So Tornante, Michael Eisner’s media investment company, has purchased Topps, makers of trading cards, HeroClix and Bazooka Joe bubble gum. USA Today talked to Eisner, former CEO of Disney, here, where he revealed some lofty plans for Bazooka Joe:
He wants Topps to create a movie, TV, Internet and publishing franchise around Bazooka Joe, the eye-patch-wearing kid introduced in 1953 on the waxy comics that wrap Topps’ Bazooka bubble gum.
“Bazooka Joe could be the next big hero,” Eisner, 65, says. “I’m not saying it’s going to be Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which he oversaw as CEO of Paramount Pictures. “But that would be the goal. Bazooka Joe is my new Mickey Mouse.”
The idea, he says, is to help Topps strengthen its connection with kids and be considered “a real media company that is up there, and at least talked about, with the other media companies that we all know.”
