201103221114.jpgThe plot thickens, as Disney plans to expand it’s kids magazine publishing business with new magazines featuring Phineas and Ferb, Cars 2, Thor and Captain America, Sam Thielman reports.

“It’s a natural extension of our existing business — we have the content along with the consumer marketing and distribution expertise,” said Disney Publishing Worldwide topper Aparna Pande.

Pande said that the decision to move forward in this area was driven in part by the publisher’s success with its “Toy Story 3” and “Phineas and Ferb” stand-alone mags, which hit big both domestically and internationally. Thus, “Phineas” will become a bimonthly pub for Disney Publishing, and “Cars 2” – — a very successful franchise from a merchandising standpoint — will get a standalone publication timed to the pic’s June 24 release date and an ongoing mag (published eight times a year) available by subscription starting in September.


Marvel will not be involved with producing the magazines. Thor launches in April, Captain America in July.
The story doesn’t mention the previously-announced Pixar-branded magazine that Marvel is publishing using comics material originally created for Boom. It’s likely that the Disney magazines (which sound like a variation on the kinds of kids mags that Disney has tremendous success with elsewhere across the globe, and also the magazines Welsh/Disney/Marvel put out in the 90s) will have limited comics content.

1 COMMENT

  1. Look out, they’ve found a way to get comic material through the local newsstand and into the hands of children!!

    How retro!

  2. Nice!

    But I’m really looking forward to Chris Eliopoulos doing a Franklin Richards/Phineas and Ferb crossover story. THAT would be awesome!

  3. A few things to correct/clarify here.

    1) Marvel Publishing is very much involved with the these magazines. We review and approve every major stage of these Marvel kids magazines that our friends at Disney Publishing are building, distributing, and selling.

    2) Marvel produces all of the comic book content included in these Marvel kids magazines.

    3) The Marvel magazines reference above are movie-centric magazines.