Bleeding Cool--

Now this is an end of an era.

I am receiving multiple confirmations from across the industry, through none yet from Wizard’s higher ups and PR people yet, that Wizard: The Guide To Comics, the magazine that covered the mainstream comics industry for twenty years and created all manner of careers in the process has closed, effective immediately. Or at least the print version has.

Almost all Wizard magazine staff have been laid off, and all freelance engagements cancelled.

Sister magazine Toyfare, covering the toy market, has not been affected, nor have the Wizard comic conventions.

Created by Gareb Shamus and Stephen Shamus in 1991, the magazine carved a niche for itself covering the most commercial comics in the most aggressive fashion. At one point it regularly sold more than the comics it covered. But sales have declined of late, as the internet has grown in prominence and favour for this kind of news. For many Wizard is no longer the news breaker and agenda setter of the comics industry it once was. And people still have issues with the tone it has taken over the years. Even though it’s arguable that the last couple of years have seen some of the best Wizard content since it started.

But right now it’s time to bury that pointy hat…

Maybe this is why

New York, NY (January 24, 2011) – Gareb Shamus, recently appointed President and CEO of public company Wizard World, Inc. (“Wizard World”) (OTC: GOEE.PK), today announced that the Comic Con Tour, which consists of pop culture conference events that provide high visibility marketing opportunities to pop culture brands and companies in multiple venues throughout the year, is now being produced by public company Wizard World. The Wizard World Comic Con Tour intends to cover 12 cities in 2011, including major cities such as New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Austin and New Orleans. The Tour will include sponsors ranging from major movie studios and TV networks to gaming and toy companies to content publishers.

In addition, Wizard World plans to launch in February 2011 an all-new digital magazine called ‘Wizard World’ that will appeal to pop-culture fans, the same audience to which Mr. Shamus has catered to, for over 20 years. Wizard World digital magazine will provide coverage of the world of comic books, toys and superheroes, and the personalities behind them.

“This is a very exciting day for Wizard World and the industries it serves,” said Shamus. “Having the Tour produced by a public company provides additional opportunities to expand and grow the Tour. The new digital magazine Wizard World will give consumers the content they want in a magazine format with which they are familiar, but distributed in a form that is always available at any time on any device. It is a natural evolution for us in this market.”

Wizard World Comic Con will begin its North American tour at New Orleans Comic Con held from January 29 to 30, 2011. The full event schedule can be found at www.wizardworld.com.


About Wizard World:

Wizard World is a producer of pop culture and multimedia conventions across North America that markets movies, TV shows, video games, technology, toys, social networking/gaming platforms, comic books and graphic novels. It has the rights to the names, marks, domains, customer lists and production rights for a portfolio of pop culture and multimedia conventions.

Newsarama just updated a confirmation that TOYFARE magazine is ending:

http://blog.newsarama.com/2011/01/24/rumor-is-wizard-magazine-dead/

Good. Now we can get our Mattel sneak pics straight from them instead of waiting for someone to scan the magazine page.

Of course it's not good for anyone losing their jobs and I feel bad for those people.

THAT SUCKS!!!!

I dropped Wizard a few years ago, but I still get and enjoy Toyfare.

It was always a nice half hour to hour break from my day whenever a new issue arrived in the mail.

I will greatly miss Toyfare, although I will admit the past few years haven't been kind to it. The page count shrank. The articles became less entertaining. Twisted Toyfare Theatre was a shadow of it's former self.

But I still liked it. Just last week I spend 45 minutes reading the latest issue.

Sigh.

From our home page:
http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/main ... e-to-close

Very sad to hear about this, both for selfish reasons (yeah, I LIKE Toyfare) and in behalf of those who will be losing jobs. Very best wishes to you all.

Guess they finally ran out of fart jokes? Sorry, but I dropped both Wizard and Toyfare years ago. Not JUST because it was crude, but because so much of it was unoriginal. I haven't regretted it once.

However, I'm always saddened to hear of the loss of this many jobs. Hopefully many of them will be able to latch on to the new online company. I know there are lots of nice people there, and hope they won't be impacted too terribly.

I really enjoyed you.

Guess I should have it seen it coming: you were getting unnaturally skinny, and Twisted Toyfare Theater has been sliding downhill for the last 2 years....

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/01/24/wizard-magazine-to-close-immediately/

This has been a long time coming.

MODs we need to merge some threads here.

I will miss Toyfare. A lot.

Got an email from Justin about an hour ago. Looks like he will stay on board and work on the on-line version of the magazine. So that's good news!

While I don't mourn the loss of the print mags (I haven't regularly read either in years), I do wish a speedy and healthy recovery for all those that are now without a job.

I am very intrigued to see what happens with the new Wizard World digital domain.

Could the loss of print create some new, healthy competition among the fansites leading to more insightful and original news, previews, conversations/forums, and more, or will it be just one more place to get a Matty QnA?

This makes me sad. While Wizard hasn't been that great for a few years now, it still had some interesting stories. And I think ToyFare is the best toy magazine there is, and it always had some cool info on older toylines and behind the scenes info. While I think Gareb Shamus is a creep and a scalper, there were people who worked for him who were cool and it bums me out.

I like magazines/comics/CDs. If everything is just going to be on the Internet, we are going to be seeing a lot of pop-ups in the future.

I bought the first 140 issues of Wizard, then stopped. The magazine's custom contest is what got me into customizing action figures. Bye Bye Wizard.

It sounds like a smart business move.

Printed publications are very expensive to produce. Digital publications are much easier and cheaper to maintain.

And Wizard World will probably be able to reach a wider audience online.

Good luck to 'em.