Wizard Magazine Shuts Down

[Spider-Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Spider-Lantern]

BREAKING: R.I.P. Wizard Magazine - Shuts Down Immediately

We heard some startling, but unsurprising news that made the rumor rounds this morning and now Bleeding Cool is reporting that Wizard Magazine is shutting its doors immediately. According to Bleeding Cool, all the Wizard staff has been laid off and the magazine will cease publication immediately. This has not yet been confirmed by Wizard editorial or their public relations folks.
Wizard Magazine started in 1991, and for the past 20 years has been the leader in comics magazines, whether you liked it or not. Many people identify Wizard with much of the success and strife of the 1990s, and for the past 10 years Wizard has struggled to maintain relevancy in the face of the growing comics media that found a home on the Internet (much like us).
Personally this makes me sad. I love magazine and I remember buying the first issue of Wizard back in 1991, and it's probably safe to say that I've bought and read 90% of their issues in their 20 year run. Sure, sometimes their humor was juvenile and they had an odd obsession with values of comics and speculator-like things. But it was still fun to read a magazine about comics, and with the recent changes to the Comics Journal and now this, we're not left with much in terms of comics media "in real life." But this is a trend that the rest of the media world is dealing with as well, not just comics and I suppose it was just a matter of time.

-from ifanboy.com

It's really not that surprising, but it is sort of sad. A number of years before my family got an internet connection, Wizard was my only source for comics and entertainment news. I'm sure I'm not alone in this regard, but I just wanted to put in my two cents. Sorry to see it go.

[mrjasontodd Mario C Find all posts View Profile Close mrjasontodd]

good thing i didnt renew my subscription

[Marvelous Iggy God Of Turtles Find all posts View Profile Close Marvelous Iggy]

Good fucking riddance, Wizard has been a POS "comics" magazine, for a long time. I hope someone creates a better comics magazine. Fuck Wizard.

[Sylent_Asassin Black Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close Sylent_Asassin]

Yeah, that is sad. I think I still have issue #1 somewhere in a box. When Wizard first started, their mag was thick and full of content. Now, it's a watered down version and a shadow of its former book, just like Maxim. All the stuff I liked like the Versus heroes and Mort of the Month are long gone... and that's why I stopped collecting the book.

I wonder if Toyfare is going to stick around.

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

I enjoyed them for a short while (they had a few great articles here and there), but then they had this visible drop in quality, and I ditched them.

Hope the former employees find work soon.

[MasonACBB Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close MasonACBB]

This is pretty sad to me. When I was about 8 I went to my moms cousins house and her boyfriend gave me my 1st stack of various comics, and a huge stack of Wizards (most of the issues from about 95-2000) and it was those comics and Wizards that laid the foundations for where I'm at now. Then Identity Crisis showed my teenage self that the storytelling can be pretty damn compelling, and here I am. Wizard was responsible for me loving the industry and wanting to be in it, so it kind of sucks to see something that taught me a lot go away.

[myuserid Lantern Hex Find all posts View Profile Close myuserid]

Not surprised. I haven't read Wizard in a couple of years.

Like sylent, I miss the old Wizard.

But, anytime a comics source falls it's kind of sad.

[Darth_Primus Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Primus]

I felt it was a matter of time before Wizard folded. Like most magazines, they got thinner and more expensive.

I have two Wizard mags that are still sealed. The Spawn cover in flag and the Cable on the cover, during the period when McFarlane and Liefeld were two of the biggest names in the industry.

I think it's sad that it's gone.

[Robinson Guardian Of The Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Robinson]

I have a few old wizards still.




On a side note I thin IG has some deep seeded resentment for the 90's in general. All he does is bitch about them and he was only like 3 years old then. :P

[Darth_Primus Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Primus]

^ I know, right?

Seriously though, I liked the start of the 90's comic book scene. It should up the industry, and the anti-hero became the norm and comic book readers got new characters and titles. One of which, Witchblade, as become one of IG's favorites.

[Razorgod Anti-Monitor Find all posts View Profile Close Razorgod]

I felt it was a matter of time before Wizard folded. Like most magazines, they got thinner and more expensive.

This. My first instinct when I got back into comics was to pick up Wizard....it wasn't anywhere near par for what I remembered.

Thin on content with a jacked up cover price.

And the article content wasn't anything special.

Still, there was a time when I couldn't wait to get my hands on a new issue.

[Marvelous Iggy God Of Turtles Find all posts View Profile Close Marvelous Iggy]

I have a few old wizards still.




On a side note I thin IG has some deep seeded resentment for the 90's in general. All he does is bitch about them and he was only like 3 years old then. :P

^ I know, right?

Seriously though, I liked the start of the 90's comic book scene. It should up the industry, and the anti-hero became the norm and comic book readers got new characters and titles. One of which, Witchblade, as become one of IG's favorites.

I don't hate "everything" 90's, just the really really really really bad shit, I may have been young when all that originally started, but I did read a lot of those stories (Dad bought comics through out the 90's)

I love the original Spawn, Age of Apoc is my favorite X-Men story of all time. Grant Morrison's JLA is my favorite take on the JLA. I OWN X-MEN #1 FROM 1991 DAMN IT. So I don't hate all things 90's, just the truly awful shit.

[plastroncafe Alpha-Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close plastroncafe]

Loved Wizard all through highschool and college. Then, due to having to actually pay for college, I let my subscription lapse. Picked up their Green Lantern issue not too long ago. Good god, it's like a shell of what it once was.

[Tazer That Evil, Yellow Bastiche Find all posts View Profile Close Tazer]

Yo.

kinda sad as I still remember that convention exclusive they gave out b4 the 1st ish his the newsstands way back when...............but its a sign of the times I guess.

Vaya Con Dios, compadres (even tho I never read it on the reg).

/kneel




Tazer

[Tazer That Evil, Yellow Bastiche Find all posts View Profile Close Tazer]

Yo.

I don't hate "everything" 90's, just the really really really really bad shit, I may have been young when all that originally started, but I did read a lot of those stories (Dad bought comics through out the 90's)

I love the original Spawn, Age of Apoc is my favorite X-Men story of all time. Grant Morrison's JLA is my favorite take on the JLA. I OWN X-MEN #1 FROM 1991 DAMN IT. So I don't hate all things 90's, just the truly awful shit.

*waits for the Scarlet Spider -rant to start.........*




Tazer