Disney

One of our pet projects here at Stately Beat Manor is tracking the progress of various attempts to adapt the John Carter books of Edgar Rice Burroughs to the screen. There have been many fits and starts over the long years, but now Andrew Stanton (WALL*E, FINDING NEMO) at Pixar is bringing this wild tale of imagination and fighting to the screen.

Ah... Memorial Day approaches, and with it, summer vacation. Day after day of nothing which must be done, but full of possibilities! Maybe an escape to the air-conditioned refuge of your local library. Perhaps a day spent on the porch, sipping something cold and sinful (I prefer Brown Cows, served in a large ice tea glass). Or maybe hiding away up in a hayloft, or deep in a cool root cellar, where no one can find you. Whatever your preference, there's nothing like a good book to make you forget the world around you. Below are some suggestions for your summer reading pleasures. (And if you need a nap to avoid the afternoon heat, give your kids something to read. It'll keep them quiet long enough for you to recharge your batteries.)

It's incredible what some Disney marketing dollars will do. Marvel has been running a big promo for their Avengers/Thor/Captain America/Iron Man movie franchise gaggle where you try out to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent -- they were running it in Chicago at C2E2 but it didn't get the attention it has here in San Francisco where we were awoken this morning by someone slipping the above promo piece into our room at the convention hotel, the Marriot Marquis.

The plot thickens, as Disney plans to expand it's kids magazine publishing business with new magazines featuring Phineas and Ferb, Cars 2, Thor and Captain America, Sam Thielman reports.

History repeats itself as one more Roger Langridge's Muppet comics have been put in the vault by a business move. Fans of his near-universally acclaimed run on Boom's Muppet franchise may recall that his run on the beloved puppets began as a strip for Disney Adventures magazine, which was cancelled before the strips could run. Langridge made a few mini comics which he furtively handed out at cobs and the legend of the strips greatness grew. Result: when Boom got the license a call went out.

Disney's plans for their TRON resurrection include big plans for it to be a tentpole for their boy-friendly offerings; although TRON LEGACY didn't quite slay as much as hoped at the box office, that never stoped the Disney Army from following a plan. TRON UPRISING the cartoon starts airing on XD in fall 2012 and it has some good folks attached: director Charlie Bean and painted Alberto Mielgo. Definitely looks like something folks can watch late at night while they come down from being party people, which is of course exactly the audience Disney planned it for.

...unless you read old comic strips. Fantagraphics' Floyd Gottfredson reprint project was a big news item at last year's San Diego, and you can bet that the book (due on April 15th) will get people talking some more. FBI released a pdf of the promo materials and here's a sneak peek.

While it's been obvious for a while that BOOM! was no longer going to publish their Pixar comics, no official word has been circulated on what would become of the Pixar characters in comics. Now it seems...surprise! They are going to Marvel! With a magazine reminiscent of the old Welsh magazine titles for the newsstand -- for those old enough to remember -- or Nickelodeon Magazine for the Gen Y set.

Long story short, Heritage Auctions is selling six Donald Duck paintings by the great Carl Backs, and the paintings will be displayed at the Heritage Auctions location at 445 Park Avenue (at 57th Street) through Monday, February 14th.

This is not comics, barely animation, but it does involve The Beat's favorite handbag designer, Hayden-Harnett, which has a deal with Disney to make limited edition handbags and accessories.

§ Have you ever wondered what it would be like to read an interview with a publishing executive talking about his digital plans WITHOUT worrying about direct sales retailers taking his every word as a call to arms? Well, take a gander at ICv2's talk with Disney's Dario Di Zanni:

Although Disney's acquisition of Marvel's character library was seen as a genius move to shore up their boy-skewing movie franchises, there was one wistful little fly in the ointment: Marvel had already assigned rights to most of their iconic super hero franchises to other studios. Undeterred, Disney has just regained a few of the crown jewels: Disney has just acquired marketing and distribution rights to THE AVENGERS and and IRON MAN 3, which will be released May 13, 2013. Disney paid Paramount $115 million for the distribution rights and this will serve as a minimum guarantee against distribution fees.