@ Entire Cast - as much as I want to agree with you for partisan reasons, it ends up not having as much of an effect as you would think because of the small northeastern states that are solidly Democratic (Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont), along with Hawaii and one or two others I might be forgetting. So, yeah,…

@ Yummsh - in theory, that's true, but it doesn't quite work out that way in practice. If they think the movie is good and will make good money at the box office, they'll promote the hell out of it regardless. But if it is more marginal or if superhero movies fall out of favor, they might say, "Oh well, this won't…

Yeah, I get that they will have revenue coming in from the movies that other studios will be making, but it just seems like such an odd business decision to buy all these characters that other studios will be able to control for a while yet.

Good call, D. I think we're pretty safe saying his good scripts were the flukes.

This is why I was saying yesterday I didn't understand Disney's logic
If all the other studios have to do to retain film rights is to keep making the films, Disney will not get film rights to the marque Marvel characters for years. There's already been at least one F4 movie made entirely to keep rights from reverting…

Didn't the Beyonder turn the F4's headquarters into gold in Secret Wars II? Or was that a different building?

Do we actually know if he wrote the filmed version of the script? Cause I know Hollywood types will retinker with scripts till the cows come home, but it's hard for anyone but the initial writer to get credit.

Speaking of Dr. Doom, saw a great exhibit on Stan Lee and early Marvel at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art a few years back. Among other things, they had Kirby's pencils from an issue of Fantastic Four before Stan Lee wrote the dialogue for it, with Kirby's recommendations. It was hilarious. Basically, Doom was…

For a decent use of rotoscoping from *before* Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, check out Disney's Cinderella.

At least, the cheap-ass rotoscoping that Bakshi could afford…

I picked up HttT back in 2004, but wasn't terribly impressed. I just went back to alternating between Kid A and Amnesiac, with OK Computer thrown in periodically for good measure (had listened to it a few too many times in the late 90s).

@ JCrowemancer - I think a lot of the sales are to people who never got around to buying the album the first time around. Also, some sales to the sorts of fans who really want the B sides, but who didn't have the time or money back in the day to buy import singles on eBay.

@ Arsenio - I would say it's more because the system only breaks down rarely, and at those times a change seems partisan, so no one ever gets around to changing it. I promise if Kerry had won in 2004 while Bush had more votes, demands for electoral college reform would have gone mainstream.

El Santo - I guess I see how it's good for Disney long-term - I'm just surprised they decided to go for it, since it's not great for the company short-term. Or, maybe the ability to sell Spider-Man underoos at the Disney Store will actually create huge profits for them. But I do see why they think it will work…

Oh, and no way could he charge extra for oral.

Yeah, no way could he be making more than, oh, $300 a session.

I don't know, Thingamajig, the kid was clearly talking in detention. That's pretty indicative of him being rotten to the core. Or something…

@ Shaggydog - no, they won't have Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, the Avengers as a whole, X-Men, the Fantastic Four, or Spider-Man until the current licenses granted to other studios (Paramount, Fox, and Sony) expire. They'll make profit off of any movies released under those banners (as Marvel has already been…

Honestly, I don't get what is in this for Disney. They won't get the screen rights to the big name Marvel characters for years (maybe even decades), so they won't be able to have the same sorts of synergies that WB does with DC. Plus, ABC seems a pretty poor fit for Marvel TV shows (at least in prime time). Sure,…

@ rationalist - that's probably the Epic of Gilgamesh or something.