Wizard Cancells Magazine; My Experiences and Thoughts Thereof

So word has gone out that Wizard is ceasing publication of their magazine immediately. This announcement was made the day after Wizard World announced that it was going public and publishing a web magazine. This makes Wizard a company that Though I have not been an active reader of the publication over all of its 19 years of publication, I do have some experience and opinions regarding it.

I first became aware of it when I started working at a comic book shop called Comic Mania located next door to the School of Visual Arts. I started work there the very day it opened, which was the day that my Freshman year at that school began. This was at the height of the comic book boom that was spearheaded by Image and Valiant. Wizard magazine seemed to be the greatest cheerleader for this boom, and for Image Comics in particular. Their “hot picks” repeatedly highlighted the latest works from Image, and their prices of back issue Image Comics seemed to escalate faster in their price list than any other. IT was often packaged in a plastic bag with collectible premiums like trading cards and comic previews. No doubt it was bought up as much for its collectible value in that bloated market of the day as for its content.

As the years passed, the comic book industry busted, and I drifted away from the scene a bit. Then I got involved in working for the Big Apple Convention. As my responsibilities in working for that convention increased, I became more aware of what was going on, and I noticed that Wizard was holding conventions. Image Comics had eveolved into a company that, frankly, had better comic than when they first started out, and Wizard Magazine gave more balanced coverage of the comic book industry, market, conventions, and related culture and media. In fact, the magazine became pretty much the pre-eminent publication of such matters.

At this time, the Big Apple Con was the only comic book convention in New York that managed to survive from the mid- 1990’s to the mid 2000’s. Then Reed Exhibitions came along and set up the New York Comic Con at the Javits Center. After a few years, Reed and Wizard started buying or starting conventions in different cities, and scheduling these events at times that sometimes made it difficult to attend them all. Wizard bought up Big Apple Con, re-naming it Big Apple Comic Con.

At the latest of these conventions, Wizard gave out free copies of their latest issue. It seemed thinner than I remembered the magazine used to be, and the content seemed light and sparse. Now the magazine is gone from the newsstands, and the content will only be available on line.

Se we can all add Wizard to our bookmarks, in the same file as Newsarama, Ain’t it Cool, and all the other sites that post up the latest announcements from the comic book, movie, TV, toy, and convention companies. WE can wonder if Wizard will or will not be interested in promoting those things that will be appearing at their conventions over those that will not, and we can wait and see if they will give insight into news items that will make their content as worth perusing, if not more so, than any of those other sites.

RIP: Harvey Pekar

RIP: Harvey Pekar

There's not much I can say that has not been said by others. His work proved that an ordinary life can be incredibly complex and quite fascinating. He cut through the bull and said exactly what he wanted to say. His honesty and truthfulness will be missed.

I had always been vaguely aware of comic book "American Splendor," but was more into superheroes and science fiction , so I never really looked into it. My mom saw the movie and insisted that I see, but I never made it to the theater while it was out. I finally saw the film when it was shown in the public library at Glens Falls, NY.

As a movie, I found it very original and unique. It was refreshing in it's honesty in showing the "unglam" life of the subject, and even admitting that actors were better looking that the real people.

So here's to the man who made uncommon use of the common life, and expanded the possibilities of the comics form.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/07/cleveland_comic-book_legend_ha.html

So, the Incredible Hulk, Eh?

Well, I first saw this movie sneaking in after the first 15 minutes or so. I came in during a chase scene where Banner was running from the soldiers under General Ross trying to catch him, the scene that ended with the first appearance of the Hulk. I figured I had missed some of the initial character set-up and I didn't know if the origin of the Hulk had been shown, and I had not seen the Ang Lee movie, so I was willing to take the movie on its terms at that. I thought the the movie was awesome! The Comic Book Superhero Movie genre has finally hit its stride, with Dark Knight, Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men 2, and now this.

Then a few days later I saw the entire movie. It seems all I missed was the montage of shots that covered the origin and a little set-up of Banner in Brazil. There was very little dialogue, very little character development or even exposition to get you into the character and scenario. It's ;like the filmmaker assumed you knew the origin already and this was just a quick reminder.
From what I hear tell, the Ang Lee film was all about how childhood abuse had built up much anger in Bruce Banner, which was the source of his great rage as thew Hulk. This movie did not even touch anything regarding anything about any possible psychological background for Banner, and was the weaker for it. It acted as if all the background was either known by the audience already or was being hidden so that the reveal would be the shock.

This workled a little bit, such as when Betty Ross first called General Ross “Daddy,” if you did not know the connection there it was a worthwhile reveal. But still, as the movie was set up as if you were plopped into the middle of a story, as a stand-alone feature it would have been strengthened by just a little more character set-up.

That having been said, there were many reasons that it did work as a Comic Book Super Hero Movie. As a genre, the CBSHM plays best to comic book fans, especially those familiar with the character. By the time the movie is made, it can be assumed that the character is popular enough to support a movie. That being the case, there must be a reason the character is popular. Therefore, the best CBSHM's are true to the character and trust the source.

The source for this movie, and character, seems to be as much the 1970's TV series with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. The references are legion: Banner says “Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry. There is a clip from another Bill Bixby TV show, “The Courtship of Eddie's Father,” playing in one scene (although I think “My Favorite Martian” would have been a more appropriate homage). Lou Ferrigno has a cameo appearance. Banner is referred to as a “Fugitive” no less than twice (“The Fugitive” was a TV series that predated, and was conceptually much like the Hulk TV series).When Banner changes into the Hulk, at one point we see the close-up on his spot-lighted eyes just like the TV show; we see the shirt split across his back; we even see the Hulk pull the shirt off his chest, Ferrigno-like.

The action is astounding. I often have problems with these sorts of action movies when the director feels we have to have everything close-up, in your face, to give a sense of the drama. Michael Bay (Transformers) and Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever) are particularly guilty on that score. This time, however, the director trusted the drama of the actual action, allowing us to see the Hulk battle his adversaries, much the way Fred Astaire and Gene Kelley and Jackie Chan were always allowed to be seen in action. Yay!

However, weakness is shown when the movie assumes that all viewers will be familiar with the character, and thus necessary set-up and development is set aside. So this is an awesome movie , but could have been just a little bit more.

RIP Dave Stevens

RIP Dave Stevens
Back in the early 1980's comics as a means of self-expression became much more viable with the growth of creator-owned comics properties. Companies like Pacific, First, Warp Graphics, etc gave us a whole host of new characters, all owned by their creators, in stories that were frequently more mature than the typical superheroes that dominated Marvel and DC comics. Graphic novels showed that occasionally, sequential art could tell a story no less meaningful and sophisticated than any book or movie. And most importantly, many very talented writers and artists got to do the work they always wanted to do.

In this brave new world, stepped Dave Stevens, blazing with talented, the ability to tell a story and draw women that were realistic, yet unbelievably sexy. He gave the world The Rocketeer, a dashing, heroic adventure in the tradition of the Saturday matinée serials of a bygone age. I spent many hours drinking in each page of the carefully crafted comic. I only learned later how much time he took making sure every panel was perfect, when it all looked so smooth and natural.

And of course that comic brought fetish icon Bettie Page to a new level of popularity. I had heard of her before, but to see her in these adventures made her seem like a real person. That pin-up model from the old black & white photographs was now in full-color glory. And I could easily understand poor Cliff Secord being in love with her.

The Rocketeer was eventually turned into a movie that was one of the most faithful comics-to-film translations ever (even though Bettie was replaced by a character played by Jennifer Connelly – still beautiful, but without the famous bangs).

Dave's perfectionism explains in part why there were very few issues of the Rocketeer comic book beyond the original graphic novel, which is a shame. That kind of adventure captured a spirit of fun and innocence of a bygone era, an era where pluck and courage, the conviction of doing what is right, would see a hero through against the greatest of adversity. Stevens' art and storytelling told that adventure in a way that was effective and accessible like no other had. His passing to Leukemia at age 59 assures us that there will never be any more, at least, not by his hand, and that is a tragic loss.

You can post your tributes to Dave Stevens on his website at http://www.davestevens.com/
You can make contributions in Dave Stevens' name to http://www.hairycellleukemia.org/

Captain Zorikh
http://www.bigapplecon.com/
http://www.captainzorikh.com/