Wizard Magazine (Aug 2010)

Guest Editor - Mark Millar

You know, I should probably catch up on some Mark Millar comics and then maybe I can be pissed off at him like the rest of the Internet. But for now, Nemesis and Ultimate Avengers and Kick Ass 2 will have to wait and I can talk about his guest-edited issue of the struggling Wizard, the first issue I bought this decade (counting 2010 as part of the decade starting with 2001).

Who knows what Wizard’s been like recently but there doesn’t appear to be much for Millar to ruin. It’s boyish geek fun and Millar fits right in. Better yet, he has a higher yield friend list than regular editor Mike Cotton, so he can set up roundtable discussions with superhero filmmakers like Zak Penn, Tom De Santo, Eli Roth and more, as well as being able to pull quotes from collaborators and Marvel buddies like Frank Quitely, John Romita, Jr., WCarlos Pacheco and Jason Aaron about the first comic that gave them a boner. 

Wizard’s and Millar’s appeal are similar—lowbrow, rude and immature—so he’s a good fit for the magazine beyond just his ability to text ringers, tell Stan Lee anecdotes and drop a preview puff piece on his next Icon book, Superior, which hopefully isn’t another “next step for superheroes” books undone by his worst instincts, although the multiple sclerosis angle is concerning. 

And Cotton, who appears to have gotten some of the issue put together already, has a decent Seth Rogen interview that almost nullifies the dread I’m feeling about Green Hornet, plus there’s a really funny conversation between actors Michael Cera and Clark (Kick Ass) Duke that marks Duke as one to watch and Cera as having a darker comedic edge than the sweet characters he plays. Although thin for a magazine (there’s about 45 pages of content), it was all pretty enjoyable aside from too-easy Twitter exchange between Dr. Doom and other villains by Gail Simone and a guest-edited letters page that finds Stan Lee dialed way down in energy, nearly hypobolic. Oh, and the article on Wally Wood, while unexpected and tonally dissonant from the rest of the mag, was strong despite its brevity, and classed things up a notch.

—Christopher Allen