In his introductory speech at the Harvey Awards presented at the Pittsburgh Comicon, (appropriately reported by Comicon's Splash page) Frank Miller characterized Wizard Magazine as a 'tapeworm' and, somewhat more grandiloquently, as a 'bible written by Satan.'  Most of Miller's speech revolved around Hollywood and in particular tinseltown's appropriation and subsequent mangling of creative concepts, which he quite correctly compared to a 'Cuisinart' which blends colorful original ideas into a milky pablum that will not offend (or inspire) the mass audience.  Near the end of his speech he segued from slothful film producers who hire readers to screen scripts to Wizard Magazine, which he claimed 'reinforces all the prejudices people hold about comics.'  Miller was vague in his indictment of Wizard's actual offenses; perhaps he feels that Wizard's sins are so egregious and manifest that they don't require recounting.  His symbolic throwing of the magazine into a trash can at the climax of his speech does sound like it made for good theater. 

 

Fred Pierce, the President of Wizard Entertainment posted a reply to Miller on the Wizard World website.  Rather than accept Miller's characterization of Wizard as a parasite feasting in the bowels of the comic kingdom, Pierce talked about it as 'an ambassador for the comic industry, ' pointing out that Wizard often represents the only 'comic book' presence on many newsstands.  Pierce faults Miller for taking cheap shots, and points out that the people who create Wizard 'pour their hearts and souls into the magazine every month.'  Pierce's defense is heartfelt, but it is clear from the way that he repeatedly refers to the result of all that 'soulful' effort on the part of the Wizard staffers as 'product,' that he is a long way from understanding Miller's objections. 

 

Like many disputes in the comic book industry, this latest brouhaha sheds a lot more heat than light.  As the sole major circulation mass market magazine devoted to comic books, Wizard wields a large amount of power in some sectors of the industry and it requires courage to take it on, even for a creator with the stature of Frank Miller, but it's unclear where he wants to take us.  For most retailers, the question is whether Wizard will continue to win the battle to stay popular through changing generations of fans.  While sales are nowhere near where they were in the heyday of the Image/Valiant era, Wizard remains a commercial force in comics (it's routinely the fifth largest publisher in Diamond's comic market shares) and for most retailers that's a big enough reason to keep it racked up front.