Wizard & Toyfare magazines cease publishing

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:35 pm

Wizard magazine has ceased publication after nearly 20 years, laying off its remaining staff and canceling freelance assignments. Its sibling publication ToyFare also has closed.

CEO Gareb Shamus followed a morning filled with reports of the magazinesâ€™ demise with a press release announcing the February launch of â€œan all-new digital magazine called Wizard Worldâ€ that will target the same audience. Curiously the release, which you can read below, doesnâ€™t mention Wizard magazine. Instead its focus is on the news that Wizard World Inc. is now a public company with Shamus as its president and CEO.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/20 ... o-decades/

Though the magazine was so obviously pro-marvel its still a shame to see it go. It had lots of good articles, upcoming events and various other funnish stuff in it. 20 years is still a damn long time to be publishing a comic-related mag. I guess we'll see what the new online version looks like.

Thoughts?

jedispyder · Post by **jedispyder** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:57 pm

Damn, I've followed that for about 15 years or so. I remember back in the hey-day when it not only had a price guide but it also gave awesome descriptions on the comics listed in the price guide. I used those descriptions to find new comics, it was awesome! I was saddened to see it slipping in quality, getting to the point where they even completely dropped the price guide section which pissed me off.

I wonder what is going to happen to my subscription. I think mine was paid for almost up to 2 years. Likely get shafted, which isn't a surprise =o(

Tragic Angelus · Post by **Tragic Angelus** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:16 pm

Yeah, don't expect your money back on that one.

Also, I caught an article by a former employer who had SOOO many nice things to say about it all, including how Wizard actually was screwing Marvel openly without a care:

http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articles/EXCLUSIVE__Former_Wizard_Employee_Speaks

Though take that with a grain of salt as it's the opinion of a former staffer, so of course it won't be very pleasant.

I'm not really sad to see the magazine go. It stopped being something worth my time a number of years ago when it stopped talking about comics and spent more time on TV Shows and movies, including Lost and Heroes more often than things like Avengers, JLA, Green Lantern and actual comic related things. The occasional comic movie/media tie in is one thing, but a number of features dedicated to Lost, etc, made me care less and less about it.

I get they shifted to 'The Pop Culture Magazine' but that just cut what was once their huge niche market (for me) into something I didn't want to even waste my time on, let alone my money.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:34 pm

Now I regret tossing out all my old Wizard mags a few years ago.

MGM · Post by **MGM** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:07 pm

Oh WizardWorld, how I still miss thee.

MGM · Post by **MGM** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:07 pm

Apart from that, the magazine itself was horrendous.

XIII · Post by **XIII** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:08 pm

I still have mine and they date from way back in the late 90s. When the mag was still worth something.
I'm not sad to see it go but I feel sorry for all the people who lost their jobs due to this.