Disney Buys Crossgen

So the word is out. Disney, through it's Cal Publishing subsidiary, has bought Crossgen. Apparently the biggest prize was J.M DeMatties and Mike Ploog's Abadazad. Since Abadazad was a creator owned series Disney cut a separate deal with DeMatties and Ploog to secure ownership rights to the property along with whatever contractual obligations DeMatties and Ploog had to Crossgen and vice-a-versa.

I don't know how to feel about this deal. The characters and concepts in the Crossgen library that Disney likes will certainly get far wider distribution than possible in the current comic direct market. On the other hand, many of the other Crossgen titles will probably be shelved, never to be seen again. Those properties might have found a home at a comic publisher who would have been happy with low to mid level sales and kept those books out there for fans to read. Disney just doesn't work like that. Marginally producing properties go away. Does that sound like executive speak? That's how they talk.

As far as the deal for Abadazad goes, I wish DeMatties and Ploog the best of luck with the book. I enjoyed the issues that made it out and I hope to see more of the series. It's a great opportunity for them to get the book out to a much wider audience, but also a risk. I hope they have an option to get Abdazad back if Disney is not happy with it's performance and decides to put the property to bed. That sort of thing happens all too often with multi-media entertainment corportations. I know DeMatties has been living with Abadazad for many years and I'd hate to see him lose control of it.

I've just read this post back and it sounds a bit down. I don't mean for it to be. I really do hope that everyone associated with this deal does well by it. Crossgen put out some great books and I'd like to see them continue to entertain for a long time to come. I'm just grumpy today. Take what I say with a grain of salt. After all, how often do creative people get screwed by big corporations. Oops, there I go again.

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