Comic Book Resources

I remember when I used to subscribe to Wizard, when I was in high school and didn't know any better. Ah, the folly of youth...

The Single Issue of the Year is New Avengers #22

Ah, yeah, twenty-two pages of Luke Cage ranting on about how The Man was keeping him down... yeah, that was certainly brilliant writing, wasn't it?

For the most part I enjoy Wizard magazine despite the juvenille humor that only frat boys like. They occasionally have interesting articles and some tidbits of info that I'm interested in. Of course, I'd like alot more if DC or Marvel was doing anything I had any interest in. The decisions these two companies have made this year have been really bad in my opinion. It seems they are trying hard to kill the superhero genre. Whenever I go into my comic store now on Wednesday, it's fairly empty and the few people that are there, are on the Marvel side. I seem to be the only person that visits the DC side though I have dropped about half of what I used to buy. Hey, Wizard, you need to tell us something hot at DC so we can start buying DC again. Whatever. Despite loving superhero comics, my current favorite comics are Fables and The Walking Dead. Let's see them on the cover of Wizard.

I really, really hate Wizard. It makes me angry every time I come in contact with it. What bugs me most is the way they so tow the (two) company line, yet try to seem unbiased. Remember when they released their "100 Greatest Graphic Novels" list, and claimed "#1's not what you think!" And, after 99 genre superhero stories, they had the gall to name "Maus" their "greatest graphic novel". Because, of course, art spiegleman is the only guy to EVER think "hey, why don't I try to do a comic about something other than superheros?" before or since. So, kids, you should read THAT one, because it's the serious one that one the Pulitzer Prize, then come back next month for out list of the 50 best X-Men costumes.

And you're right, Greg, they have the collective sense of humor of a boy's summer camp.

Screw you, Wizard!

Here's a "Bold Move", how about Wizard and Comics Buyers Guide (now that it's the same format as Wizard) going an entire year WITHOUT featuring either Marvel or DC on the cover.

I often wonder if there'd be any market for a comics publication that could strike a middle ground between Wizard and the Comics Journal... something that would be accessible and could still cover superheroes without being ashamed of itself, but would devote time to indie books, manga and other genres as well. Perhaps with content by blogosphere writers like the folks on here, Ian Brill, Graeme, Kevin Church, etc.?

Yes? No?

"I like how DC has been able to keep it on schedule, but it doesn’t seem that bold."

52 has gone right off the boil. for the past few months I've kept seeing the same thing repeated by the writer guys - something like "it REALLY hits the ground running from about 24 onwards!" (you can see this exact quote on Newsarama somewhere).

I think we're up to 29 or something now, and its frankly still as dull as ditchwater. Absolutely NOTHING of INTEREST is HAPPENING.

I HATE YOU DIDIO. HATE YOU RIGHT IN THE FACE.

Yes? No?

I (sadly) do not think so, Patrick.

I know I'd read it, though! Me and about 100 other folks.

There's no comic book shop in my city, and the books that show up at the magazine shops are limited, and I never know when they come out. So, I don't buy comics. At least not at the moment. I do have a growing buy list of trades on Amazon though.

The thing is, for some reason I don't seem to have the time to read anything anymore - comics, magazines, novels, whatever. I've got a backlog of about a half-dozen novels, and the last WIZARD I read was from ten months ago (although I've bought every issue that's come out since).

I spend most of my time online, and watching more television than I ever had before in my life - HEROES, LIFE ON MARS, WEEDS, TNA & ECW WRESTLING, INUYASHA, TEEN TITANS, and a lot of CSI. I used to just watch wrestling and INUYASHA. (We don't get either WWE RAW or SMACKDOWN anymore, but from what I've read, I'm not missing much.)

I also go to a lot of movies at the theatre. I'm trying to keep the theatre in business. But the selection in this city filled with young families is limited. Lots of animated chaff and terrible family films. MONSTER HOUSE was great though.

So, I read WIZARD, and enjoy it. But don't buy comics. But when I decide to, I'll be putting very little trust in WIZARD as to what I'll buy. The online blogs and such are much more informative and accurate when it comes to finding the quality stuff.

The one thing that WIZARD did that made me VERY, VERY ANGRY, was not putting out any more WIZARD EDGE specials. They put out two or three, which were great (considering it's WIZARD), but the last one was just an add-on inside one of the "big" WIZARD issues of the year. Bastards!

Anyhoo...

"I often wonder if there’d be any market for a comics publication that could strike a middle ground between Wizard and the Comics Journal… something that would be accessible and could still cover superheroes without being ashamed of itself, but would devote time to indie books, manga and other genres as well"

Wow.. That is EXACTLY what I was thinking. Wizard is...well Wizard quite frankly, so I looked for something more with the Comics Journal and found them to be pretty snooty (long interviews are nice though). I've orders the Comics International from previews but haven't gotten it yet. Hope it's the happy medium we're looking for.

Is wizard even relevant any more? I mean, it came about at a time when there was unified place to find monthly priceguides and there were few nation-wide comics journals. Wizard served a purpose in the early to mid-90's as THE place for comic news. The price-guide shrank, and the "news" sections grew.

But, with the rise of the internet, is a montly re-cap of comics news really worth while? Now we have limitless supplies of comics news and review sites which are updated daily or even by the minute. Creators give interviews via email to almost anyone, and scoopers have all the info before it is "released" to the public.

Wizard mostly exists to give its name to monstrous conventions which (unfortunately) need all the hype they can get to generate outside interest. So, I guess Wizard has a place. Just not in publishing.

"Wizard also mentions that Amazing Spider-Man #300, the first appearance of Venom, is also rising in price, which is stupid. As every comic geek knows, Venom first had a cameo in Amazing Spider-Man #298, and we first saw Eddie and the Alien in all his glory at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #299. I know it was just a cameo, but it annoys me when we can’t acknowledge the “first appearance” of a character because it doesn’t count as one."

Oddly enough, my daily Marvel calendar for yesterday (Nov 27) shows the cover of ASM 299, and calls it the first appearance of Venom.

52 has gone right off the boil. ... I think we’re up to 29 or something now, and its frankly still as dull as ditchwater. Absolutely NOTHING of INTEREST is HAPPENING.

Then please, please stop buying it. There's no excuse to keep buying a bad product once you realize it's bad. If everyone complaining about 52 and Civil War would just stop buying the damn books, they'd eventually stop making them. For god's sake, people.

As I've said before: If everyone complaining about 52 and Civil War would just stop buying the damn books, they'd keep making them, but they'd raise the prices and sell to the sub-section of the market that either a) can't help themselves and must keep buying, or b) actually like this stuff. And as evidence, I point to the existence of 52 and Civil War. This is a process that's been going on for about 20 years now...because it takes so much money to market a line of comics outside of comics stores, and the return-on-investment is suspect, the Big Two are content to just milk the remaining market for more of their dough. (And yes, I'm aware that you can't get dough by milking things. Shush.)

And as for Wizard, I'll still maintain that the most depressing thing about it isn't how juvenile it is, it isn't how resolutely focused on the Big Two it is, it isn't the lame price guide in the back, it's that, well...despite all that, it's still one of the best magazines about comics in the industry. I've tried picking up other magazines about comics, and with the exception of CBG, they're all even worse than Wizard is. At least Wizard does offer you substantial news, and while it doesn't give a lot of indie love, I can point to a few indie series I heard about and bought because of Wizard. Could it be better? Absolutely. But the bar for "comics journalism" in print is pretty low right now.

I liked Wizard back when their writers weren't afraid to come right out and trash stuff they didn't like, but then I stopped reading it when it dawned on me that most of their articles were starting to read like Big Two PR fluff.

Umm ... I feel like I might get mocked for saying this, but: Some of us (well, me, at least) are liking 52. That's why I keep buying it. It might be a gimmick, but it's a clever gimmick, and it's working for me. I like most of the protagonists of the book, these C-list heroes and supporting characters whose lives can actually change and grow without 60 years of continuity and characterization being twisted beyond all recognition.

Though to tell the truth, I don't actually care if Tony Stark is suddenly a whack job villain or not. That doesn't ruin Civil War for me — Civil War ruins Civil War.

Wizard is gross, but comic book journal makes me feel like a pretentious 35 year old (though i do enjoy it i must admit.

Comic book artist is top though.

Why don't you blog guys pool your resources together and make a magazine?

Rebis, I'm not buying 52, and I know you're responding to some of the comments, but I'm not concerned about the quality, I'm just wondering about the boldness of the move. It's unusual, but not THAT gutsy.

I bet you would like the Scott Pilgrim books. They're awesome. That's a good choice by Wizard; though you get the sense that it's one of the only "indie" comics they've ever even heard of (Can Hellboy still be considered "indie?"). Me, I'd probably pick "Fun Home" as indie book of the year, but it'll be a cold day in Hell before you see that book in Wizard. Anyway, you should give the first volume of Scott Pilgrim a try.

"52 has gone right off the boil. … I think we’re up to 29 or something now, and its frankly still as dull as ditchwater. Absolutely NOTHING of INTEREST is HAPPENING.

Then please, please stop buying it. There’s no excuse to keep buying a bad product once you realize it’s bad. If everyone complaining about 52 and Civil War would just stop buying the damn books, they’d eventually stop making them. For god’s sake, people."

I stopped buying it ages ago, my opinion of its suckiness is based on random flickthroughs in stores, the endlessly detailed online summaries of each issue and my mates issues, who refuses to stop buying it even though he hates it. Whoops.

Indie Book of the year is easily either Rex Libris or Mouse Guard, though I do confess to having not read Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness.

CBrown - Ah ha! Wizard actually mentions Fun Home as Best Banned Book of the Year, since it was pulled off the shelves in a library in Colorado (I think). And they mention Mouse Guard as Best Indie Adventure Book. That's the annoying thing about Wizard - they know what they're talking about, they just care more about pimping Civil War.

I bought Wizard, too! First time in years.

I liked how Fun Home was mentioned as, like, "Sixteenth Best Indy Book of the Year" or something.

On a MUCH nerdier note, I now want to buy a video game thingy (Whatever they're called now-a-days) just to play the Marvel and Justice League games.

Why don’t you blog guys pool your resources together and make a magazine?

This IS the magazine. According to our Dread Lord and Master, the number of unique visitors to the site is well over the circulation of several of the actual print magazines I've written and worked for.

As far as 'putting our money where our mouth is' I was involved for a while with several cartoonist friends of mine to try and put out a Disney Adventures monthly of American comics for kids and teens printed in the Shonen Jump! style of comics magazine-- a big, squarebound, anthology of adventure and humor that would compete on magazine racks in grocery stores and whatnot. Lots of talent -- you wouldn't BELIEVE how many amazing artists and writers jump on board when you tell them, "Hey, we want something fun for young people. No superheroes." Half the time they already have something in the trunk-- Kathleen Webb had this amazing fantasy princess thing called Yume Dream. All sorts of folks, working industry pros my friend Jim was pitching it to at cons and stuff. Twice we had it pulled together and twice the financing fell through. Jim tells me it's not dead, he's still trying, and he's got the L.A. connections -- but I think most of us that were in the original group have moved on.

The thing about Wizard the nobody notices, and that is a great frustration to me personally, is the shining example they are of FORMAT and DISTRIBUTION. They are a big squarebound splash of superhero color available through TRADITIONAL MAGAZINE RETAILERS. I see Wizard in grocery stores, drugstores, etc. They have lots of extra little lures and they are out where kids can see them. Why has no one in direct-market publishing noticed their numbers? Or Archie's? Why stay shackled to Diamond when there's obvious successful alternatives?

Grrgh. I have classrooms full of kids that WOULD buy comics. Tokyopop owns them body and soul simply because they're the only publishers visible in the places they go.

Rebis, you're not the only one that's enjoying 52. I don't think this reads like a big "event", but more like a serial. People expecting something big to happen each week are missing the point. And I do think it was a pretty bold move; it could have been a complete disaster (like the last attempt to do a regular comic, Action Comics Weekly) and then DC would be left with this thing every week that no one is reading and no one is talking about. But it's managed to pull in a whole slew of minor characters and do something with them. While I haven't enjoyed every element of the series, the same way that I didn't enjoy every plotline on Twin Peaks, but overall I find the series very entertaining. I continue to read it first every week.

What can I say? Wizard makes me laugh. Jokes like Odin saying "Pull my finger" never get old to me. Otherwise, Wizard does little more than print press releases, and the way they are always pimping back issues for the collector's market borders on "You too can get rich raising Alpacas!"

About a magazine-format comic with distribution everywhere:

Amen, Greg. Amen.

http://fraggmented.blogspot.com/2006/04/state-of-comics.html

sums up my thoughts on the matter, in particular the third-to-last paragraph.

Umm … I feel like I might get mocked for saying this, but: Some of us (well, me, at least) are liking 52. That’s why I keep buying it.

Yeah, well I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about the people who've been complaining about 52 and Civil War since the beginning, and were complaining about them a couple months ago, and are complaining about them now, and lo and behold will be complaining about them next month and still buying the goddamn comics. Now I don't expect those people to make up the majority of the sales of those comics, but I do think they make up a nontrivial percentage of those sales, and if those sales went away - and stayed away, and didn't come back for similar "events" - Marvel and DC would notice. But that isn't going to happen, because god forbid you don't find out what happens to Elongated Man next week!

"Rebis, you’re not the only one that’s enjoying 52. I don’t think this reads like a big “event”, but more like a serial. People expecting something big to happen each week are missing the point."

Exactly. Thank you Ken.

I'm sure the intelligent posters here at CSBG have varied reasons for not liking 52. But there are some in the greater comics blogosphere who keep looking for all the action! action! action! in a serial covering an entire year in its characters' lives. That's a case of false expectations. It's a soap opera, for crying out loud! Moreso than most comics are soap operas (insofar as they are examples of serial storytelling). It's not just their next big battle to save the world from the great evil so-and-so.

When I say "soap opera," I don't mean it in a negative way. (Though there are more similarities between comics and soaps than some posters here would like to admit to, judging by the [probably perfectly relevant] objections some had to the hilarious Marvel/Guiding Light crossover. [Gotta give 'em points for trying though! Now THAT'S a bold experiment, Greg! Probably doomed to failure, but surely a rare example of two big companies thinking outside of the box.] Of course both formats are serials, involving characters that sometimes have decades of history to them; but beyond that, they're both looked down upon by the rest of the pop-culture world. "Comics" and "soaps" are often used as perjorative adjectives, for example, by film critics to describe some really lamentable movies. As if movies can't be bad on their own -- they're bad because they take cues from these juvenile, inferior forms of storytelling.)

No, 52 is a soap because sometimes it's showing us the smaller, perhaps even more mundane moments in these characters lives, or the funny ones. Not always the big drama and not always the big brawls. Of course other superhero comics sometimes do this too, but with a monthly title, the creators have far less space to explore the rest of these things.

And it's not a crossover event. That's the line some people use that most makes me roll my eyes. Civil War this is not.* It ain't Infinite Crisis either (thank god) and those who skipped out on even trying 52 because they hated IC so much, well, they've missed out on a unique event that I think delivers very entertainingly on its premise. I, for one, am delighted to know that, no matter what else arrives at my friendly neighborhood comic shop each week (or, more likely these days, what doesn't arrive because it's weeks or months late), I have one title I look forward to reading no matter what. Because I'm a comics junkie, I guess, and I like to buy something that I'll enjoy reading ... but too often in the past I've left empty-handed because I don't blindly support books I don't like. For one year, at least, I have found something that I look forward to each and every week. Kudos to DC for delivering a reason to consistently look forward to Wednesdays.

* Which reminds me of another line of reasoning against 52 I've found flawed: Those who say it costs too much -- a new book every week! -- yet they're buying all the Civil War tie-ins. Sheesh. I'd bet my Mac that there have easily been more than 52 ancillary Civil War books. Some of them, I'm sure, are bigger crap than the main title. And some of them, as with some IC events, contained key story points that should've been in the miniseries itself. THOSE are the books people should be flipping off for costing them too much money. I've heard of glancing references to 52 in other titles that I don't buy, but I don't feel compelled to seek them out because 52 feels completely self-contained to me. And I hope DC doesn't f*ck that up before the 52 year is done.

I miss Palmer's Picks.

Christopher J. Carlson said …"...the last WIZARD I read was from ten months ago (although I’ve bought every issue that’s come out since).
...I also go to a lot of movies at the theatre. I’m trying to keep the theatre in business. But the selection in this city filled with young families is limited. Lots of animated chaff and terrible family films....So, I read WIZARD, and enjoy it."
I would submit that if you've bought ten months worth of issues of Wizard you haven't read, maybe you're not really enjoying it that much. I found that I was doing that with comics just because I had the full run of the series. So I continued to buy each new issue and they piled up until I finally felt obligated to read them. I've now cut down to just a few titles, that I actually do enjoy. Also, why spend so much time going to see movies you don't like when you don't have time for reading?

Rebis: very nice summation about 52. I'm trying to think of something to add, but can't. I do hope, however, that its' success inspires something else that Greg talked about; Don't kill "lame" characters, make them better. Sure, 52 has killed it's share of characters (with more to come, sigh...), but it has at least written them into a story rather than throw them into a panel to be dismembered. Oh and Greg, about Looker: I remember when you wrote about her appearing in the Villians Unlimited Special (that was you, right? I can't imagine that this blog has more than one Looker mark), and I didn't have the heart to tell you that she was already dead. Sorry. At least we'll always have those Alan Davis issues, right?

Moose n Squirrel: I agree with you entirely. I've never been able to understand why people keep reading comic books that they don't enjoy. I remember when I was a kid, I used to watch Full House every week, and get mad at it for not being better. Then it dawned on me thatit wasn't the show's problem, it was mine for tuning in each week for a show I knew wasn't any good.

Yes, I'm probably the only one to compare Civil War to Full House.

Ken, yes that was me, and thanks for sparing my feelings. Although I still don't remember it happening, and now have to look through the trade when it comes out in softcover and is readily available. I won't believe it until we see the body!

What's with all the whining about Wizard and everything Wizard does? Granted, Wizard isn't the New Yorker, but neither is your blog. People who enjoy indie comics aren't likely to buy Wizard, which is why Wizard doesn't offer much coverage of indie comics. Why are you whining about Joe Quesada's fashion sense? Why are you whining about Superman being named "Hero of the Year" when even you admit he's been interpreted very well in a number of books this year? This entry in your blog is a typical example of the insular bitchiness that drives away potential readers from comics.

Greg: There's not even a body, if I remember. It's in that last part, when Superboy is flying off or shooting out his heat vision or something. I just remember that someone warns her not to get too close, and then poof, she's gone. It would be easy enough to miss, what with all the carnage. Maybe, for the next edition, they'll chnage the dialoge to something like "Looker, don't get too... never mind."

I think that it was Crisis that established this whole "it's a big even, so we've got to dig out a bunch of forgotten characters to kill" routine. But Crisis WAS a big event; you can't just manufacture that. That's why they got rid of Wally West, even though he was the one post- Silver Age replacement that actually worked, and now they're stuck with a Flash no one likes.

And why is Mr. Fantastic such a fascist these days?

Hey Greg: Well, that's nice to know that Wizard mentioned Fun Home and Mouse Guard. Funny to think of what I imagine to be the target audience of Wizard reading Alison Bechtel's book, though.

I have read Wizard (and Toyfare) for many years (I used to get them FREE at the comic shoppe I worked at a decade ago - and just kept buying them out of habit and "need").

For awhile, they actually had some info that was "unknown" to the rest of the industry. So, I'd buy them and read the articles that I was interested in, and ignore (or later skim) the other stuff.

But, then the Internet really exploded with great sites and insiders began to leak things that way, so there's really NO reason to buy Wizard for the INFO.

I continued reading up until recently, when I just had enough of the stupidity of some of the "writers".
Many of these guys can't be old enough to really KNOW anything, and a LOT of their reporting is erroneous and flat-out dumb.

Each issue I bought I'd hate myself for doing so, but it was always nice to have a comic-related mag to read - wherever and whenever I felt like it, so I'd roll it up and toss it in my bag.

But, then I'd feel dirty for buying it.

I think the final nail in the coffin was the crass opening to an article about Frank Cho's work on Mighty Avengers.
The "writer" made a horrid comment about a poor man who died in his home (he lived next door to artist Frank Cho), and was left undiscovered for many days.
The comment was something like "if anything stinks near Cho's work on Avengers, it must be the dead guy".

That was "classy".

I've since dropped Wizard.

Toyfare I read for cool info on upcoming action figures and toys and such (and Twisted Toyfare Theatre - which I love).

I've dropped THAT as well (reluctantly) but will still buy the trade pb's of T.T.T. when they are released.
That shit is funny!

~P~
P-TOR

Greg--

So I'm not a huge fan of Wizard by any means -- I ocassionally pick up and read an issue just for some comic-related reading, but more often I go to blogs such as this -- but isn't this huge analysis of this issue of Wizard a bit... I don't know... whiney? Too many of your points are nit-picky, and your constant asking questions to prove your point just makes you sound like you're full of yourself. I completely understand why you'd want Wizard to cover more indie comics and less superhero stuff... but Wizard has never claimed to be about that. They've always been straight-forward about being about pop-culture and very mainstream (usually superhero) comics.

I'm not saying many of your points aren't valid or even necessary critiques -- they are. But his whole look at the problems with Wizard is watered down by the fact that your main problem with them is obviously just that they don't agree with your vision of what good comics are. A less my-opinion-is-right focused review of Wizard could provide some more important and easier to swallow criticism.

That said, keep up the great work with the blog in general. It's consistently far more entertaining than anything in Wizard.

-Philip Kollar-

Philip - Yeah, duly noted, but every once in a while I just like to whine. Wizard won't ever change, but it's nice to jab at them occasionally. I actually think they did a pretty good job this year, but it's still fun to snark about them! I try to be positive about the comic books I read (because I like them), but Wizard deserves no such consideration! As usual, my biggest problem with them is that they know about a lot more than they actually write about, but just don't care. Grrrr.

Good call on equating CSBG (and the blogosphere at large) to "our" version of Wizard, Greg (Hatcher). I was going to say something similar, but you beat me to it. Sure, it would look nice to have an actual print magazine with that sort of middlebrow commentary and critique, but why bother when all that is already available on the web? Plus, anybody can join right into the discussion! That's the reason people say print is dead. News comes out and we find out immediately, rather than waiting for the next month's issue. We can read and write reviews of comics as soon as they are released. And it's much more personal; I love that I can have a conversation with you guys (and other bloggers) about comics, rather than just read statements sent down from on high. Keep up the good work!

um, little late to the party here, but yes, I really DO wish Joe Madureira would come back and finish Battle Chasers.

Or anything...