This is kind of an embarrassing story, but when I was little I didn't have a whole lot of money to buy comics or toys. But one day at my local comic book store, I had noticed one of the dudes throwing away a bunch of comics in the back alleyway. As soon as the dude went back inside, I walked over to the dumpster he had throw them in, and I saw bunch of Toyfare, Wizard, and Action Figure Digest in there, and as a kid this was a jackpot find! I wasted no time and used my bicycle to climb on and hang halfway into the dumbster, with the lid on top of my back I grabbed as many of those magazines as I could. I still have alot of the ones I found to this day! Especially Toyfare Mag, that was my favorite only because of the random action figure comic strips they would do. And the random speech bubbles of the figures. I loved that stuff man. I miss these magazines. 🤘
Twisted Toyfare theater!! If you check Amazon, you can find a trade paperback of it! I have a copy, it’s great. A precursor to robot chicken too, if I remember right.
Comic companies kinda screwed Comic Book Stores over when they first became popular. Newsstands and other businesses that sold comics (such as pharmacies and grocery stores) could send unsold comics back to the distributors to be recycled. But Comic Shops were not allowed to do that, and had to keep them until they sold. Some shops threw them away, often tearing the front covers off. Others kept them, which has made it easier for fans just getting into a line to get older issues without dropping hundreds or thousands of dollars.
When I was young and got into some stupid stuff that landed me in county jail, I wrote wizards magazine and they sent me some free issues to read while I got my life back together. Thanks wizard for all the wonderful articles your magazine printed.
As a 48 yo male this entire channel plays like a "this is your life" I loved Toy Fair and by 1999 had over 1,000 action figures. The price guide was ALWAYS super inflated.
"Wizard... and ToyFare magazine... (set) a high standard for quality of publication, and a low standard for quality of humor... that I lived, laughed, and loved." You and me both, my good man... you and me both.
These were my internet... Before I had access to the internet. I remember learning about so many new nerd properties through these... Some of which I wouldn't appreciate until much later in life like "Sandman" or "Watchmen". Twisted MEGO Theater was my jam too. I have real find memories of pouring over these magazines for hours on end.
I was lucky enough to be working in a comic shop when these mags started publishing. Never missed an issue. Loved Wizard, but Merciful Zeus, do I miss Toyfare.
I had no idea Image Comics helped Wizard take off. But it makes sense. I use to collect Wizard, Comic Buyers Guide, and Previews. I remember a fun section in Wizard that selected who they thought should play characters in hypothetical comic book movies. Patrick Stewart was always Professor X. So when the movie "X-Men" was finally released, my friends and I were like...."they got it RIGHT". lol!
Oh man CBG... my shop used to always wrap that around your weekly issues. Somehwere in a box buried in a cupboard is a pre-launch Powers story from Bendis and Oeming before they were even close to big names, spread across a bunch of CBG's.
In high school, one of our graduation requirements was to do a "senior project" that was supposed to showcase a talent or passion we had. I chose to make my own comic book and cited several issues of Wizard magazine's "tips from the pros" section for my written research report. This was back in 1999/2000...
I did a research paper on comic book history in high school and cited a bunch of Wizard magazines, and a couple of books. The teacher took points off for obtaining too much information from one reference.
@@finnsterling6514 I passed, though the Senior Project wasn't a "normal curriculum" thing so there wasn't a letter grade, it was more of an assessment of our skills and social acumen.
@@cooldustin82 That's funny but also unfair as Wizard compiled their information from a wide variety of sources and were very comprehensive, especially for an entertainment magazine.
This was the History of I didn't realize I needed. As a teenager in the 90s who had limited access to comics (closest shop was a 30min drive inland, and my island only had a few places w/ comics mostly DC w/ a spattering of Marvel stuff), Wizard was my way of seeing all the stuff going on in comics I was missing out on. It sits in my hollowed hall of good magazines alongside Nintendo Power, and Entertainment Weekly.
Similar. No comic shop in my small town though the book shop would get in a couple issues. There was a comics shop near my grandma's house so when I would go down there she'd spoil me buying me a few comics and I would always grab an issue of Wizard too. I don't know where my issues went however as they're not in my comic collection.
Big fan of _Entertainment Weekly_ as well. Read it cover to cover in the early 2000's. The internet killed that one too. Gradually started noticing that all the information found in it had been readily available online for weeks before _EW_ could publish. I do miss magazines. Proof readers, especially.
I collected Wizard as a child and the biggest con I ever went to was wizard world chicago. I got to meet Micheal Turner (RIP) and have several comics signed. I still own those comics and treasure them. Wizard magazine will always hold a special place in my heart and I am so happy to know it meant as much to me as it did everyone else.
I worked at Wizard in '97. Probably the greatest job a teenage comic geek could ever have. Unfortunately it was about a 50 mile commute (each way) and, I was beginning to be more interested in partying and other things typical teenagers are into, so it didn't last too long. Great memories though.
Man, I miss Wizard magazine. I remember finding out they'd stopped their print editions by going to Barnes & Noble and trying to find the latest issue. Me and a really confused clerk spent 30 minutes trying to figure out why their system wasn't showing Wizard anymore when they had back issues on the shelf.
I loved Wizard comics. I'm 45 years old and remember all of these magazines. I lost my comic book collection in Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that hit New Orleans, LA. Man, I've been following your UA-cam videos and this one earned you a subscriber. Great job, great research and keep up the good work, please.
@@joet7136 Don't forget CBD. I miss GOOD brick and mortar stores. My conversation whenever i go to a B&N: "Do you have (anything not currently in the top ten)?" "No, but I can order it for you." Yeah, so can I. From home. Probably cheaper and faster. Tower Records/Books was great. I liked Borders too.
Wow, never thought that i needed this episode. Reminded me of asking my mom at the grocery store, "Mom, can i get a Wizard?". Gotta hand it to my Mom she knew spending $5 on a magazine would keep me quiet for days.
Guys thanks for making this video, it brought back so many memories. When I was a kid I didn't have many friends at school and one day I bought a copy of what I thought was a comic but when I got it home and opened the polybag I found it was a magazine called Wizard that opened my eyes to the politics of the comicbook world. I had only been aware of Marvel and DC but now I knew of Image and Dark Horse and learned about the opinions of the writers and artists and learned they didn't all like each other! Wizard and Toyfare were a big part of my life for many years.
I remember back in art school getting your artwork in Wizard magazine was what a lot of my friends/classmates strived for. I got honorable mention in a contest and actually saw my name and art in print. It was quite the high for then.
I remember one TTT that had a time travel story set in the past featuring break dancing Professor X with an afro. "The Chuckster only loves two things in life: this hair and dancing!"
"Toyfare" actually got me interested into toy collecting again when they had an announcement article for the Masters of the Universe Commerative line. Also loved the "Twisted Mego Theater".
...which they had to change to "Twisted ToyFare Theater" due to legal reasons. I also remember that they re-released the TTT comics in collected editions, but the re-releases had all DC characters removed and replaced with Marvel characters, again for legal reasons.
I absolutely LOVE "Twisted Toyfare Theater" and I think I have all of those collections. (Pulling them back out now for another read!) Such great fun. When I saw Robot Chicken, I thought that these guys had to have had something to do with it. Thanks for confirming my suspicions! =)
@@roboverman4545 Hulk is fun, no doubt! But it will always be Spider-Man's sarcastic, dare I say "straight man", wit that cracks me up the most. Still love that TTT collection cover with Spidey and Doc Ock on the cover where Spider-Man asks the Doc, "What are you a doctor of, exactly?" Doc Ock's reply..."Gravy!" :)
I worked for Lee's Toy Review for a decade. Toyfare was obviously blowing us out of the water every month, but we always got a copy to laugh at the comics. Brilliant stuff
I REMEMBER THAT X-MEN CASTING CALL! I was really into making custom action figures for awhile as a kid because of Wizard. I miss that magazine so much. That and classic EGM.
Looking back, I never really understood that the casting call was just writers wish list (I was 10 at the time), and I fully believed that a real X-Men movie was coming soon in the early 90’s. Kind of wild that Patrick Stewart actually got cast as Prof X a few years later.
I remember one disclaimer actually offered a prize for reading through it (it was a disclaimer for a contest, iirc, so it was more like an additional prize if you won one of the prizes being offered). Good times.
As a kid I hated going to the local grocery store until I realized they carried wizard magazine. Absolute respect to you guy for shouting out The Wizards podcast. My oldest friend is one of the hosts and he puts a lot of time into it. You guys are absolute gems.
I have so many fond memories of Wizard. When I was on vacation with my family in Florida I made sure to find a comic book store so I could get that months issue. Wizard World Texas was my first con, my 18th birthday present. It was a huge part of my teenage years, bringing new issues to school to show my friends all the cool stuff coming out. I miss it every day.
I miss Wizard and Toyfare. I still have several issues of Toyfare. The humor and sketches, especially Twisted Mego Theatre, were what made it worth getting. It was so cool to see these guys go on and create Robot Chicken.
this channel continues to amaze me. all the toys i loved in the 80s and 90s, all the toys i knew barely anything about (but owned or played with cos friends owned them), and all these things i never knew about, and all delivered in an entertaining and engaging way. and now this haha. wizard was such a huge part of my childhood in the 90s. it and InQuest magazine introduced my brother and me to so many role-playing games, trading card games, trading cards, toys, comics... so much more, and i always looked forward to seeing what promos came in the bag every month. my mom bought a copy each for both of us probably through my entire middle school years and into high school. such a shame how it all ended (with green lantern of all things), but wizard in the 90s was truly great!
this is the video I've been waiting for you to do since I found your channel back in 2016 and started my secret plan to slowly become your friend. Now that I have it, friendship over.
It was pretty much the opposite with me; never in a million years did I expect Toy Galaxy to cover the history of Wizard /ToyFare. That having been said, I'll be more than happy to occupy your now-vacated friendship-with-ToyFare slot.
I was exactly the right age for Wizard and I had that first one off issue of Toy Fair! Both magazines were on my pull list for most of the time I spent collecting comics and I’ve always felt like this channel, you guys, are the spiritual successor to them. The same journalism mixed with research mixed with humor that they captured. Especially in the early years. Twisted toy fair theater was one of the best comics ever
When their magazine died, I was sadly charged with another years subscription and had to file a charge back. Got my money back, but it was a sad note on a magazine , both wizard and toyfare, that I simply loved.
When Gareb Shamus ruled the world. I met him way back in ‘92 @ a Con. Nice guy. Great magazine. I miss those days, it was a great time to be a kid. Another awesome video Dan & Greg
I really like Wizard and Toyfare. Those magazines were an influence to me growing up. I regularly bought Wizard, Toyfare, Inquest, and Anime Insider. I also bought other magazines like Hero Illustrated, Overstreet Fan, Cards Illustrated, Duelist, Scrye, and Tomart's Action Figure Digest. Toy Galaxy discussing cartoons and obscure series from the 80's and 90's reminds me of the articles Toyfare is doing during the mid to late 2000's. Not to mention The Twisted Toyfare Theater is a must read for Marvel Comics, Robot Chicken, and action figure fans. You could say Robot Chicken started at Toyfare since Matthew Senreich, RC's co-creator, is a contributor at Wizard/Toyfare, and Seth Green a known toy collector, were interviewed by Toyfare a few times.
Before the Internet became widely accessible to the masses, Wizard: the Guide to Comics was hands down the best source of Popular Comics news. Too bad they failed to adjust as the Internet slowly ate their lunch.
I feel like a lot of people who were born past the mid-'90s don't always understand how important magazines were in that era. How important they continued to be into the early 2000s. Especially for otherwise niche hobbies and interests. None of this made mainstream news. There was rarely any other way to connect to a larger community, especially if you weren't part of the con scene. Wizard, Dragon, Shadis, Starlog, Fangoria, Nintendo Power, Electronic Gaming Monthly, PC Gamer, Protoculture Addicts, Newtype... You'd read and re-read the same issue for the entire month or two until the next one came out. Even the ads were important.
Lots of feels for this video. For a lot of comic fans who didn't have access to a comic shop, Wizard was the way you got your comic fix. Loved the articles and interviews since there were tons of pics from comics there. Wizard was how I found out about The Watchmen. It was also how I became an Avengers fan. And how I started to go on to comic book message boards. All the negatives, didn't hear about that until recently. For me, Wizard will always have a fond place in my heart.
Yes, it was a great time. A time before the internet and smartphones when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. But seriously, I was at that age when I was old enough to drive and had enough money in my pocket to by the stuff I never got for my Birthday or Christmas. Toyfare was like a Bible to me reminding me of the stuff I grew up with while showing off all the "new" toys coming while providing Robot Chicken like humor.
This one got me right in the feelings. Wizard had a huge impact on me and my ability to not take any of the hobbies I have so seriously that I become "that" guy. It is 100% okay to laugh at the things you love and still love them. It is 100% okay to know that some of the things you love can be and should be "dumb" and silly (This is the part where I mention that I'm a huge wrestling fan too). It was Wizard and Inquest that I had every month, informing me of the upcoming hotness, the in depth behind-the-scenes action in those industries and AND also making me laugh. Hell, this video got me in my feelings so bad that I actually had to leave a comment. Thank you Dan for making this one. I'm gonna go grab the old back issues and take a trip.
I LOVED LOVED reading Wizard. I would get lost in my own world for hours reading that magazine! I had no idea of the behind-the-scenes problems they were having. Also I was one of those collectors who had to own every variant cover! Thanks for putting this together! 🖖🏼
Thanks for this look back at the beloved (at the time) Wizard magazine! Comics may have been a horrible investment in the 90's, but it was whole lot of fun. While I may have wasted a bunch of money on crossover events and holographic special issues, the sense of being a part of a community was awesome. I'm happy that super-hero movies have become mainstream and beloved. I'm sure someday it will all go the way of cowboys and westerns, but WOW, what a fun ride!!!
Loved Wizard. I think I had every issue. I remember having a party, everyone drinking, listening to Steve Miller Band, getting drunk on Boone's farm, laying on my living room floor and reading a Wizard while everyone around me was dancing. I remember it being a Dark Horse Star Wars article. Not sure why this memory has stuck with me the last 25 years.
Oh man, i bought Wizard, Toyfare (and Anime Insider) religiously every month, and sent away for all the “Issue 1/2” comics and “exclusive figures” (AKA crappy repaints) too. I had it bad in the late ‘90s/early ’00s 😅
I miss the hell out of Wizard and Toyfare. I actually had a letter published in each , I remember being so psyched to see my latter printed on the page. I had a pretty massive collection of both, but sadly, over the years I had to get rid of them over various moves.I did cut out some of my favorite articles to put in a binder though. Thanks for making this episode guys, it was just the right shot of nostalgia.
Thanks for making me feel really friggin old just by the first opening line. I still have my wizards. What a great blast from the past. So weird they're not around
I never thought you guys would cover something like Wizard magazine but I’m really glade that you did. As a preteen and teenager in the 90s, I remember the huge depth and scope that Wizard and Toyfare magazines had. When Wizard was good it was really great. I remember Wizard being the one who really introduced me to all of the brand new comics and characters being created by Image. The Savage Dragon, Wildcats, Spawn, and Youngblood were all very cool and cutting edge at the time.
Man, this brought back the memories! I know the bad...but I can't help but long for the sheer joy and excitement I had opening up a new issue of Wizard.
I grew up with Wizard:) At my local comic shop, I won an art contest as a 10 year old, and as a prize, I was able to choose ANY comic I wanted FOR FREE, FOR LIFE. I chose Wizard, and I’ll never regret that decision. I loved Wizard, and when I crack those old issues open from time-to-time, dammit, I feel a sense of sheer happiness:)
Wizard was such a great read and I still laugh at Toyfare’s TTT episode of Cobra Commander wandering around the Terrordrome late one night. Oh, and Banshee calling Dr. Mindbender a “poofter.” That was funny too.
Man toyfare and wizardworld was my life in high school and early 20’s. My brother and I made monthly trips to Hastings to get our copies and we would just laugh our asses off at twisted mego (later toyfare) theatre. Got me right in the ol nostalgia feels with that one.
Wizard and Toyfare were my favorite magazines growing up. Wizard is actually what introduced me to Kamen Rider. They had an article about it coming to America and I was so stoked. Then the show happened.
I don't know when 6:14 was published, but it's funny they actually called Patrick Stewart playing Professor X right, presumably, years before an X-Men film was even greenlit.
The fact Miller was able to get his movies off the ground and didn't become persona non grata in Hollywood only shows how little anyone paid attention to comics news.
@@pennygadget7328 Agreed. Attempted to watch The Spirit twice and both times turned it off not even 10 minutes into the film. How anyone gave that man actual money to make that trash is beyond me.
Wizard gave me my first exposure to stuff beyond superhero titles from the Big Two. Bone, Strangers in Paradise, Love & Rockets, Cerebus (at the time that was a good thing)...books, creators, even companies I had no idea existed.
YES! I loved Hero Illustrated and I remember Cinescape in the back of every issue had updates for upcoming movies. Cool pre-internet sources. It would be fun to look at those updates in Cinescape to see how many of the movies mentioned never got made.
Incredible! I was a voracious reader of Wizard & Toyfare and would even buy multiple copies. They are no doubt what ultimately lead me to decide a career in graphic design too and me and my friends made annual voyages to Wizard World Philly for years. I knew they had to be hurting from online competition but had no idea it was THAT bad! Outstanding coverage on a staple of my teenage and young adult life and the final tipping point where I know I have to subscribe to this awesome channel!
Never into comics much, but I'd look through my friend Chris' issues of "Wizard". "ToyFare," though -- THAT I got. And I loved it; it was not only informative, but HILARIOUS. Very sad when it went.
I was a subscriber to Wizard. They had an article about a sculptor in one of the magazines and I became enthralled with the idea of making figures for a living.
I got so many drawing tips from the crash course segments with the pros. I STILL see Terry Moore's "how to draw real women" in my head every time I draw a woman in my webcomic. Also, the way Dave Sim set up his backgrounds is insane and I love it and I do it, too.
This was a nice walk down memory lane, funny yet sad. I wouldn’t have met my wife without Wizard and Wizard World on AOL so I feel like I owe them a debt of gratitude for creating something that brought people together. (Thankfully we made the right call not naming our son Gareb…)
Oh man this one hits hard. I was HUGE into collecting Wizard and Toyfare. I still have some of my old issues from the 90's and early 2000's. Twisted ToyFare Theatre was one of the best damn things about Toyfare, it was hilarious. And Wizard just introduced me to so many amazing comics as a kid in the 90s. When comics were amazing.
It's crazy that _Wizard_ was still basically new when I first found out about it after falling in with a comic store owner in the early '90s. It seemed so definitive all these years I thought it was on the same level as the Diamond monthly catalog.
I remember going out to book stores to check for the latest issue of Toyfare, then I finally got a subscription a few years before they stopped printing them. I was only into Toyfare really, and I love that something like Robot Chicken came about as a result of it, and it still continues on today. Reading Twisted Mego/Toyfare Theater was one of the highlights of the magazine for me. I was already into collecting, but that magazine really let me know just how many others were too. It also helped me to collect more since it advertised places you could order things from and showed new and upcoming toys as well.
I used to submit envelope art to Wizard every month. Never got published. I loved their speculative movie content, I specifically remember reading everything I possibly could about Batman Forever… oh the disappointment. I still have the special “Villains” issue, I keep it with my comic book collection.
I remember Wizard would issue a poster magazine sometimes. It was a whole magazine filled with front and back two page posters. Little posters related to comics of all kinds. From cool art of popular characters to indie covers. I would cover my room with all of them. I do miss the magazine sometimes.
Man for the life of me I can not find my other two issues of Toyfare, I found one but that's it. Well Dan Thank you for the history, to me it was much needed.
Wizard was a legit magazine I had a bunch of em as a kid. Always liked the fantasy casting when they would cast movies. They had Professor X dead on with Patrick Stewart years before the actual movie dropped.
I remember getting these every month. Especially when I was stationed in Turkey and had to order my comics online since they didnt get them much. And Yes, like a earlier commentor mentioned, these were perfect reading material when going poop.
The recentness of much of these Wizard activities are astonishing! I remember LOOKING for “whatever happened to Wizard” on the internet in the late 2010s and not being able to find anything live or dead.
I remember when a Wizard branded website let you add your collection (comics, cards & toys) so I was spent what seemed like weeks documenting my collection until one day I log on to find it stuck behind a paywall...kind of soured me on the Wizard brand after that
The humor of these mags definitely caught my attention as a young teen. I wasn’t too into comics or toys, though, so Inquest wound up being the Wizard Press mag I frequented. I still have the first four or five dozen issues or so! I was enamored with the idea that people could actually make a living writing for publications like these, and that revelation prompted me dabble in journalism in high school. Nothing ever came out of it after high school, but I still credit Inquest with getting me to take writing seriously.
In the back of those mid - late 90's Wizard magazine they had a section where they show a staff member's office with their stuff and explain what the stuff are. I also liked that part of the magazine in humanized the people that work there. The magazine had personality in the middle years. I didn't know about how they fucked their employees at the end. I also volunteered at WizardWorld convention in California. the first time it went really great. That's how I was able to take a picture with Stan Lee, but towards the end, but as the years progressed with each convention it just sucked too it became less and less about comics, but more of weird random corporate crap. I'd still buy a random wizard magazine if I see it on the dollar bin of a comic book/ thrift store though for the nostalgia.
I LOVED this video. Almost as much as I loved Wizard magazine. I had a subscription and my buddies and I would read it together when it was delivered my house each month. There was so much excitement around Image in those early years. I remember they used to have a little pie chart in each issue showing the market share every major comic book company had. We used to get so excited seeing Image's percentage grow each month, even if it was mostly at the expense of Malibu and DC. Great video guys.
Wizard was such a legendary magazine. Always sold out at my comic shop, so I had to wake up early AF to pick it up from my local news stand. Wizard is responsible for me becoming an early bird.
My dad spent most of my childhood collecting sports cards and memorabilia, so the first time I picked up a ToyFare magazine, it was like I had picked up a beckett guide about things I was actually interested in. But it's near impossible to say just how much Twisted ToyFaire Theatre inspired all of the things I was both interested in, and the ways in which I was willing to see characters and properties in ways in which I delightfully wouldn't expect. The whole time I was watching Thor:Ragnarok, I couldn't help but feel like a kid again reading through action figures not taking themselves seriously and getting in trouble.
My older bro had the issue with the xmen casting, That blew me away, so many good choices. I still shed a tear that they never went with Danzig for Wolverine. I wish i lived in that alternate universe.
Spider-Man not giving a steaming crap about anything is the foundation of my sense of humor. That, and the Hulk exploding in a shower of $#!+ and ground beef.
@@zagnorch1336 I still have the one where Spidey knocked Hulk cold with a baseball bat, thinking it was someone trying to sneak into his tent. He finds Hulk the next morning and asks what happened. Hulk replies, "Hulk not know. Hulk get up to drain lizard, then lights out for Hulk."
Just under 20 years ago I was introduced to Toyfare by a colleague at work. She was a toy collector (me just a fan of toys). Twisted Toyfair Theater is some of the funniest material, period. I have fond memories of reading through dozens of back issues. Good times.
This is kind of an embarrassing story, but when I was little I didn't have a whole lot of money to buy comics or toys. But one day at my local comic book store, I had noticed one of the dudes throwing away a bunch of comics in the back alleyway. As soon as the dude went back inside, I walked over to the dumpster he had throw them in, and I saw bunch of Toyfare, Wizard, and Action Figure Digest in there, and as a kid this was a jackpot find! I wasted no time and used my bicycle to climb on and hang halfway into the dumbster, with the lid on top of my back I grabbed as many of those magazines as I could. I still have alot of the ones I found to this day! Especially Toyfare Mag, that was my favorite only because of the random action figure comic strips they would do. And the random speech bubbles of the figures. I loved that stuff man. I miss these magazines. 🤘
Definitly hit the jackpot with that find. The local comic shops around my area held onto every back issue, so no dumpster finds.
Twisted Toyfare theater!! If you check Amazon, you can find a trade paperback of it! I have a copy, it’s great. A precursor to robot chicken too, if I remember right.
You were a smart kid.
Comic companies kinda screwed Comic Book Stores over when they first became popular. Newsstands and other businesses that sold comics (such as pharmacies and grocery stores) could send unsold comics back to the distributors to be recycled. But Comic Shops were not allowed to do that, and had to keep them until they sold. Some shops threw them away, often tearing the front covers off. Others kept them, which has made it easier for fans just getting into a line to get older issues without dropping hundreds or thousands of dollars.
That's not an embarrassing story by no means my friend, but quite to the contrary; it's an amazingly awesome one. #facts
When I was young and got into some stupid stuff that landed me in county jail, I wrote wizards magazine and they sent me some free issues to read while I got my life back together. Thanks wizard for all the wonderful articles your magazine printed.
As a 48 yo male this entire channel plays like a "this is your life"
I loved Toy Fair and by 1999 had over 1,000 action figures.
The price guide was ALWAYS super inflated.
That's funny, because _InQuest_ genuinely tended to lowball prices for TCGs/CCGs despite being run by the same company.
I’m so old.
Some of the biggest laughs I ever had was reading Wizard magazine in high school.
This is the best stuff.
Thank you.
Same... Those morts of the month had me crying 😂
"Wizard... and ToyFare magazine... (set) a high standard for quality of publication, and a low standard for quality of humor... that I lived, laughed, and loved."
You and me both, my good man... you and me both.
Man, I loved Wizard. Finding a new issue on the stands was an event.
Totally agree
I loved these magazines. Think I still many of them boxed up somewhere. I personally feel Toy Galaxy is my new Toyfare. Keep up the great content.
100% agree.
I was thinking the same exact thing. Toy Galaxy and the Fwoosh.
Jeff Brucker…they are able to find. A collector friend of mine found some for me….I probably have 40 sealed Wizard magazines that I bought for $30.
I agree with you sir!
@@zolo120mil I would buy the ones I don't have
Hi!! I’m Victor Dandridge, Editor-in-Chief of the LAST iteration of Wizard Magazine! Thanks for including it in your breakdown! 🤩🤩
These were my internet... Before I had access to the internet. I remember learning about so many new nerd properties through these... Some of which I wouldn't appreciate until much later in life like "Sandman" or "Watchmen". Twisted MEGO Theater was my jam too. I have real find memories of pouring over these magazines for hours on end.
I was lucky enough to be working in a comic shop when these mags started publishing. Never missed an issue.
Loved Wizard, but Merciful Zeus, do I miss Toyfare.
Me too me too
😭😭😭😭😭😭
I had no idea Image Comics helped Wizard take off. But it makes sense. I use to collect Wizard, Comic Buyers Guide, and Previews. I remember a fun section in Wizard that selected who they thought should play characters in hypothetical comic book movies. Patrick Stewart was always Professor X. So when the movie "X-Men" was finally released, my friends and I were like...."they got it RIGHT". lol!
You can see that in this clip. 6:22
Also Dolph Lundgren as Colossus is a pretty good choice too.
Oh man CBG... my shop used to always wrap that around your weekly issues. Somehwere in a box buried in a cupboard is a pre-launch Powers story from Bendis and Oeming before they were even close to big names, spread across a bunch of CBG's.
I think it was a mid/late 2000 issue where they did an X-Men 2 casting. They had Alan Cumming for Nightcrawler.
In high school, one of our graduation requirements was to do a "senior project" that was supposed to showcase a talent or passion we had. I chose to make my own comic book and cited several issues of Wizard magazine's "tips from the pros" section for my written research report. This was back in 1999/2000...
Seems way better than my term paper
So don't leave us hangin'--how was it received? What grade did you get on it?
I did a research paper on comic book history in high school and cited a bunch of Wizard magazines, and a couple of books. The teacher took points off for obtaining too much information from one reference.
@@finnsterling6514 I passed, though the Senior Project wasn't a "normal curriculum" thing so there wasn't a letter grade, it was more of an assessment of our skills and social acumen.
@@cooldustin82 That's funny but also unfair as Wizard compiled their information from a wide variety of sources and were very comprehensive, especially for an entertainment magazine.
This was the History of I didn't realize I needed. As a teenager in the 90s who had limited access to comics (closest shop was a 30min drive inland, and my island only had a few places w/ comics mostly DC w/ a spattering of Marvel stuff), Wizard was my way of seeing all the stuff going on in comics I was missing out on. It sits in my hollowed hall of good magazines alongside Nintendo Power, and Entertainment Weekly.
Similar. No comic shop in my small town though the book shop would get in a couple issues. There was a comics shop near my grandma's house so when I would go down there she'd spoil me buying me a few comics and I would always grab an issue of Wizard too. I don't know where my issues went however as they're not in my comic collection.
Big fan of _Entertainment Weekly_ as well. Read it cover to cover in the early 2000's.
The internet killed that one too. Gradually started noticing that all the information found in it had been readily available online for weeks before _EW_ could publish. I do miss magazines. Proof readers, especially.
Same. Small island with no bookstores or conic shops. As such, I love me some NP and EW.
I collected Wizard as a child and the biggest con I ever went to was wizard world chicago. I got to meet Micheal Turner (RIP) and have several comics signed. I still own those comics and treasure them. Wizard magazine will always hold a special place in my heart and I am so happy to know it meant as much to me as it did everyone else.
I worked at Wizard in '97. Probably the greatest job a teenage comic geek could ever have. Unfortunately it was about a 50 mile commute (each way) and, I was beginning to be more interested in partying and other things typical teenagers are into, so it didn't last too long. Great memories though.
Did you attend the Halloween party at the ‘house’ in New City?
Man, I miss Wizard magazine. I remember finding out they'd stopped their print editions by going to Barnes & Noble and trying to find the latest issue. Me and a really confused clerk spent 30 minutes trying to figure out why their system wasn't showing Wizard anymore when they had back issues on the shelf.
That actually happened with me and Electronic Gaming Monthly.
@@shawnc5244 that happened with me and toy fare
I spent plenty of hours reading them at the cafe in Barnes and Noble. Loved the magazine
I loved Wizard comics. I'm 45 years old and remember all of these magazines. I lost my comic book collection in Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that hit New Orleans, LA.
Man, I've been following your UA-cam videos and this one earned you a subscriber. Great job, great research and keep up the good work, please.
When going to the bookstore was great. Tower Books every Friday night
I miss brick and mortar bookstores, comic book shops, and toy stores. Now all we have are cash loan stores, tobacco shops, and tattoo parlors.
@@joet7136 Don't forget CBD.
I miss GOOD brick and mortar stores. My conversation whenever i go to a B&N: "Do you have (anything not currently in the top ten)?" "No, but I can order it for you."
Yeah, so can I. From home. Probably cheaper and faster.
Tower Records/Books was great. I liked Borders too.
Wow, never thought that i needed this episode. Reminded me of asking my mom at the grocery store, "Mom, can i get a Wizard?". Gotta hand it to my Mom she knew spending $5 on a magazine would keep me quiet for days.
Wizard was good up until the last few years when it got rid of all the fun shit and became like a miserable advertisement Laden crap hole
Same!!!
Guys thanks for making this video, it brought back so many memories. When I was a kid I didn't have many friends at school and one day I bought a copy of what I thought was a comic but when I got it home and opened the polybag I found it was a magazine called Wizard that opened my eyes to the politics of the comicbook world. I had only been aware of Marvel and DC but now I knew of Image and Dark Horse and learned about the opinions of the writers and artists and learned they didn't all like each other! Wizard and Toyfare were a big part of my life for many years.
I remember back in art school getting your artwork in Wizard magazine was what a lot of my friends/classmates strived for. I got honorable mention in a contest and actually saw my name and art in print. It was quite the high for then.
I remember reading the Toyfare magazines as a teenager. Twisted Mego Theater was always entertaining and funny to read.
I remember one TTT that had a time travel story set in the past featuring break dancing Professor X with an afro.
"The Chuckster only loves two things in life: this hair and dancing!"
Wizard was my daily pooping reading material all throughout college. Big nostalgia feels with this video.
Lol. Thanks. Big fan of your channel.
This comment is my current pooping material. Thanks to all involved in getting me to this point.
fell asleep during the ad
Yep. So many good poops were had while reading these magazines.
Also I was addicted to the wizard special comics. Issues 1/2 and so forth.
I just ran out of TP and had some handy old Wizard & ToyFare mags lying around...yea, I wiped my @ss with them but still a fan.
"Toyfare" actually got me interested into toy collecting again when they had an announcement article for the Masters of the Universe Commerative line. Also loved the "Twisted Mego Theater".
I kinda feel Toyfair added to the action figure failure of the 90's/early 00. "Half circle Bob's Fett is gonna be worth thousands!"
I’d agree @King Krusher I think seeing action figures in Toyfare got me back into collecting 👍
...which they had to change to "Twisted ToyFare Theater" due to legal reasons. I also remember that they re-released the TTT comics in collected editions, but the re-releases had all DC characters removed and replaced with Marvel characters, again for legal reasons.
One thing I loved about Wizard was that they even threw jokes into the fine print regarding contests/submissions.
Twisted ToyFare Theatre is, still, a pillar of my sense of humor
YES!! i still re-read the collected trades for those every couple years. Spider-Man could be such a d!ck in some of the stories, so very funny.
Same here.
The Scream parody with Thor still makes me laugh when I think about it
Hulk and Spidey watching The Phantom Menace still makes me laugh.
Hear, hear!
Thank you for this! - Greg
Greg you should really check out more of Dan's videos they're great. Kinda Funny and Toy Galaxy crossover please.
Wow, crazy where you run into a best friend! It really is a small world.
Greg, you also a Toy Fair fan?
You're very welcome!
@@donaldhouf8377 there is a shot of greg in here with his dad @10:47
Yes these Crash and Burn stories can be used to teach valuable lessons. Yes I had to explain to my niece exactly what a typewriter was.
A walkie talkie too?
I absolutely LOVE "Twisted Toyfare Theater" and I think I have all of those collections. (Pulling them back out now for another read!) Such great fun. When I saw Robot Chicken, I thought that these guys had to have had something to do with it. Thanks for confirming my suspicions! =)
Hulk in TTT is my favorite. " Rarr. Hulk still need to finish ULK!" ( in the snow 😆😆)
@@roboverman4545 Hulk is fun, no doubt! But it will always be Spider-Man's sarcastic, dare I say "straight man", wit that cracks me up the most. Still love that TTT collection cover with Spidey and Doc Ock on the cover where Spider-Man asks the Doc, "What are you a doctor of, exactly?" Doc Ock's reply..."Gravy!" :)
Wizard had some of the best covers for their magazines. Almost as great as Game Fan in its prime.
Amen to that!
I worked for Lee's Toy Review for a decade. Toyfare was obviously blowing us out of the water every month, but we always got a copy to laugh at the comics. Brilliant stuff
I remember getting both magazines at Borders Books on the way home from class. I especially love action figure comics that predate "Robot Chicken."
I remember those. "Twisted Mego Theater", it really was the blueprint for Robot Chicken.
Bruh who d'you think writes Robot Chicken?
@@clevermcgenericname891 whoa really?
Drunk Iron Man is still best Iron Man.
I REMEMBER THAT X-MEN CASTING CALL! I was really into making custom action figures for awhile as a kid because of Wizard. I miss that magazine so much. That and classic EGM.
The X-men movie casting was one of the few issues I owned. So I read it over and over. Wizard was good for comics, terrible anime coverage though.
Man, classic EGM was great
Looking back, I never really understood that the casting call was just writers wish list (I was 10 at the time), and I fully believed that a real X-Men movie was coming soon in the early 90’s. Kind of wild that Patrick Stewart actually got cast as Prof X a few years later.
I used to read ToyFare and Wizard cover to cover. I even read the fine print legal disclaimers because they would always sneak in humorous content.
Good to know I wasn't alone. I loved the little jokes like "Spidey stole my baby!" right in the middle of all the legal folderol.
I remember one disclaimer actually offered a prize for reading through it (it was a disclaimer for a contest, iirc, so it was more like an additional prize if you won one of the prizes being offered). Good times.
As a kid I hated going to the local grocery store until I realized they carried wizard magazine. Absolute respect to you guy for shouting out The Wizards podcast. My oldest friend is one of the hosts and he puts a lot of time into it. You guys are absolute gems.
Loved reading Toyfare in the late 90s, and early 2000s. The humor was some of the best.
Same
It was hilarious. I loved Mego Spiderman's attitude
ABSOLUTE TRUTH!!!!!👊
@@jonserkspawn7776 haha, Mego Spider-Man arguably became the basis for 60% of adult cartoon characters after that.
I have so many fond memories of Wizard. When I was on vacation with my family in Florida I made sure to find a comic book store so I could get that months issue. Wizard World Texas was my first con, my 18th birthday present. It was a huge part of my teenage years, bringing new issues to school to show my friends all the cool stuff coming out. I miss it every day.
The Scrubs "Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong" clip killed me.
I miss Wizard and Toyfare. I still have several issues of Toyfare. The humor and sketches, especially Twisted Mego Theatre, were what made it worth getting. It was so cool to see these guys go on and create Robot Chicken.
When I couldn't afford comics, I'd still buy Wizard to keep informed of things . . .
me too bud.
Wow, it's not just me. Awesome.
It gave you a good idea of what was worth actually buying beforehand
this channel continues to amaze me. all the toys i loved in the 80s and 90s, all the toys i knew barely anything about (but owned or played with cos friends owned them), and all these things i never knew about, and all delivered in an entertaining and engaging way.
and now this haha. wizard was such a huge part of my childhood in the 90s. it and InQuest magazine introduced my brother and me to so many role-playing games, trading card games, trading cards, toys, comics... so much more, and i always looked forward to seeing what promos came in the bag every month. my mom bought a copy each for both of us probably through my entire middle school years and into high school. such a shame how it all ended (with green lantern of all things), but wizard in the 90s was truly great!
this is the video I've been waiting for you to do since I found your channel back in 2016 and started my secret plan to slowly become your friend. Now that I have it, friendship over.
We had a good run. I'll always remember the times.
It was pretty much the opposite with me; never in a million years did I expect Toy Galaxy to cover the history of Wizard /ToyFare.
That having been said, I'll be more than happy to occupy your now-vacated friendship-with-ToyFare slot.
@@SecretGalaxyTV (Psst! You can still buy The Times, in both print and online versions! Don't let yourself look like a sap!)
I was exactly the right age for Wizard and I had that first one off issue of Toy Fair! Both magazines were on my pull list for most of the time I spent collecting comics and I’ve always felt like this channel, you guys, are the spiritual successor to them. The same journalism mixed with research mixed with humor that they captured. Especially in the early years. Twisted toy fair theater was one of the best comics ever
When their magazine died, I was sadly charged with another years subscription and had to file a charge back. Got my money back, but it was a sad note on a magazine , both wizard and toyfare, that I simply loved.
Same thing happened to me with my Bantha Tracks/lucasfilm fan club membership in the 80s.
An clerical error or the company was run by crooks?
@@brianng8350 more like they just didn’t care to keep records, even though in less than a decade a new official fan magazine would start up.
When Gareb Shamus ruled the world. I met him way back in ‘92 @ a Con. Nice guy. Great magazine. I miss those days, it was a great time to be a kid. Another awesome video Dan & Greg
I really like Wizard and Toyfare. Those magazines were an influence to me growing up. I regularly bought Wizard, Toyfare, Inquest, and Anime Insider. I also bought other magazines like Hero Illustrated, Overstreet Fan, Cards Illustrated, Duelist, Scrye, and Tomart's Action Figure Digest.
Toy Galaxy discussing cartoons and obscure series from the 80's and 90's reminds me of the articles Toyfare is doing during the mid to late 2000's. Not to mention The Twisted Toyfare Theater is a must read for Marvel Comics, Robot Chicken, and action figure fans. You could say Robot Chicken started at Toyfare since Matthew Senreich, RC's co-creator, is a contributor at Wizard/Toyfare, and Seth Green a known toy collector, were interviewed by Toyfare a few times.
Before the Internet became widely accessible to the masses, Wizard: the Guide to Comics was hands down the best source of Popular Comics news. Too bad they failed to adjust as the Internet slowly ate their lunch.
I feel like a lot of people who were born past the mid-'90s don't always understand how important magazines were in that era. How important they continued to be into the early 2000s. Especially for otherwise niche hobbies and interests. None of this made mainstream news. There was rarely any other way to connect to a larger community, especially if you weren't part of the con scene. Wizard, Dragon, Shadis, Starlog, Fangoria, Nintendo Power, Electronic Gaming Monthly, PC Gamer, Protoculture Addicts, Newtype... You'd read and re-read the same issue for the entire month or two until the next one came out. Even the ads were important.
@@Belgand Don't forget Hero Illustrated and Illustration Magazine.
Wizard was great, I miss it. Seems like a whole other lifetime ago.
Lots of feels for this video. For a lot of comic fans who didn't have access to a comic shop, Wizard was the way you got your comic fix. Loved the articles and interviews since there were tons of pics from comics there. Wizard was how I found out about The Watchmen. It was also how I became an Avengers fan. And how I started to go on to comic book message boards. All the negatives, didn't hear about that until recently. For me, Wizard will always have a fond place in my heart.
I just started collecting wizard magazine a few months ago. What a time to have been alive lol
collecting past magazine is in? kind of odd althou it was an entertaining read during their time.
It was. It really was🥲
I think I have near complete runs of both.
Yes, it was a great time. A time before the internet and smartphones when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. But seriously, I was at that age when I was old enough to drive and had enough money in my pocket to by the stuff I never got for my Birthday or Christmas. Toyfare was like a Bible to me reminding me of the stuff I grew up with while showing off all the "new" toys coming while providing Robot Chicken like humor.
Yes. It was. It really was. We were riding the lightning!!
I loved Wizard and I was in rural Australia! Amazing how far the reach was. I have hundreds of issues in the spare room. Fun to flick through them.
This one got me right in the feelings. Wizard had a huge impact on me and my ability to not take any of the hobbies I have so seriously that I become "that" guy. It is 100% okay to laugh at the things you love and still love them. It is 100% okay to know that some of the things you love can be and should be "dumb" and silly (This is the part where I mention that I'm a huge wrestling fan too). It was Wizard and Inquest that I had every month, informing me of the upcoming hotness, the in depth behind-the-scenes action in those industries and AND also making me laugh. Hell, this video got me in my feelings so bad that I actually had to leave a comment. Thank you Dan for making this one. I'm gonna go grab the old back issues and take a trip.
I LOVED LOVED reading Wizard. I would get lost in my own world for hours reading that magazine!
I had no idea of the behind-the-scenes problems they were having. Also I was one of those collectors who had to own every variant cover!
Thanks for putting this together! 🖖🏼
Thanks for this look back at the beloved (at the time) Wizard magazine! Comics may have been a horrible investment in the 90's, but it was whole lot of fun. While I may have wasted a bunch of money on crossover events and holographic special issues, the sense of being a part of a community was awesome. I'm happy that super-hero movies have become mainstream and beloved. I'm sure someday it will all go the way of cowboys and westerns, but WOW, what a fun ride!!!
Loved Wizard. I think I had every issue. I remember having a party, everyone drinking, listening to Steve Miller Band, getting drunk on Boone's farm, laying on my living room floor and reading a Wizard while everyone around me was dancing. I remember it being a Dark Horse Star Wars article. Not sure why this memory has stuck with me the last 25 years.
Oh man, i bought Wizard, Toyfare (and Anime Insider) religiously every month, and sent away for all the “Issue 1/2” comics and “exclusive figures” (AKA crappy repaints) too. I had it bad in the late ‘90s/early ’00s 😅
I miss the hell out of Wizard and Toyfare. I actually had a letter published in each , I remember being so psyched to see my latter printed on the page. I had a pretty massive collection of both, but sadly, over the years I had to get rid of them over various moves.I did cut out some of my favorite articles to put in a binder though. Thanks for making this episode guys, it was just the right shot of nostalgia.
Thanks for making me feel really friggin old just by the first opening line.
I still have my wizards. What a great blast from the past. So weird they're not around
I never thought you guys would cover something like Wizard magazine but I’m really glade that you did. As a preteen and teenager in the 90s, I remember the huge depth and scope that Wizard and Toyfare magazines had. When Wizard was good it was really great. I remember Wizard being the one who really introduced me to all of the brand new comics and characters being created by Image. The Savage Dragon, Wildcats, Spawn, and Youngblood were all very cool and cutting edge at the time.
Man, this brought back the memories! I know the bad...but I can't help but long for the sheer joy and excitement I had opening up a new issue of Wizard.
I grew up with Wizard:) At my local comic shop, I won an art contest as a 10
year old, and as a prize, I was able to choose ANY comic I wanted FOR FREE, FOR LIFE. I chose Wizard, and I’ll never regret that decision. I loved Wizard, and when I crack those old issues open from time-to-time, dammit, I feel a sense of sheer happiness:)
I really miss being a kid and going to the grocery store to get a new issue of Toyfare...
Wizard was such a great read and I still laugh at Toyfare’s TTT episode of Cobra Commander wandering around the Terrordrome late one night. Oh, and Banshee calling Dr. Mindbender a “poofter.” That was funny too.
Man toyfare and wizardworld was my life in high school and early 20’s. My brother and I made monthly trips to Hastings to get our copies and we would just laugh our asses off at twisted mego (later toyfare) theatre. Got me right in the ol nostalgia feels with that one.
Wizard and Toyfare were my favorite magazines growing up. Wizard is actually what introduced me to Kamen Rider. They had an article about it coming to America and I was so stoked. Then the show happened.
I don't know when 6:14 was published, but it's funny they actually called Patrick Stewart playing Professor X right, presumably, years before an X-Men film was even greenlit.
WHOA ! Michael Dorn as Bishop... not bad ! Michael Being as Cyclops... bad.
Another great documentary about something lost, but not forgotten! Thanks Dan and crew!
When you think that Frank Miller is crazy, then realize that he's even crazier than you think.
The fact Miller was able to get his movies off the ground and didn't become persona non grata in Hollywood only shows how little anyone paid attention to comics news.
@@duhdeedee or to other Hollywood productions for that matter. In a just world, RoboCop 2 would've been his first and final foray into film
One decade's edgy is another decade's crazy.
@@pennygadget7328 Agreed. Attempted to watch The Spirit twice and both times turned it off not even 10 minutes into the film. How anyone gave that man actual money to make that trash is beyond me.
To be fair, 2001 was pretty close to peak Frank Miller insanity. It seems like he's gotten a lot better since then.
Wizard gave me my first exposure to stuff beyond superhero titles from the Big Two. Bone, Strangers in Paradise, Love & Rockets, Cerebus (at the time that was a good thing)...books, creators, even companies I had no idea existed.
Wizard & Toyfare and Hero Illustrated & Cinescape were my go-to magazines. And I miss them all.
YES! I loved Hero Illustrated and I remember Cinescape in the back of every issue had updates for upcoming movies. Cool pre-internet sources. It would be fun to look at those updates in Cinescape to see how many of the movies mentioned never got made.
Incredible! I was a voracious reader of Wizard & Toyfare and would even buy multiple copies. They are no doubt what ultimately lead me to decide a career in graphic design too and me and my friends made annual voyages to Wizard World Philly for years. I knew they had to be hurting from online competition but had no idea it was THAT bad! Outstanding coverage on a staple of my teenage and young adult life and the final tipping point where I know I have to subscribe to this awesome channel!
Never into comics much, but I'd look through my friend Chris' issues of "Wizard". "ToyFare," though -- THAT I got. And I loved it; it was not only informative, but HILARIOUS. Very sad when it went.
Just saying hello.
@@ZeroAnalogy Hi!
Great episode guys! It's so crazy to think that this is how we got all our news back in the day. I treasure any of the issues I ever picked up.
My first issue of Wizard was #9 in fifth grade. It had the lineup of the next year's Marvel figures. I still have the whole thing memorized
I was a subscriber to Wizard. They had an article about a sculptor in one of the magazines and I became enthralled with the idea of making figures for a living.
It was a great Wednesday when you’d get to the comic book shop and a new Wizard was on the shelf.
I got so many drawing tips from the crash course segments with the pros. I STILL see Terry Moore's "how to draw real women" in my head every time I draw a woman in my webcomic. Also, the way Dave Sim set up his backgrounds is insane and I love it and I do it, too.
This was a nice walk down memory lane, funny yet sad. I wouldn’t have met my wife without Wizard and Wizard World on AOL so I feel like I owe them a debt of gratitude for creating something that brought people together. (Thankfully we made the right call not naming our son Gareb…)
Oh man this one hits hard. I was HUGE into collecting Wizard and Toyfare. I still have some of my old issues from the 90's and early 2000's. Twisted ToyFare Theatre was one of the best damn things about Toyfare, it was hilarious. And Wizard just introduced me to so many amazing comics as a kid in the 90s. When comics were amazing.
It's crazy that _Wizard_ was still basically new when I first found out about it after falling in with a comic store owner in the early '90s. It seemed so definitive all these years I thought it was on the same level as the Diamond monthly catalog.
I remember going out to book stores to check for the latest issue of Toyfare, then I finally got a subscription a few years before they stopped printing them. I was only into Toyfare really, and I love that something like Robot Chicken came about as a result of it, and it still continues on today. Reading Twisted Mego/Toyfare Theater was one of the highlights of the magazine for me. I was already into collecting, but that magazine really let me know just how many others were too. It also helped me to collect more since it advertised places you could order things from and showed new and upcoming toys as well.
I used to submit envelope art to Wizard every month. Never got published. I loved their speculative movie content, I specifically remember reading everything I possibly could about Batman Forever… oh the disappointment. I still have the special “Villains” issue, I keep it with my comic book collection.
I always liked how they did that, they had a lot of interaction with their fans it seemed.
I remember Wizard would issue a poster magazine sometimes. It was a whole magazine filled with front and back two page posters. Little posters related to comics of all kinds. From cool art of popular characters to indie covers. I would cover my room with all of them. I do miss the magazine sometimes.
Man for the life of me I can not find my other two issues of Toyfare, I found one but that's it. Well Dan Thank you for the history, to me it was much needed.
So sad to see it gone. Wizard, Computer Gaming World and Electronic Gaming Monthly were my essential reading material during my teenage years.
I'm so grateful you made this. I loved those mags, especially while I was working in a comic store as they were a great resource.
Wizard was a legit magazine I had a bunch of em as a kid. Always liked the fantasy casting when they would cast movies. They had Professor X dead on with Patrick Stewart years before the actual movie dropped.
I remember getting these every month. Especially when I was stationed in Turkey and had to order my comics online since they didnt get them much. And Yes, like a earlier commentor mentioned, these were perfect reading material when going poop.
The recentness of much of these Wizard activities are astonishing! I remember LOOKING for “whatever happened to Wizard” on the internet in the late 2010s and not being able to find anything live or dead.
I remember when a Wizard branded website let you add your collection (comics, cards & toys) so I was spent what seemed like weeks documenting my collection until one day I log on to find it stuck behind a paywall...kind of soured me on the Wizard brand after that
The humor of these mags definitely caught my attention as a young teen. I wasn’t too into comics or toys, though, so Inquest wound up being the Wizard Press mag I frequented. I still have the first four or five dozen issues or so! I was enamored with the idea that people could actually make a living writing for publications like these, and that revelation prompted me dabble in journalism in high school. Nothing ever came out of it after high school, but I still credit Inquest with getting me to take writing seriously.
In the back of those mid - late 90's Wizard magazine they had a section where they show a staff member's office with their stuff and explain what the stuff are. I also liked that part of the magazine in humanized the people that work there. The magazine had personality in the middle years. I didn't know about how they fucked their employees at the end.
I also volunteered at WizardWorld convention in California. the first time it went really great. That's how I was able to take a picture with Stan Lee, but towards the end, but as the years progressed with each convention it just sucked too it became less and less about comics, but more of weird random corporate crap.
I'd still buy a random wizard magazine if I see it on the dollar bin of a comic book/ thrift store though for the nostalgia.
Yep you just describe what almost every con is now. Weird random corporate crap.
I LOVED this video. Almost as much as I loved Wizard magazine. I had a subscription and my buddies and I would read it together when it was delivered my house each month. There was so much excitement around Image in those early years. I remember they used to have a little pie chart in each issue showing the market share every major comic book company had. We used to get so excited seeing Image's percentage grow each month, even if it was mostly at the expense of Malibu and DC. Great video guys.
Wizard was such a legendary magazine. Always sold out at my comic shop, so I had to wake up early AF to pick it up from my local news stand. Wizard is responsible for me becoming an early bird.
Frank Miller downvoted your comment.
My dad spent most of my childhood collecting sports cards and memorabilia, so the first time I picked up a ToyFare magazine, it was like I had picked up a beckett guide about things I was actually interested in. But it's near impossible to say just how much Twisted ToyFaire Theatre inspired all of the things I was both interested in, and the ways in which I was willing to see characters and properties in ways in which I delightfully wouldn't expect. The whole time I was watching Thor:Ragnarok, I couldn't help but feel like a kid again reading through action figures not taking themselves seriously and getting in trouble.
I miss Wizard, Toyfare, and InQuest so much.
My older bro had the issue with the xmen casting, That blew me away, so many good choices. I still shed a tear that they never went with Danzig for Wolverine. I wish i lived in that alternate universe.
Iron Man filling his armor with piss and vomit is the foundation of my sense of humour.
Spider-Man not giving a steaming crap about anything is the foundation of my sense of humor.
That, and the Hulk exploding in a shower of $#!+ and ground beef.
@@zagnorch1336 I still have the one where Spidey knocked Hulk cold with a baseball bat, thinking it was someone trying to sneak into his tent. He finds Hulk the next morning and asks what happened. Hulk replies, "Hulk not know. Hulk get up to drain lizard, then lights out for Hulk."
Just under 20 years ago I was introduced to Toyfare by a colleague at work. She was a toy collector (me just a fan of toys). Twisted Toyfair Theater is some of the funniest material, period. I have fond memories of reading through dozens of back issues. Good times.