The demise of the print Wizard magazine early this year and The Comics Journal‘s move to becoming mostly an online publication has led to a dearth of comic book magazines on physical shelves, with only the likes of Comics Buyer’s Guide and Alter Ego holding down the fort.
Another publication is joining the fray in February 2012 — Multiverse, a UK publication started in 2010 that’s attempting to gain a foothold in the US market. It’s being released in conjunction with Ardden Entertainment — the publisher of Flash Gordon comics, among others — and is kicking off with a 68-page issue “promotionally priced” at $4.99.
“My goal has always been to produce an entertaining title that occupies the middle ground between the late Wizard and the moved-to-another-plane Comics Journal,” said publisher Mike Conroy in an official press release.
What kind of stuff does Multiverse cover? Taking a look at their website, past issues have included “exclusive interviews” with the likes of Ghost Rider writer Rob Williams and artist Frank Quitely (both Brits) puls I, Vampire writer Joshua Hale Fialkov (American). The two covers for the first two issues of the US edition are after the jump, and notice their use of the Newsarama-coined term “DCnU.”
December 14th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
great news — we need a mag like this since wizard went under. I’ll get the first few for sure!
December 14th, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Ok…what does that mean about “Earth 2 Superman sequel takes flight”? Earth 2 Superman? Sequel to what?
December 14th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
It looks interesting, I’ve always enjoyed print magazines. With no Wizard this could be a viable option.
I’ll be checking it out for sure.
December 14th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
as long as it isn’t anything like wizard….. Back Issue is a great template for a comics magazine as Well as Amazing Heroes back in the day….. if you can get a balance of those two for current comics and dont come anything close to Wizard..it’ll be fine
December 14th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Really happy about this. And glad that it’s Mike who’s leading the charge.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:11 am
we need a mag like this since wizard went under.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:40 am
Another great magazine about comics published in the UK is Comic Heroes. It is up to it’s 7th or 8th issue now, and each one has a few great interviews (with both UK and US writers and artists), a decent round up of comics being published and plenty of groovy free gifts, including a glow in the dark Green Lantern ring and a BPRD cloth patch !
Not sure whether it is available in the USA, I pick it up from my local newsagent here in Australia, so it must be newsstand distribution only.
It is worthwhile hunting down though.
December 15th, 2011 at 5:48 am
I always thought that Wizard’s decision to change its physical format was a contributing factor to their folding. I much preferred the square-back binding and its comic book size. Being understated it tended to stand out on the rack in its own way. Since the UK is pretty much the reigning champion of all things geeky these days, this one may have a chance. Hopefully their busy layout style that tends to be prevalent in most British magazines won’t prevent this one from succeeding in the states. I’m willing to give it a chance.
December 15th, 2011 at 10:09 am
Hi All! Thanks for the great feedback. We’re really excited about Multiverse and what we’ll be bundling with it… which will be revealed quite soon! As a retailer in this industry too I really feel we need something like this to help get new readers into the shops and picking up/trying new books. Just imagine is MV was out when DC released the 52?! This could have covered the event and given newbies an insight into why, what and when this was all kicking off.
December 15th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
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December 16th, 2011 at 11:48 am
So, we need another out for the major publishers and “genre” to jerk eachother off? Will it have well rounded, biting criticism and no holds barred interviews like the The Comics Journal has with people from all over the industry, or just high word count ad pieces from the big boys? You can just tell by their name, let alone their covers, what exactly they’re going to do. We don’t need this. We need another Comic Foundry.
December 16th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
“Biting criticism” and “no holds barred interviews”. Sounds like hiding behind journalism so you can be a dick to writers and publishers. Stick to your live journal/tumblr/blogspot for that.
December 17th, 2011 at 9:22 am
Evidently you didn’t read Comic Foundry. That was the pefect line between The Comics Journal’s needlessly harsh critiques and Wizard’s hand jobs. They were fair, entertaining, and completely independent, with a good focus on featuring creators over characters.
Also, I’m not just talking about the interview and writers of The Comics Journal, I’m talking about the interviewees themselves. Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Alan Moore, Trevor von Eden, Gail Simone, Dave Gibbins, etc. let themselves go to extremes they wouldn’t dare to go in other media avenues. They openly tore at each other and work. It was completely refreshing to read that not everyone is happy.
This doesn’t need to have any of those extremes, but it also doesn’t need to pander. Sadly, from the cover (and the publisher’s comment here), it seems to be doing just that.
December 17th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Hope they fix that cover copy before the mag hits the stands. Should say “MAN OF STEEL! EARTH 1 SUPERMAN SEQUEL TAKES FLIGHT” The book was SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, not EARTH TWO. It’s called proofreading before publishing.
December 18th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
I’ve managed to pick up a copy of multiverse in a store in London and it has to be said one of the best reads I’ve had for ages. Very polished from cover to cover and what stands out is that it covers other publishers who produce quality work. There was a preview of a book called bluespear which I never knew about/existed. I’ve ordered it and would never given it a chance if I hadn’t read about it in this mag. So, they’re kinda doing their job already; And that’s featuring the whole industry rather than sucking up to the big two — which was wizards downfall. It’s on my standing order for Feb.
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