I don’t know how many people remember HERO MAGAZINE– but i thought it would be fun to post this cover I did for that late, lamented (and very short-lived) periodical…. done some 10 years ago, I think. WIZARD MAGAZINE has always ruled the roost as far as slick, comic-book-centric monthlies go…. and they’ve rarely been challenged. It was exciting, back then, to see HERO come out and try to go head-to-head with them. This business is one of very little competition… and so any time something comes along to offer an alternative to what’s the norm, it’s a good thing. Competition is supposed to be a good thing for the consumer in any venue– and it was exciting to think that someone might give the WIZARD folks a run for their money. I mentioned that HERO MAG was short lived— because they never did seem to be able to make any inroads into the market. Although they had great production values, they suffered from a chaotic layout style in their format. Most of all, though, I think their demise came about because the fans who were mesmerized by WIZARD MAGAZINE were unwilling to try anything new. Much like the present comic book market, in which very few fans are willing to give anything beyond MARVEL and DC fare a try. It’s sad and frustrating.

HERO MAGAZINE was just one symptom of that mentality that’s plagued this business for a loooooong time.

This is Entry 240.

Mike

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.