A Little Personal History with Uncle Walt

After thinking about it, I suppose some explanations are in order, some details, some background need explaining. With that in place, my reactions should make more sense.

I've been reading comics since I was twelve. When I say 'reading comics' I mean that I started deliberately buying and reading comics because they were comics. I started by buying Marvel Comics and the bulk of the comics I've purchased over the years have been Marvels. I've never really had a major issue with the company in general. I've bemoaned the loss of certain books, or certain creative teams, or decisions. I've been concerned for the health of the company or the industry. Over the years, I don't believe I've ever really had a big problem with Marvel.

Now Disney? That's another story.

As a kid growing up in the late 70s/early 80s, Disney was just always there. Puzzles, Big Little Books, children's books, comic books (three packs of Whitman/Gold Key comics, the highlight of any trip to Ben Franklin), and, of course, television. Sunday nights still featured 'The Wonderful World of Disney' (in color of course) with Uncle Walt hosting. Watching it was just what you did. I don't remember questioning it. Heck, at that age, I don't know that I was aware Walt died a decade before I was born. How could he be dead? He was on television every week.

I know I didn't like all of it. I can't recall the name of the film but there was a live-action Disney film they had us watch twice in middle school as a 'treat'. I recall groaning as it started the second time and realizing it was the picture I'd not enjoyed the year before. As far as the product went, well, I was more of a Muppets guy anyway. I had no problems with Disney, I just liked other things more.

Then there was that weird period when Disney wasn't really doing movies anymore, from 1986 to 1992 or so. They moved to original cartoons for television. DuckTales! Man, I'd get home from school, make some microwave popcorn and watch a couple hours worth of cartoons. After the success of DuckTales, there were other cartoons that were good, but not as good to me. Even the DuckTales cartoons weren't as good as they could be as I'd recognized a few stories as coming from the comics where they had no silly little girl character and did have Donald.

Once those shows faded out and the new wave of movies began, I began to fall away from Disney. I had no interest in the films they were putting out and saw none of them. The controversies surrounding 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Lion King' helped push me away. I was an adult and Disney was increasingly feeling childish to me. Without seeing much of anything from them, I felt able to criticize their product as formulaic and trite. Hey, it was the early days of the Internet. Isn't that what they Internet is for; criticizing things we haven't seen?

As time went on, it became 'clear' to me that the problem I was having wasn't with Disney in general. It couldn't be as I was still regularly getting Disney related comic books. I have a lot of Uncle Scrooge books as those adventures are my favorites. It wasn't the characters, not the old-school ones anyway. It wasn't Walt, who wasn't around to see anymore. Walt made you feel comfortable. If it wasn't that then it must be the new guy, the new guy in charge that was trying to act like Walt.

Michael Eisner.

Him I didn't like. Him I don't like. He became the focus for everything that was wrong with the company at the time, not unlike blaming Vince McMahon and Vince Russo for everything that's wrong with wrestling. It was all his fault!

Despite never having been to a Disney theme park and never expecting to go to one because of my hate for the company at that time (yes, I said it, hate), I started reading about the parks online. Why? The Muppets. MuppetVision 3D was still at Walt Disney World in Florida and I caught an article about that. It lead to me reading other articles about the parks in general and complaints some people had, mostly that they weren't being taken care of properly. Another thing to blame on Eisner. I would crank up Mojo Nixon's song 'Disney is the Enemy' and agree.

Walt's nephew, Roy Disney, started a campaign to 'Save Disney'. I joined up, receiving regular newsletters that may or may not have been authored by Roy. They were against Eisner as well! Get him!

In the midst of all this came a new player to the field: Pixar. I believe 'A Bug's Life' was my first full introduction to them as Dave Foley ('Kids in the Hall', 'Newsradio') was a voice in the film and I'm a fan on his. I loved the film. It was every thing Disney used to be to me but that they no longer were to me. 'Monsters Inc.' was even better. Pixar was knocking Disney for six with every successive movie. It irked me that Disney was getting to distribute Pixar films, that they were able to make money off their success.

It all came to a head when Pixar decided to leave. The Disney freakout, the attempt to buy, the failing, and suddenly, the ultimatum: Kick out Eisner and it would happen. He got the boot and the universe felt brighter again. The hate faded away slowly.

Earlier this year I got to go to Walt Disney World, one of those places I thought I'd never get to visit. I got to see MuppetVision 3D! Yes! Everything else was a bonus. As we walked around, I got comfortable again. There was Uncle Walt, in front of the castle, welcoming me back. As I am with things, I get a little obsessed. I enjoy movie history and Disney does take very good care of its history. I've not been accumulating a massive library but there's been park audio and video, pins, you know, stuff.

To wrap-up, I've been politely positive to Disney for the past five years or so and back on board for the past few months. Hearing the news that Disney bought Marvel was a surprise but was there panic? Not so much. There's a lot of dust to yet settle. There's a lot of 'we shall see' to follow.

Do I have some thoughts? Yes I believe I do.