I got one about a year back, it's almost all sketchbooks and art books, like the kind they sell out of Heavy Metal magazine, but with a selection of graphic novels too. It was probably 16 pages or so. Digest sized.

Sign up for Bud's email list - I rarely order but I enjoy the pictures in the emails.

Not monthlies, but I saw his name dropped in the indicia of some 80's floppies. Back and white indy stuff

Wizard #17 (January 1993)



Lots of fascinating aspects of this issue, particularly as it comes out in an interview with Dave Sim that Wizard is now a powerhouse in the comic industry, allegedly selling off the racks within a day of hitting stands, causing comic shops to repeatedly double their orders. Sim explains that he'd never heard of Wizard until recently and only decided to do this interview with them after learning what a sphere of influence they now cultivate.

A terrifying prospect when one considers just how out of touch with current comic events Wizard still was at this point. Their lead news piece at the front of the book is that "Marvel has discounted rumors that it is not ready for the '93 season" by spending a full page listing a bunch of upcoming projects that no one ended up caring about. In his letter column, Gareb Shamus also advises that folks should keep an eye on Valiant, seemingly totally unaware that the company has already "arrived," and (as hindsight would show us) had already peaked. Finally, while giving a full page to Marvel and tons of space in the issue to Image and Valiant, as well as a few smaller companies (they're doing a much better job of keeping their pulse on small press publications these days), they mention DC exactly zero times in this issue, even though the Death of Superman hit stands last month, was the top seller for the month, and broke a ton of sales records in the process. Market Watch, which always seems more up to date than the rest of the book, does write about the Death of Superman, but whereas they write it off as a gimmick that's bound to be forgotten, they follow by explaining why, in contrast, Bloodshot #1 was a turning point in comicdom that will rise steadily in price for years to come.

The #1 news source in comicdom circa 1993, ladies and gentlemen.


Hindsight glimpses into the comic industry:

Marvel was in serious content decline at this point, with nothing exciting planned beyond Venom #1 and the continuation of the 2099 titles, but they were largely maintaining their sales all the same, with 45% of sales for October (almost exactly where they were two months earlier; September's sales spiked artificially when nearly all of Image's titles were delayed and didn't make it to the shelves). According to Market Watch, Marvel's back issues weren't really moving anymore, but folks were presumably still pulling their favorite titles each month, even if there were no hot artists nor major events attached to them.

Image appears to have gotten its titles (mostly) back on schedule, and so at least some of the hype has resumed.

Valiant continues to gain major attention from Wizard in the wake of Bloodshot #1's release, even though Superman #75 outsold it.

DC's sales as of October had fallen to an all-time low of 16% of the market: likely the lowest the company had ever fallen in its 50+ year history or would fall in the two decades that have since followed.

Contrarily, Batman: The Animated Series was immensely successful by this point, and Fox's X-Men cartoon was about to premiere and follow suit.

Wizard now makes its second attempt to move into the comic book convention market (the first being their partnership with San Diego Comicon, leading to the publication of the Wizard: Special Edition), providing a two page plug for Comicfest '93, which will include the first annual Wizard Award.


Marvel: 45.47% (down)
DC: 16.15% (down)
Malibu and Image: 10.57% (still significantly down from their 19.24% high point two months ago, before all the delays set in)
Dark Horse 7.48 (that's nearly double the previous month, but nothing in this issue suggests why)
others: 16.22% (also nearly double the previous month; apparently this is where people are going when Marvel, DC, and Image are disappointing them)




Industry news:

No one has anything all that exciting to announce this month beyond Alan Moore writing an issue of Spawn.

Market Watch discusses the record breaking sales of Superman #75 and Bloodshot #1 last month, but the news is too recent to get mentioned in any of Wizard's articles and content otherwise.

Wizard's #1 back issue pick for the month (Magnus: Robot Fighter #12) strongly suggests that Valiant's upcoming Turok: Dinosaur Hunter series has been announced, but it doesn't get mentioned in the interview with the Valiant staff.


Wizard shaping the comic book market?

If we're to take Dave Sim's word on it, absolutely. Certainly no comic news publication was more widely read at this point, and the age of the internet had not yet arrived, leaving Wizard as America's #1 source of news for all things comics. But this is not the same as confirming that Wizard was shaping the market intentionally nor that it had an agenda in doing so. Clearly though, they still have a heavy bias towards Image, with Shamus returning from yet another flight out to see the Image guys again this month (I'm pretty sure he flies out to see them at least once per month), and clearly Wizard's still trying to throw Marvel a bone that it doesn't deserve, but DC is dead to them, and the Death of Superman media phenomenon is clearly going to happen in spite of them instead of because of them.

I'm still not sure how much credit to give Wizard -- was it really just the totally inexperienced son of two affluent comic shop owners and his friends, happening to know McFarlane, hitting the stands at exactly the right time, and accidentally stumbling into becoming the most successful comic book fandom magazine of all time, or were there silent partners behind the scenes, shaping all this for some specific purpose (whether just to make money, to influence the back issue market, or perhaps to help or hurt specific publishers)? Has the comic industry handed the bullhorn to a bunch of novices, or are they working toward some invisible end with all of this? Whatever the case, Wizard was a mighty presence by this point, even if their news content and insights into the industry are substandard at best and thoroughly incompetent at worst.

Also worth mentioning, in the middle of its write-up for why Rai #4 has made the Wizard Top 10 this month, we get the following:



So, apparently, this allegation was being made by some, suggesting, again, that Wizard really did carry influence over (at least) the back issue market by this point.

Marvel: 45.47% (down)
DC: 16.15% (down)
Malibu and Image: 10.57% (still significantly down from their 19.24% high point two months ago, before all the delays set in)
Dark Horse 7.48 (that's nearly double the previous month, but nothing in this issue suggests why)
others: 16.22% (also nearly double the previous month; apparently this is where people are going when Marvel, DC, and Image are disappointing them)


Wizard's Comic Watch:

Avengers Annual #10: 1st Rogue

Solar, Man of the Atom #3: 1st Toyo Harada


Wizard's Top 10



1. Magnus: Robot Fighter #12 (1st Turok)
2. Spawn #4 (under-ordered issue, contained an Image #1 coupon)
3. Bloodshot #1
4. Shadowhawk #1
5. Eternal Warrior #4 (1st Bloodshot)
6. Rai #4 (low print run)
7. Rai #3 (low print run)
8. Amazing Spider-Man #101 (1st Morbius)
9. Harbinger #4 (low print run)
10. Shadowman #8 (1st Master Darque)


Clearly, Wizard's joke in this issue about putting Valiant titles all over the Top 10 because they were paid to betrays a sincere discomfort with throwing so many books on the list just due to their limited print runs, but, at a point where absolutely nothing of interest seems to be happening in comics beyond Bloodshot #1 (bear in mind, once again, that Wizard is still reacting to the comic book market as it was just before Superman #75 hit stands), this is apparently all that there was to be excited about.



Final Thoughts:

Though Wizard claims otherwise, it seems apparent throughout this issue that some of the excitement about Image has been lost by this point (likely due, in part, to all the delays they experienced the previous month). Combine this with Marvel failing to generate any new hype for the coming year, and Valiant enticing folks more for the perceived investment value of the books than for the content itself (and, with the departure of Jim Shooter, what content?), and this makes for a particularly depressing time for comic fans, coming off of three years of intense hype and speculation with nothing shiny and new in sight. For better or worse, Superman #75 will change all that, seemingly arriving at exactly the right time to cause a stir and get maximum limelight.

It's been alleged that one of Shamus' original goals in putting Wizard together was to drive up back issue prices for his parents and the other comic dealers who initially sponsored the magazine. I don't know if I buy it, but there's little doubt they all benefited from Wizard's influence, especially since they were the sources from which Wizard's price guide obtained its values each month.



And late. Very very late. It's sad to consider that, while there were plenty of comic related publications that got the news out reliably, on time, and with less bias, Wizard's primary reasons for beating them all out seem to boil down to having hot artists do the cover, glossy pages, and exclusive trading cards included with each issue.



I think the average adult collector knew this even then, though, but Wizard played to foolish adolescents and speculative investors first getting into the game. Even then, it should have been apparent that something was wrong when Bronze Age comics weren't rising in value to the same extent that Silver Age books had a decade earlier, and stuff published less than a year ago was already eclipsing those two decade old books in value and demand.

Agreed on all counts. As the target demographic of the time (young adolescent male with cash to spend who knew nothing and subscribed to all the hype), even I finally saw where things were going and stopped buying comics in '94.