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Jan

25

Well, Isn’t that Wizard?!

Filed Under Comics Artists | 12 Comments

I’m not even going to explain that quote. Just watch the new Doctor Who. It’s awesome TV that you are missing right now.

News is, Wizard Magazine is closing after 20 years. I understand that the magazine has had quite a troubled recent past. They’ve already laid off people, but holding on to a few for an online transition to “Wizard World”, a pop culture web magazine. It truly is an end of an era.

To be honest, I’ve never read Wizard magazine in years. I’ve never picked up any of the new format Wizard. Probably the last one I bought was like 6 years ago? I haven’t even missed it.

But for some reason, this bit of news saddens me. There was a time that Wizard was the center of my comic book fandom. This was of course, before the Internet and the world was still completely different. I was still a rabid comic book reader (I still am, but not so much), and a struggling comic book artist.

During the time I first met Whilce Portacio, he helped launch a branch of Filbar’s at Glorietta. Me and my comic book friends like Oliver Pulumbarit went there and we were blown away by one of Whilce’s drawings on this new comic magazine. The drawing impressed us so much that we bought our own copies of the magazine. Ever since then, Wizard became essential monthly reading. My monthly stack of comics always came with a brand new issue of Wizard. And during that time, I never missed an issue.

I read that magazine from cover to cover, reading everything from the letters pages, to the little trivia things in the price guide, the articles, the ads, and most specially, “Amazing Artists” which published artwork sent in by readers. Me and Leinil Yu would be on the phone and talk about nothing else but the magazine and the stuff we saw there. Pretty soon, we were sending artwork there ourselves. He managed to get a few in, and I managed to get a couple in.

Wizard was the very first to publish anything of mine. I did a rendition of Conan in oil and pen, which appeared in Wizard #15, cover date November 1992. In it, I fantasized about drawing the cover to Wizard #50, which to me seemed to be in the far far future.

My work next appeared in Wizard #21, cover dated May 1993. It was a drawing of Cable, which came in as a runner up in their Cable Cover contest. I actually started to get letters after that drawing saw print, and for many years people tell me they still remember me from that cover. In this same issue a lot of other future pros had their work published. There was Tim Townsend, Ken Lashley and Raff Ienco, who also submitted entries to the contest. Nick Manabat’s first published work appeared here in a Cybernary Ad. Jeff Matsuda’s art was featured in the “Letter Art” section.

My interest in Wizard waned over the years, beginning during the time I get steady work in comics, and with the arrival of the Internet. We used to wow at the breaking news we found at Wizard, which then became old compared to the news breaking online.

Perhaps there was some way Wizard could have adapted. Perhaps if they concentrated more on interviews and more in depth articles on issues concerning the industry, rather than up to the minute news and what was hot (and what was not), it could have evolved into a magazine that had lasting value. I believe that’s the direction The Comics Journal is taking, in an effort to remain relevant and essential.

But now the magazine is gone and I do feel sad, and I do feel bad for all those people who lost their jobs.

Comments

12 Responses to “Well, Isn’t that Wizard?!”

  1. John Amor on January 25th, 2011 10:26 am

    Though the content lately hasn’t been as varied as it used to be, I’ll miss Wizard. I learned quite a bit from Bart Sears’ “Brutes and Babes” and Greg Capullo’s “Krash Kourse”.

  2. Tweets that mention Well, Isn’t that Wizard?! : KOMIKERO DOT COM -- Topsy.com on January 25th, 2011 10:52 am

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gerry Alanguilan, plsburydoughboy. plsburydoughboy said: RT @komikero: Thoughts on the closure of Wizard Magazine http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/3135 [...]

  3. Jonas Diego on January 25th, 2011 11:06 am

    That is sad.

    Friends and I before pooled money to buy certain issues that had awesome how to draw articles by our favorite creators. :)

  4. Borgy on January 25th, 2011 4:29 pm

    I remember seeing Gerry at Melo’s “Comics Den”, during his long hair,just a little post-Wasted days buying a Wizard when I was in college. I didn’t even know who he was then. Later on, I saw the “Stone” ad sa Wizard and Melo pointed out Gerry was the inker. I was like “yung stoner-dude?” :p

  5. Gerry Alanguilan on January 25th, 2011 6:03 pm

    Stoner dude? :) Ha! ha! Bumili pala ako ng Wizard sa Comics Den. Parang dun ko rin na meet si Johnny… then promptly forgot all about him. he.he. Those were the days.

  6. Jonas Diego on January 25th, 2011 8:24 pm

    Yeah! Ha ha ha!

    I remember Johnny giving me your number and you having no idea who he was when we got to talk over the phone for the first time. Comedy ng mag-meet up tayong lahat because you still couldn’t remember him. :D

  7. Raipo on January 25th, 2011 8:41 pm

    The end of an era indeed. Wala na tayong Dragon,Animerica,Inquest ngayon naman Wizard.

  8. Eric on January 25th, 2011 10:48 pm

    I still have a stack of Wizard issues in my room and some of are dog-eared and torn from years of reading and re-reading. The magazine came at the right time for me as I started to develop an interest in collecting comics. I almost read through each issue and enjoyed the humor and articles particularly the “Good and Cheap” section. I tried to collect as much issues as I could but couldn’t keep up with it.Sad to hear they’re closing shop.

    P.S. Does anybody ever remember that infamous “rule” for the magazine to get published in Canada which was they had to use the word “ass” three times?

  9. Hazel on January 26th, 2011 10:07 am

    surprising news… sad I just started buying Wizard a few years ago and now its gone

  10. Ed on January 27th, 2011 11:30 am

    We all tried out that cover art just to be featured. I still want a copy of an issue where my first artwork published in US. :)

    At least, most of us are connected and can check their website. I’m also happy they’ve collected their Millennium series.

  11. Patrick on January 28th, 2011 1:32 pm

    I (or we) had the privileged to see and read Wizard in its stages. I was in college then that I started reading comics again. It is one of the reasons why I rekindled my love for comics…. Brutes and Babes, memories.

  12. frbarba on February 1st, 2011 4:51 am

    saddened indeed =( good thing i was able to buy some of their collector’s issues, not just those regular, monthly publications

    some good things never last…