The long awaited Wizard World Digital magazine has debuted, and it’s basically a pdf that you can read on your computer or iWhatever.
Or as the tweets had it:
Wizard World Digital Issue #1 is out RIGHT NOW!! A new era in digital publishing has begun!! The revolution has… http://fb.me/SZ9JvbWz
On the plus side, it’s nice to see comics from Slave Labor, Image, and Alterna being covered. All on the same page. And it is very well designed. It just doesn’t seem very interactive at this point.
And on page three, the first letter is about… reading Wizard in the bathroom. Nice photo.
Hey… is it possible to embed links in a PDF? That would really help their advertising.
…and another poop joke on page five. (as seen above)
Light on advertising. Features shown on the Wizard World Digital web home page should link to the PDF page.
No big splash ad on the home page, just a tab at the top. Nothing in the slide show which features the Wizard World guests. And Geek Chic is “below the fold” at the bottom of the page. How do they earn advertising revenue?
Wow that’s lousy – forget the content, why in a digital magazine am I expected to manually turn pages? No embedded links?
Borderline did this 10 years ago and they did it better.
Do keep up Witz-end!
In August 2001, I produced a PDF/on-line magazine called Borderline. A total of 23 issues across a two year period. All issues are available to download from here: http://farkynell2.blogspot.com/
“A new era in digital publishing has begun!!” – A new era in digital publishing happened 9 years and 8 months ago and considerably better. Wizard should be seriously considering what they say and how they say it because the publishers of Borderline have lawyers too!
“And on page three, the first letter is about… reading Wizard in the bathroom.”
Oh, the jokes are obvious and true.
Well, what’s interesting is that in their coverage of those small press titles on the page shown above, they mention my comic, American Terrorist, in the text but they show the cover image for Alterna’s title, American Terror. I wonder if the person who wrote it was the same person who included the images.
“I wonder if the person who wrote it was the same person who included the images.”
@Tyler: No, he wasn’t. He didn’t even know this story was gonna be included.
I for one hope they continue publishing. I won’t necessarily ever read it but this is where things have to go: digital and free.
@Casey: So that was you who wrote the article. Nice work, it was a good article. I enjoyed the perspective on both digital comics and the inclusion of some indie titles.
I have to ask, purely out of curiosity, did you intend to reference my comic, American Terrorist, in your article? Either way is fine. Both titles are deserving of the exposure, just curious.
@Tyler — I did indeed intend to include your comic. Good stuff!
Could this be simply because it was *intended* to be a print magazine originally? Before the decision to pull the plug on the magazine, perhaps.
@Casey- Thanks, I appreciate it!
First issue of a weekly. Let’s give it a chance.
Maybe Darryl is right. If so, perhaps there’s a Wizard staffer reading these comments. I’d like to offer this suggestion:
This issue is laid out in portrait orientation rather than landscape. Landscape is a better orientation for people reading on computer monitors.
@Sphinx – Yes, but I think they are really more focused on getting this on the iPad, where magazines are still pushed vertically.
@Torsten – Yes, you can easily put hyperlinks in a PDF.
An awful lot of complaints for something that costs 0 dollars to read. I thought it was fine, could certainly use some improvements but I would say so far it accomplished its goal – that was the first issue of Wizard I have read in years
the pdf does have links in the ads, its only the version on the ipad that does not
Not for nothing, but the counterargument “it’s free” is not worth anything in this day and age.
@Darryl – not sure exactly what you’re referring to (digital day and age? digital piracy day and age?) but I disagree, if you are using that as a blanket statement. If you bought Wizard last month, it would have cost you $4.99 (I think). This month it costs $0. If you were a regular buyer/fan of Wizard before I would imagine this makes you happy. If you were not a regular buyer/fan of Wizard it doesn’t affect your life one way or the other – you are either continuing to not read Wizard or are now able to read it online at zero cost to you.
It’s like complaining that the free iTunes single of the day sucks.
Fire your remaining skeleton crew Wizzy… This thing is a steaming pile of excrement. Mike Cotton, you’re a lil’ bitch!!!