THis is like pissing in the wind -- after all, it is WIZARD I'm talking about, but I'm flipping through WIZARD #200 (Gold) [since there are more than one magazine that is "WIZARD #200", OFMG where's-the-rifle, where's-the-rifle, where's-the-rifle!], and I get to the "50 events that rocked comics 1991-2008" article, and I-swear-to-god-that-I-am-not-making-this-up, but #3 is, with no irony whatsoever, in let me remind you, WIZ-fuckin-ARD magazine:

************ THE BOOM MARKET IMPLODES (1994-1996)

Publishers had plenty of reasons to smile in the early 1990s. Misguided collectors were snapping up record numbers of variant covers, egged on by hyperbolic story stunts; non-sport trading cards were disappearing from shelves; superstar artists would fart out tripe and watch bank accounts swell. And, just like that, it was over: the speculators who had driven companies to over-market gimmickry realized that nothing with a circulation in the millions would ever have long-term value. They had essentially siphoned the industry, leaving dealers with stale back stock, ardent fans holding grudges for being gouged and iconic label Marvel declaring bankruptcy. It was, in short, a paper holocaust that put the Brazilian Rain Forest to shame. ***********

Missing is the sentence that says "Oh, and by the way, a lot of that was actually our fault, oops, sorry!"

I mean, this is the company that, as recently as last year allegedly capitalized on insider information and was Selling CAPTAIN AMERICA #25 on day-of-release for like $30, WITH ads for it on Marvel's own site.

Words fail me, can I say?

By the way? The #2 story? "The Death of Superman", while #1 was "Image Comics Launches".

I know they said that irony was dead, but jinkies, at Wizard entertainment, IRONY IS DEAD...

-B