Today, the news broke that Wizard and ToyFare magazines were shutting down and the company was letting staffers go. Oh, and that Wizard World is now a public company and they’re going into the online game. You can get the news all over. (And yes, by “all over” I may link to only two sites,…
Agent M gets it completely right. And it inspires me to pour out even more of my feelings about today.
We worked at Wizard at two different times but the core truth is the same: past all the insanity Wizard had the potential to be the best job of my life, THE job of my life, and in some respects it so far IS the best job I’ve ever had. I’ve spent most all of today shocked by this, not that it happened but that it happened today. It was really something that I knew was going to come sooner or later, but it’s still shocking when it happens. Death is like that.
So of course I’m sussing out my feelings online.
Just like all the other former Wizard employees.
In my 6th grade school picture we were encouraged to bring in our favorite book. I brought in an issue of Wizard with an Andy Kubert Magneto on the cover. That was my school picture that year. Wizard was essential to me becoming the comic book fan I am. Any knowledge I have about DC Comics or Image or Dark Horse comes from reading Wizard cover to cover as a kid. I interviewed with Dan Reilly for a research position that I did not get, even though we really hit it off. So much so that Dan recommended me to Joe Yanarella when it was decided that the conventions department needed an editorial staff.
I loved my job. Okay, I hated the PR aspects of it, which were seemingly thrown at me only because I inherited the former PR guy’s office (they were just used to coming to that office!) but I grew to be good at it. That’s the real story of my year at Wizard: growing to be good at everything. By the end of my year there, I was writing copy for the magazine, doing interviews, running a website, helping with the online store, writing press releases, handling and coordinating press requests, booking guests and managing travel. Every day there was a whirling dervish of crazy fun and just crazy, all of which I never got to really take in because I still had one foot firmly planted in the NYC comedy scene.
I never felt as connected to Wizard as I wanted. I naturally have a hard time jumping in to new social situations, and being upstairs when all the cool editorial kids were downstairs didn’t help. I also lived in Astoria meaning that I had to bust out of the building at 5 every day just to get back to NYC and meet my other commitments. Because of that it took me a good three months to really open up to people. And when I did they all started being laid off. But still, I made really good friends there that I wish I did a better job of keeping in touch with.
What hurts the most about all of this, ALL of this, is that it didn’t have to happen. Wizard as a name, as a thing, it’s something that has always existed to me. I started collecting hardcore in 1993 and Wizard was there for it. And when you look at all the great people that have worked there, it really should have always been at the absolute top of its game. Wizard in 2011 should be as popular as Wired in print and CBR/Newsarama/Etc online.
This job obviously did a number on me. On one hand it gave my career a real focus. It has made me realize that I want to work in comics. It made me realize that comics are my thing. Comedy, TV, music, movies, all of that, I love it all but…comics are what I know and who I am. And working for a place where being a comic encyclopedia came in handy was such a blast. I’ve felt a lot of loss (lost time, since my time there was so short) and regret (at not using my year there to become better friends with everyone) about that job since I was laid off in April 2009. Yes, I’ve had nightmares involving Gareb Shamus as Cobra Commander. Ugh.
But now Wizard magazine and ToyFare magazine, two pillars of my adolescence and later my adulthood, are gone.
It didn’t have to be this way, but it is.
That’s all I’m going to say about this for a while, I hope. And if I have the urge to talk about it anymore, I’m going to talk about it face to face with Adam, Jodie, Wigglins, Paggi, Kate, Justin, TJ or someone else that I’ve gone too long without talking too.
