After a morning of Internet rumors about its demise, Wizard World, Inc. President and CEO Gareb Shamus announced Jan. 24 that his company has ceased publication, effective immediately, of Wizard magazine and its sister publication, ToyFare. The online link to the company’s subscription area was unavailable as well.
In place of its print incarnation, Wizard is launching a digital publication, Wizard World, in February. The digital incarnation is described as providing “coverage of the world of comic books, toys and superheroes, and the personalities behind them.”
Shamus added, “Wizard World will give consumers the content they want in a magazine format with which they are familiar … It is a natural evolution for us in this market.”
The digital publication also ties to Wizard’s group of a dozen North American conventions, The Wizard World Comic Con Tour, which is produced by the publicly traded Wizard World Inc.
The Magazine
This doesn’t surprise me. The increasing costs of puting out a magazine, combined with the cost of the magazine itself, along with declining sales, usually means that publications go out of business.
Why should Wizard be any different than magazines that are MORE famous, such as US News & World Report – which also ceased publication in the last year.
Sadly, this is just the beginning – soon comics themseleves will cease to be printed on paper, and will only exist as digital publications. It’s inevitable.