wizard magazine worth anything?

[zilla31]

is wizard magazine worth anything? are there any other comic magazines (for the reader not the distributer) that are any good? web's the best place for news/info but sometimes it's nice to have a mag to read here or there...

[mushroom2703]

I as going to say that the internet these days usually has everything Wizard has to say, before its said it. If i travelled alot i'd probably buy it for trains etc. but for regular reading, if you have access to the net, i'd just check that.

[Michael P]

It's worth recycling.

Try Comics Buyer's Guide. They just switched over to magazine format about a year ago, and they're doing a great job so far. News, commentary, reviews, retro material, a massive price guide, and the two best comics columns being produced today: John Jackson Miller's Longbox Manifesto and Peter David's But I Digress. It's the thinking man's Wizard, and the unpretentious man's Comics Journal. (Although TCJ has cut down on the hoity-toity and the "kill the mainstream" rhetoric of late.)

[Expletive Deleted]

If you like their style of humor, sure. Otherwise . . . their interviews are worthless, their news is almost always behind the times, and their commentary is usually just this side of puerile.

[Shellhead]

They use nice glossy paper.

[Alan2099]

Wizard used to be fun back when they had the mort of the month, the last man standing and all that sort of thing, but they seem to have tried to ditch their fanboy image and the magazine suffered horribly because of it.

[hulahulk]

I found it funny that Wizard used to list their own special inserts/cards/holograms etc in their own price guide. "Hey! Our free-to-subscribers Lady Death #1/2 mini comic is worth $15!" Or something like that.

I enjoyed reading the magazine for a time. But after a while back issues started to pile up, so I tossed 'em in the trash and stopped reading it altogether.

[mushroom2703]

Plus, for the price of Wizard, i could just buy another comic :D

[mgs]

Wizard is worth something.....for me to poop on! :D

[ghostrider666]

is wizard magazine worth anything?

Not even the paper its printed on.

[Verminous]

i enjoy wizard, i like finding out whats going on with other comics companies. Sure its not the holy grail but its nice to have a read when you've finished with your comic books.

[zilla31]

ha - yeah i'm def sleeping on wizard after reading what you all have to say... are there any other comic mags worth reading when i'm on travel (travel a lot for work)? I don't always have the time to scour the web like i wish i did so sometimes a mag is the juice for me :(

i def want something that covers others besides just marvel and DC too... i read a lot of DH and image as well...

[Verminous]

why dont you buy a copy and decide for yourself?????????

[Prelude]

Wizard magazine gets a lot of criticism from many comic fans, but if you take it for what it is and who it's catering to the magazine isn't that bad. I'm sure there are a lot of fans who find it useful or entertaining otherwise it wouldn't be as big as it is. Even if the news may be outdated compared to what you would find online, sometimes it's nice to read material in print rather than on a screen.

That said, I neither like nor regularly read Wizard. The last time I read Wizard was a little more than a year ago. I'm not a fan of the juvenile humor and I think the prices in the price guide section are inflated. Others may disagree, but there seems to be somewhat of a speculator mentality that permeates the magazine. Pricing their own mini-comics was just a bad idea, as well as when they collaborated with CGC to create Wizard First.

[zilla31]

why dont you buy a copy and decide for yourself?????????

to be honest i probably will for my next trip... at least i'll have something to thumb through at the airport (or on the plane). i'd love to have something to compare it against though - so i guess i'll look for comic buyers guide too (even though wizard seems to be the only one i'm used to seeing on "common" store racks...

either way it's better than trying to print out 50 web pages before each trip :D

[CodeMonkey]

Once I finally came to the realization that my sense of humor had gone past that of a 14 year old, Wizard stopped being appealing at all.

Sadly, I only came to said realization a year or so ago.

There are better price guides, and if you have internet access there are better resources online for free.

[jam37wcc]

The only thing that Wizard is worth is for the 1/2 issues, the exclusive HeroClix, and exclusive figures.

[Cephus]

Wizard is useless. The whole magazine is juvenile, their reviewers simply kiss the ass of their advertisers (oh, this comic is GREAT... they paid for a full page ad!), their price guide is laughable and their staff are idiots.

Save your money, there's nothing in any Wizard publication that you can't get better elsewhere.

[Alex Dragon]

WIZARD is a good read. Sure some of the stuff they report on is old news to some because of the net but WIZARD still has it's share of exclusives that you won't find anywhere else. They regularly have special annoncements and preview pages to upcoming books that sites on the net don't. Also interviews from creators and sketches on upcoming characters and such. Sure WIZARD can't compete with the net and it's daily comic news (most of which I personally don't care about) but for the high profile big event news from the major companies WIZARD pretty much always gives info and/or images you can't get anywhere else.
Same with news about upcoming movies.

Plus WIZARD has articles on fun topics that lead to debates on the net. Stuff like "Which is better: DC or MARVEL?", "Best covers of all time" "Best Teams" ranking, power levels of heroes from different companies, Sexiest heroines, articles on upcoming talent, profiles of creators from the past, and a whole bunch of fun and interesting stuff.

I think the reason some people don't like the humor in WIZARD is because they take comicbooks too seriously. WIZARD doesn't take it's self that seriously and often says goofy stuff but it's all in fun.

As for the price guide...it's a small part of the overall magazine. I can't believe people today still worry about the "value" of books the truth of the matter is that as far as I know probably more comic retailers and fans go by the WIZARD price guide than any other. It's monthly, easy to handle, doesn't bog it's self down with prices of old books most people don't own and probably never will, and far more people pick up WIZARD than all the other guides combined. I'm not saying WIZARD has the best guide, but it has the one most people see and probably use.

At any rate...It's possible that you may not like WIZARD but it doesn't hurt to check it out for a few issues to see if you do.

[1HELLBOY]

I love Wizard. I get it on the Wendsday it comes out with the rest of my comics and save it for the last thing I read. It's a very entertaining book to me. I don't really appreciate people that say it has the entertainment value that would appeal to a 14 year old, seeing as how I am 17 and enjoy it very much. "To each his own" has more meaning than a lot of people think. So does, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" I try to live by those philosophies. I try to have the ideology that everything is at least one person's favorite thing. Most of you don't like Wizard, and I respect that. I'd like for you to respect that I DO like Wizard. Comments like some above are very disrespectful to the many fans of Wizard, myself included. I show respect to people who like things that I don't like, and I'd like it if most of you would do the same.

[BlueOrange25]

I used to buy it quite often. Not on a monthly basis or anything like that. But then I realised that I used the internet more and more as a source of information. The interviews with creators were sometimes interesting, but apart from that, there wasn't a whole lot to keep me interested. With the comic book pricings, you're better off buying a dedicated book. As for the news, there are websites out there (such as Marvel and DC's own sites) that will give you a brief outline on what's coming. In addition, there's this forum. A great place to express an opinion or ask the advice of others.

[DDM]

Wizard is useless. The whole magazine is juvenile, their reviewers simply kiss the ass of their advertisers (oh, this comic is GREAT... they paid for a full page ad!), their price guide is laughable and their staff are idiots.

Save your money, there's nothing in any Wizard publication that you can't get better elsewhere.

I agree with Cephus' opinion. Wizard does not bring anything new to the magazine since anyone could find the same information for free on the internet. Furthermore, many of Wizard's "journalists" does not seem to have that much knowledge of comic book history which makes their job redundant when they are publishing articles that make little or no sense.

[Ugoff]

is wizard magazine worth anything? are there any other comic magazines (for the reader not the distributer) that are any good? web's the best place for news/info but sometimes it's nice to have a mag to read here or there...

I know how you feel. It's nice to have a magazine around when you cant get on the internet or when you want something physical. Wizard use to be nice when it was affordable but it just cost to much now that you can basically get the same info for free on the net.

[Brian Germain]

Well after reading this thread regardless of the age of it I am more inspired than ever to start up my own comics, gaming, anime pop culture magazine.

Any body interested in some fresh blood added to the pool? as far as being hip and up to the minute you may be able to find some of the stuff on the net but I mostly would try for things you won't see in big box magazines alll the time as well as exclusives geared toward fans, not advertisers.

It would cover just about everything at one time or another with a focus on art comics, literature and pop culture.

The internet blogs would reflect it to some degree and have plenty of their own exclusive content including podcasts. if this sounds like something you'd be interested in lemme know.

[Michael P]

Thread 61606 of the Community Board... RISE.

Seriously, though, more power to you. The last people to try it got maybe six issues out of it, but every failure is really just one more method that didn't work. Or sumpin'.

[howyadoin]

Well after reading this thread regardless of the age of it I am more inspired than ever to start up my own comics, gaming, anime pop culture magazine.

Any body interested in some fresh blood added to the pool? as far as being hip and up to the minute you may be able to find some of the stuff on the net but I mostly would try for things you won't see in big box magazines alll the time as well as exclusives geared toward fans, not advertisers.

It would cover just about everything at one time or another with a focus on art comics, literature and pop culture.

The internet blogs would reflect it to some degree and have plenty of their own exclusive content including podcasts. if this sounds like something you'd be interested in lemme know.Good luck. I can't help but be skeptical, though, considering that the periodical industry in general seems to be going down the shitter pretty rapidly.

[dupont2005]

If you want a comic magazine to last you need to cater to a particular market. Super heroes, horror comics, something like that. In fact I think those would be the easiest two to specialize in. The only reason someone would buy your magazine instead of read whatever they want to read on the net is exclusive content. You would need a serialized comic in your mag, and a decent one too. You would also have to have the exclusive giveaways like Wizard did, and requiring them to send away for it and sealing it in a mylar with a tamper proof sticker are smart ways to reduce the amount of people that will just download the scans. If you sell collectibles people will collect them. Sad that you couldn't simply sell the mag on something like good writing, but plenty of good writers are giving their stuff away on the net right now. You can't download a hologram trading card.

[Valmore]

Someone cast "Resurrect Thread" on this one, eh?

[TwinPistols]

If you want a comic magazine to last you need to cater to a particular market. Super heroes, horror comics, something like that....

I'll add Fantasy comics to the list. With Red Sonja, Queen Sonja, The Conan and Solomon Kane books, along with Wheel of Time (and anything else I missed) you got a nice number of comics and a good genre to focus on.


Someone cast "Resurrect Thread" on this one, eh?

I think they're a little bashful. As long as it's a good thread, and you can kinda, sorta, spell properly, don't be afraid to start a new one. The reason for the bump in this case could have stood alone as it's own thing.


-Pistols

[spEEdy]

I'm not a fan of the juvenile humor and I think the prices in the price guide section are inflated. Others may disagree, but there seems to be somewhat of a speculator mentality that permeates the magazine. Pricing their own mini-comics was just a bad idea, as well as when they collaborated with CGC to create Wizard First.

That is when/if they include a priceguide. The priceguide in Wizard has been downgraded to about 1 -2 pages.

[howyadoin]

That is when/if they include a priceguide. The priceguide in Wizard has been downgraded to about 1 -2 pages.Considering that the price guide was bullshit for years, that's not altogether surprising.

[Ite]

I used to love Wizard but hate their new layout, it just really sucks now compared to what it used to be.

[Paradox]

howyadoin just can't move that rubber tree plant:

Good luck. I can't help but be skeptical, though, considering that the periodical industry in general seems to be going down the shitter pretty rapidly.

Timing seems off, yes. Not to mention a huge part of Wizard's popularity was its distribution. It got on the racks everywhere instead of just comic shops (and was pretty much the only one). That's a tall order starting out these days.

[Ozymandas]

Wizard used to be OK back in the day but the current format blows chunks. I really don't like that they polybag all their mags, either. Give a guy a chance to flip through your rag before deciding on a purchase.

They went under, but Comics Foundry was an excellent read that only lasted 4 issues or so. I believe they're still around in some form on the 'net but I haven't kept up with them.

For tales of yesteryear, Back Issue, Alter Ego and those other mags TwoMorrows put out are superlative. However, I rarely buy an issue because of the hefty price tag.

Magazines about comics really shouldn't cost much more than the comics they discuss, IMHO.

[stelok]

i haven't read wizard in years. Besides Wikipedia is more informative than Wizard.