By complete coincidence, ComicsXF Editor-in-Chief Dan Grote and longtime writer and editor Tony Thornley ended up at the Walt Disney Company’s two American theme parks the same week in late June. While we were each prepared for a week of fun with our families, we issued each other a challenge — could we find a Marvel comic inside the gates of one of the theme parks?
A disclaimer for those unfamiliar with theme park IP rights: In the Marvel bankruptcy, movie rights weren’t the only thing Marvel sold. The theme park rights to Marvel’s biggest characters were bought in the Eastern United States by Universal Studios. But not all the characters, which is why Walt Disney World’s Epcot has Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, and could also build a Wakanda-themed attraction. It’s also why, as we understand it, Disneyland’s Marvel-themed area uses the Avengers branding and not the Marvel branding, (i.e. Avengers Campus rather than something like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge).
But without further ado, here’s two middle-aged dads’ vacation slides.
Tony Thornley: So Dan, I think it’s safe to say we’re both Disney adults. If I remember correctly, your family does an Orlando trip annually, and mine has done an Anaheim/LA/San Diego trip more or less every year since 2015. Have you ever made it out to my coast before?
Dan Grote: Tony, my family is so Disney my wife just bought into the Disney Vacation Club. I am neck-deep in this lifestyle to the point I can now claim it on my taxes as real estate assets.
But to answer your question, no, we have not made it out to Disneyland yet. That’s been a little too cost-prohibitive when you include air travel and stuff like that. One day.
Tony: And we’re within driving distance (mostly). Though we never have. We always fly. You don’t want to be in a car for 11+ hours with my kids.
So as the introduction says, we do get two very different Disney Parks experiences. Probably the two “lands” that are most similar between the two is Galaxy’s Edge, followed closely by Magic Kingdom and the portions of Disneyland Park that aren’t Galaxy’s Edge and Toontown. But even then, it’s not one to one: Star Tours, for example, is in Tomorrowland at Disneyland, and in Walt Disney World, it’s in Hollywood Studios.
Dan: Correct. And while I’d love to regale you with my opinions on why Star Tours is still the superior Star Wars experience to anything in Galaxy’s Edge (except Ronto wraps), that’s not what we’re here to do.
Tony: But that’s what makes this idea fun (but I will fight you about Rise of the Resistance being one of the greatest theme park experiences ever).
Will either of us find a Marvel book, and if so, who and what?
Disneyland
Tony: In the past (around 2016?) Marvel books were easily and readily available in both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. I found Star Wars comics in Star Traders (the Star Tours gift shop), and an array of Marvel books in several different gift shops. Since Avengers Campus opened in 2021, that’s been a much harder task.
We started our first day in Disneyland Park. I had my eyes peeled. We spent most of the morning there. This park had very little Marvel merch in general. This is pretty typical. It seems in California the parks are split down the middle — DLP is “classic” Disney and Star Wars, DCA is Pixar and Marvel, with a few exceptions. Outside of enamel pins, I think the only Marvel merch I saw was a Groot “shoulder buddy” plush. Were the shoulder buddies (a plush with a strong magnet in its bottom) a thing in Florida?
Dan: Oh yeah, those things are all over. My son has a shoulder buddy Grogu. Though why you’d want to walk around with something that is eminently losable is beyond me.
Hey, how was Avengers Campus, by the way?
Tony: I like Avengers Campus, but also there’s not much to it. Web Slingers is a copycat of Toy Story Mania/Midway Mania, but with fancy motion tracking tech and a cardio workout instead of a gun. Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout is one of the best rides at the park. Pym Test Kitchen is one of my favorite quick-service restaurants, because it has a Coke Freestyle machine and who doesn’t want a two-foot-wide soft pretzel (Seriously, it’s amazing). I also love that Disney is dedicated to the bit that Scott Lang is just a weirdo who likes making food really big or small.
This trip felt lacking, though. The Avengers stunt show was missing (That could have been just because of our timing, though). Even though last year it was Black Widow and Black Panther fighting Taskmaster every time, it added color to the Campus. It would have been cooler if they rotated the heroes and villains — Captain America and Widow fighting some Chitauri, then Panther and Spidey fighting some AIM guys, stuff like that. Completely missing this time, though.
And the Doctor Strange show has already ended while the Dora Milaje show is winding down. Honestly, with those three shows ending, it really drags down the entire area, leaving the Guardians of the Galaxy dance party as the only entertainment. Last year, we saw Moon Knight, Thor, Loki, Iron Man and Captain America doing meet-and-greets, Black Panther was wandering around, we got pictures with Spider-Man, Doctor Strange’s show would boom across the Campus. This year we saw Spidey and Ant-Man, and Ms. Marvel was on the Quinjet balcony.
But there was this Devil Dinosaur figure and Spider-Man themed Pizza Planet truck in Web-Spinners.
Honestly, the rest of our trip was great, but the Campus — previously a highlight of our last two trips — was a serious letdown.
But as for my hunt for a Marvel book — I did check the various general DCA gift shops on Buena Vista Street first. There was a little more Avengers and Spider-Man merch than there was on the Disneyland side. I was surprised not to see any X-Men merch, given ‘97 wrapped so recently and Deadpool & Wolverine is their only movie release this year (You know, with the movie less than a month away, I’m surprised there was no Wolverine or Deadpool characters walking around at the Campus). These are big stores though, so I might have just missed it.
Web Suppliers was my first stop in Avengers Campus. This is seriously a Spidey fan’s dream. At least half the store is dedicated to the Spider-Bots and Web Shooters from the ride, while the rest is general Spider-Man merch. My boys have two spider-bots though (one Peter, one Miles) and they’re a fun little RC toy. They made an effort to make sure the Web Shooters have fun play features, like LED holograms and ping pong ball launchers.
Also, in the first of several times I saw this, they also had Marvel Legends peg warmers. In this case, it was the extremely good design of Jessica Drew from Across the Spider-Verse. Which, to be fair, great design and performance in the movie, but I can understand why a pregnant woman is not going to be a popular action figure.
However, no Marvel Comics.
Underneath the Quinjet (where the long rumored third E-ticket attraction for the Campus will eventually live), a new store called Avengers Vault has opened, and it’s nothing but prop replicas of the various relics that held the Infinity Stones and three replica gauntlets. None of the gauntlets included an Infinity Stone, so if I did my math right, you’d have to spend about $2,000 to get an actual Infinity Gauntlet (whether it’s the original, the Iron Man gauntlet or a parks-exclusive Wakandan Gauntlet). Yeesh.
My last stop on this search was the Guardians of the Galaxy store (I think it’s called Collector’s Outpost, but no one calls it that). This probably had the widest array of merch from pretty much every major Marvel franchise except maybe the Fantastic Four. There were some cool statues, some fun apparel, even this cool Avengers #1 shoulder bag/purse.
It was here that my search kinda paid off!
Coffee mugs!
Wait, no, six-month-old comics. They’re not recent by any means, but they exist in the park! This is better than last year where I did not find them anywhere. Also, it’s cool to see Ms. Marvel in this lineup, since there’s no X-Men, Spidey or FF.
So hey, a minor win, I guess. You’d think Spider-Man would have a presence since, well, he’s Spidey, and X-Men would creep in with ‘97 and DP&W being this year’s only big deals, but hey, it’s something. Considering how kid-focused this area is, those slightly-larger-than-digest volumes of Moon Girl, Miles Morales, Kate Bishop Hawkeye and whatever they’re calling Gwen Stacy today would be worthwhile.
There were also more peg warmers across the park, and some other fun merch (Look at the Beta Ray Bill and Miguel O’Hara!). I ended up with a Jean Grey X-Men ‘97 figure (who’s either sold out or jacked up in price everywhere I look), a mystery pack of five character pins and this sweet Spider-Man hat.
Dan: TIL the phrase “peg warmer.” Anyway, time to move it on over to the East Coast.
Disney World
Dan: Meanwhile, in Florida, I found Marvel comics pretty much everywhere BUT the one place you would think to find them, at the sprawling theme park resort owned by the company that publishes them at the bottom of a vertical integration chain.
I can’t say I went into every store in every theme park looking for comics. In fact, we never even made it into Animal Kingdom due to a torrential downpour that started as soon as our bus pulled up to the park. But given that only one of Disney World’s four parks includes a Marvel-themed ride, it’s a pretty safe bet there’s nothin’ doin’ in Animal Kingdom, the Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios (a whole park dedicated to movies, of which Marvel Studios boasts six of the top 20 grossing ones of all time).
But let’s quickly duck into Epcot — my favorite of the World parks — home of Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, a star-studded indoor coaster in which you go hurtling around the cosmos to Gloria Estefan’s “Conga” or one of five other songs.
Tony: We’re going in December, and I’m seriously so excited for this ride in particular.
Dan: It’s fun! You’d think this would be a good place for some comics, to let kids’ moms know, “Hey, you still like Chris Pratt for some reason? Here are some Al Ewing Guardians comics from a couple years ago where it’s heavily implied that Star-Lord is in a throuple with Gamora and Nova.”
But nah, it’s just pins and toys and shirts, including this one that features pictures of villains who are cosmic threats and also Taskmaster from the Black Widow movie is there:
Disney World also includes Disney Springs, an entire area that’s just shopping. And in that area, there’s an entire store that’s just Marvel.
Surely, there must be comics there?
Lololololol. Nah.
Tell you what I did find though: Carl the X-Cutioner, and lots of him.
A helpful cast member informed me they had a much wider selection of X-Men ‘97 figures to start, but quickly sold out of everything but the guy from the trading card annual. They had a similar thing happen with their Spider-Verse action figures, except with the pregnant Jessica Drew Spider-Woman instead of the X-Cutioner. Peg warmers.
See, I’m learning the lingo!
Interestingly enough, I found some comics-adjacent books at the Uniqlo clothing store in Disney Springs.
Including one of the volumes of the Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive published by non-Marvel company Dark Horse Comics. None of those things, however, were actual comics.
For that, I had to leave Disney property. I had to engage with … the enemy.
Universal Studios
Dan: Welcome to Universal Studios Orlando, home to every loose IP that hasn’t already been nailed down by Disney or Warner Bros. Hope you like Shrek and obscure Doctor Seuss characters!
And that f***ing wizard.
But, as we said, Universal also holds the East Coast theme park rights for Marvel and most of its characters, so if you want to get your picture taken with Spidey or Captain America or the X-Men, Universal’s Islands of Adventure park is the place to go.
Not much has changed since the Marvel section of the park opened in 1999. It’s still a brightly colored paean to the power of comics, with giant representations of Marvel’s characters everywhere you look and the same three rides — a Spider-Man 3-D dark ride, a Hulk coaster and a Doctor Doom tower drop. Many an X-man is available for photo opportunities, including Wolverine, Rogue, Storm and this guy:
What an incredibly era-specific Cyclops costume!
The Marvel area also has a very large store labeled “C O M I C S,” with another incredibly era-specific, Adam Kubert-drawn Storm looming over it. [Tony’s note: The vast majority of the character art at Islands of Adventure is by Kubert and it all rules.]
And reader, when I tell you I found comics, I FOUND COMICS.
Two walls of them in fact, all about two or three years old. I’m talking AXE: Judgment Day tie-ins. I’m talking Dan Slott Fantastic Four. I’m talking Dark Web. I’m talking that trippy Tradd Moore Doctor Strange comic I never finished. Just the wildest assortment of almost not-recent stuff.
More importantly, I found more Marvel graphic novels for younger readers than the publisher would ever admit to having licensed.
Those Avengers Assembly books look fun as hell! I think BotA covered one of them once.
So yeah, counterintuitively, Disney — no comics; Universal — tons of comics.
Another place where I was able to find comics that surprised me: The Hudson News near our gate at Orlando International Airport.
Granted, it was mostly DC, but if you keep spinning you’ll find some Miles Morales and Ms. Marvel trades. Perfect reading for the two-hour flight back to New Jersey.
Tony: I’ve seen those at Hudson News, too! Usually it’s just like one or two things, but hey, kinda cool to see.
So, while this trip was more than worth it for me, I did leave a little bit disappointed as a Marvel fan. Great to see apparel and random collectibles, but how are they missing the boat here?
Dan: I hate to say it, but they may not be missing it. Those two walls of comics I saw at Universal looked like a comic shop that over-ordered two years ago but then forgot to mark everything down into dollar bins. That product was not moving. There was one other guy besides me looking at the comics, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t buy anything. And realistically, what’s he gonna do with Part 2 of “Reckoning War” and a Legion of X “Judgment Day” tie-in?
I reckon I’m kind of arguing against the premise of this entire piece, but of everything I saw in my travels, the best example of comics sales may have been that spinner rack of trades at Hudson News. At least then you get a complete story. If you’re not a habitual comics reader, you’re not really gonna know what to do with that random 2022 issue of Avengers after you’ve read it. It’s not gonna create a theme park-to-comic shop pipeline.
Tony: Oh, completely agree with that. Single issues, terrible idea. Beside what you said, they’re expensive for what you get, and pretty fragile to throw into your backpack while you go ride Splash Mountain. Trades and OGNs though? Come on.
Dan: Still. STILL. Put comics in theme parks. Put Marvel Comics in Disney World. Put DC Comics in Six Flags Great Adventure. Put Minions comics in Universal. Put Peanuts comic strip collections in Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom. Go back in time and put comics about people who are constantly getting injured in Action Park.
And stop stocking stores with peg warmers. Nobody wants to play with the goddamn X-Cutioner!
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
