Even though I am not the biggest fan of the Mouse (that would be a certain "North Dakota" among my friends), I do not think that the purchase of Marvel by Disney is not a bad thing. The Disney brand has tilted too far towards the shores of princess-infested kingdoms, and they are aware of this, since they made an entire film (Enchanted) gently mocking their success in this genre. I remember watching Classic Disney on Sunday nights when I was growing up, and the films of those eras provided plenty of materials for boys as well as girls. I remember a church lock-in at Saint Mary's where the girls prevailed upon me to watch Beauty and the Beast, which I did enjoy. The problem is not so much the quality of the material for girls as the dearth of material for boys.
The American comic industry, in contrast to Disney, has a a terrible record in attracting female readers. Manga producers, however, have no difficulty attracting female readers. What I suspect will happen is this: Disney will promote the kid-friendly and continuity-free lines of Marvel and draw in the boy viewers whom they lost after the duck-heavy years of my childhood, and Marvel will produce more comics oriented toward romance (which disappeared from their line because the action comics merged with the romance line), although it's hard to say whom they could use as leads outside of Mary Jane Watson and Kitty Pryde.
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