http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/shtml/NEWS/P31S2.shtml

Now that's interesting!

I had thought that I'd read something about how Rowling had wanted to limit print-related Harry Potter licensing while her book series was still in progress. If that was the case, it's interesting to see that position softening, at least with regard to comics.

I also wonder if she'd herself write whatever Harry Potter comics come out of these (or other) talks, or if she'd be sanugine about entrusting the character to another writer...

Sounds like the kind of thing Quesada and Marvel would "leak," not Rowling.

And I'll believe it when I see it, especially with DC's immediate parent, Warner Bros., holding the movie and merchandising rights to Harry Potter.

Though the fact that Warner Brothers holds major merchandising and licensing rights to Harry Potter is, obviously, an element to any potential Harry Potter project, corporate ownership should not necessarily be viewed as the most important such element, as the "dealmaking trump card" as it were.

Corporate synergy doesn't always work that way--or rather, it doesn't work that way about as often as it does work that way. Should Marvel (or Dark Horse or Slave Labor Graphics or anyone else) offer more money and/or more advantageous terms for the Harry Potter property than DC would, then it'd be ludicrous to think that DC would get the Harry Potter property just because they're owned by the same corporate parent.

(Actually, there have been cases where companies did give preferential treatment to intra-company divisions. TV Production Company X, a division of Media Conglomerate Y, sells syndication rights to their program to Media Conglomerate Y's Syndication Company Z; Comic Book Company A licenses it's properties to its subsidiary Toy Company B for less money than it might have received from Toy Company C; etc.. And once somebody [say, a creator or shareholder] gets the idea that they may have been screwed out of some money by these sorts of deals, the lawsuits start flying. Having learned from these sorts of lessons, savvy companies are often a little more circumspect about intra-company dealings.)

Now, DC may well dedicate itself to not being outbid for the property by any outside-the-corporate-umbrella companies, but that's very different from saying that they have a lock on the project simply by dint of their ownership.

In any case, while that Sunday Mirror piece may well be a bit of preliminary fluff/hype, I do think the most interesting aspect is not that Marvel's gonna do Harry Potter comics, but the door's open a crack for there to be Harry Potter comics at all!


[This message has been edited by ATKokmen (edited 06-11-2001).]

Harry Potter is a childrens book,children don't read comics.

If DC hadn't attempted to lock up the rights by now, it's got to be some failure on management. My guess, anyway. I would guess that DC would want to have paid something just to lock the rights away FROM Marvel.

I would speculate that if at any one point that DC actively "dragged their feet" in attempting to get the graphic novelization rights, it would be somehow distantly related to the Books of Magic (reprint) rights. I know I'm out on a limb on this one, though.

Walt

If this is true, it could potentially be the best thing that's happened to Marvel in the past decade at least. If the deal goes through, its success will most likely depend entirely on Marvel's marketing strategy. Having a great (and expensive) license won't mean anything if the Potter-crazed children don't know about the comic.

I remember during the He-Man movie, they passed out (or sold, can't remember), He-Man comic books right at the movie theater. If Marvel can do something similar for the Harry Potter movie, that would be a push in the right direction. The way I look at it, this could be a double-edged sword. They could blow precious millions on a license that may go nowhere.

Ah well, as we all know, great success demands a high probability of failure. I wish Marvel all the best of luck and pray it all goes well, if this even goes anywhere at all.

-Brian

[This message has been edited by Slush (edited 06-11-2001).]

Kyle,

Just for your information: In my humble little shop, I sell more copies of Scooby-Doo than I do any of the spiderman titles. [img]/resources/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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-Bill Hicks (hickswa@excite.com)

Actually, I think it's classed as Young Adult, and young adults most certainly do read comics. They may not stick with them, but Harry Potter might be just such a ticket. And in the lines at the midnight on sale for the book last July, I saw any number of teens and pre-teens clamoring for it.

Somewhere else on these boards, I suggested the way to do the books would be to focus on one of the core characters during his summer vacation from Hogwarts. That way there's no interference with the original books and it adds depth to the characters. I hope that this is the way they intend to go, and that Rowling will write the bible for the book, at the very least.



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Jason Arnett
Writer/Artist
Jackleg Comics

Just idle speculation here, but just because we hear of talks with Marvel about the possibility of a Harry Potter comic book, it doesn't necessarily follow that there have not been other talks with other comic book publishers that we just haven't heard about...


[This message has been edited by ATKokmen (edited 06-11-2001).]