Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing pretty good. So today I'm gonna be talking about a magazine that I had a couple of issues of growing up and that doesn't exist anymore. That magazine is Disney Adventures which ran from 1990 until 2007 when it was finally cancelled after seventeen years. Unlike other magazines like Star Trek Magazine, Doctor Who Magazine, and Star Wars Insider, Disney Adventures was a magazine that was very much a product of the pop culture in the 90s and early 2000s. So let's get into it.
Originally dubbed "Official Publication of The Disney Afternoon" the first issue of Disney Adventures was published on November 12th, 1990. The magazine had several comic book stories in it, based on different TV shows that aired on various Disney owned channels like Goof Troop, DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Timon & Pumbaa, and Dinosaurs. However, the magazine covered everything Disney from home video releases to upcoming animated movies and everything in between. Despite this being a Disney produced magazine, Disney Adventures also covered everything pop culture including shows and movies from other companies like Paramount, Nickelodeon, Fox, MGM, and even Warner Bros. They talked about books, comics, music, and video games. In fact, I'm pretty sure the first issue of Disney Adventures I ever got, which I'll be talking about shortly, is the first time I found out about the Nintendo 64 as well as the Sony PlayStation, as weird as that sounds.
The first issue of Disney Adventures I ever saw wasn't actually the first issue I ever got. Instead I saw this brilliant cover on the magazine/comic book rack at the CHEO gift shop. Of course I saw it after I'd already picked out some comic book, I don't remember which one, and had asked for it anyway, but my mom said no, but promised that she or my dad would try to find it for me elsewhere. They never did, but back in 2017, I was at the Comic Book Shoppe with Brad and our friends Brittney and Shayne, and it was my first outing with Brad since my abdominal surgery that I'd had earlier that year, and I saw this on the shelf with some other issues of Disney Adventures and they were being sold for only $1.50 per issue, so I grabbed a few of the ones that appealed to me, including a Gargoyles cover, this one, another Star Trek one, and two Mighty Morphin Power Rangers covers.
Mashups aren't usually something I like all that much, but combining Disney with Star Trek: The Next Generation? No way I was going to pass that up. Riker and Crusher are removed entirely, Picard is there, the Beast replaced Worf, Pinocchio replaced Data, Darkwing Duck replaced Geordi La Forge, Jessica Rabbit replaced Deanna Troi, and Magica De Spell replaced Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg's character for those of you who don't know). I was also on a Star Trek high when I saw this issue for the first time, because it had only been a few months since my trip to Los Angeles so I could visit the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation at Paramount Studios. Alas I had to wait 24 years before I encountered the issue again and was able to put it in my collection.
The first issue of Disney Adventures I did get was this Halloween themed issue, with Goliath from Gargoyles on the front cover. There was a huge feature on Gargoyles in this issue because the second season had just started and D.A. was giving it's readers the lowdown on the behind the scenes happenings on the show, as well as a sneak peek at what we were going to be seeing in the show's second season, including hints at the "Gargoyles World Tour" arc that had Goliath, Elisa, Bronx and new character Angela travel the world for some mysterious reason near the end of the season, as well as the four part episode where we learn how Demona survived to the 90s, despite the fact that not only did Goliath witness her smashed stone body, but also she told him that she had been turned to stone and placed under the same spell that he and the other Gargoyles had been placed in in the pilot.
The Gargoyles comic in this issue, "All Hallows' Eve" takes place between the season 2 episodes, "Eye of the Beholder" and "Vows" with "Eye of the Beholder" being mentioned in the comic. I think this is the first time that a comic published in Disney Adventures actually takes place between particular episodes of the series they're adapting. Most other comics could happen at any time during a show's run and it wouldn't really matter. The thing that stands out about this issue are three of the ads in it.
The first of these ads is one for Gargoyles and Street Sharks on home video. This ad is for the first two volumes of Gargoyles. The direct-to-video movie compilation of the five part pilot episode, Gargoyles: The Movie - The Heroes Awaken had come out on VHS earlier in the year, and these two volumes contain the first four regular episodes of season 1, and came out a month before this issue was published.
Does anyone remember the show Brotherly Love? I know of it because of this ad, but I don't remember actually watching it on TV at the time. It definitely wasn't on in reruns when I was a teenager in the 2000s, or any time since it was originally on. At least here in Canada, I don't know about down in the US.
The third and final ad that stood out to me is this one from Bandai of America for the Sailor Moon dolls and accessories. This is the only place I've ever seen this ad, but I remember seeing the TV commercials for these toys in 1995, around this same time. My sister also had the Sailor Moon doll shown in this ad. While the Sailor Scouts had individual footwear, with only Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury having the knee high boots, these figures all wear boots. This sort of thing was common with action figures in the 90s, including the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toys where the Rangers all look like guys because the same mold was used for their bodies.
As I mentioned earlier, this issue was the first time I found out about both the Nintendo 64 and the Sony PlayStation. What's funny is that the blurb about the then upcoming console still labels it as the Nintendo Ultra 64, which was the name Nintendo had marketed it as in 1994 with a release date of April 1996 and a price of $250, which is probably why my siblings and I didn't get an N64 until Christmas 1999. That's a story for another time though. Also, the game titles listed are Killer Instinct, Cruisin' USA, RoboTech, Monster Dunk, Red Barron, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, and Top Gun. Killer Instinct would be released as Killer Instinct Gold in 1996 in North America, Cruisin' USA was also released in 1996, Robotech, which was renamed Robotech: Crystal Dreams was outright cancelled as was Top Gun (at least for the N64, a game based on the movie came out in 1996 for PlayStation, PC, and Mac). Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was released in 1997, Monster Dunk never got released at all. Neither did Red Barron. No mention in this listing of Super Mario 64 or Pilotwings 64, which is interesting given the console was only a few months away from it's release date and those two games were the pack-in games at the time of it's release.
As for the PlayStation, I didn't know anyone who owned one, so I didn't know about it, as they didn't air commercials for it on TV until shortly after this, as the console had just come out two months before this issue was published.
The second and final issue that I had when I was a kid is from 1997. This issue is weird because it was a special summer edition which talked about alot of stuff that was popular in the summer of 1997, from movies and TV shows, to books, comics, toys, theme parks, music, summer camps, sports, and museums. Yeah, it was weird. One of the categories in the movies and TV show section was Best Movie Sequel. The winner was The Lost World: Jurassic Park with the Honorable Mention being Batman & Robin. I mean I like Batman & Robin, but it got panned hard during it's theatrical release in 1997, and so for it to be an honorable mention for Best Movie Sequel in a magazine for kids is a little weird. But that means it did what WB wanted it to do. As for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, it had mixed reception that same year. At the time the only way I had of knowing what was popular was what the kids in my class talked about. While Batman: The Animated Series was popular with my classmates in 1992, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm in 1993, and Batman Forever in 1995, none of my classmates talked about Batman & Robin in 1997. They also weren't talking about The Lost World: Jurassic Park either.
The section on music in this issue is absolutely insane. There's a category called "Best CDs to leave in your stereo" and the albums listed here are crazy. In order, there's Odelay by Beck, Sheryl Crow by Sheryl Crow, Middle of Nowhere by Hanson, with "MMMbop" mentioned, Pieces of You by Jewel, Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt, Savage Garden by Savage Garden, with "I Want You" being mentioned, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins, Spice by the Spice Girls, and Bringing Down the Horse by the Wallflowers. Yeah, definitely 1997. Though aside from the Spice Girls, No Doubt, Hanson, Smashing Pumpkins, and maybe Savage Garden, what kid was listening to Jewel and Sheryl Crow? I don't even know who Beck is or who the Wallflowers are, except for their mention here.
Of course, in the Trendsetters category, I can see people who are my age listening to Hootie & the Blowfish, Alanis Morrisette (especially here in Canada), Nirvana, Boyz II Men, Coolio, and TLC. Garth Brooks, LeAnn Rimes, and Shania Twain on the other hand...not so much. So yeah, that section was a mixed bag. I'd be here all day if I talked about every section in the magazine, but there's one more section I want to talk about, and that's this issue's Comics Zone.
Comics Zone was the section where the comics were placed, and it was usually at the end of the issue. In this particular issue an original comic titled The Adventures of D&A began publication. Two kids accidentally discover an alien invasion and an organization known as the Secret World Saving Club, which was started to fight the aliens, known as Malig-Nots. Don't ask, it was a 90s comic from Disney Comics. I never got to read anymore of the D&A stories, as they were in subsequent issues, and I never got any issues of Disney Adventures that were published after this one. Just older issues from the Comic Book Shoppe in 2017.
As the years went on Disney Adventures began focusing more on the Disney Channel stars like Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff, Raven Simone, the Jonas Brothers, etc. Disney movies and overall pop culture was still featured, but the 2000s were all about Disney Channel and the movies and shows that aired on it. Not to mention the stars who populated those shows and movies. So it would make sense that the official magazine for kids published by Disney would heavily feature that aspect of Disney pop culture. The comics also changed slightly as shows like Kim Possible began being adapted.
Finally, in November 2007, seventeen years after the first issue was published, the final issue was published and Disney Adventures ceased to exist. As I said at the beginning of this overview, this magazine was very much a product of the 90s. It was how kids discovered the coolest stuff coming out from Disney. Especially if they weren't advertised on TV as much. While my time with the magazine was brief when I was a kid, never having been able to get more than the two issues I got at the CHEO gift shop, I loved reading the articles and comics. And those ads that I showed above are also pretty cool too. Magazines like this are a dying breed with the advent of the internet and Wiki sites such as the Disney Wiki. So information like this is alot easier to find these days than it was in the 90s and even early 2000s when Disney Adventures was being published.
Alright guys that's going all for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow with my review of episode 2 of Superman & Lois. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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