What Was Up With ‘Wizard,’ #1: October 1992

Many years ago (in 2008, to be exact), I decided to go through my old Wizard magazines (which, of course I still have them!) and see what was going on in the comics world filtered through the eyes of the Wizard staff. I only did three of them, and it then fell by the wayside. But here I am, trying to bring it back, and I figured I’d start over with the oldest Wizard I have: issue #14, with a cover date of October 1992. Let’s jump right in!

Gareb Shamus (the Anti-Christ?) has a letter from the publisher on page 7, in which we learn that Valiant’s books are flying off the shelves, Image was the #2 publisher of the month because they have so many new titles, and Marvel bought Fleer. Good times! Here’s a fun quote: “Since the comic book distribution system is so sophisticated and efficient, Fleer will hopefully take advantage of it with their sports products.” No comment, Gareb!

Next, on page 9, we have a letter from the editor, Patrick Daniel O’Neill, titled “Comic Book Writers — A Dying Breed?” Whoa, nelly. O’Neill bemoans the fact that a lot of artists are clamoring to write their own stories, which is fine, he notes, if the artists are good writers — he cites Miller, Simonson, Byrne, and some dude named “Dan Jurgenson” as examples of that. “But lately,” he opines, “it seems that the artists who decide to write are getting the nod based solely on their popularity, without regard to their writing ability.” The cognitive dissonance that always comes from reading old issues of Wizard is hard to deal with. I’m not sure if the dates line up because, as I noted, this is my first issue of Wizard, but how fucking hard did they push McFarlane’s Spider-Man, which is, as we know, garbage from a writing standpoint? Wizard watered the stock on so many horrible books — both in the writing and art aspects — that reading their editor tell the readers to demand better writing cracks me right the fuck up. But good for him!

The “Wizard News” section on pages 10-14 has some stuff. Jim Shooter left Valiant over “creative differences.” Love those! We get a bunch of announcements about new Valiant titles, including Bloodshot #1, the cover of which (by Barry Windsor-Smith, natch) is the “first ever counterfeit-proof chromium cover.” I hope you guys managed to sell yours for many millions! Bloodshot, by the way, “makes Frank Castle look like Archie Andrews.” Fun! Wizard also reports that a comic called Psycho Killers #8 will feature a cover actually drawn by John Wayne Gacy. That seems like a superb idea! Also, Karen Berger announced the formation of Vertigo, so that was nice. We get announcement about the launch of PITT, Dale Keown’s Image book. I’m sure that was awesome! In between all these stories, Wizard ran an ad for Spider-Man: The Trial of Venom, which you could order from them and all the proceeds went to the United Nations Children’s Fund. Did anyone get this comic? I’m just a bit curious about it.

Tom Palmer, Jr. has a two-page essay (pages 16-17) about … the career of Alan Moore? I mean, I get that maybe Wizard thought a lot of new readers were reading their magazine, because they were all about the boom times of the early 1990s, but, I mean, Alan Moore? Really? Palmer does get into some of his more obscure projects, which is keen, and he lets us know that Big Numbers will be completed, so I’m looking forward to that!

On pages 18-19, Craig Cornell writes about the latest video games, which I was not into in 1992, 1982, or today. I don’t know why. He writes about how great Street Fighter II is, and how just decent Alisia Dragoon is. I mean, I guess Street Fighter II is considered one of the best games of all time, so Cornell was on the right side of history!

Oh, there’s an advertisement for Atomic Comics in Mesa. Atomic Comics was a pretty good store that was open for a long time, but in 2006 a teenager drove into it and wrecked the signature store, and the owner closed all of them a few years later. It wasn’t the greatest store, as their back issues were a bit overpriced, but it was a pretty keen place. I wrote about their Free Comic Book Day event here (starring Jonah Weiland and the Image founders!), in case you’re interested.

Bart Sears writes an article on pages 23-25 called “Brutes & Babes” in which he explains how to draw, well, brutes and babes. It’s actually a neat article, although not as in-depth as it could be, of course. Sears briefly explains perspective, detail (not “a lot of noodly nonsensical lines to fill space,” writes Sears, which cracks me up because, well, it’s Sears), and proportion (again, ha ha). He also has pointers about layouts and he does a quick six-panel sequence showing how to lay it out. It’s pretty neat.

There’s a fairly long article (pages 26-31) about superheroes making it to the screen, which is fun because these things are always fun because 99% of the time, they go nowhere. The first sentence is about how there’s no major news about James Cameron’s Spider-Man movie for … Carolco. Fucking Carolco, which at this point was only a few years from going defunct (to be fair, Andy Mangels does mention their financial difficulties). Mangels writes that Cameron went over to Fox, where he was working on his next movie, The Crowded Room, but that’s been delayed, too (and, of course, was never made). Carolco’s “potential collapse” was jeopardizing Tim Burton’s Mai, the Psychic Girl, which, of course, also never got made. Carolco sucks, y’all. There were a couple of other comic-book related scripts floating around, one for Concrete and another for a “star-spanning cyborg super-hero” called MidKnight. There were also rumors that Bruce Willis, and not Paul Reubens, was going to play Plastic Man. That would have been … something, all right. Ilya Salkind was still trying to make Superman V happen, but the Salkinds were also in financial trouble, so Mangels would “keep [us] informed.” In the movie, Superman would be shrunk and de-powered, possibly by Brainiac. Fun! Then we get a great paragraph:

First scripted by Batman’s Sam Hamm for Brazil director Terry Gilliam, then rewritten by Gilliam, then dropped by Gilliam, then picked up by Flash and Rocketeer men Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, Largo Entertainment’s The Watchmen is totally without a home now. Bilson and DeMeo quit the scripting job and have not been replaced.

Phew! Now that’s a whirlwind of a journey! I wonder if they ever got Watchmen made?

Moving on, Mangels mentions that both a Fantastic Four movie and a Silver Surfer movie are in “active development,” but, of course, that didn’t take. V for Vendetta was in a “holding pattern,” but Arnold Schwarzenegger was once again interested in a Sgt. Rock movie, and negotiations were ongoing with Macauley Culkin for a Richie Rich movie. John Hughes hadn’t cast Dennis the Menace yet for the movie that would come out in 1993, but he eventually got Mason Gamble, who never did very much in his acting career. We get a mention of Starwatcher, the Moebius film that Ridley Scott was going to produce, but alas, nothing came of it. Mangels also promises “the inside scoop” on Wesley Snipes’s Black Panther movie in the next article. That should be fun!

There are a lot of items about movies that never got made or movies that were about to come out, and Mangels mentions that a “Disney film about lost toys is being produced entirely on computer by Pixar, and is due out in late 1994.” I can’t imagine that would ever find an audience. Who wants to watch a movie about lost toys anyway????

John McTiernan was supposed to have directed The Princess of Mars, which would have been interesting. Mel Gibson was going to star as James West in Wild Wild West, and while that didn’t come off, obviously, it would have been a Richard Donner-directed, Shane Black-written version, which would have had to be better than the thing we eventually got. George Lucas was interviewed on Good Morning America, and he said he was ready to do the next Star Wars trilogy, claiming it would happen in the next “five or six years.” Hey, not a bad target there, George!

Moving on, Michael Eury tells Vinnie Bartilucci all about Eclipso: The Darkness Within, 1992’s big DC crossover event, on pages 32-34. I didn’t read most of it, but Eury was pretty excited about it! Then, on pages 36-38, we get a summary of the various mutant crossovers over the years, because “The X-Cutioner’s Song” was coming up, and Wizard wanted to make sure we all knew that this crappy story was impending! On page 39, Marc Silvestri gives us this ad:

Honestly, lady, based on that drawing, that question is the last thing on my mind. Is your spine ok is probably my first question!

Patrick Daniel O’Neill has an interview with Art Thibert on pages 40-43, which is pretty interesting. It’s not the most in-depth thing in the world, but it’s not bad. Then O’Neill has an article (pages 45-47) about the X-Men and their metaphorical aspect, but it’s basically just an overview of their publication history. Then, O’Neill has an interview with Neal Adams on pages 48-52. They’re working O’Neill hard! In this interview, Adams is talking about Continuity, his company, which he claims has a lot of new titles coming out. I don’t know how many actually did come out, but good for him! Adams isn’t quite as obnoxiously arrogant as Steranko is in this interview, but he’s close! It’s still full of interesting information, even if it comes to us through the unfiltered self-praise that is Neal Adams.

On pages 54-57, Patrick McCallum has a primer about Image Comics, which is fun. Interestingly enough, he calls Image an “imprint of Malibu,” because Image partnered with Malibu to be their publisher and distributor. This is probably the last time anyone referred to Image as an imprint of Malibu, so there you go! McCallum then does brief biographies of McFarlane, Lee, and Liefeld, with Portacio, Larsen, and Silvestri getting brief “others receiving votes” blurbs and Valentino getting a separate but equally brief paragraph. Then there’s a bit about Keown before McCallum circles back to Liefeld and his many projects. We know, of course, that so many of these things either never got off the ground or floundered once they did, with Spawn and Savage Dragon the only ones with any staying power, but good for those Image founders!

Pages 60-63 feature fan art that readers could send to Wizard. Some of it is decent, but I was hoping to see a name that later went on to some fame in comics, but alas — none such existed. Oh well! Then there’s a quiz on pages 64-65. Some of the questions are goofy (“What was the worst scene in Batman Returns?”), but hey, quizzes are fun!

There’s a “Wizard Comic Watch” on pages 72-73, which I guess is where Wizard recommends checking out books before they get super-hot? Since they’re focusing on the X-Men in this issue, they suggest the readers try to find Amazing Adventures #11, in which the Beast is transformed, and New Mutants Annual #2, the first American appearance of Psylocke (this might become hot thanks to Jim Lee’s makeover of Psylocke). I mean, those are both fine comics, although I don’t know if they ever became that “hot.”

In “The Wizard’s Crystal Ball” on page 75, Greg Buls discusses Valiant. Because of course he does — this is Wizard, after all, and they loved them some Valiant! He mentions that Valiant’s back issues are worth more because Valiant doesn’t overprint, so after the initial orders are sold, there aren’t many copies left. Sounds like a sound business plan! Buls has nothing but praise for Valiant’s future. I wonder how it all worked out.

Pages 76-81 give us “the hottest books shipping in September,” which is nice of Wizard. I’m sure there’s no payola involved here! They spotlight … another Valiant book? I’m shocked! It’s H.A.R.D. Corps #1 by Michelinie and Lapham (Wizard lists the artist first, which I’d like to think is an acknowledgement of the artists’ contributions to the comics but is probably just because artists were hawt in the early 1990s), which sounds awful. A bunch of ragey dudes — Wizard lists their names: Maniac, Gunslinger, Flatliner, Shakespeare (definitely the balding guy, because of course), Superstar, Hammerhead — fights other ragey dudes, and any women who happen to show up probably pose provocatively. They do spotlight Spider-Man 2099 #1, which might have been a kewl book but was also written by Peter David, who knew a thing or two about writing a comic. D.G. Chichester (who I just met at last year’s Phoenix Convention) and Ron Garney were working on Nightstalkers, which launched as part of the “Midnight Sons” crossover and featured Blade (pre-Snipes, of course), Hannibal King, and Frank Drake. Of course, Wizard must highlight a Liefeld book, so Supreme #1 gets a blurb, as does Uncanny X-Men #294, which was the first part of the previously-mentioned “X-Cutioner’s Song,” which, blech, again. Then we get a checklist of books coming out. Some interesting ones: Congorilla #1 from DC; Ganthet’s Tale was coming out; Punisher: Back to School Special was listed, with this tremendous blurb: “The Punisher poses as a substitute gym teacher to shut down a gang that’s dealing guns in the school” … how did I not pick this up, even with my hatred of the Punisher?!?!?; and Slapstick #1 from Marvel. Fun stuff!

Moving on to page 83, we find “The Wizard of Cards” by Stephen Shamus (hmmm … a little nepotiz there, if I may quote Jack Black?). Apparently, the big fad at that moment was “insert cards,” and the cards with holograms and prisms are selling for “big money.” Coming down the pike are “chromium” cards from Comic Images in conjunction with Valiant, which “should set the market on fire.” Comic Images is also going to release a 72-card Silver Surfer set, in which every card is a prism. I’m sure that won’t tank the market! He also mentions that stores received “hologram cardboard” as an incentive for ordering X-Men. The “silver” ones were selling for $15-$50, and the “gold” ones were selling for $25-$150. Good times in the speculator market! I will say that this issue of Wizard came with this card, which is, of course, one of my most prized possessions:

After a price guide for cards, Brian Cunningham gets us caught up on toys on pages 92-93. Cunningham begins by ranting about Batman Returns. Not the movie, which he liked but wouldn’t want to see again, but parents. It’s a fun rant, mainly because I agree with him:

Why do parents bring infants to see a dark, grim, PG-13 movie like Batman Returns? All the infants do is cry and cry and CRY, and they take away from the parents (and the audience’s enjoyment of the film).

He’s not wrong. I saw Sin City at about 10 o’clock at night, and you know who was there? Babies and small kids. FOR SIN CITY!!!!! Preach it, Brian Cunningham!

Anyway, he doesn’t love the Batman figures in the new toy line, but he does like the Robin one. Why was there a Robin figure for Batman Returns? No man can say! The costume on the toy was designed by Neal Adams, apparently. He doesn’t love the Catwoman design, and apparently, the Max Schreck one is so rare he’s never seen it. If you have one in the box, it could be worth beaucoup ducats! He also digs the new X-Men toys, especially the Forge one, because it has a “quick-draw” feature. Good for it! There’s also a poll of the top ten most wanted action figures: Ghost Rider, Darkhawk, Lobo, Thanos, Adam Warlock/Galactus (a tie), Nightwing/Deathstroke (another tie), Nova/Beast (another tie), Rogue/Hawkeye (yet another tie), Psylock [sic], and Carnage. So very 1990s, that list! And some dude from Millford, Connecticut, created his own Red Star, which looks pretty keen.

On page 96, Wizard helpfully gives us a list of #1 issues shipping in September. “Comic book collectors” they claim, “place a great deal of importance on the #1 issues … #1 issues have been known to appreciate considerably when a series becomes popular.” Gee, thanks, Wizard! Here are some of the #1s: Avalon #1 (Comico), Boof #1 (Iconographix), Ferret #1 (Malibu), Joe Sinn #1 (Gauntlet), Nitron #1 (United), Oldblood #1 (Parody), Spitting Image #1 (Eclipse), White Trash #1 (Tundra). All today worth more than your house, I’m sure!

The next page has Diamond’s Top 100 for August. See how many you own of the top ten: Cable #1, WildC.A.T.s #2, Youngblood #0, X-Men #13, Cyberforce #1, Spawn #4, Youngblood #4, Youngblood #3, Shadowhawk #1, X-Force #15. Marvel, mind you, had 56 books in the Top 100. The House of Ideas: flooding the market with crap for over 30 years! Some of them are interesting and so very indicative of the time. Darkhold #1 was #13, Morbius #2 was #22, Night Thrasher: Four Control #1 was #25, Silver Sable #5 was #31, Rai #30 was #40, Guy Gardner #1 was #41, Nomad #6 was #50, Punisher Armory #4 was #51, Quasar #39 was #64, Sleepwalker #17 was 388, Tekworld #2 was #90. And they probably all sold more copies than Absolute Batman! The top graphic novel, interestingly enough, was Batman: Night Cries. Yes, the one about child abuse.

Wizard then has “the hottest books changing hands throughout the country.” They are: Harbinger #1 (Shooter, Lapham), which had a fairly low print run, hence its price; Solar #1 (Shooter, Perlin), which also had a low print run; Amazing Spider-Man #101 (Thomas, Kane … although they claim it’s by Claremont and Leonardi, so there must have been a typo somewhere), because it’s the first appearance of Morbius, and his new series just launched; Amazing Spider-Man #361 (Michelinie, Bagley), because it’s the first appearance of Carnage (I think this is the last issue I bought, too, because, well, the book kind of sucked at this point); New Mutants #87 (L. Simonson, Liefeld), because it’s the first appearance of Cable (I bought this issue for $20 back in the day … yeah, yeah, I know, but I really did want to complete my run of New Mutants, and that was standing in my way!); Youngblood #1 (Kanalz, Liefeld), because people in 1992 were fools; Uncanny X-Men #201 (oh, here’s Claremont and Leonardi), which is technically the first appearance of Cable, although Wizard and everyone else didn’t know that yet; Next Men #1 (Byrne), because it’s Byrne; and … New Warriors #1 (?!?!?) (Nicieza, Bagley), because … Night Thrasher is awesome? Speedball is cool? Beats the heck out of me!

We get a “Market Watch” on page 100, which is interesting. Everything is coming up Image, although this was, of course, before the creators realized they had to get out, you know, second and third issues, so of course it was grand for them! Wizard was not happy with DC, as its market share had fallen to around 20% (compared to Marvel’s 45-50%). “Are they committed to producing books for younger kids?” Wizard asks, saying the cancellation of the Impact line seems to belie that. “How about producing more mature-oriented material?” they wonder, before making a bizarre statement that Vertigo seems like a step in the wrong direction after the “Piranha Press mess.” Seeing how successful Vertigo turned out to be, this is really reading the tea leaves wrong for Wizard. “How about producing good mainstream superhero titles?” they ask, which isn’t a bad question. They claim the “Total Chaos” story in Titans is a good idea, but that some titles are heading toward the “silly storylines that Crisis was supposed to eliminate.” I mean, that’s kind of the problem right there. I agree that the bwah-ha-ha Justice League, which is one of their examples, got too silly, but “silly storylines” in themselves aren’t bad, if they’re done well. Wizard wanted DC to be grim-‘n’-gritty, dang it!

I always loved Wizard‘s Top Ten Hottest Artists, because I had no idea of the criteria. Was it based on looks? Maybe? Anyway, here they are, from page 101:

Look at that Todd McFarlane! What a dish!

Pages 102-166 is the price guide, which is pretty keen and comprehensive, but I’m not going into it. Then there’s a list of conventions, in case you want to hop in your time machine and do literally nothing else in history.

Then we get the letters! A dude asks why his Jim Lee-signed copy of X-Men #1 is not in Wizard‘s price guide, and they had to explain that signed copies are too hard to price. Sorry, dude! Another dude asks about the price increase of the magazine. He says that Wizard began bagging their issues because they include trading cards (like my most prized possession, see above), but that sucks, because people are buying one issue of their favorite comic and leaving it in the bag and buying another to read, and he doesn’t want to do that with Wizard because it costs more. They point out that the magazine has increased in quality, hence the price increase, and that bagged comics don’t necessarily increase in value because the comics might be damaged by the plastic. I mean, they’re not wrong. Come on, dude, rip the bags open with glee! Another dude worries that Marvel comics are going to suck now because all the Image guys left, and Wizard sets him straight by telling him that the characters matter, not the chumps who make the comics! Come on, dude! A dude writes in that Wizard should be a bit more critical in their reviews and spotlight more independent books than those from Valiant and Image, “which is just Marvel on speed” (I dig that line). Wizard does point out that they don’t really review new books because they’re writing about them before they’re available, so it sounds like hype because it’s just what the publishers provide. I mean, that’s a good point, but they could be a bit more critical. There are more letters, but they’re mostly about the X-traitor (oh, those were some good times!) and whether Iron Man can beat up all the X-Men at the same time, and who cares about that stuff, right?

So there you have it: Wizard #14, soup to nuts. I’m going to try to post these every other Thursday — I don’t think I can do it every week unless I get really far ahead (it’s 12 October as I type this, and it took me a few weeks to do it all), so two weeks seems more realistic. I’d really like to get through all the Wizards I own, because they’re such a fun time capsule of what was happening during comics’ weirdest decade! I hope you had fun with this!