Wizard?

Dancanread

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Joined
May 30, 2006
Messages
1,638
So, I've heard and read many allusions from comic creators and fans to the opinion that Wizard is looked upon as bad for the industry somehow. Aside from the fact that the magazine contains a few too many exclamation points, I don't really know what everyone's beef is with them. Can someone enlighten me?
 
Wizard is bad for comics the same way ESPN is bad for sports.

They're in bed with the companies and are more intersted in advertising than reporting.
 
Their movie panels suck ***.

I knew more about the movies than they did

The movie panel only consisted of trailers that we had already seen. :lol: So weak.




But I don't think Wizard is bad for comics per se. But since they're "in bed" with them, a lot of smaller, greater comics get overlooked for some feature article showing some sketches for whatever big crossover/event is coming down the pipe.
 
So they're kinda focused squarely on the big two, not out for the industry as a whole?
 
So they're kinda focused squarely on the big two, not out for the industry as a whole?

Correct.

That's not to say that smaller comics don't get any shine time. Quite often I'll see their "Buy This Book" section feature an Image or Dark Horse comic. But that's only one section.

And maybe there'll be a blurb or 2 or 3 about some smaller known artist/writer revamping a lesser known character.

But for the most part it's all about the Big Two.
 
I recently discovered, to my horror, that all those video games magazines I bought as a kid are shills.

20050513h.jpg

20071129.jpg


Until I saw those, I didn't get how magazines work. They rate things high because they get paid to do so. That's why video game magazines never rate anything below 70-80%. Everything's 80% this 90% that.

Anyhow - that's kinda how why I stopped reading Wizard. At first, back in '98, Wizard got me back INTO comics. With their "Dark Book '98" which talked about loads of villains and what they were going to in the year to come. It was pretty cool.

And for a while, it just made me like comics. It was a comic magazine that was written by fans who got you to like the comics.

But... at some point, that faded for me. As the comics industry churned out more and more rubbish, as Bendis kept writing whatever the hell he wanted and it would remain Wizard's #1 writer... my tastes and theirs started to depart. The whole thing started to seem childish. Childish and stupid gags about Power Girl's breasts or something. How Batman's a homosexual. I don't know. But it started to great on me, mainly because, the major titles they were boasting, I couldn't stand. I got more and more annoyed because they never seemed to actually go, "Y'know what? This sucks." They'd sit there with a feature on a mystery in a comic like a whodunnit, come up with lots of ideas, the comic would come out with a dull, stupid answer, and they'd say nothing. They'd focus on all the really merchandisable stuff, but like, maybe a paragraph in one issue about 100 BULLETS (I heard of the title through Wizard after all).

I don't know - maybe it's just the nature of the marketplace. But at some point, I'd look at Wizard and not only were their articles and interviews very shallow and pappy, but they'd continually spend half an issue on huge major crossover events that frankly, were the results of poor writing.

So - I dunno. Wizard ****s me off. It's probably not as bad as I think, because my memory of it is actually quite pleasant. I'm going to read a new issue of Wizard and comment.

But the magazine quality... that's neither here nor there. The BIG problem I have with Wizard (and why I wanted us to NOT go to WizardWorld) was this: Shelton Drum, the friendly chap who runs HeroesCon, sets his dates a year in advance. Wizard went to hold WizardWorld in Atlanta (or some place near to Charlotte, NC where HeroesCon is held) and Shelton said, "These are my dates. Run WizardWorld on another weekend, and I'll gladly help as best as I can."

WizardWorld that year was set to go on the exact same weekend. WizardWorld, according to other people, continually does this. Sets its con weekend the same weekend as a smaller con, in order to drum them out of business.

It didn't work. LOTS of comic book professionals (like Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch - this was 06, so ULTIMATES was on top) said "**** you, Wizard" and went to HeroesCon. In fact, HeroesCon '06 was the biggest HeroesCon ever because of it! (Shelton was told by Allison that he should send Wizard a fruit basket.) Hell, I should too. I went to '06 and made friends with all my childhood heroes (does a little dance).

But I have a real problem with Wizard for that. For being the Starbucks of the comic convention scene.

'09 - Heroes Con. Start saving *******s.
 
I recently discovered, to my horror, that all those video games magazines I bought as a kid are shills.

20050513h.jpg

20071129.jpg


Until I saw those, I didn't get how magazines work. They rate things high because they get paid to do so. That's why video game magazines never rate anything below 70-80%. Everything's 80% this 90% that.

Anyhow - that's kinda how why I stopped reading Wizard. At first, back in '98, Wizard got me back INTO comics. With their "Dark Book '98" which talked about loads of villains and what they were going to in the year to come. It was pretty cool.
I have that! I bought it randomly somewhere a few years back.
And for a while, it just made me like comics. It was a comic magazine that was written by fans who got you to like the comics.

But... at some point, that faded for me. As the comics industry churned out more and more rubbish, as Bendis kept writing whatever the hell he wanted and it would remain Wizard's #1 writer... my tastes and theirs started to depart. The whole thing started to seem childish. Childish and stupid gags about Power Girl's breasts or something. How Batman's a homosexual. I don't know. But it started to great on me, mainly because, the major titles they were boasting, I couldn't stand. I got more and more annoyed because they never seemed to actually go, "Y'know what? This sucks." They'd sit there with a feature on a mystery in a comic like a whodunnit, come up with lots of ideas, the comic would come out with a dull, stupid answer, and they'd say nothing. They'd focus on all the really merchandisable stuff, but like, maybe a paragraph in one issue about 100 BULLETS (I heard of the title through Wizard after all).

I don't know - maybe it's just the nature of the marketplace. But at some point, I'd look at Wizard and not only were their articles and interviews very shallow and pappy, but they'd continually spend half an issue on huge major crossover events that frankly, were the results of poor writing.

So - I dunno. Wizard ****s me off. It's probably not as bad as I think, because my memory of it is actually quite pleasant. I'm going to read a new issue of Wizard and comment.

But the magazine quality... that's neither here nor there. The BIG problem I have with Wizard (and why I wanted us to NOT go to WizardWorld) was this: Shelton Drum, the friendly chap who runs HeroesCon, sets his dates a year in advance. Wizard went to hold WizardWorld in Atlanta (or some place near to Charlotte, NC where HeroesCon is held) and Shelton said, "These are my dates. Run WizardWorld on another weekend, and I'll gladly help as best as I can."

WizardWorld that year was set to go on the exact same weekend. WizardWorld, according to other people, continually does this. Sets its con weekend the same weekend as a smaller con, in order to drum them out of business.

It didn't work. LOTS of comic book professionals (like Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch - this was 06, so ULTIMATES was on top) said "**** you, Wizard" and went to HeroesCon. In fact, HeroesCon '06 was the biggest HeroesCon ever because of it! (Shelton was told by Allison that he should send Wizard a fruit basket.) Hell, I should too. I went to '06 and made friends with all my childhood heroes (does a little dance).

But I have a real problem with Wizard for that. For being the Starbucks of the comic convention scene.

'09 - Heroes Con. Start saving *******s.
Wizard was actually what got me into comics. I bought an issue to read a story about the Spider-Man movie and started getting interested in these "comic books", as the kids call them.

But they've really gotten terrible in the past few years. Every single issue is a preview issue of some kind. And the previews are all ****.
 
I downloaded a recent issue and basically... I think I've just outgrown it? I don't know. It just reads like fanboys talking about the new thing or tv show or what not.

I can get that for free by people I like. Like yourselves. There's nothing amazing about the writers in Wizard that makes me care about their opinion.
 
I dropped Wizard years ago. There is nothing in that magazine that now cannot be found on the internet.
 
I agree with the fact that you can find the stuff on the internet.

But then they have stuff like director's commentary on some of the events/stories/arcs.
Like in the latest issue they have one on the Sinestro Corps Wars.

I liked it, and i hate staring at a computer for ages to read all the interviews and work they put on the internet.
It nice to have it in your hand sometimes
 
I agree with the fact that you can find the stuff on the internet.

But then they have stuff like director's commentary on some of the events/stories/arcs.
Like in the latest issue they have one on the Sinestro Corps Wars.

I liked it, and i hate staring at a computer for ages to read all the interviews and work they put on the internet.
It nice to have it in your hand sometimes


we use to say it was great bathroom reading material and there was one guy at one time who worked for wizard and always plugged it. So all the negativity he obviously hated.

for example the price guide, not covering enough. The covers always seemed to have wolverine on it.

I do agree that you cant get everything on the internet than from wizard. But I would say 95% could be found other than wizard.
 
WIZARD!​

I'm disappointed in both of us for not realising this sooner.

I agree with the fact that you can find the stuff on the internet.

But then they have stuff like director's commentary on some of the events/stories/arcs.
Like in the latest issue they have one on the Sinestro Corps Wars.

I liked it, and i hate staring at a computer for ages to read all the interviews and work they put on the internet.
It nice to have it in your hand sometimes

we use to say it was great bathroom reading material and there was one guy at one time who worked for wizard and always plugged it. So all the negativity he obviously hated.

for example the price guide, not covering enough. The covers always seemed to have wolverine on it.

I do agree that you cant get everything on the internet than from wizard. But I would say 95% could be found other than wizard.

Ironically, one can also 'find' Wizard online. :p
 
Wizard is bad for comics the same way ESPN is bad for sports.

They're in bed with the companies and are more intersted in advertising than reporting.

This is cool way of putting it
 

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