Wizard Zero Sucked!
I seem to have it in for Wizard Magazine…
EDIT 6*9*2005: This was a letter I sent to Wizard Magazine when they published their “Issue 0.” They didn’t have the balls to print it, though they did print a much nicer letter that almost said the same things…
Unfortunately, I don’t know exactly when I wrote this… I’ll have to check. Until then, I’ve date-stamped this according to the month Wizard Zero was published
Hello, Wizard.
I started buying Wizard when issue 11 came out. I thought it was a fabulous magazine. As I continued to read the magazine, I found insightful articles, well-rounded coverage, and a big enthusiasm for comic books as an artform.
Around the time Wizard decided to print 2 different covers, one for direct market, another for newsstands, the magazine started to take a turn (not necessarily because of the covers, though). It started to leave behind the enthusiasm for the artform and started to emphasize the “cool factor” of comics. This gave way to trendiness, commercialism, and narrow coverage, all under the guise of promoting good stories.
A couple of years later, Wizard 0 came along, a supposed revamp. It IS a revamp. The 208-page advertisement for DC and Marvel looks very colorful, very new. The cover featuring your standard mainstream choices hasn’t changed much, though it was missing a member of the X-Men. Catering to the trend hasn’t changed, either. Alex Ross’ name is still plastered all over the magazine. I expected to see Kevin Smith’s, Brian Michael Bendis’, Jim Lee’s, and Jeff Loeb’s name all over, too, since they are, after all, the hot guys at the moment. And you delivered. Michael Turner is given yet another headline, writing and drawing the fanboy favorite, “How To Draw Sex Appeal,” something everyone needed to know more about because Wizard has never run an article like that before. More needless lists, I see. And there’s the standard 2 pages towards the back dedicated to a non-mainstream book. Batman, Superman, X-Men, Spider-Man: check. But the book is colorful. Very colorful indeed. And bigger… yes indeed.
I haven’t bought a Wizard magazine for years, with an exception once every blue moon. So, I thought I’d give the “new” Wizard a shot. Same ol’, same ol’, except this time it’s worse. I have no need for a DC/Marvel advertisement magazine. The public is so exposed to the material as it is, I can soak up the news by osmosis rather than spend $4.99.
Wizard has the power and the clout to really promote comics as an artform, not JUST a commercial commodity. Instead, it opts to remain a leftover from the 90’s boom… remember the 90’s boom? Trend, commerciality, and “cool factor.” There are more good stories than just the ones the big 2 are putting out. Yes, they’ve finally gotten with the game (somewhat) offering up well-written stories and great art, but there are other books out there that deserve attention. Books that actually help elevate the artform. Reporting on a few Image books (which has come a long way since the 90’s) isn’t good enough, and neither is a 2-page article slapped before the price guide, either.
The best thing Wizard is good for is the letters column. It’s a good way to get a message out there (like this one) because a lot of people read it, ironically.
I will probably not buy another Wizard again, with few exceptions… emphasis on few. I’d recommend the magazine to a young person just starting to get into comics, but I’d warn them that he or she will most likely outgrow the magazine once they discover that comics isn’t about cool, it isn’t about trend, it isn’t just about DC or Marvel, it’s about stories, plain and simple, that can’t be told in any other medium but comics.
With the path that Wizard is continuing on, the magazine isn’t doing anything to help validate that concept.
Thank you
Phillip Ginn
Sacramento, CA
August 2003