Wizard Magazine question 0

[wardevil0]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:27 AM, Dr. Balls said:

I was kinda the opposite - I can't tell you how many comics I upsold using Wizard between pushing Valiant, Top 10 and "Hot Books". I think it really helped the indy guys, as Marvel and DC fans started getting into independents based on reviews and "increased value" in those books. The concept of "flipping" was a lot less common without the internet, but people loved buying a book I got for $1.50 from the distributor and sold it to them for $5 and one month later it was "worth" $10.

Wizard helped pre-Unity Valiant, Bone, Strangers in Paradise, Cry for Dawn, Hepcats, and more indies I can't remember get traction with kids who wouldn't otherwise have ever looked beyond the ever-expanding X-books.

[Ryan.]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:57 AM, wardevil0 said:

Wizard helped pre-Unity Valiant, Bone, Strangers in Paradise, Cry for Dawn, Hepcats, and more indies I can't remember get traction with kids who wouldn't otherwise have ever looked beyond the ever-expanding X-books.

Completely agree. Other than TMNT and The Tick, which is a local IP here, I had almost zero exposure to indy books at that time, being pre-internet. Once Wizard switched to more of an entertainment magazine, with a focus geared toward movie speculation and putting celebrities on covers, the utility of Wizard disappeared for me.

[Gonzimodo]

I still have a full run of Wizard.  Man, I loved that magazine.  Sure, it could be a little juvenile at times, but it was always in good fun, and they did a good job making you feel like a part of their stupid little "cool nerds" club.  It was always the first thing I read when it came out, and I have them to thank for my love of the original Valiant comics.  My best friend and I had a blast trying to find all the items for one of their annual scavenger hunts, which was pretty difficult in the pre-internet age.  I mailed away for most of their "1/2" issues and still have a all the cards that came with most issues.  Good times.

I think it lost a lot of its magic when it went from the thick, squarebound comic size to the regular magazine size.  It just didn't seem as cool or special for some reason.  

Funnily enough, I stopped buying it about three months before it stopped publication, so apparently I wasn't the only one who had given up at that point.  When I discovered that they had ceased publishing, my OCD self had to buy those final issues, of course.  

[roach04]

On 4/18/2024 at 10:21 AM, Chip Cataldo said:

He was amazing. Whatever happened to him, anyway? Is he still working?

As others have posted he's come back to the con circuit!  Really only did a few books and ~2000 I think he went Hollywood.  The details he could fit on a single page were mind-blowing.

[bc]

On 4/18/2024 at 4:02 PM, Gonzimodo said:

I still have a full run of Wizard.  Man, I loved that magazine.  Sure, it could be a little juvenile at times, but it was always in good fun, and they did a good job making you feel like a part of their stupid little "cool nerds" club.  It was always the first thing I read when it came out, and I have them to thank for my love of the original Valiant comics.  My best friend and I had a blast trying to find all the items for one of their annual scavenger hunts, which was pretty difficult in the pre-internet age.  I mailed away for most of their "1/2" issues and still have a all the cards that came with most issues.  Good times.

I think it lost a lot of its magic when it went from the thick, squarebound comic size to the regular magazine size.  It just didn't seem as cool or special for some reason.  

Funnily enough, I stopped buying it about three months before it stopped publication, so apparently I wasn't the only one who had given up at that point.  When I discovered that they had ceased publishing, my OCD self had to buy those final issues, of course.  

So are those cards that came with the magazine worth anything today? Asking for a friend 

-bc

[Browns81]

On 4/16/2024 at 7:32 PM, valiantman said:

 

 

If anyone's interested, the monthly Wizard Top Ten lists (1991 to 2010) are archived on WizardTopTen.com 

It’s kind of sad how variant covers completely took over around 2000.

[valiantman]

On 4/18/2024 at 6:03 PM, Browns81 said:

On 4/16/2024 at 6:32 PM, valiantman said:

 

 

If anyone's interested, the monthly Wizard Top Ten lists (1991 to 2010) are archived on WizardTopTen.com 

It’s kind of sad how variant covers completely took over around 2000.

Comic books have always been about 10 years behind sportscards.  "Variant" cards took over in the early 1990s (limited "chase" cards), so it's actually right on time that we'd see variant comics switch from the content of the books to the "limitedness" of the covers around 2000.  Sad, but true.

[valiantman]

On 4/18/2024 at 5:09 PM, bc said:

So are those cards that came with the magazine worth anything today? Asking for a friend 

-bc

Nope, hundreds of thousands of anything add up to very little value individually, even 30 years later.