Have We Seen The End Of Wizard: The Guide To Comics?

News, Rumors

Bleeding Cool is reporting that, apparently effective immediately, the twenty year old staple known as Wizard, will be ceasing publication. That almost the entire magazine staff has been laid off, and freelance engagements canceled.

I’d been a reader of Wizard for the better part of ten years, first reading it in 1996 and reading it off and on until I finally gave up on it a few years ago. In the 90’s Wizard was huge, it was a giant oversized magazine full of previews, reviews, breaking news and rumors, interviews….essentially, all the things you can go online for now and get for free from sites like ours. Back before the internet though, that’s where you went, you bought an issue of Wizard. Unfortunatley, just like a lot of print media, it’s lost it’s effectiveness over the years due to the online landscape, as who want to go spend six bucks to buy a magazine full of old news?

Wizard also published ToyFare, which according to Newsarama is also on the way out. Though in recent years Wizard has probably been best known for their Wizard World comic conventions, which I don’t see going anywhere. However, with DC and Marvel having no visible interest in running those shows, it’s only a matter of time before they start to suffer as well.

Here’s hoping that Wizard restructures and remains a fixture, albeit a more relevant one, in the industry. It would be a shame to see it go.

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.