It’s a “collectors’ edition” of Wizard, #108, which doesn’t mean it’s going to be valuable, but as you can see from the cover, this issue has a lot about collecting the most valuable comics you can find! Oh, that’s going to be fun. Let’s go!
But first, it’s the letters! We begin with one from Fabian Nicieza, the current writer of Thunderbolts. He has some things to say, of course, but one thing he wrote struck me: “Heck, maybe it [Wizard‘s coverage] will be enough of an impetus to make Marvel try a trade paperback of #34-38. Naaaah! Bizarro Marvel am scared of paperbacks!” It’s amazing to me that, even after a decade when DC showed how strong collections of stuff could be, Marvel was still resisting it in 2000. That statement by Nicieza sounds as weird as an oldster like me talking about rotary phones. A dude wonders if people selling drawings of established characters is illegal, and Wizard asks a lawyer, who says, basically, that it is. However, it’s too small potatoes for DC and Marvel to go after them. Unless you’re Gary Friedrich, but fuck that guy, right? Someone has a technical question: Does Steve Dillon ink Preacher with brush, India ink, and dip pen, or does he use “newfangled technical pens or markers”? They don’t ask Dillon, but they ask Palmiotti, who says he (Dillon, that is) uses a crow quill dip pen. So there you go! Palmiotti also notes that he (Palmiotti, that is) doesn’t love markers because the ink tends to fade, which has ruined Gil Kane and Neal Adams work from the 1960s. Good to know! Someone writes a very weird and vaguely creepy letter: “Could you possibly make your covers out of a more durable material? When I try to read in the bathroom with the heat on, the cover wrinkles, and my fingers stick to it.” I don’t think anything else needs to be said about that!
There’s an item about two new Marvel projects: the Loeb-Sale Daredevil: Yellow book, and Ennis’s Hulk Smash. I own both, and they’re fine, I guess. Loeb had fully entered his “write anything artists like to draw” period, and he and Sale had entered their “same story, different character” vibe that Wizard even breaks down a bit on page 23, giving us a bit of the “formula” they use. But Sale is so good that these projects are usually worth reading, just to check it out. There’s an item about Smith and Hester on Green Arrow, which I bought but don’t remember very well. It was fine, but nothing spectacular. Pérez was leaving Avengers due to health concerns — he was diabetic — and Alan Davis was taking over. Wizard also noted that 2001 was the 15th anniversary of Watchmen, and DC was releasing a new, fancy hardcover and new toys. There’s an interesting note about it: “[G]etting new Watchmen merchandise released had been impossible for one simple reason — Moore had a decade-long stance of not working with DC.” DC, as far as I know, had no reason to respect Moore’s wishes, but I guess they were trying to be nice? Remember those days? Now they’re just like, “Is there a way we haven’t fucked Moore over? Get on it, minions!”
There are some interesting items in the “Buzz Bin.” DC scrapped Garth Ennis’s Sgt. Rock plans, which is too bad, because Ennis is so good at war stories. Superman: Red Son “has been abandoned,” which is weird because it’s on my shelf as we speak! There was news of a spin-off of The Authority, with John McCrea as artist. This was, of course, the gloriously weird Monarchy, which did not last long. On the same page (28), there’s a longer article about X-Men: Black Sun, which was coming down the pike. I’ve never read this — my X-Men love was tottering at the time, and I didn’t love what Claremont was doing, so why would I get another Claremont story? It doesn’t sound great, but did anyone actually read it? Nicieza had brought back Scourge in Thunderbolts, I guess, so Wizard had a list of characters it might be. One struck me: Bucky Barnes. Nicieza had this to say about that guess: “I have been known in my time to lamely bring back characters who probably shouldn’t have been brought back, but am I so much of a hack that I would bring this guy back?” Did Brubaker see that and think, “Challenge accepted!”?
On page 34, Wizard has a blurb about The First, the latest title from CrossGen. It’s notable to me because artist Bart Sears says that he was about to quit the industry because he saw “no future” at DC or Marvel — did he mean for him or for them as companies? — but CrossGen is just so cool that they kept him in the biz. I don’t know how long The First lasted, but Sears’s work on The Path — also from CrossGen — is pretty keen.
On page 36, Wizard breaks down why Daredevil is now Marvel’s main solo hero, rather than Spider-Man. They do this occasionally, and I’m not sure if they’re basing it solely on sales or just, to use a 2020s parlance, vibes. They note that Daredevil‘s “stories” are currently better, which was probably true. They say that the art is better on Daredevil, citing Joey Q’s work (of course, I don’t think he was on the book anymore by this time, but they’re talking recent past), but they do think that the Spidey art is pretty good. As for the alter ego, Matt Murdock is having a better time of it than Peter Parker — this was at a time when Peter was at a real low, and Mary Jane was currently dead (which I had forgotten about, mainly because I didn’t read Spider-Man books then), so his life sucked more than usual. Spidey’s villains had become stale, while DD’s were getting new life, and even Mysterio was doing cool stuff (kind of?) in Daredevil. Wizard does admit that there’s good news on the Spider-Man front, as Ultimate Spider-Man was launching and a movie was in the works, but it is funny that it took the absolute nadir of Spider-Man’s published life to catapult Daredevil over him. I mean, the turn of the millennium was not good for Spidey at all, so it’s not surprising Daredevil was winning at that time!
Wizard has a primer on the upcoming Universe X on pages 40-43, which is actually pretty interesting. They also cover the major plot points of Earth X, which is nice of them. I know Wizard had a hard-on for Alex Ross, but that doesn’t mean Ross wasn’t doing interesting comics at this time, so it’s fair. I read Earth X but it never made much of an impression, so I tapped out after that. Did anyone read the sequel?
On pages 50-54, we get a pretty good interview with Joss Whedon about Buffy, mainly, but he drops some comics knowledge in there, as well. I have never gotten into the Buffy-verse at all — the only thing I’ve ever consumed that was Buffy-related was the issue where she wakes up a lesbian, which was fun to discuss at the old blog, believe you me! — but it’s nice that it spawned such a phenomenon from a not-very-well-regarded movie. Good for Whedon! Oh, wait …
Starting on page 56, Wizard has their “how to be a collector” article. So much fun! They begin by telling us “what to collect”: mainly, they say get what you like, which, duh, as they note that getting books by “perceived value” is foolish — they mention Harbinger #1, which once sold for over $100 and at that point could be had for less than a dollar. Oh well, suckers! They go over the ways to get comics, and they note that to get into a convention, “an average $15 admission” is a good way to go. Oh, the early 2000s and its prices! They note that you can restore comics, and we’ll see later in the book how that’s done. They also give warnings about buying: “mystery damage” (for instance, when “Marvel Value Stamps” have been cut out of books from the 1970s); restored books that aren’t worth as much because of the restoration but you spend top-dollar on them because you don’t know they’ve been restored; different printings; foreign printings (that aren’t worth as much, which is odd, because I think printings with foreign prices on them are cool); signed comics that can drive down the price. Oh dear, my Denny O’Neil-signed issue of Moon Knight isn’t worth as much! They move on to original art, explaining that covers go for the most because of the rarity (there’s only one per issue) and the need to make them dynamic. They give examples of kinds of art, which is nifty, and where to get them. They warn against frauds, which sucks, and also art done with markers, which fades. Oh no! They do the same thing with toys and statues. It’s actually a very informative article, so well done, Wizard!
Moving on, David Goyer and Geoff Johns get to cast a Justice Society movie. Johns sez, “As long as I can lop the head off of one cast member, I’m good,” but still they forge ahead! They put Edward Norton as Sand, which is perfectly fine with me. I don’t know much about this incarnation of the JSA, but at this point, Norton was in his early 30s and still on the fairly hot streak he had to begin his career (although, at press time, his most recent movie was Keeping the Faith, so, yeah), and I like Norton, so sure. They pick Carrie-Anne Moss for Black Canary, as this was right at the moment when putting Carrie-Anne Moss in your movie was perfectly logical. That moment, sadly (because I dig Moss), passed quickly. I do not see Ed Harris as Jay Garrick. I mean, Harris was 50 at the time, and in the middle of a mid-career hot streak, but it just doesn’t seem to fit. But what do I know? They cast Liev Schreiber as Dr. Fate, which is another odd choice. Schreiber was in his early 30s, and he’s a fine actor, but doesn’t it feel like Kent Nelson should be a bit older? I dunno. Catherine Zeta-Jones, who at the time was vying for Hottest Woman on the Planet, is their choice for Hippolyta, another character who seems like she should be older. As I noted, I wasn’t reading JSA at the time (and have never really read it with regularity), so I don’t know what’s going on with the characters and their ages. They cast Harvey Keitel as Wildcat, and that works better than Harris, it feels. Keitel had recently turned 60 and was in the middle of his later-career renaissance, but he could still kick a lot of ass, so Ted Grant works for him. John Cusack is their Starman, which is not a bad choice. Cusack turned 34 about the time this issue came out, and High Fidelity had just come out, and Cusack was just, it seems, as the end of his long hot streak — he’s worked since this time, of course, and even made some good movies (we all love Hot Tub Time Machine, right?), but once the 21st century started, it felt like Cusack got left behind a bit. Still, I think he’d be a good Jack Knight. They have Tara Reid as Star-Spangled Kid, which I don’t love. Reid was 24 at the time, and I just never thought she was the greatest actor — Wizard, of course, puts her in the movie because she’s hot, but, I mean, who cares. I thought Brec Bassinger did a nice job as Stargirl, but, sadly, she was a little over a year old when this issue came out, so they wouldn’t have cast her. They have Jim Caviezel as Hourman, which is pretty keen. Caviezel, of course, has gone completely around the bend in recent years, but back then (and maybe still, but I don’t watch his weirdo movies anymore), he was a terrific actor, so this works. There’s another Dermot Mulroney sighting, as Goyer and Johns put him in the cast as Doctor Mid-Nite. I guess. Sentinel is an elder statesman on the team, and they get Jon Voight, another dude who’s gone a bit squirrely in recent years, but at the time, he was in his early 60s and still doing quite well, so sure. Much like Carrie-Anne Moss, Chris Klein was having a turn-of-the-millennium moment, and Johns and Goyer made him Atom Smasher. Klein was 21 and had done a couple of movies, but he was clearly not a good actor (he’s great in Election, but it seems like that’s because he’s just playing a dumb dude). Klein’s moment ended very quickly, but he might have worked in this movie. So that’s the cast — it’s pretty good, I must say. Maybe the new blood at DC will fire up a Justice Society movie because the grandparents would dig it!
There’s a nice article about The Tick, which came and went on Fox pretty quickly. Wizard also has a rumor mill about Spider-Man, in which they note that Spidey shoots webbing out of his body and not through web-spinners, which the magazine does not love. Neither do I, to be honest. A lot of their other rumors — Liev Schreiber as Curt Conners, Kevin Costner as the Green Goblin, Laurence Fishburne as Doc Ock — did not pan out, but they knew about the webbing! Clerks, as we know, did not last long on ABC, and Wizard noted it had been canceled. They also mentioned that Dini and Ross had been working on a Shazam! cartoon, but it fell apart, because there was a rights issue. They also talked briefly to Rucka about Whiteout being made into a movie. The movie came out in 2009, to let you know how long some things take to get to the big screen.
On page 76, they have a nice little article about the Words and Pictures Museum, which Kevin Eastman founded in 1990 in Northampton, Massachusetts but had closed its physical doors by that time and moved to the internet. The site is still around, and it kind of cracks me up, because it appears like it hasn’t been updated in 20 years, but I guess it’s still viable. Who’s doing the upkeep, and if so, why don’t they update it? Anyway, it looks neat.
In the “Basic Training” section, in which we usually get an artist telling us how to draw things, we get Chris Friesen, who’s a comic book restorer. He has a copy of Detective Comics #28, and it doesn’t look great, but Friesen goes into great depth to show us how he restores a comic. It’s absolutely fascinating — I’m tempted to say it’s the best thing I’ve read in Wizard over the past months that I’ve been re-reading the issues I own. I don’t want to go into the ins and outs of restoring a comic, but Friesen goes over it with great detail, beginning with taking all the staples out of the book (which made my soul hurt a bit, but needs must1!) and going from there. Very keen.
There are new toys! Here are some Legion toys, and I absolutely adore Cosmic Boy, and when I went to the internet, I see they changed his costume. Was this one too gay? How dare you, DC!!!!
Man, you really want this bust, don’t you? Sixty bucks and it’s yours! (Ok, probably a bit more than that these days, if you can find it.)
In the “comics shipping in August” section, which I usually breeze by, we get a nice item about JLA versus Avengers, including the wild amount that Pérez’s original art fetched on eBay. Hey, wouldn’t it be nice if this book actually existed some day?
As we zip toward the back of the book, Wizard realizes that they’re ten years old, so they can switch the “look back” at the charts from five to ten years ago! Look at these wonderful books, including that first appearance of a garbage character!
As always, we have the top ten writers and artists:
Why does Vince look like a serial killer?
In the price guide, Wizard highlights the “prized possessions” of various comics pros, which is kind of interesting, and they also have “truly rare gems,” and this crazy one caught my eye:
That’s pretty awesome, I think you’ll agree.
All right, that’s all I have for this issue. Must we check out some advertisements? Well, of course we don’t, but I’m going to do it anyway!
Thanks for reading, everyone! Have a great day!
