Today Marvel detailed some of their plans for “Share Your Universe”, an initiative designed as a bridge between the animated programming available on Disney XD and all-ages comics. At heart, it also serves as a way for parents and older readers to share their love of Marvel Comics and their characters with younger generations through modern platforms. Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley conceded that even in his role, he found it difficult offering recommendations for younger readers and their parents. This latest solution to the ongoing problem seems to be forging stronger connections between the animation and comics content, and making that material more easily accessible to families through Facebook and the Marvel Comics App.
Marvel also looks to brick and mortar retailers to help spread the word. That starts tomorrow with free print samplers of this content. Digital iterations will appear on the Marvel Comics App, and a selection of Avengers Assemble episodes will run on XBox Live and Windows 8 platforms through July 15th.
“We wanted to do something that was very unique and took advantage of the very unique network of fans we have through social media and through comic shops,” said Buckley. “We don’t think we were doing an easy enough job making this material available for our core fans.”
Buckley also suggests that the multiple “access points” provided by smart phones and tablets make for stronger, more ubiquitous attractors for kids than the 7-11’s and five-and-dimes of past generations. Kids more often frequent convenience stores than specialized comic shops, but nothing holds a candle to digital devices like iPhones and iPads when it comes to ease of use and attention, they are constantly looking for MyTrendyPhone accessories to use on their iPhones and other devices.
If there’s anything that slightly concerns us, it’s the Publisher’s statements about uniformity of design. Buckley offered that in focus testing, young children expressed confusion over diverse character models, wondering “which Spider-Man is the real one?” Though he offered that artists would not be tied to an extremely rigid “house style”, consistency would be paramount for the sake of clarity. It’s an understandable directive, especially considering these are new readers we’re talking about, but we’d hope there’s also an effort to wean children off of those uniform designs and onto the rich, alternative styles their print catalog they’ve embraced of late in their print catalog. It’s a deep challenge, but there’s a fine line between simplification for clarity’s sake and the designation of “right” and “wrong” ways of visualizing a character and their world. Variety being the spice of life and all.
Then again, we’ve got some old school art on this promo image. So maybe it’s a moot point. We’ll have to see what becomes available.
“It’s really an exciting time between the movies, television and games,” said Jeph Loeb, VP of Television and Animation. “We want everyone to realize that it all starts with publishing. It all starts with comic books.”
Marvel stressed that this is just the start of their initiative, so we’re still not entirely sure of its full scope and the frequency of its offerings. Look for that sampler tomorrow and keep an eye on Facebook.com/MarvelShareYourUniverse.
For the parents out there, what do you want from Marvel’s Share Your Universe initiative? What are your priorities when sharing comics with your children?
I like that art showing the characters then and now. Good stuff!
My daughter is learning to read, and shares my love for these characters. I would welcome any improvements to the “all ages” line. It’s about time, TBH!
Marvel wants to bridge the gap between readers and kids. My advice? Make the cartoons better. For starters.
Their use of the word “share” confuses me. This isn’t the “share your digital library with friends” solution I expected.
Why, would that make any money? I kid, I kid. We’re all slaves to the all might dollar, and we all know how much Marvel likes dollars.
I know you’re joking, yet proof is that Amazon does it (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200549320). If Marvel’s going to fill their content with DRM, at least make it worth while.
Shoot, I didn’t know any company was crazy enough to offer free stuff to people!
I dont know if Marvel still does this, but before digital comics were a thing their website used to let people (non-users) read a handful of books for free. No signing in, no fees; just a list of free books to click on and read. It used to change every month, the good/recent stuff you had to pay to see. I stopped doing this when they quit rotating the free books and just gave you a 2 page preview in EVERY single book.
I think it’s an admirable thing they’re trying to do.
So is Avengers Assemble the comic book written by KSD going to be re-named to make way for this kid friendly version?
As for the uniformity of design, I think it is a good thing. Let’s go for one style shared between the TV shows and their All-Ages comic equivalents. Get them hooked on Comic Books young and just wait a few years as they slowly migrate into the world of real comic books.
I was going to go on a rant about how comic books are too pricy these days but I did the math and they really aren’t that much more costly now than back when I was a lad. In the 90s, when I was a kid, my allowance was 5 bucks. That got me 2 comics and a candy bar or a single action figure. Accounting for inflation, today my allowance would be about 8 bucks. That will get you 2 comic books and (if you buy at least one 2.99 book) a candy bar. Since it’d be odd to give your kid 8 dollars as an allowance (two 5’s or one 10 is easier to obtain than a 5 and three 1’s or eight 1’s). So now I would probably be earning 10 bucks a week, which means I could buy two 3.99 comics and an additional 2.99 comic every other week. Not bad, not bad at all (note, my parents never made me pay tax when I bought something (they were nice like that)).
Did a little research and according to BusinessInsider.Com, kids are earning an average of 65 bucks a month in allowance!!! That’s over 16 bucks a week!!! That’s a lot of money! With cash like that… Comics definitely aren’t too expensive! I could buy two 3.99 comics AND an action figure each week with that kind of dough!
My childhood was LAME! Kids are getting more money AND cooler toys now-a-days!!! It’s so unfair!!!