Wizard - anyone have the whole story...

[slym2none]

...and care to share? I am sure someone can provide more detail.

 

Wizard.

 

Whatever happened to them? When I took a break from collecting, they were still top dog. Then *poof* gone?

 

 

 

-slym

[HarveySwick]

(thumbs u

 

[Reader's Copy]

I think it was mostly the internet that killed them. Their prices were always inflated, and their hyping of "hot" books that subsequently ended up being nigh-worthless added to it. Another large factor was attempting to switch to an all-media type magazine with more coverage of movies and television over comics. Spreading out your business across four magazines (Wizard, InQuest, Toyfare, some Anime mag) whose content was almost totally replaced by the internet didn't help. Firing all your decent writers was also a poor move, as was gobbling up a lot of conventions when your business name is not well-respected among insiders and serious fans was another bad idea. I seem to recall something about some type of price-fixing as well - selling comics that you are establishing the price for. Death of Captain America comes to mind, but I can't remember the details.

 

Just random thoughts, I have nothing concrete. I rather hope it had more to do with Frank Miller tearing up a copy of it and referring to it as "the devil" during an award acceptance speech helped.

 

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Wizard magazine was one glorious, slick, glossy, tricked-out, purple-pimp-feathered-hat-and-diamond-studded-cane monument to comics market greed, all in color for $3

[WalkinWillie]

I remember when they had their top 25 comic moments of all time and there was next to zero Silver Age "moments". Well, that and saying that X-Men 2 was the greatest comic movie of all time (please....) made them less than credible.

 

I remember when they were going to have a Wizard World convention in Atlanta the same weekend as Heroes-Con in Charlotte and all the creators banded together and pretty much told Wizard that they could have their show but they weren't showing up. I remember setting up at Heroes-Con that year and I can't remember such a stellar guest list - and they have a stellar guest list EVERY year. Even Warren Ellis came and he rarely shows his mug at cons.

 

It's a shame that we really don't have a good mag for comics - I enjoyed Comics Buyers Guide a lot but they went out of business mostly due to not knowing how to market themselves. Most of the well known websites these days - e.g. Newsarama and Comic Book Resources cater mostly to what is coming out now. There are a few good blogs and fan websites out there but it is hit or miss these days.

[fastballspecial]

I thought they were done when they announced they were making their own comics.

 

[Bio-Rupp]

I remember it consistently sold well the entire 13 year run of my storefronts.

 

Say what you will about content and editorial decisions... as a retailer, I was glad it was on the shelves

 

xxx ooo

 

Rupp

[Bio-Rupp]

... but I will state the entire "death of Captain America" debacle soured me on them somewhat.

 

xxx ooo

 

Rupp

[Reader's Copy]

... but I will state the entire "death of Captain America" debacle soured me on them somewhat.

 

xxx ooo

 

Rupp

 

Can you go into more detail on this? I mentioned it earlier but couldn't remember the details. Something about them selling copies of it while also listing it as "hot" or whatever?

[jaybes]

I thought they were done when they announced they were making their own comics.

 

+1 This. They became dead to me

 

 

[HarveySwick]

I guess I completely missed the dark age of it and can see why everyone didn't like it after reading everyone's comments. Now I kind of feel . I stopped around Issue #20. But the first 17 or so covers bring back such feelings of thinking back to when I was a kid.

[Dale Roberts]

Well, Wizard Magazine has since become Wizard World which produces and promotes Comic/Pop Culture conventions throughout the US.

 

http://www.wizardworld.com/

[DiceX]

Wizard lied

Speculators cried

 

 

[s-man]

Wizard lied

Speculators cried

 

 

Before joining these boards I actually believed the price guide they would put in the back

[FrankCastle]

Fan magazine by Overstreet was 10 times the mag Wizard was.

 

When I was 23 buying new comics I always bought Fan over Wizard, I always felt Wizard was for 12 year olds. Of course I liked the top 10 report from Wizard, but everything else about the mag was so sarcastic and it was ALL Image and Valiant really! I remember reading that Wizard was also awful to their employees, I'm sure that didn't help in regard to their demise.

 

Jay

[Dr. Balls]

Wizard lied

Speculators cried

 

 

Before joining these boards I actually believed the price guide they would put in the back

 

That was the price guide back in the 90's. It's what comic shops used to buy and sell books. Overstreet was like the old man who yelled at kids to get off their lawn. I can't speak for outside of my area, but the only reason you had an OSPG was to cover any books that weren't in the back of Wizard.

 

In hindsight, people love to blast Wizard for it's sins - but aside from it's own ethical practices, it had the kind of content people wanted to read.

[shadroch]

I generally assume that the main reason behind any business is to make money. By that criteria, Wizard was wildly successful and allowed the original publisher to branch out into several other fields.

He was the main guy behind the Team MMA league that briefly flourished and while looked down upon by purists Wizard World seems to be doing just fine. Last time I saw Gareb, he was riding in a 7 series BMW so I think he'd argue Wizard was a decent success.

[Prince Namor]

I generally assume that the main reason behind any business is to make money. By that criteria, Wizard was wildly successful and allowed the original publisher to branch out into several other fields.

He was the main guy behind the Team MMA league that briefly flourished and while looked down upon by purists Wizard World seems to be doing just fine. Last time I saw Gareb, he was riding in a 7 series BMW so I think he'd argue Wizard was a decent success.

 

There's no question it was a success. Wizard may have been one of the greatest scams in the history of comics.

[lscomics]

While it may have been entertaining to many people it was useless. The price guide section most of all. They screwed people out of money with their list of must have hot books that they were selling themselves in a complete conflict of interest. I'm glad the whole thing imploded and am anxiously awaiting the same thing happening with the Wizard World conventions. It will happen eventually, you can only inflate your admission prices so much before people decide to stop shelling out when there are so many other and better run conventions to attend. (thumbs u

[Dr. Balls]

While it may have been entertaining to many people it was useless. The price guide section most of all. They screwed people out of money with their list of must have hot books that they were selling themselves in a complete conflict of interest.

 

The other side of that coin is what would have comics been had their been no Wizard? What they did was self-serving and hung out a huge amount of retailers - but the years leading up to that were absolutely unprecedented in comics. They were the hype machine before the internet, cultivating the rabid speculation market that was always there - they just took it to the next level.

 

I'm not justifying what they did - I'm just saying without Wizard, comics might not have seen the same explosion in the 90s - and what might have happened then?