Wizard: The Guide to Comics

If you were reading comics in the ‘90s, you probably also read Wizard: a glossy magazine offering irreverent commentary along with news, interviews, and the latest up-to-date price guides. To many fans, Wizard was all the hilarity and fun of comic book culture wrapped between two covers and sealed in a polybag; to others, it was a symbol of everything wrong with the industry. We look back at our own experiences as Wizard readers, walk through some of the recurring features from its heyday, and grapple with the magazine’s complicated legacy. We’ll also try to get to the bottom of the speculator boom and bust, and what role Wizard played in it.