The End of an Era: Wizard & ToyFare Magazines Canceled

Unless you haven’t been paying attention for the last 24 hours, Wizard Magazine is to finally close its doors after twenty years. According to Rich Johnston from Bleeding Cool, nearly all staff have been laid off and all freelancers terminated. Sister publication ToyFare, covering the action figures and collectibles industry, was also shut down.

The news of Wizard and ToyFare shutting down really hasn’t shocked anyone. Founded by Gareb Shamus in 1991, Wizard was originally a champion for geekdom everywhere. Despite being vilified by several industry professionals, including Frank Miller and Scott Kurtz, Wizard was loved by a great deal of fans for many years.

Sadly, the popularity of Wizard was their undoing. There was a time when a lot of us turned to Wizard for all the comic knowledge we needed. It was flashy, bright, and just a little bit silly. From 1991 to 1999, it was one of the best buys on the rack – bar none. Then slowly, something changed.

It wasn’t just because that with the advent of regular internet use by most people that there was no need to buy Wizard for news. A combination of factors like increased commercialization, lower page counts combined with higher prices, a different kind of humor and more focus on ads disguised as articles had significantly lowered the importance of the magazine in the eyes of comic fans. Poor management didn’t help, either – when Pat McCallum and Brian Cunningham were let go, it was really the end of an era.

In their last years, every other article was about how hot Megan Fox is, how cool Wolverine and Brian Michael Bendis are, how great Marvel is, and then the rest is filler about video games/movies/toys. It was like paying to read the internet or hang out at your local comic shop.

It was pretty much the same thing with ToyFare. The mag has had it’s ups (editor Zach Oat and Twisted Mego Theater) and downs (the price guide, the jokes about alcoholism, and mis-transformed Transformers) to be certain – but the last years of the mag were definately the worst. What started out as a brilliant product turned into 64 pages of featuring vinyl figures and statues and upcoming movies – and very little relevant toy information.

So what’s next? Here’s the press release that I got in my inbox:

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.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release relating to Wizard World’s future plans, expectations, beliefs, intentions and prospects are “forward-looking statements” and are subject to material risks and uncertainties. When used in this press release, the words “will”, “future”, “expect”, “look forward to”, similar expressions and any other statements that are not historical facts are intended to identify those assertions as forward-looking statements. Any such statement may be influenced by a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Wizard World that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected, described, expressed or implied in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business is contained in our SEC filings, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, particularly under the heading “Risk Factors.” Copies of these filings are available online from the SEC or by contacting Joe Favorito at (917) 566-8345 or fatherknickerbocker1@yahoo.com. All information set forth in this press release is current as of January 24, 2011. Wizard World undertakes no duty to update any statement in light of new information or future events.

At the end of the day, the biggest loss here is that of the people who are now unemployed. Losing your job sucks, and on the behalf of the staff of Geekcentricity I’d like to wish all of them the best of luck.

And for those of you who like to hold a print magazine in your hand, I recommend Comics Buyer’s Guide. It’s been the choice of industry professionals and fans for 40 years, and won’t treat you like you’re a teenager.