Wizard made a decision pretty early on with their regular Top 10 to only include regular editions of books that were actually available on the newsstands. Same reason there's no Whiz Comics #1 on the list, either. Yellow Kid Magazine #1 was available for sale at some point in history, but Eerie #1 was not.

I do think it's weird that Creepy #1 made the list of 100 most collectible, though. Wasn't Warren still selling surplus copies of that book in house ads through the 1980s?

Just going from memory, I think I have eight comics from the original list and 13 from Scott's updated list.

Wizard #21 (May 1993)



Though the comic book world may be stuck in a significant rut at this point, with very little new happening and folks about to realize the big boom has passed its watermark, this is an interesting issue for Wizard itself, as we finally see the big shake-ups Shamus promised in reaction to the reader survey given out in issue #18. Many of the changes are superficial, and some involve the addition and removal of features that aren't really of interest to this thread (do we really care that they added a Hunk and Babe of the Month?), but a more significant shake-up comes in the form of Wizard backing off on its two biggest biases regarding DC and Image.

For the first time ever, DC gets the front of the news section, taking up nearly a full page, and it's not because DC has anything particularly amazing in the works. Lobo, Robin, Supergirl, and the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit were hardly properties that were suddenly exploding in the Spring of 1993, but it would seem Wizard finally got an earful from fans that actually like DC and were sick of seeing it completely ignored by Wizard. Batman/Grendel gets its own separate article later in the news section as well.

Later in the issue, we get a big article hyping the four new Supermen and enticing the fans by trying to solve the manufactured mystery of which one will turn out to be the real Superman back from the dead. It's Wizard's hype machine at its best, working for DC for once. Heck, even Market Watch of all places begins discussing the rumors about the upcoming Death of Batman and the roles Azrael and Bane are allegedly going to play in it, encouraging collectors to run out and buy their first appearances. Wizard's finally beginning to realize that, while Marvel spent three years getting rich off of repackaging old ideas with shiny covers and collectible #1 issues, DC is actually doing some interesting stuff, even if the Death and Return of Superman stuff really is just a stunt. It's still better than watching X-Men do nothing particularly new in far too many titles.

To add to Wizard's reversal of its previous biases, it takes an interesting approach to Image with this issue, purposefully reuniting interviewer Patrick O'Neill and Rob Liefeld for a follow-up to their interview from Wizard #10, in which the gloves were clearly off. O'Neill is the only staff writer who regularly combats the hype and pushes for quality books instead, so having him interview Liefeld proved incredibly interesting, as he asked all the tough questions that must have made Shamus turn red. After that interview, O'Neill was never allowed to interview the Image guys again, and each interview with them that followed shamelessly stroked the interviewee's ego. But apparently fans preferred O'Neill's approach, and so he's back asking all the right questions, and (to Liefeld's credit) Rob takes them mostly in stride.

A few excerpts:


On expanding too quickly:


On whether or not Erik Larson being Liefeld's editor actually means anything:


O'Neil goes on to point out the excessive delays, to which Liefeld can only say that they are putting out quality work, and O'Neill even suggests that the company is on shaky legal ground with its trademarks and copyrights. Liefeld is a good sport, but O'Neil is merciless in exposing Image as an incompetent publisher destined to run into serious problems.

Market Watch also finally drops the ruse that Image back issues are selling well, conceding that Valiant essentially is the back issue market right now, with very little moving from any other publisher.


So, to recap, Wizard is now pro-DC and critical of Image (while still promoting them, of course), and very little is said about Marvel at all. Who'd of thunk it?


Hindsight glimpses into the comic industry:

Not much happening...at all. Interesting that we watch Wizard continue to hone its own product and expand out into other ventures (comic supplies, comic conventions, special editions) while the industry it was created to cover is getting stuck in the mud. I guess we can begin to see how Wizard will survive the bursting of the '90s bubble as a multimedia magazine while the comic industry as a whole will spiral into an all time low by the end of the decade.


Marvel: 46.51% (down 2%)
DC: 15.66% (down 5%. Valiant is getting uncomfortably close to passing them!)
Malibu: 15.56% (this should be the last month that Image will be included in this number. I'm very curious to see how much of sales belong to each company)
Valiant: 9.62% (up 3.5%. A new high)
Other: 9.41% (A new high. Apparently, some of these smaller universes are selling)
Dark Horse: 3.24% (same)

So Marvel and Dark Horse are standing still, the Death of Superman offered DC temporary relief, but the company is back in trouble again, and everyone else is biting at their heels. Worth noting that Wizard's new focus on DC is clearly not a response to a surge in their sales (this is the lowest their sales have ever been) nor to anything particularly exciting they have coming out this month. It has to be a reaction to fan feedback from the issue #18 survey.



Industry news:

The excitement over the Death of Superman is waning, and DC is working hard to revive it with the four new Supermen and the now hinted at subsequent return of Superman himself.

Marvel doesn't appear to be doing much of anything...at all.

Image is continuing to solicit a slew of upcoming #1s even as Liefeld concedes in his interview that they're pulling a lot of books that simply won't be ready in time.

Valiant is the only mainstream company that appears to have their ducks in a row this month, with Turok #1 causing a stir, followed by Secret Weapons #1 and the Deathmate crossover, as well as buzz continuing to surround the new direction for Magnus: Robot Fighter and Rai and the Future Force.

A lot of content and ad space continues to be devoted to smaller publishers attempting to launch superhero titles and universes, including Harris Comics, Continuity Comics, Defiant Comics, Topps Comics, Malibu Comics, ARComics, and Frontier Comics, but what doesn't get any further mention in this issue is the upcoming Dark Horse superhero universe we were hearing so much about last time around.



Wizard shaping the comic book market?

It would seem that the fans shaped Wizard this time around, or at least called Wizard out in its responsibility to be less biased in attempting to shape the market. I guess the real acid test will be that, assuming Wizard keeps up its new interest in DC, will we see DC's numbers consistently rise beyond the Superman and Batman hyped events coming our way? If DC rises out of the 15-20% market share slot, then it's likely Wizard did play a role in its lack of performance over the past three years. And if Marvel starts finally losing its control over half the market while doing absolutely nothing of interest to warrant those sales, that will tell us something too.


Wizard's Comic Watch:

Ah, the one place in Wizard where the old biases still remain strong. Marvel hasn't been doing well in the back issue bins for months now (New Mutants #98 and Spidey #300 aside), so giving both books to Marvel seems...unrealistic.

Web of Spider-Man #18: Possible 1st cameo of Venom (okay, this one makes sense considering how Spider #300 is doing)

Thor #391: 1st Eric Masterson (the new Thor)


Wizard's Top 10:

I don't think we've ever seen this much stagnation on the Top 10. Pretty much the same books for the last three months.



1. Magnus Robot Fighter #12 (1st Turok)
2. Rai #3 (low print run)
3. Rai #4 (low print run)
4. X-O Manowar #4 (1st Jack Boniface, later Shadowman)
5. Rai #0 (sets up the Deathmate crossover, 1st new Rai, lays the foundation of the Valiant Universe)
6. Solar, Man of the Atom #14 (1st Fred Bender, later Dr. Eclipse)
7. Spawn #4 (low print run, Image #0 coupon)
8. Superman #66 (possible first appearance of Doomsday)
9. Shadowman #8 (1st Master Darque)
10. Simpsons Comics and Stories #1



Final thoughts:

The industry is more or less out of ideas. Marvel has become status quo, DC is trying to rally interest and finally has a platform with which to do it, but doesn't really seem to know what to do, Image is badly mismanaged and folks are starting to notice, and Valiant is doing some things right but has maxed out its hype factory after Bloodshot #1 and Turok #1. Deathmate will be a nail in the coffin.

Meanwhile, Wizard, itself, continues to grow as both a product and a company.

That hasn't really been the case since the Silver Age. In fact, there were instances in the 80s and 90s of powerful artists and writers completely circumventing their editors (McFarlane did this at Marvel) or clashing with their editors and getting them off the book (John Byrne did this to Andy Helfer at DC).





Agreed. And while the Big Two may have been struggling to get the balance right themselves, O'Neill's point is that it was a farce at Image. With one guy doing art and writing AND being the creator and copyright holder AND desperately trying to meet deadlines, there was absolutely zero quality assurance.

I can't comment on what's happened in recent years as I no longer follow the industry, but that certainly wasn't the situation Liefeld nor any of the Image creators were in while still working at Marvel.



I thoroughly disagree. Most of the bigger independents employ strong editors who are able to initiate and participate in the kind of bi-directional conversations you spoke of in your previous post. Since we're talking the early 1990s, let's use Valiant as an example. Jim Shooter was a heavy handed editor, but they replaced him with Bob Layton, who was better at achieving that balance. Meanwhile, Stan Sakai (creator of Usagi Yojimbo) has often spoken highly of his editor at Dark Horse who always had that balance right with him.

Essentially, the Image folks left a place where they had very little oversight and moved into a situation where they had even less. And, at the end of the day, I'd rather have an overly managed book that plays it too safe but gets published on time and tells a competent story than a book that's delayed endlessly and lacks coherence when it finally arrives.

You know, this gets me thinking it's entirely possible that Liefeld and the other Image guys simply didn't know what an editor was actually supposed to do. Maybe they'd never experienced editorial oversight, or at least not since their earliest days working for the Big Two.

Again, though: my example with Stan Sakai.

Sure, this is true in some situations where the creator is also the copyright holder and artist and writer, but it's not a common practice of most independent publishers in general, as you initially seemed to suggest.

Image is attempting to be a major powerhouse, not a small creator controlled independent, and it's specifically assigning someone in the role of editor to which O'Neill asks the legitimate question of what that editor actually has the power to do.

But his real point is that there is no quality control to keep up with the speed at which this stuff is being churned out, a problem small creator owned properties don't face.