and apparently they aren’t inclined to make that investment.

    Given those circumstances, the easy pile of money would in fact be to license the material out.

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