Wizard #22 (June 1993)
This was the month when I stopped collecting comics as an adolescent. I'd been reading and buying for four years at this point, but the Marvel titles had lost their edge and all those exciting new characters introduced proved to be nothing interesting, DC had stopped seeming exciting a few years earlier (maybe it was War of the Gods), even a fourteen year old me could tell at this point that Image was substance-less hype, and Valiant's quality had slowly been dwindling since Shooter's departure, with the arrivals of Bloodshot and Turok #1 both making it clear that the hype was largely substanceless. Comics of the 1990s had simply ceased to live up to the expectations they had set for themselves, and I was bored.
A lot of that is coming through in this very issue of Wizard, which fights desperately to find interesting things happening in comics, and yet there's very little to find. Marvel seems to have nothing particularly exciting in the works, and even Wizard has trouble rousing much enthusiasm for the upcoming annual X-titles crossover, DC is boosting its sales through the Death and Return of Superman, and is even already making plans to do the same with Batman, but positive as Wizard is now trying to be about DC (they really give the company fair representation in this issue), they also joke that, if this trend continues, we'll be seeing The Death of Spider-Man in a few months' time. Essentially, it's a shameless marketing ploy, and we already know the deaths won't be lasting.
Meanwhile, Image is starting to get back on schedule, but there's little to be said about the quality of the works themselves, and both of Valiant's big launches over the past few months (Bloodshot #1 and Turok #1) got over-shadowed, though Wizard implies that perhaps there was no coincidence in DC timing the Death and Return of Superman with those two issues. After all, Valiant was DC's closest competitor for shares of the market.
Wizard tries to talk up Harris Comics and Dark Horse's new superhero line-ups, but it's all just more hollow hype. Launching new universes, titles, and heroes -- we've been going to that dog and pony show for three years now, and none of it ended up being worthwhile.
Really, in three years of Wizard Magazine, the comic industry has learned how to do four things to raise sales:
1. Launch a new title
2. Create a cool gimmick cover, polybag, or trading card
3. Introduce a new hero or villain that will be the next big thing
4. Kill or severely maim an established hero
Comic book readers are getting tired of the market's oversaturation of the first three, and its already obvious the fourth is about to get over-exploited as well. Essentially, the industry is out of ideas for new gimmicks and, as creating actual quality comics is on no one's drawing board at this point, gimmicks are all they've got. The market has nowhere to go from here but down.
I should mention at this point that Wizard #25 will mark my final review in this thread. It's past the point that I stopped reading and caring about the comic industry, and I began this thread with an interest in seeing when/how the market began to go sour. It would appear we've arrived at that point. I've really enjoyed doing this thread, moreso even than most of my other threads, but it's now served its purpose.
Hindsight glimpses into the comic industry:Joe Quesada is the new rising artist of comicdom. How weird to be reading an interview about his being new to the industry. I honestly thought the article was to announce that he was taking over as EIC of Marvel. guess that's still a few years away.
DC dominated the market with its Reign of The Supermen titles last month, taking all of the top five slots for best selling books of April. Though the sales data for this issue is from a month earlier, next issue shows that DC nearly doubled its sales in May, taking nearly all of those sales from Marvel to actually control more of the market than Marvel for the first month since Wizard began publication.
Knightfall is first solicited. Wizard has seen the new Batman costume (it will make the cover in two months' time) and been told that Azrael will likely replace Bruce Wayne as Batman.
Wizard declares that Image is now getting its books back on schedule.
Marvel doesn't make the top sales list for May until the #18 position. Their status quo approach is finally catching up with them now that DC is doing something to generate attention.
(April's figures, BEFORE the Reign of The Supermen)
Marvel: 51.78% (up a big 5%. I'm clueless as to why)
DC: 18.51% (up 3% from their low point last month)
Malibu: 12.05% (still including Image. I thought they'd split by this point; down 3%)
Valiant: 5.01% (down a whopping 4%. Why?)
Dark Horse: 2.64% (down half a percent)
Wizard: 1.69% (not included last issue)
Others: 8.32% (down 1%)
So does Wizard only get included when its sales are over 1%? That 1.69% might include the One Hundred Greatest Comics special edition publication. Frustrating that, this late in the game, we still can't accurately compare Image's sales to Valiant's since Image's figures are still bundled together with Malibu's.
It would seem that, for the first time, Marvel and DC are stealing sales back from Image and Valiant. Is indy publisher fatigue finally settling in? Marvel gained almost exactly what Valiant lost, and DC gained almost exactly what Malibu/Image lost.
Industry news:Reign of the Supermen is the big thing. There's buzz about Knightfall. The big X-title crossover this year will involve Magneto. Not much else is making waves.
Wizard shaping the comic book market?To what extent can Wizard be credited for the spike in sales the Reign of Supermen titles are seeing? According to Wizard, it's the media coverage that's causing all of this, and that might help to explain why Wizard finally decided to get behind the Superman hype, releasing their special edition last month and giving DC such generous coverage now. Wizard feels less like a big player trying to steer the course of the industry at this point and more like an opportunist desperately trying to catch on to the next best thing, and (for once) Wizard was there in time.
Wizard's Comic Watch:Iron-Man #121 -- 1st full appearance of James Rhodes
Sandman #8 -- 1st appearance of Death (now there's an interesting pick!)
Wizard's Top 10:This is officially the longest that the Top 10 has remained relatively unchanged. It's more or less the same books we've seen since Wizard #17, and Magnus #12 has held the #1 spot for that issue and every one since with the exception of #18, when the Death of Superman briefly took its place. Considering that these Top Tens are largely driven by what's hot and exciting in comics at this very minute, this is a sad commentary on how little hot and exciting stuff has happened in comics over the past six months.
1. Magnus Robot Fighter #12 (1st Turok)
2. Rai #3 (low print run)
3. Rai #4 (low print run)
4. Rai #0 (sets up the Deathmate crossover, 1st new Rai, lays the foundation of the Valiant Universe)
5. Spawn #4 (low print run, Image #0 coupon)
6. Spawn #3 (low print run)
7. Youngblood #2 (1st Prophet)8. X-O Manowar #4 (1st Jack Boniface, later Shadowman)
9. Solar, Man of the Atom #14 (1st Fred Bender, later Dr. Eclipse)
10. Batman: Sword of Azrael #1 (1st Azrael)(
bold = new to the list this month)
Final thoughts:Marvel isn't doing anything all that new or interesting, Image's best news is that they can publish closer to "on schedule" now, Valiant is turning into the kind of hollow hype machine that Marvel was two years earlier, and all DC knows how to do is kill characters off and bring them back six months later. With even the little guys (Harris, Ultraverse, etc) offering more of the same, it seems clear that no one's in a position to keep the industry fresh, innovative, or at all rewarding to its consumers. The decline of the industry is imminent.
