It’s a funny thing. This year would mark my 5th year subscription to Wizard magazine. There was time when as soon as I got it, I would consume it… every article, every side note, every letter to the editor and even take a detailed look through the price guide… I would consume it entirely.
And now, after umpteenth revamps and format changes, an unread Wizard takes a strong second to National Geographic Explorer for bathroom reading.
It’s the same rehash every month. Do I think Geoff Johns is a fantastic writer, of course! Do I need two articles a month telling me that over and over? Probably not. Do we need the monthly interview with Joe Quesada that says nothing new? Or how about the DVD / merchandise pimping for properties not even closely related to the comic industry? The phrase ad nasium comes to mind. And perhaps the thing that irks me more than the repetition of focus on certain central figures in the industry is Wizard’s total non-recoginition of the majority of the industry… The Independents! There are whole nations of talent that are being ignored while we get yet another quip about Alex Ross’ Superpowers.
Not unlike certain huge comic conventions, Wizard has shifted it’s focus from geek central to Entertainment Weekly. I don’t know about everyone else, but the evolution from “The Guide to Comics” to “The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture” has left this geek looking for a better way to spend his money.
Dang right, Eric. It is interesting also that even though they look so much at the big publishers, the big publishers chose to sign exclusively with C2E2 and not attend Chicago Comic-Con!