A comics journalism/ commentary source that appeals to the majority of fans

[Mister Mets]

One of my hobby-horses is about how the comics fan community has gotten very niche-ified. There isn't as much general interest stuff.

When I was a kid, Wizard was pretty helpful in getting a sense of community, promoting top writers and artists while keeping fans informed of what's going on in the main titles. Obviously Wizard had its opponents, but they were able to provide a counterbalance. There was The Comics Journal for more intellectual analysis, and stuff like Comic Buyers Guide for more traditional fans (with some overlap in readers.)

Afterwards, stuff like Newsarama filled the function of keeping fans up to date on what's going on in the industry. I don't think we have that any more. Newsarama got bought by a company that owns some genre magazines, and it's not the same. CBR was once seen as the best comics website, but has its own problems now.

One issue is that people are able to make decent money attracting small groups of customers. If you have 2,000 people paying five bucks a month on Substack, that's a low six figure salary. There is interest in appealing to smaller and smaller segments of the fandom. Youtubers will try to go for their own niche.

At the same time, comics have become mainstream enough that all sorts of publishers are producing some commentary. Stop & Shop will always sell some kind of magazine about superheroes and comics to tie into a new movie connected to a name periodical (The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, etc.) and more is available at book stores to say nothing of comic stores. Time Magazine covers graphic novels in the best of the year issues.

And meanwhile for various reasons, a lot of the websites (and the equivalent magazines available at supermarkets and bookstores) just aren't producing good material. It's all about quantity and not quality.

It may be that there's some kind of decent general interest comics site/ periodical/ source of journalism like this and I just don't know about it. Perhaps I've been too busy at work, and hanging out at places that don't sufficiently recognize consistently okay sources of comics journalism geared towards the larger community. I don't think that's the case, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

Is this something you've noticed? Is it possible to have something that appeals to a large audience of comics fans that can provide a lay of the land? How would you go about it?

[Kirby101]

I frequent The Comics Beat, which is pretty good. But I agree it is not like it was with Newsrama or the original CBR. It's like when a large corporation buys a beloved cookie company and changes them to mass produced crap. There should be an internet rule that anytime a very good website is bought out, it becomes a shadow of it's former self.

[Zauriel]

Wizard isn't as informative as Newsarama or other sites. That is why Wizard magazine folded and went bankrupt. It couldn't match up with the competition.

[thwhtGuardian]

I don't know about anyone else, but I still check out Bleeding Cool from time to time.

[Iron Maiden]

Me too

Wizard isn't as informative as Newsarama or other sites. That is why Wizard magazine folded and went bankrupt. It couldn't match up with the competition.

Wizard became obsolete once people started using the internet more than buying magazines. They weren't able to keep up because once a magazine hit the stands, any news they had was out of date. They used to have good interviews though.

[Riv86672]

Man I loved Wizard magazine back in the day, though.

Wizard was also the first message board I ever posted at.

[Mister Mets]

I frequent The Comics Beat, which is pretty good. But I agree it is not like it was with Newsrama or the original CBR. It's like when a large corporation buys a beloved cookie company and changes them to mass produced crap. There should be an internet rule that anytime a very good website is bought out, it becomes a shadow of it's former self.

Yeah.

The best comics commentary of the last ten years seems to be specialist, like PanelXPanel's focus on one series for an issue or John Siuntres' longform Word Balloon interviews, although both of those struggle financially.

Wizard isn't as informative as Newsarama or other sites. That is why Wizard magazine folded and went bankrupt. It couldn't match up with the competition.

It may be that I was the right age for it, but I think Wizard was pretty strong from #60 to a bit after #105 (which randomly had some "Best of" lists.)

My understanding was that production started to suffer as the best writers left.

Wizard still had some major problems, with an often crude sense of humor, disrespectful attitudes to some creators and behind the scenes compromises (there's a reason they didn't have an expose on the Kubert School) so it wasn't perfect, but there's no modern website on that level to the best of my knowledge.

I don't know about anyone else, but I still check out Bleeding Cool from time to time.

That's more of a column than a total package.

That said, with a bit of expansion, they could be something that does what the old Newsarama used to do. Granted, expansion can be risky and expensive.

[ed2962]

I used to think Wizard was kinda decent in the late 90's/early 2000's. There was a lot of fluff but they ran some decent reviews and articles. I lost interest when it became a collection of pointless lists ( "Top 50 heroes who wear green!" and what not ).

Comics Journal was pompous but really educational back in the day. But again, I haven't picked up an issue since the early 2000's.

One site I used to enjoy until they went under was Comics Alliance.

Once every blue moon I might check out Bleeding Cool if some links to it...

[Zauriel]

Yeah.

It may be that I was the right age for it, but I think Wizard was pretty strong from #60 to a bit after #105 (which randomly had some "Best of" lists.)

My understanding was that production started to suffer as the best writers left.

Wizard still had some major problems, with an often-crude sense of humor, disrespectful attitudes to some creators and behind the scenes compromises (there's a reason they didn't have an expose on the Kubert School) so it wasn't perfect, but there's no modern website on that level to the best of my knowledge.

That said, with a bit of expansion, they could be something that does what the old Newsarama used to do. Granted, expansion can be risky and expensive.

Wizard magazine had a love/hate relationship with comic book publishers and creators. Some creators such as Frank Miller spoke out against Wizard.

With the spread of comics news on the net, Wizard had served its purpose. There won't be another magazine like Wizard. Since every comic book geek has access to the internet, there is no profit to be gained in publishing a monthly magazine devoted to reporting on the comic book industry.

[K7P5V]

Wizard became obsolete once people started using the internet more than buying magazines. They weren't able to keep up because once a magazine hit the stands, any news they had was out of date. They used to have good interviews though.

The same with Hero Illustrated, sadly.
My father went to the LCS to pick-up my books, and got told that they no longer carried it.
I had to go onto the internet, if I wanted anything new from them

[From The Shadows]

Man I loved Wizard magazine back in the day, though.

Wizard was also the first message board I ever posted at.

Same with me.

[Mister Mets]

One step anyone trying to make a new Wizard/ Newsarama would be to partner with John Siuntres of the Word Balloon podcast. That is a good source of comics commentary, and the archive would be quite useful. It would also help endear a new media player to the comics professionals who like talking to Siuntres.

An easy pretty much free step would be daily recommendations of good comics based content online (IE- decent articles, podcasts, youtube videos.)

[center]The same with Hero Illustrated, sadly.
My father went to the LCS to pick-up my books, and got told that they no longer carried it.
I had to go onto the internet, if I wanted anything new from them

Hero was doomed a bit before the web took over, when it got merged with a few other titles to become Combo.

Wizard magazine had a love/hate relationship with comic book publishers and creators. Some creators such as Frank Miller spoke out against Wizard.

With the spread of comics news on the net, Wizard had served its purpose. There won't be another magazine like Wizard. Since every comic book geek has access to the internet, there is no profit to be gained in publishing a monthly magazine devoted to reporting on the comic book industry.

Wizard had a unique role as the best-selling of the comics magazines. It exposed readers to new talent, and what was going on in the major titles. This all helped foster a sense of community, which has been splintered lately (Covid hasn't helped, but there were plenty of problems before.)

It's possible that you can't replicate what Wizard did in the modern era. A big chunk of its customers were interested in the price guides, which are much more up to date online.

But some magazines have been able to make the transition. The film magazine Empire has a corresponding series of podcasts.

I suspect there are plenty of readers who would be willing to pay five bucks a month for commentary on comics, recommendations on digital services they already use, etc.

[Zauriel]

Wizard had a unique role as the best-selling of the comics magazines. It exposed readers to new talent, and what was going on in the major titles. This all helped foster a sense of community, which has been splintered lately (Covid hasn't helped, but there were plenty of problems before.)

Yes, true. Wizard also did good interviews with the creators. Their commentary/reviews on the comics were a little biased. For example they praised Rob Liefeld's works a bit too much.

[Mister Mets]

Yes, true. Wizard also did good interviews with the creators. Their commentary/reviews on the comics were a little biased. For example they praised Rob Liefeld's works a bit too much.

This kind of project would have to involve people with different views. There will be some people who think Liefeld damaged comics, and there will be others interested in his insight who may think that there is much he does well.