CBR NEWS: Wizard Fires Editor-in-Chief

[Jonah Weiland]

CBR News has learned that Wizard Entertainment Group has fired Senior Vice-President/Editor-in-Chief Pat McCallum.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/ne...em.cgi?id=9035

[Joe Grendel]

That is a fine, fine piece of Web journalism. The copy editor on that was clearly a man among men.

[Jeff Brady]

Maybe Pat can get work on Robot Chicken?

Hey Wizard, here's a few reasons why your sales have slipped:

Everything you publish is 1) three months out of date, 2) available on the web for free from more interesting sites, 3) generally fanboy wank, 4) intellectually inferior, 5) misogynist, 6) fluff pieces for the big two, 7) ...gawd, do I really have to continue?

[Valmore]

Clearly he was not signing off on enough variant Wolverine covers for the magazine every month. He totally needed to go.

[Cephus]

You think Wizard might actually become a place for real news, rather than just kissing the asses of their advertisers?

Nah, me either.

[Aaron Kashtan]

Anything that's bad for Wizard is good for the comics industry, I hope.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Wizard grew too large for itself. Its the classic example of a company that became big during the 1990's and just kept trying to expand beyond itself. Into Conventions , Comics Production , more Magazines , ect ect.

Whats really fucking sad is that Shamus fired someone who started the business with him. That symbolizes GREED at its worst. I'd feel like shit for firing a friend over something. Love or hate McCallum and what he did at WIZARD but the guy was a founding guy.

I suppose Shamus doesn't give a fuck about this but I can't help but feel it was wrong to do to someone who started the thing from scratch with him in 1991.

[Joe Grendel]

I suppose Shamus doesn't give a fuck about this but I can't help but feel it was wrong to do to someone who started the thing from scratch with him in 1991.

I know Gareb Shamus eats babies, but why would you think he wouldn't be bothered by firing a friend?

[Joe Acro]

Maybe this will mean that Wizard will actually start knowing what they're talking about...


I think I'd need an Improbability Drive to make that work.

[Royal]

So THAT's where he's getting money for the Russia Red Bears.

[Sentry]

i think everyone is being a bit over harse on wizard.

Yes it has seen better days, but it generally is aimed at a younger audience than most of us and in todays times it has to fight with the internet.

I used to buy about 5-6 mags a month - nowi buy now across all genres.

They tried to fight the web and lost, as do so many mags now a days.

[petezippy]

I actually think that this is a good thing. If people think that Wizard has been a good magazine for a while then getting rid of their editor in chief who was leading it down can only mean that the magazine will improve, especially if they bring in new, fresh talent...like they clearly have been doing recently. I think that the magazine has improved dramatically recently and as a comic book fan I like the fact that they have branched out so much. I have always felt that comics are more than just the books themselves and with Wizard involved in conventions which bring fans together and in numerous other ways I think what Wizard is doing is a move in a positive direction for all comic book fans.

[Sean Whitmore]

Yes it has seen better days

Has it?

(I'm only half-joking. Has it actually ever been better?)


SEAN

[Magneto_X]

Has it?

(I'm only half-joking. Has it actually ever been better?)


SEAN

It was halfway decent in the 90's.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

It was halfway decent in the 90's.

I remember it as great when I first came across it (in my mid teens). Long mutli page interviews with Neil Gaiman, Bob Layton - retrospectives on old work, looks at indie books (I remember one black and white book by a guy called Bendis) etc.
Problem with it was, it gone thinner, filled with puff pieces, and got less mature as I got older.
It's like the further we moved from the early/mid 90's the more it aimed to be the magazine for that time - they made the classic mistake, they didn't do anything to bring in new readers, and they didn't grow with their readership.