Teer ead aaa ey] - co) ™ s ‘ > re D COLLECTOR'S EDITIONBats ae) Mba eee sd WELCOME TO THE COMPLETE COMICS MAGAZINE ... Iwould like to congratulate youon your purchase of Wizard: The Guide To Comics #1 COLLECTOR'SEDITION. [believethatin your journeys throughout the comic book world, infor- mation is hard to assemble. You must. use one source fornew comics, one for your values, one for your interviews, and so on. Now, all under one cover, youcan getitall. Original artwork by your favorite artists, interviews with today’s top per- sonalities, previews of new unreleased books, plus much much more. I want to thank everyone who made Wizard possible. I'm proud that we all make such agreat team. I would like to personally thank Hank Rose (Comic Images), Walter Wang (Comics Un- limited), and Steve Saffel (Marvel) and espe- cially Martin Schranz for their guidance, with- out which I could not have started. It is my intent that every month you will be informed about everything you want to know about comic books and related items, I’ve been a 3 comic book fan for quite some time, and Wizard isexactly what I wished for all these years. Now, eight months and four hours of sleep later, I present to you, Wizard: The Guide To Comies #1 Every month you will get a chance to collect a very special gift from the Wizard. So watch out, even we don't know what might be next. Be assured, everyone will want one! dee. PS, - Love getting mail, so please write and let me know what you think, Sincers OUR CONTRIBUTORS ee Gregg Mctihatton Unda Perillo Michael Berry Jane Secarano Induced to consics thie Limiainghadtobeapar of A San Fcc Years 4g, and sil hast Word Pesan rico col tee erin imei font Airing Manager Se feviews of comes-claad foe a has dogo cater Greg as re eco oe nna for he tors for Marvels Open freshman at James Maison cant wat opt aaned Prascco Oh fakin bls Sy Uaiveniy ia Virgina computer es.CONTENTS FEATURES WRITING AND DRAWING THE WEB-HEAD VOL. 1 NUMBER 1 |} interview with cover artist Todd McFarlane. A quick peak SEPTEMBER 1991) into what makes the web slinger tick DIGITAL COLOR Comic books and computers, do they mix well? Well show 1 you their true colors. PORE VeGE WS HORROR COMICS: THEN AND NOW Do tay compare? Den ge sere 77 PICKS FROM THE WIZARD’S HAT The eens at ia aoe 82 REMEMBERING THE MIDDLE-MAN 94 Sea ee Insight into how distributors view the comics market Wizard's costume to kick off ‘our premiere issue. Spider GUIDES ANDLISTINGS Man can be seen in four monthly titles. Plus, will be starring in his own motion Paiure dveoutineary WIZARD'S COMIC WATCH GRADING YOUR COMICS 22 A great way to recognize quality. Grading made simple, COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE ham ace eee 25 TRADING CARDS 66 ‘The 90's are the decade to collect, so collect them all TOY FIGURES GUIDE == Ninis | #1 ISSUES SHIPPING ISSUE ‘Check out all these new comics before they arrive. 71 ‘The ROCKETEER willbe ThenooxeTecrwitbe | COMIC SHIPPING CALENDAR 72 theaters near you Our I Find out when your favorite comic wl ithe shelves, interview with Bill Campboll willhelpumpstartyour | SHOW AND CONVENTION CALENDAR Doosters for this great 99 summer lassie, by Disney. || Get ready, the show is coming to town, 89LETTER FROM THE EDITOR WHAT DO THEY DO? Walk into any comic book shop and ask those questions to the folks at the racks, buying this week's shipment of comics, and I'll bet you can’t. get a satisfactory answer. Matter of fact, ask the vast majority of profes- ind I'll bet you still can't get a satisfactory answer. ‘Twenty-five years ago, during the heyday of strong editorial presences such as Mort Weisinger (Superman), Julius Schwartz (Flash, Green Lan- tern) and Stan Lee (anything at Marvel), the answers would have been obvious. The editor sets the tone for the comics, decides on the type of story to be told, helps the writer and artist produce their best work — either by suggesting story ideas or by engaging in brainstorming sional comies freelancers sessions. Today inter- view in this issue, it's not unusual for a comics creator to hand in the finished product (in Todd's case, the entire book — words and pictures) as Todd McFarlane notes in PUBLISHER: GAREB S. SHAMUS BUSINESS MANAGER: MARTIN SCHRANZ CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: PATRICK DANIEL O'NEILL ART DIRECTOR: LEO MCCARTHY FEATURES EDITOR: RICH DUFOUR PRODUCTION MANAGER: JANE SCARANO | Any stclement mado ‘ne eattotat postion Waar: the Gu omice « pubiehed month by Wear Pres. ‘ond Moxico $3495, anc at other eountias $1998. Al paymantsin Ward ogo sprotactednough fademeankregstration n ne Unteds JUST ASKING EDITORS, WHAT ARE THEY, 01848, Nanuet, NV 10954 0548, One-year subseration ote without the editor ever having seen it before. In that case, the editor is little more than a traffic cop between the creator and the production de- partment. Another comies pro, an inker, told me that he wouldn't know ifhe had a particular assignment until he had done a “test” page and the title’s regular penciller “okayed” his work — despite the fact that the book’s editor already thought the inker was the best man for the job. What's wrong with this picture? Could it be that the biggest problem with comics today is that nobody is telling the writers and artists when they are being self-indulgent? Or obscure? Or just plain bad? Just asking, you understand. JA-ONWH ADVERTISING MANAGER: LINDA PERILLO PROMOTIONS: KENNETH SHAMUS SYSTEMS MANAGER: ZEV BERMAN COLORIST: MARK H. McNABB ILLUSTRATOR: BART SEARS EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: DOUG GOLDSTEIN OUR STAFF ed or implied. are solely ose of he Intvltuas ing intewiewed and do Not repozent ‘only Entre contents copyright 1991, Gareb shorn Enter rico. nfornation pustcaton: maynotbereprodseesin pan oracle Postmester: Sond addtass changes to Wars Pes. PO ox BB. Nanuet, N.Y. 10968. 064eQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Isthenew Ghost Rider the same as the one who had his own series back in the mid 70's? Vito Pasciello - Buffalo, N.Y Marvel has hinted strongly that the new Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) is possessed by Zarathos, the Spirit of Vengeance. who at one time had possessed Johnny Blaze, the original Ghost Rider. However, no one knows for sure what the origin of the new Ghost Rider is. Also, before the 70°s Ghost Rider there was a westem Ghost Rider, Hamilton Slade. Who has noth- ing to do with either of the demonic Ghost Riders. He was last seen in Avengers West Coast #41, now calling himself the Phantom Rider. Are there any DC/Marvel crossovers planned for the future? " Ben Dover - Spring Valley, N.Y. Rumor has it that DC will soon be reprinting all of the classic DC/Marvel crossovers in trade paperback form, including Hulk vs Batman, Superman and Spider ‘Man, and the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover. Unfortu- nately, the JLA/Avengers crossover was cancelled years ago, and if the companies are planning anything new, no one is talking. Some team ups that I'm sure we'd all like to see would are Batman/Punisher, Thor vs Superman, and Wolverine vs Lobo. It doesn't hurt, to dream! Letters are welcome from everyone. Here is your chance to let us know what you think. Address all questions and correspondence to: WIZARD: The Guide To Comics | P.O. Box 648 Nanuet, New York 10954-0648 What does the “DC” in DC Comics stand for? Dick Holland - New City, N.Y. It stands for Detective Comics, one of the company's flagship titles. This is a question we posed to many readers of comics and were quite surprised how many people didn't know this. We all have to find out some time or another. Treally enjoyed the Predator vs Aliens mini series from Dark Horse comics. Is there any | chance of a Predator vs Aliens movie? Albany, N.Y "Spock" Goldstein It doesn’t look like it. The idea was proposed, but the two main monsters are two separate liscensed charac ters, and the legal red tape that would have to be cut through makes the project impossible. Js Cletus Kasady (from Amaz- ing Spider-Man #344 & 345) going 10 be the new Venom? Craig Comell - Pearl River, N.Y. It sure looks that way. A small piece of the Venom alien costume tore away from the main suit and landed on Cletus. It appears like there will be two Venoms running around the Marvel Universe.Ah Hf A —e | Gthaistenc- 2 by Patrick Daniel O'Neill Zit = WIZARD: You're currently writing and draw. ing Spider-Man When you were first as- signed to Amazing Spider-Man—the firsttime you were drawing the character—was. Spi der:Man a character you'd been eager to. do? Or was it just a job that came along? McFARLANE: It was just a job. | started collecting comics late and probably broke ina lot later than many of the younger guys these. days. | just Considered myself a professional and whatever assignment | got | tried toda my darnedest. WIZARD: Did you sort of grow into the char- acter? McFARLANE: Yeah. | think any time you ‘spend any period of time doing a character-— or any occupation: you become more andTodd’s very first Spider- Man artwork. Has it really been 4 years? more comfortable with it. Right now, | feel more comfortable doing Spider-Man because of the repetition; | don't really have to pay attention to what the characters look like be- cause I've drawn them for so long. If | took over Iron Man, say, I'd have to learn who all the people are around him; it would be kind of a growing process. WIZARD: Can that familiarity also lead to a boredom, eventually — a sameness, such that the enthusiasm for what you're doing starts to wane? McFARLANE: | think so. Probably, other than ahead-on fight with somebody up at the office, what would get me off the book is just “I've done Spider-Man for so many years, I've done this pose, this shot a thousand times. | just 40 WIZARD + don’t have the energy for it anymore.” When that comes, | might take another character with a totally different feel and create a stir with him, the way we did with Spider-Man. WIZARD: Was the move to the new title and doing your own writing a conscious effort to put a new element into the package, to stave off that bore- dom? (MEFARLANE: Yeah. I'd Say itwas a combina- tion of that andagrow- ingdesire to expand the horizons. I'm the kind of person who'spretty fanatical about a lot of things — and my occupation is no different. | think that, by the time | left Amazing Spider-Man, my career was pretty much going full-steam. | was up for a couple of awards, | was acknowledged as one of the tops in the field for super-hero comic books. Why coast on that? | always have to find a new challenge. Once people started acknowledging me as a good artist, | needed to find another outlet. I'd conquered that world, so to speak, and | have to keep pushing myself. y ‘Once | pick’ visually dynam a story WIZARD: Let's talk about your working pro- cess. Do you start with a firmly developed plot...or do you just start drawing and have it develop from there?McFARLANE: | probably wing it more than anybody else in the business right now. Be- cause | made my reputation as an artist, | tend to lean toward that field. The first thing | consciously think of is a visual: “Who can | bring in as a villain, or what situation can | put the charac- ters in, so the surroundings are a visual, to set a mood?” Even if Spider- Man is saying something wanky, the look has a style to it. Once | pick something | think is visually dynamic, | start to formulate a story around it. | really don't bother with the minute details. | would if | had more time, but | only have four weeks to turn out the whole book. If |hada few extra days, I'm sure the stuff would be a little more... coherent, | guess would be the word. But right now, if | have an extra day, | want to spend it on the art instead of sitting down and doing some big bible on the story. something ic, | formulate around it’ WIZARD: Do you pass at least a rough plot past the editor before you work on it? MCFARLANE: Not as much as he’d like. Sometimes, as a matter of fact, | get going and | hand in a finished issue and forget that the editor never even saw a plot. | don't do any written plots, usually. | think I've done a couple of paragraphs if | have to bring in aguest star. That's just so it can be cleared with the editor who handles that character. | develop everything in my head; | don't do thumbnail sketches anymore, Idon'tdo cover sketches— it’s all sitting in my head and from my head, | can putt straight on paper. To put, iton paper more than once—| don'thave the time to do that. I've got to cut out steps. There's no sense in my typing out a four-page plot if | already know what I'm going to do. WIZARD: Looking at your current work, I get the feeling that a lot of the drawing is being done at the inking stage. Am | right? MCFARLANE: It’s always been like that. | don't worry about backgrounds, debris, ex- plosions, until | go in with the brush. | rough Todd’s very first Spider- Man Scripting. SEPTEMBER 1991 1112 WIZARD 1 out the characters, that all. My attitude is there's no such thing as wrong debris, no such thing as wrong spaceships, no such thing as wrong monsters—because there’s nothing in real life to base them on. Some guys do better than others... but nobody can say the knob on this fictional gun should be a little more to the left. If a guy's getting smashed into a brick wall, who cares where the bricks are, as long as there's a shit-load of bricks, right? | don't do a lot of real backgrounds. | do a lot of line work and | doodle the hell out of the pages—and the printing process muddies it up some; | treat the pages like they're not going to be ‘There’s no such thing as wrong debris’ colored. Butas long as | get Spider-Man in the right pose and I've got a cool shot of him coming at you in the splash page, it's not that important what's behind him. If | can fill up the space with stuff that kind of, sort of looks right—or at least fill it with linework —the kids figure there's more detail put in than there really is. WIZARD: The first time | remember seeing your stuff was on Infinity Inc. over at DC. | was impressed by your page design then, playing with border designs and things like that. |don't see thatin your work anymore. Have you shifted your attitude toward page design over the years? McFARLANE: Yeah— you might get a two-part story out of me where I'll go wanky, but my attitude is that the toughest thing for any person doing super-hero comics is to sit on the fence: You can't make it so stylized for the 20 and older crowd that you lose the kids; but you don't want to make it so simple that it’s just a kiddie book. Some of the stuff! was doing on Infinity, some of the page design stuff —| still try to do as much design work as | can (sometimes I think Ido ten times as much as a lot of other guys), but I can't make it too wacky or that ten-to-fifteen crowd gets a little antsy about the whole look of the book. They only want to work so hardTODD'S PORTFOLIO ALSO INCLUDES THE HULK, INFINITY INC., AND INVASION! AMONG OTHERS to figure out the comic book. But once you getolder, it's kind of neatto haveto delve into different layers. | have to make a marriage of both of them so | can get a big audience base. WIZARD: Assuming that some place down the line, as you said, Spider-Man is no longer enough to keep you occupied, what, in a perfect world, would be Todd McFarlane’s next step? McFARLANE: Unfortunately, once | leave Spider-Man, | doubt I'll do monthly comic books again. Part of itis just the grind, part of it is an economical decision. There's no reason for me to take over a monthly title when | could do a special project that would give me greater creative freedom, better reproduction, a bigger PR push. Probably what you'll see me do if and when | leave Spider-Manis special projects for acouple of years and then — if | do go back to monthly comics —I'll self-publish. If I'm going to work day in and day out, I'll do it for myself. © An example of Todd’s early page design from Coyote #11 by Epic Comics. SEPTEMBER 1991 13by Greg McElhatton eter created “web shooters” for himself and decided to use his new-found pow- ers to get money for his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, who had reared him since childhood. He went to a wrestling tournament calling himselt Spider-Man and beat his opponent. However, when an escaped criminal ran by him later, he watched the felon get away. When asked why, he responded that it wasn't his job to catch criminals. few days later, tragedy struck. Peter A returned home tofind thathis Uncle Ben had beenmurdered by acriminal. Peter tracked down the killer only to discover it was the same one he had let escape earlier. Atthatmoment, Peter made avow to use his powers as Cig, SPider-Man to fight = pider-Man to fig! s ney crime. And soa super- hero was born. iththose words on thecover of Amazing Fantasy #15 in August 1962, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created anew super-hero, one that would rock the comics industry with its longevity and appeal pider-Manwas originally Peter Parker, a high school student you wouldn't look at twice — until that fateful day when, as he was working in a lab, he was bitten by a radioactive spider. It wasn’t until later that day that Peter discovered the ramifications of this event, He found that he had been gifted with some at- PIDEY’S tributes of a spider —he could stick to walls and had the proportionate strength of a spider as VILEST well! VILLAINS 44 WIZARD 1PIDEY’S ILLUSTRATED EVOLUTION 1960's STEVE DITKO ince then, Spider-Man, or Spidey as heis known, has gone through many ups and downs in his personal life. His rogue's gallery is extensive, with many of his foes becoming some of the most popular villains today. He's faced ‘such enemies as Doctor Octopus, who has four mechanical arms grafted to him; the Green Goblin, with his exploding pumpkin bombs; Kraven, a hunter who chose Spider-Man as his. Prey; and Venom, an alien creature that Spidey once wore as his costume only to haveit try and take him over! is personal life has also had its ups and MD sci. vis est rue love, Gwen Stacy, was killed by the original Green Goblin, He once went out with the Black Cat, only to break it up because of her amoral personality. And yet, throughitall, he hada roller-coasterrelationship with Mary Jane Watson, one that finally con- cluded with their happy marriage, complete with a wedding dress designed by Willi Smith. pider-Man’s powers themselves have even gone through changes. He had six arms for a short period and once had a living outfitthat createdits own web and could change into normal clothing. His strength has been upgraded throughout the years. And for a brief time, Spider-Man was the most powerful hero on Earth, with the cosmic powers of Captain Universe! 1970°s JOHN ROMITA, SR. TODD McFARLANE Yet some things have almost never changed. He's still a photographer for the Daily Bugle. Aunt May is alwaysthereforhim. Andwhilehe's graduated from high school, he’s nowin college. ith four titles plus a reprint title, Spider- Man continues to be a big name in comics. Why do people enjoy reading about him so much? Perhaps it’s because, despite all his powers, he'sstilljustone of us. SEPTEMBER 1991 15WIZARD’S COMIC WATCH 5 all OMEGA MEN #3 Release Date: June 1983 Artist: Keith Giffen Writer: Roger Slifer From the pages of a comic, found in boxes marked 5 for $1.00, springs one of the hottest characters of the 90’s, LOBO! That's right, DC’s newest sen- sation made his debut in this obscure title, and nine years later has become one of the hottest books in the country. Lobo began a minor comeback in 1988 by appearing in Justice League Inter- national #18-21, and later appearances in the Superman titles, Futher expo- sure came from the pages of L.E.G.I.0.N | ’89 (later renamed’90 and’91) when he joined the group. His jump start to TM 86 1991 0C Comice, ne. super stardom occured last year when Lobo’s 4 issue mini-series hit the shelves. Lobo has become a solid seller for DC Comics. Lobo has made numer- ous appearances in Demon and Legion of Super Heroes, since the mini-series. DC Comics has planned more solo Lobo projects futher down the road, to satify our thirst for punishment. For more information on Lobo’s past past, check out Omega Men #3, 5, and [Link] the meantime, Omega Men #3is a great addition to any comic book collec- tion. A WNL FOR, AN INVITATION? - LOBO - trea,WIZARD’S COMIC WATCH X-FACTOR #24 Release Date: January 1988 Artist: Walt Simonson Writer: Louise Simonson With X-Factor #24, the Simonson’s took a grade “B” character, the Angel (a.k.a. Warren Worthington III), and transformed him into whatis sure to be one of the 1990’s hottest characters, ARCHANGEL! In recent years, Super Heroes have been getting excessively more dark and violent (i.e. Ghost Rider, Lobo, Wolver- ine, Punisher, etc...) now, this “angel of death” fits the bill. This grim, evil look- ing, and razor tipped winged hero is going to appeal to fans instantly. This “angel of death” will be getting even Re TM&€ 1991 MavelEnt. Group, ne, 1M &0 1991 Marval Ent. Group. he more exposure as one of the new mem- bersin Marvel’s expanded X-Menteam. Archangel will soon become a real su- perstar, and X-Factor #24 will soon be very hard to find. XFoctorM &© 1991 Marve! Lou eek uk keDIGITAL COG DC Comics colorists have anew tool, replacing theirbrushes and Dr. Martin’s Dyes with keyboards and mouses. BY HEMAY C. COLONIA di Computers are best known forenhancing the efficiency of humans through relieving people of repetitive chores, and doing those repeti- tive chores much more efficiently. More recently computers have been put to useifi the arts for their ability to manipUlatéinfages and colors. DC Comics hasyb@enusing a computer system foreolorizing many of their comics. Traditionally comics have been colored and s@patated by hand. ore in red (ormagenta), one in blue (6reyan), and one in yellow. DC's. Coniputer system automates that 6ntiréyprocess,. Creating the final camera film, from the guide the colorist creates on-screen. The TSR comic line and the mature readers line use the computer coloring system to full advantage. For example, in the second issue of Speliiammer, there is a stunning depiction of a prismatic wall spell shown as a tight wavy rainbow of colors, an extraordinar- ily unique image. The computer creates eerie multi-colored alien skies that fade be- tween many shades of grey and black. This effect of the computer is the most impressive —the infinite palette of the computersystem, and precision control over the colors allows the computer to fade very gradually between one color and another. When madness is in: 18 WIZARD 1 the sky in an issue of Shade, a mature readers offering from DG, there is a gradual change between yellow and purple. It's easy to see the purpleatthe top of apanel and the yellow atthetbottom, but it is impossible to draw.a‘distinctline to separate the gradual fades trom red to orange. ‘Computers"also-allow for quick and easy experimentation. {t is much easier for DC's Colorists to@pply colors to see how they look, and to éxperiment and change the colors ‘Quickly. Although DC's production director, Bob Rozakis, would not go into great detail on the exact process, it would be logical to assume that, especially in some of the spe- cial-effect scenes in the TSR comics, or the unusual places that the mature readers titles visit, that the computer is allowed to ran- domly generate colors, or perhaps generate [Link]-between a given range of colors. The computer. in‘no,way eliminates or re- places hman colorists, but is a powerful tool in theitshands. ~ The-colorist controls. the; process and makes decisions about the'col- ‘ors and. shades, and can-accept, reject, or modify the computer's output. DC gives full credit to the person and doesnot even men- tion the use-of the [Link]-the comics’ credits. Harvey Comics is alsqusingcomputersin its production processsthough primarily for digi- talstorage of black-and-white [Link] Harvey system permits the productiondepartment to reduce costs for its large inventory of pages and fot reprinting with ‘updates’. Harvey's reprints are also computer-colored, but pub- [Link] of the process suggest it is hot as elaborate as DC's system.Computer technology has arrived as a pow- erful tool for comic creators. Through the infinite palette and ability to quickly experi- ment and re-adjust colors, the computer al- lows for many more possibilities for what the reader sees. Advances such as these will continue to keep the comic book an exciting, Progressive and changing art form. Inorderto highlightthis article, we present 3 examples of the primary coloring meth- ods. AT RIGHT: the traditional method, 50 years old and still used for most comics. Three films are manually cut for each page, offering a limited palette of colors. LOWER LEFT: The 1980's introduced fully painted comics like Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters. Each page is an actual painting, which is scanned as a color photograph, and printed. LOWER RIGHT: The 1990's has brought us computerized coloring, used for Shade: The Changing Man. The color artist creates effects on-screen and the computer outputs color-separated negatives.COLLECTING COMICS IN THE 90 Comic book collecting is fun, fun for everyone. In comic books anything can happen, and does in some cases. Just when you saw your favorite character die a bloody death, helshe (it?) comes back, with a ven- geance, no less. Everyone collects for their own reason, to make money, they enjoy the reading, like the artwork, a way to relax, and many more. Here we will point out some of the most popular ways of collecting comies. We will also talk about trends you should look for over the next six months, We're sure you have a collecting strategy, so let’s compare. The first type of collecting we-call “Character Collecting”, whereby the comics you collect have the same character throughout. Aperson who collects like: this will try to purchase all the appearances of this character, going back to their Ist appearance, their. origin, a good fight, etc... your budgerallows), Thisis great way to start and continue collecting."A easy Way tofinda character to follow is by asking your friends or, hobby shop salesperson what they recommend given your tastes. The second mode, increasing in popularity daily, is “Artist Collecting”” Whereby you collect books of the artist you like. Artwoirkhhas always been the biggest. selling point of a book, and if you-like the artist; you'll collect the book. Some artist have many titles under their belt, so to start collecting all of their work may be difficult, time consuming, and’ éxpensive. You, might want to collect special issues that the artist has done, issue which include their Ist work, the Ist appearance or origin of character, a death, a good splash page, or basicallya very pivotalissue. If ouhear‘ofanew up-and- coming artist, great, start collecting. Some titles with great artists sell as many as a couple’of million issues a year. The next mode of collecting is similar to “Artist Collecting”, but applies to writers, called “Writer Collecting”. Writers are little harder to follow, be- cause their recognition is not visualSince their styles: may vary it might not be apparent. at first glance. However, there are many-Comics:with table turning plots that just can’t-be drawn to show exactly what happened, therefore, a very skillful writer is needed to coordinate the plot with the illustration. Very recently some artists are trying their skilsaeploctingand writing Only time will tell if chisis'a “good” thing. The collecting fun really kicks into gear when you combine a fewior all of the’elements we mentioned earlier. When you-put.a popular artist and character together, you've got yourself a winner. An artist/writer combination will also produce the same results. Recently, a whole new dimension to collecting com- jes has just surfaced, we call it “Creative Printing”, 20 Wizard 1 wherebya publisher will use out of the ordinary printing methods to produce a comic book. Theresults have been staggering, with sales doubling and hobby shops nationwide selling out in minutes. One of the most popular methods is using a metallic ink like gold or silver. This will really grab your attention at first glance. Embossingis also neat feature, combined with metallic ink, the books going to second print. Gatefold covers, ‘Which combine a few self-contained pieces of art placed side-by-side to create one larger, more spectacular piece, has been very well received. ” has also taken roots in the dustry. Examples of these are bagging comics (which was really intended, basically, to protect the comic while shipping), inserting trading cards, and multiple covers for one issue. Variations in comics that arealso very "collectworthy’ are test logos (which had avery limited distribution), newsstand vs direct copies (with or without a ULP.C, short for Universal Product ‘Céde), limited productions, and finally changing colors ‘[Link] for second prints. These creative proccesses cannot work alone. They must be combined with elements mentioned earlier, that attract:collectors to begin with. Just putting a ‘special cover on piece of junk will not work. ‘Over the next 6 months’ the comic book industry will grow tremendously: There will be a few major factors, when combined, which will create a huge market. ‘The movie [Link] grown to be the #! source for entertainment. With this inrmind, the big publishers have been investing lot of time and effort into reaping the benefits 6f this Thulti-billion dollar business. There ‘are many movie projects in the-works based upon ‘comic book characters, and they're coming soon to a theater‘near you! The televition networks have quite a few cartoons and shows planned for their line-ups. Again this will bring comic book characters into homes across the country, A few big publishers have television commer- cial slots already planned Sports cards have become the largest, non-television advertised, hobby in every part of the country. These same. sports. card “companies are producing trading cards forthe comic book industry. Comic book cards may soon be #2. All these tie-ins tocomic books and characters will propel the comic industry to new heights. All these tie~ ins will draw many new readers and collectors into the industry. With all these new collectors trying find Ist appearances, origin issues, and important works of artists, you make the call! With all this information about comic book collect- ing, you could be well on your way to a successful collecting career.Computer technology has arrived as a pow- erful tool for comic creators. Through the infinite palette and ability to quickly experi- ment and re-adjust colors, the computer al- lows for many more possibilities for what the reader sees. Advances such as these will continue to keep the comic book an exciting, progressive and changing art form. Inorderto highlight this article, we present 3 examples of the primary coloring meth- ods. AT RIGHT: the traditional method, 50 years old and still used for most comics. Three films are manually cut for each page, offering a limited palette of colors. LOWER LEFT: The 1980's introduced fully painted comics like Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters, Each page is an actual painting, which is scanned as a color photograph, and printed. LOWER RIGHT: The 1990's has brought us computerized coloring, used for Shade: The Changing Man. The color artist creates effects on-screen and the computer outputs color-separated negatives,COLLECTING COMICS IN THE 9 Comic book collecting is fun, fun for everyone. In ‘comic books anything can happen, and does in some ‘cases. Just when you saw your favorite character die a bloody death, he/she (it?) comes back, with a ven- geance, no less. Everyone collects for their own reason, to make money, they enjoy the reading, like the artwork, a way to relax, and many more. Here we will point out some of the most popular ways of collecting comics: We will also talkabout trends you should look for over the next six months. We're sure you have a collecting strategy, so let's compare. The first type of collecting we call “Character Collecting’, whereby the comics you collecthave the same character throughout. A person who collects like: this will try to purchase all the appearances of this character, going back to their. Ist/appearancey-their. origin, a good fight, etc..(if your budgerallows), This is great way to start and continue collecting-“A easy way. tofinda character to follow is by asking your friends or. hobby shop salesperson what they recommend given your tastes. The second mode, increasing in popularity daily, is “Artist Collecting”: Whereby you collect books of the artist you like. Artwoirkhas always been the biggest. selling point of a book, and if yourlike the artist; you'll collect the book. Some artist have,many titles under their belt, so to start collecting all of their work may be difficult, time consuming, and’ expensive. You might want to collect special issues that the artist has done, issue which include their Ist work. the Ist appearance or origin of character, a death, a good splash page, or basicallyavery pivotalissue. If youhear ofa new up-and- coming artist, great, start collecting. Some titles with great artists sell as many as a couple of million issues'a year. The next mode of collecting is similar to Artist Collecting", but applies to writers; ealled “Writer Collecting”. Writers are little harder to follow, be- cause their recognition is not visual’Since their styles may vary it might not be apparent at first glance. However, there are many-Comics-with table turning plots that just can't-be drawn to show extetly what happened, therefore, a very skillful writer is needed to coordinate the plot with thetillustration. Very recently someartists are trying their skills aeplotting and writing. Only time will tell if this isa “good” thing. The collecting fun really kicks into gear when you combine a few or all of the’elements we mentioned earlier. When youput.a popular artist and character ‘together, you've got yourselfa winner. An artistiwriter combination will also produce the same results. Recently, a whole new dimension to collecting com. ics has just surfaced, we call it “Creative Printing” 20 Wizard 1 whereby publisher will use out of the ordinary printing methods to producea comic book. The results have been staggering, with sales doubling and hobby shops nationwide selling out in minutes. One of the most popular methods is using a metallic ink like gold or silver. This will really grab your attention at first glance. Embossing is alsoa neat feature, combined with metallic ink, the books going to second print. Gatefold covers, Which combinea few self-contained pieces of art placed side-by-side to create one larger, more spectacular piece, has been very well received. “Creative Marketing” has also taken roots in the comi¢ book industry. Examples of these are bagging comies (which was really intended, basically, to protect the comic while shipping), inserting trading cards, and multiple covers for one issue. Variations in comics that aréalso very "collectworthy' are test logos (which had a very limited distribution), newsstand vs direct copies (with or without a U.P.C, short for Universal Product Code), limited productions, and finally changing colors ‘on-covers for second prints. These creative proccesses cannot work alone. They must 6@ combined with elements mentioned earlier, that attract: collectors to begin with. Just putting a Special cover on piece of junk will not work. ‘Over the next 6 months; the comic book industry will graw tremendously. There will be a few major factors, when combined, which will create a huge market. The movie [Link] grown to be the #! source for entertainment, With this in mind, the big publishers have been investing lot of time and effortinto reaping the benefits of this multi-billion dollar business. There are many movie projects in the-works based upon comic book characters, and they're coming soon to a theater near you! The television networks have quite a few cartoons and shows planned for. their line-ups. Again this will bring comic book characters into homes across the €ountry, A few big publishers have television commer- cial slots already planned. Sports cards have become the largest, non-television advertised, hobby in every part of the country. These same. sports. card “companies are producing trading cards forthe comic book industry. Comic book cards may soon, be #2. All these tie-ins to:comic books and characters will propel the comic industry to new heights. All these tie- ins will draw many new readers and collectors into the industry. With all these new collectors trying find Ist appearances, origin issues, and important works of artists, you make the cal! With all this information about comic book collect- ing, you could be well on your way to a successful collecting career.