When Kevin Smith dropped by Splash Page HQ recently to chat about his new book, "Shootin' The Sh*t With Kevin Smith: The Best Of The SModcast" (on shelves now), our conversation covered a pretty impressive number of topics. Along with telling us some of the things he's learned not to talk about on the air (and in the book), he told us about the new character he invented for his DC series "Batman: The Widening Gyre."
Heck, we even talked about one of the biggest stories of the year thus far: The Walt Disney Company buying Marvel Entertainment. Check it out:
"I saw a lot of cats who were like, 'Oh, this is the end, they're raping my childhood again,'" said Smith of the online uproar when the deal went public.
"No, they're not," he said. "[DC]'s been owned by Time Warner...for many years now. ... If you like DC's output, why the f--- is Marvel being owned by a corporate entity going to be any different?"
Elaborating on a sentiment he expressed online many times regarding the deal, Smith told MTV News, "Disney isn't dumb."
"They're not buying Marvel so they can say, 'Now put everyone in f---ing mouse ears and s---," he explained. "Disney was here long before us and they'll be here long after us. They'll be here when it's just the cockroaches and radiation."
"The Disney company looked at a hole and said, 'We don't have boys. Right now we have girls. We've done that princess thing to death. We have every f---ing girl. There's not a girl in America of middle-class family and above who doesn't have a f---ing Disney princess costume somewhere in her closet," he said. "They don't have that with boys. You can't say the same thing: 'Ain't a boy in America that doesn't have a Peter Pan costume.'"
"They identified that boys loves comics...and this Spider-Man and this Iron Man seem to be doing things," continued Smith. "They're like, 'Let's buy it. We don't have to develop a boy brand. We'll buy a boy brand, plug it into Disney and then go on. Now we're sated. We've now got this part of the market."
Smith reiterated that fans shouldn't be worried about seeing Punisher and Goofy team up any time soon.
"That's just smart business, and smart business dictates that they're not going to change the way they've done business," he explained. "They're going to let them keep doing what Marvel does. That's why they bought them."
"They said, 'You guys are obviously successful at reaching a demographic we can't—[so] continue to do so!'" he laughed. "We just want to make the money from it. We're Disney!"
Think Kevin Smith is on the money? Feel like there's more to worry about? Let us know what you think in the comment section or on Twitter!