Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett talks about those "I never thought I'd live to see the day" moments:

The "Misney" deal is yet another of those "I never thought I'd live to see the day" moments which seem to be happening with an alarming frequency these days.  Back in the pre-Internet days there were frequent rumors in fan circles that Marvel was being bought out by DC (when it wasn't the other way around) so I confess my immediate reaction to the news was disbelief.  Making the moment even more surreal was the fact I'd spent all of yesterday morning online without hearing anything about it.  I only left my post to pick someone up at the airport and the third thing out of her mouth when I saw her was "Oh, have you heard?  Disney bought Marvel!"  This was confirmed on the drive home by NPR, not via their hourly news update but rather during that day's episode of Talk of the Nation when after establishing their fanboy bona fides both Neal Conan and guest columnist Leonard Pitts started to hash out what the merger meant for both companies.

In the tradition of other recent "big announcements" almost everything about this deal is TBA but that hasn't stopped everyone from feverishly weighing in on what it all means.  Me, I don't care much about the birth of yet another synergistic youth entertainment conglomerate, I just hope that more actual comic books will come out of it.  New product which can create new customers and help grow the market, and by that I mean more Disney Comics in general, Disney/Marvel Comics for girls (this would be the perfect opportunity to relaunch the W.I.T.C.H. property in America as intended, in magazine form).

And as it was so often stated in the online coverage Disney has bought a library of 5,000 Marvel characters, only a fraction of which are superheroes.  The direct sales market might not have much use for them but Terry Vance, Schoolboy Sleuth or Blaze the Wonder Collie could easily be turned into Disney Channel series.  Most of you probably didn't get any copies of it but in July Marvel published a Kid Colt one-shot that wasn't just pretty darn good but also a do-over of the character that finally took full advantage of the "kid" portion of his name by making him sixteen.  Disney hardly needs input from me but this gives them a shovel ready tween friendly Western that would be the perfect property for any one of the Jonas Bros.

I didn't comment on it when it was first announced but another of "those" moment came recently when the heirs of Jerry Siegel and estate of Joe Shuster successfully recaptured more of the rights to Superman.  I don't know whether this means there'll be new Superman comics coming out from a different publisher when this becomes effective in 2013 but we certainly could use some.  Because, frankly, I really don't want to read any more adventures of Commander El of New Krypton, Slightly Reluctant Fasicst.

It would definitely give me something to look forward to; I could use it because, as predictable, last Saturday I received my first letter from AARP which offered me all of the great benefits that comes with membership.  Coincidently it was also the day of Super-Fly Comics 2nd Anniversary Party and I was in attendance.  Everyone seemed happy to see me but when introduced to people it would invariably go something like "This is Steve; he's our resident Silver Age Guy!"

It should go without saying but for the record I was the oldest person there.
In my last couple of columns I've gone into excruciating detail about CBS's NCIS and how it could serve as a template for superhero comics.  So imagine my reaction when according to a piece in Variety the median age of a network television viewer is now 51 -- and CBS having the oldest viewers overall.  Now I still say Marvel and DC could benefit from emulating a program that has an audience in the millions but clearly the publishers are chasing readers far younger than that and they, generally, look for edgier material.

Which is when I realized I may have been a little too hard on Peter Parker last week (i.e. "Drunken Sex Peter Parker," see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Bursting the Envelope") for getting drunk and having anonymous sex with Michelle, sister of his ex-roommate Vin Gonzales* in Amazing Spider-Man #601.  I still don't care for it but that makes sense considering the television show Marvel is trying to emulate is clearly Gossip Girls.

* I'm not prepared to call Vin the absolute worst support character in Amazing Spider-Man history, not with Madam Web in the running, but if you want actual "realism" in comics it's hard beating a roommate who instead of being your instant best friend is a jerk that just wants your share of the rent.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.