Pipeline #495 - 05 December 2006

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

This week, I'll begin the monthly PREVIEWS rundown with Marvel and another company yet to be written up.

But I'll also give you my bullet pointed plan to save WIZARD Magazine.

-Augie

[Deathstroke]

Better to just take a bullet and use it for the actual purpose it is meant for.

And don't forget to spotlight the fact the Previews has a CTU shirt coming out!

[Spidey_82]

Great column. I agree with most, if not all, the points about Wizard.

Just one remark: I was first hooked on Scott Pilgrim thanks to Wizard, so they do that too. Unfortunately it was the rare Wizard Edge they barely publish once a year.

[torippu]

I'm happy to finally see someone mention the Sojourn TPB. From the back of book, this was the one thing that got me excited (even though I have all of the issues and the ending of that series is a big disappointment) and I scribbled down a note to talk about it if you guys happened to not mention it in the podcast.

Trip

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Trip - Yup, and it gets mentioned in the podcast, too. We are diligent workers at Pipeline World Headquarters.

Spidey_82 - Dangit, I knew I'd pick a bad example. I'm glad to hear WIZARD acknowledged that book's existence, at least. They've since moved EDGE into the main magazine, haven't they? Or, at least, that was the plan.

And thanks!

-Augie

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

I made a big deal about Platinum Studios finally publishing comics in the latest PREVIEWS.

Guess what? This week's release of COWBOYS & ALIENS also falls under their banner. Ah, well.

Hey, this is just the first month they add that spiffy page design to their solicitations! So I'm not all together messed up in the head.

-Augie

[borateen]

VERY good article on your thoughts for a Wizard revamping. When I was buying the book, I admit that I only bought it for the frat-boy humor, and I'd pretty much disregard any of the comic "news." I'd heard most if not all of it already from CBR or Newsarama. How long has it been out now? Fifteen or so years? Isn't it about time it grew up a little bit?

Also, about you question regarding Quitely's work in an oversized format, I thought it looked very nice in the Absolute Authority Vol. 2 I've got.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Borateen -- thanks! WIZARD needs a wholesale change, but I somehow doubt it'll happen.

And thanks for reminding me of the ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY 2 book. I never picked that one up, as tempting as it might have been just for Art Adams' stuff.

-Augie

[borateen]

And thanks for reminding me of the ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY 2 book. I never picked that one up, as tempting as it might have been just for Art Adams' stuff.

-Augie

I love the Absolute books, and this was my first. Now I wish I could find an affordable copy of Vol. 1.

[Spidey_82]

Trip - Yup, and it gets mentioned in the podcast, too. We are diligent workers at Pipeline World Headquarters.

Spidey_82 - Dangit, I knew I'd pick a bad example. I'm glad to hear WIZARD acknowledged that book's existence, at least. They've since moved EDGE into the main magazine, haven't they? Or, at least, that was the plan.

And thanks!

-Augie

Yes, they moved it into the magazine. The piece about Pilgrim was after it already moved.

[James Howlett]

I'm glad to her they're finally printing a new Sojourn trade. I REALLY hope this leads into something great, like the series returning fully.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

There's someone from WIZARD having a meltdown on my "blog post" over at the Wizard Message boards:

http://wizarduniverse.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=5114

If I had three free hours today, I'd reply it. I'm not asking you all to reply to it. I'm just pointing it out here for sheer entertainment value.

The saddest thing is, he believes I'm angling for a job as their cranky columnist. Hell, no. My column was angling for a job as Editor In Chief.

-Augie

[miracle.eli]

Yeah Augie- thanks again for plugging the SOJOURN tpb.

If any of you CrossGen fans are still around, Corey at CGCreators.net has a new forum going. It be great to get y'all over there:

http://forum.cgcreators.net/

.wil.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Wil - Thanks for the link. I'll have to check that one out next. . .

Everyone: Things just spiral out of control:

http://www.ifanboy.com/archives/001192.html

-Augie

http://www.ifanboy.com/images/augie_war.jpg

[goman]

I used to enjoy Wizard a lot, and I gave them a lot of leaway because they were the one's who first pointed out Bone for me. They had decent Manga coverage before it got big, and then seemed to stop once it did, although they do have Anime Insider for that now. I used to love a lot of things about the magazine, but I just got tired of it, mostly because of the movie coverage, and that fact that they were months behind. I think what made me finally drop the book was last year, I picked up an issue that had a bit about X-men 3, talking about how Matthew Vaughn was going to direct the film, but by the time the issue came out, he'd already been fired and replaced by Brett Ratner. I just got tired of it being a magazine about movies, when I wanted to read about comics. I still pick up an issue every once in a while, but I'm not a slave to it anymore.

You've got a lot of good ideas for improving the mag, and if management and the writing and production staff listened, they could probably improve the mag. It'd definetly take an EIC with a powerful vision and enough chutzpah to steer the staff to make a better magazine. There's certainly a place for a well designed, critical, unbaised comics magazine on the shelf. What competition do they honestly have on shelves? maybe a name change is in order for the bookstore market. "Wizard" is not a bad brand, but it doesn't nessesarily scream comics. It depends what market they want to go for. if they want to get readers who are new to comics, maybe they should change the name. But, it could be a good magazine again, it could be required reading for fanboys, but it's just not now. Here's hoping for positive change. Or at least the return of the Top Ten list. I used to love those.

And if you do get that EIC job, and you need some new writers, hey I'm looking for a new job, and I'm willing to relocate. Let the sucking up begin!:D