By Valerie D'Orazio
Gareb Shamus has been in the news quite a bit lately -- what with his Wizard Magazine and Toyfare ceasing production, his new company Wizard World Inc. going public, and the large influx of cash pouring into his e-newsletter venture GeekChicDaily. We took some time to have a candid chat with Shamus about the future of Wizard in digital, the Wizard World conventions, GeekChicDaily...and even about some of the criticism leveled at him in the comic book media.
MTV Geek: After two decades, how does it feel to no longer have a print edition of Wizard Magazine?
Gareb Shamus: There’s certainly part of me that feels that print is this incredible media – and it’s something I built my life around – but when you look at my life, as being a pioneer in so many different types of media, I’m very excited about the opportunity that not having print enables us to have. So from that perspective, yes, there’s a part of me for which having the magazine in printed form is very exciting - but there’s also a part that recognizes print has a very limiting factor that prevents us from reaching our full potential, and our full audience that exists out there throughout the world.
Geek: What do you feel was Wizard Magazine’s legacy to the world of comic books?
GS: I actually think it’s extraordinary what we have been able to do in the comic book industry, and when you think about how we’ve influenced generations of people and their tastes – what they’ve been interested in and excited about, or what got them into the business and what got them into reading comics – we’ve had a significant impact in the way generations have grown up, and have consumed this content out there. I can tell you that for many many years, up until recently, Wizard sold many more copies than 95 percent of the comic books out there. So from that perspective, Wizard, right up until we ceased publishing, reached more people than 95% of the comics out there. So when you look at that, we’ve had an influence over everything in that regard. Read More...
