Wizard hypes the Bronze Age

[blowout]

The latest issue of Wizard magazine has an article proclaiming 70's books as 'breaking out' and infiltrating CGC in droves. This, they go on to say, is mainly due to the fact that collectors that grew up in the 70's are now reaching the age where they have the disposable income to splash out on high grade copies of their childhood favorites (nothing new there).

 

Here is a choice quote from the piece:

"What's hairy, snarling and bound to empty your wallet faster than you can blink? Your girlfriend? Good guess, but no. We're thinking along the lines of CGC graded copies of Werewolf By Night."

 

The funniest thing about the whole article to me, is that most of the books they talk about as booming can't even be found in their price guide.

 

Anyone else see the article? Thoughts? Opinions?

[Bronty]

Didn't see it but that does sound funny. Especially the part where the "news" article is at least 2 years behind the trend!

[500Club]

The funniest thing about the whole article to me, is that most of the books they talk about as booming can't even be found in their price guide.

Like Ms. Marvel 16, which they highlighted as a book to watch in the Market Report section...... without a Ms Marvel listing in the guide section.

[blowout]

Like Ms. Marvel 16, which they highlighted as a book to watch in the Market Report section...... without a Ms Marvel listing in the guide section.

 

Exactly, and the quote I included from the article mentioned Werewolf By Night. They also had a picture of a CGC copy of WBN #32...but there is no listing in the guide for the title at all.

 

Come on Wizard, at least if you are going to hype a book, include a price for it in your guide.

[awe4one]

Well....it's probably a case of Wizard not having anything "new" to hype. They've beaten their traditional hype targets, "New" Marvel, CGC comics, Top Cow, Alan Moore, Smith, Bendis, Millar, and Lee Batman, into the ground to the point where the magazine was getting stale. Gotta find a new target to get the blood flowing. What better than a situation that they've missed by about a year (but neglect to mention)? The fact that prices are missing can be explained as Wizard needing time to catch up to this new phenomenon.....

 

After they beat this into the ground....they'll go back to hyping the flavor of the month again.....

 

 

Jim

 

 

[Foolkiller]

Yeah, next month they've got Wizard "0"... a whole new age for Wizard!

 

Allegedly they're going to have an expanded price guide... we'll see how good it is.

 

Glad to see the Master of Kung Fu image there though, that's a book that doesn't get nearly enough attention as it's first 50 issues (and the cover from #64) are some of the 70s best stuff.

 

[Kevin76]

I like Wizard,I haven't bought it quite awhile,I miss when they had interviews with Mcfarlane,Jim Lee,Neal Adams ect.. The stopped doing interviews for some reason,Wizard is really good if your into new comics,other than that it's just ok

[500Club]

I agree on the MOKF.... did you grab the recent mini by Moench/Gulacy? How was it?

 

Wizard has potential to be a lot more than they are. Their recent articles on Finger, Ditko, and Shooter, while lacking depth, were quite good. Why not take future content in that direction?

 

Also, if you're going to hype books, why not reward the underrated books out there that aren't selling as well as their quality warrants - Y, Fables, 100 Bullets, Alias, Powers come to mind....

 

Build the quality of the price guide. No one really takes it seriously, and it hasn't had any cred since the infamous listing of 'Stryfe's Strike File' at $5 before the release of the book (which languished on shelves).

[Foolkiller]

I did buy the most recent MOKF mini... it was good, kind of a throwback to the old days... but it just lacked a certain something. Shang is actually a good character for mini series (these days, I think an ongoing is tough as his drive to do things is limited)... I remember the days with his battle with the Cat (one of Gulacy's best sequences) but even the Zeck stuff was pretty good... enjoyable art.

 

Wizard is a ten minute read these days... focusses primarily on the new stuff (and I did see a spotlight on Y and HERO in Wizard) but some of the interviews need more meat to them like the Shooter interview.

 

Their guide is off... but it seems they do have somewhat of a pulse on hot or recent trends (which they themselves are partially responsible for) and can affect pricing on certain books.

[aardvark88]

The 6 issue MOKF Moench mini-series was mediocre. I had hi-hopes after reading issue #1, 2 but it seemed like a retread of previous Fu Manchu storylines except they added jets. Covers were nice by Gulacy but the interior art/panel layout was not as trendsetting as his earlier MOKF work.

[ninanina]

Their guide is off... but it seems they do have somewhat of a pulse on hot or recent trends (which they themselves are partially responsible for) and can affect pricing on certain books.

 

Darth, you listening?

 

Don't they list Hulk 34 as a $45.00 comic today?

 

With 35 and 36 @ $20.00? Any other rediculous prices?

 

What do they have Fable #1 going for? Don't know if they've inflated this one, but just taking a stab at it based on hype.

[Foolkiller]

Actually, I was blown away by the Hulk #34 price at $45 which seems high... but is it? I haven't seen that many to know... maybe Darth or someone can fill me in!

[Foolkiller]

I'm thinking of auctions like this...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?viewItem&item=2179483547&category=3953

 

 

[500Club]

Their guide is off... but it seems they do have somewhat of a pulse on hot or recent trends (which they themselves are partially responsible for) and can affect pricing on certain books.

Yep, there is the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' effect. But, because Overstreet lags the market with modern pricing and comes out once a year, Wizard often becomes the default source for modern prices.

 

Hulk 34 at $45? Seems high to me, but the 9.8s seem to climb into triple digits, so....

 

35 and 36 at $20 strike me as being further off.

[ninanina]

Well, there was a run of Hulk including 34, 35 and 36 that just recently sold for $56.00 on e-bay. So even without the other 6 or 7 comics inc., it's still 66% under Wizard guide.

[vic6string]

Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.... way back when these Hulk books started getting the hype, and 34 hit about 20 bucks, they listed 35 at something like $35. The previous issue it was cover price. The following issue it was $5. So this was probably a typo, but I remember people down here going crazy looking for the book and paying 20 to 25 bucks for it. All of a sudden it was a craze. When it ended up being a mistake (one that Wizard made no mention of, they just corrected it) I heard people left and right swear that they would never grab another issue of Wizard again.

[FlyingDonut]

Their guide is off... but it seems they do have somewhat of a pulse on hot or recent trends (which they themselves are partially responsible for) and can affect pricing on certain books.

 

Darth, you listening?

 

Don't they list Hulk 34 as a $45.00 comic today?

 

With 35 and 36 @ $20.00? Any other rediculous prices?

 

What do they have Fable #1 going for? Don't know if they've inflated this one, but just taking a stab at it based on hype.

 

Fables 1 sells for $15-20 all day long and I can't ever find any.

[500Club]

Talk to me , Donut..... I have extras. Got any nice Spec Spideys in the 10-50 range? I saw you had a nice 2 on eBay.

[500Club]

Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.... way back when these Hulk books started getting the hype, and 34 hit about 20 bucks, they listed 35 at something like $35. The previous issue it was cover price. The following issue it was $5. So this was probably a typo, but I remember people down here going crazy looking for the book and paying 20 to 25 bucks for it. All of a sudden it was a craze. When it ended up being a mistake (one that Wizard made no mention of, they just corrected it) I heard people left and right swear that they would never grab another issue of Wizard again.

 

This is just plain silly.... you might want to understand why the book is listed at $35 before you start snapping up copies. Common sense probably should have suggested the listed price was a typo.

 

These purchases were motivated by greed, and the buyers have no one to blame but themselves.

[Darthdiesel]

Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.... way back when these Hulk books started getting the hype, and 34 hit about 20 bucks, they listed 35 at something like $35. The previous issue it was cover price. The following issue it was $5. So this was probably a typo, but I remember people down here going crazy looking for the book and paying 20 to 25 bucks for it. All of a sudden it was a craze. When it ended up being a mistake (one that Wizard made no mention of, they just corrected it) I heard people left and right swear that they would never grab another issue of Wizard again.

 

This is just plain silly.... you might want to understand why the book is listed at $35 before you start snapping up copies. Common sense probably should have suggested the listed price was a typo.

 

These purchases were motivated by greed, and the buyers have no one to blame but themselves.

 

As I understood it, the Hulk 35 was reported (in that wizard issue?) as being sought after because it was a silent "Nuff' Said" book that was much better (possibly the best one ) out of the whole month's silent turnout. It didn't think that was a typo.