Wizard Magazine 48, August 1995 

With reference to the Wolverine swipes spotted by a reader of this issue of Wizard. In the early 1990's (94-ish I think) I had been away from comics for a couple of years doing illustration work for advertising & other commercial gigs. I had seen that Marvel UK were doing a lot of titles aimed at the American market & figured 'I could do that'. So I called them up & asked what they'd want to see, the editor I spoke to literally told me "Draw like Jim Lee. If you can do that, we can find work for you". So I did a single page sample in that style, sent it in, they called me back & offered me a mini-series on the spot.

JRJR and Nocenti Daredevil are some of my favorite comics. The Ultron issues would be a good short story to look at. #280 is my personal favorite. The characters spend the issue wandering through different surreal nightmares.

I was subscribing to Bone when they switched to Image. Cartoon Books would send a Christmas card every year and even though image didn’t do subscriptions Cartoon Books honored the rest of my subsection which was awesome.

Comix Zone is really tough but easily one of my all time favourite games!

Even though as Ed says the issues of upcoming Wizards are "slim pickings on my Charles Dickens" (props Method Man), I really hope you keep going with them for as long as possible. The dialogue between you two specifically with these magazines brings out the best back & forth between you too. I also feel like I'm learning along with you, and also remembering how much of a sucker for this shit I was.

I remember getting this issue snatched by a principle in middle school. I think he called it smut. Lmao

My first issue of Wizard!!

hey Jim - in regards to Nocenti & JR JR, check out Daredevil 260... or any of the early Typhoid Mary issues starting around 255

Sweet, another wizard issue ✌🏾

As others have, I recommend Daredevil #266 "A Beer with the Devil" for a read through.

Jim you should put a link to an editable file of that one-sheet you designed to go with the comic donations.

Highly recommend checking out Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still. I think it's all free on youtube in high quality. I think Tom Scioli would really dig it as well.

The Spider-Man animated series ended up going on for 5 seasons (65 episodes). The first episode seemed to have a high production value for the time, with a decent number of CGI shots inserted into the show, though all of the CGI shots were exterior buildings and the occasional street. As the show progressed both into the first season and again into the subsequent seasons, less and less of the CGI was present and shots were maybe a split second and often recycled from older episodes. The first season's Peter Parker was, for whatever reason, drawn to be more muscular and buff than his comic counterpart. When the second season came around, the character was slightly redrawn to make him more "average" looking, but still not the geek/nerd version we are lead to believe he was in the comics. Unfortunately, after 9/11, many episodes episodes ended up being censored by Disney, who had recently purchased the show along with Saban's library following their acquisition of the Fox Family Channel. Shots of many skyscrapers were removed from different episodes, ranging from a split-second to entire segments. The intro to "Day of the Chameleon" was completely butchered, with the episode beginning at an airport, then leading to a helicopter chase and then crashing into a building. The edited version, to anyone watching, became nonsensical and made absolutely incoherent. But even outside of that, random shots from different episodes started getting cut out, like the Lizard accidentally smacking his wife with his tail and knocking her out (which was a plot point to the first episode). I guess the episodes are all on Disney+ now, which I do not have, so I have no idea if the original masters were restored. I know Disney, which also acquired Power Rangers at the same time, edited a ton of content out of Power Rangers: Time Force with things crashing into buildings or entire buildings exploding (16 of 40 episodes were temporarily banned) and many of the original Masters for those episodes no longer exist. As an aside, although listed as a forthcoming game for the SNES, there was no X-Men 2 video game release on that system. Capcom did, however, follow up their excellent X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse game with Marvel Superheroes: War of the Gems, which featured Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America as playable characters. It ended up being a late release for the console, finally hitting shelves over a year after both the Playstation and SEGA Saturn came out in North America. It was decent enough, but not up to the standards of the previous game. The Wild C.A.T.S. game did come out. While the Lobo game never got released, there are some videos out there of the supposedly unfinished prototype. On that note, I passed up buying a new Virtual Boy for $30 on clearance at TRU, though I did end up grabbing the TurboGrafx-16 with free Bonk's Adventure for $48, so I think things worked out OK.

That Giant Robo anime actually does live up to the box art. It's crazy super hero stuff with operatic themes. I've always thought of it as the anime version of Lee & Kirby. Try to find the original English dub, if you can. It's not a 100% accurate translation, but it's hysterically over the top, and adds a lot to the grand melodrama of the thing. It's kind of a fascinating production, too. Though it's ostensibly an adaptation of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Giant Robo manga, it's really a tribute to Yokoyama's career, drawing characters from his entire body of work to create a new story. I hesitate to call it "Yokoyama: Grand Design," but it has the same completist spirit.

Teddy Christiansen also illustrated the House of Secrets ongoing series from Vertigo back in the 90's. Fantastic artwork but it was one of the most bleakest and depressing comics that I had ever read at that stage.

If you had to pull a Daredevil issue from the Romita/Nocenti run, I'd nominate 260. Daredevil gets taken down by a bunch of his recent rogues gallery and every time they hit him, Romita does a big double splash for impact.

Comix zone was soooo good

2 Things: The writers guide for comics in that issue seems like invaluable information and an update to that would be invaluable now. Also, there are so many White Wolf WOD rpg ads in there. I love it!

Have you guys ever discussed Stuck Rubber Baby, the Howard Cruise semi-autobiographical graphic novel that was published around the time as this Wizard issue? Great story if you can find copies of it.

spoilers on the left, splash on the right

Kills me every time you guys call him KayFabian, especially Jim. That Ostrander Spectre run has always been on my list to read as well. The JR JR DD Fall of the Mutants issue was memorable to me as far as one to look at. Fun episode as always guys

Adam Warren's Dirty Pair comics would be a good flip through. Such a weird american-manga hybrid comic. The art is stellar on it's own.

As someone who grew up and eventually re-watched the Spider-Man animated series, I wouldn't jump at someone to say "Go watch this NOW." Rather, I would suggest it as something worth giving a chance if you enjoy 90s cartoons, but it wasn't really a smash hit. I loved it as a kid and still enjoy it as an adult, but it's not for everyone. The 3D animation can be a bit jarring at times. That all said, the soundtrack was phenomenal! Ok, times to go back to watching this.

My cousins gave me their virtual boy when I was a kid. The queasy psychedelic experience of playing Wario World on that shit is something I’ll never forget

Remember playing the PC version of Comix Zone and I could never get past like the third level. Super tough game

I actually own the Scott Williams original from the Ink Off feature if you guys ever want a high quality pic or scan. Looks even better in person.

Ed you completely nailed the "Wizard told me this was worth 40.00 so I have to buy them." To this day if certain books show up in the 25 cent boxes I'm all over them Shi being a perfect example!

BEST DUDES, BEST SHOW!

I need that Evil Ernie movie! Somebody make that happen

I have one of those sega game collection things and comix zone was always my favorite

Just bought a grip of comics from my local shop Knowhere in preparation for comic book xmas!!

On that page with the Dredd toy add, I totally pulled a David Choe and swiped the Dredd on the bike toy from Shopko!

Speaking of mandrake let’s get that Spectre run under the scope!

Giant Robo does look as good as that still. It's worth watching for sure .

I just re-bought the collected Black Hole on Friday. Lent it out years ago. Don't remember who. Never got it back.

I think the Peter Parker from the animated series was based off actor Nicholas Hammond, who played Peter in the live action tv show from 1979.

This is one of the few industries where the fans take some ownership in its health and longevity

Now that Pat McCallum has shuffled off this mortal coil, will we ever learn the circumstances surrounding his split with the magazine? Respect to they guy and his family, but I’ve had questions for years!

Giant Robo is awesome!!!

How you gonna just pass over Danzig?

A beer with the devil features the first same sex couple kiss in the CCA history

Daredevil #253 is a great issue.

❤

sweet sweet dark age art

...kicked out of the Webelos...

"We got kicked out the Webelos." I know your pain/pleasure, Ed.