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wizard09

The document is a trading card guide featuring Jim Lee autographed X-Men trading cards and a focus on Venom as a prominent character in Marvel comics. It includes information on ordering limited signed editions, upcoming comic events, and highlights from the comic industry in May 1992. Additionally, it discusses the formation of Image Comics by top artists and their new projects.

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Rafael Barreto
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17 views

wizard09

The document is a trading card guide featuring Jim Lee autographed X-Men trading cards and a focus on Venom as a prominent character in Marvel comics. It includes information on ordering limited signed editions, upcoming comic events, and highlights from the comic industry in May 1992. Additionally, it discusses the formation of Image Comics by top artists and their new projects.

Uploaded by

Rafael Barreto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
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VENOM BATMAN 2 Mi TRADING CARD GUIDE Sua Wy) ae eh) 471) gh aed f be c ig. KING OF COMICS Planet Studios Artist Collection an O68 ae aA a 3g 037 Wolverine 172 Spider-Man eee tc es ee De or Ba eke ea Ea Au ea aad Pie tre er eee ete a eins rt eee aCe Ta RL ea } eee oer are Ce eS ean ta comes in an acrylic bookshelf desplay case. Site ett tae te Coa rcs eee oss Spider-Man oe) PLANET STUDIOS RTO UV pAb es cca i a a JIM LEE AUTOGRAPHED X-MEN™ TRADING CARDS FOR SALE Please reserve order by phone: (619) 578-7444 (Mon.-Fri. 9 am-5 pm Pacific Time) Shipping via UPS, second-day air. Date: May 1, 1992. Deadline for placing orders at these prices: Friday, April 17, 1992, {VISA/MC accepted. California residents add 8.25% tax.) X-Men are Trademark Marvel Comics Group Comics X-Press announces the latest additions to our Limited Signed Eaitions Line: JIM LEE TO AUTOGRAPH IMPEL X-MEN™ TRADING CARDS This series willbe limited to 5000 units, Each unit will include all 100 cards in the Jim Lee X-Men (TM) Trading Card Series In addition, two of the one hundred X-Men (TM) cards in each unit will be autographed by Jim Lee. Each autographed card will be a numbered and certificated card from the one hundred Limited Signed Edition card ofthat character or group. As an additional bonus, 2,500 units at random will aso contain one autographed hologram card of the 6 hologram cards designed for the Jim Lee Autographed X-Men (TM) Trading Card Ser The Jim Lee Autographed X-Men (TM) Trading Cards will be available (includes shipping and handling). a first come-first serve basis for $25.00 CONTENTS NUMBER Volume 1 Number 9 May1992 ~*~ PAGE 10 25 30 32 38 TOP STORY VENOM - one of Marvel's hottest a2 characters has the honor of being the first villain on our cover. Venom can be found harassing 46 everyone's favorite web-slinger in the pages of the Amazing Spider- as Man, and popping up ail over Marvel Universe. 66 IMAGE PRESS THE BIGGEST EVENT OF *921 VALIANT'S FUTURE Unity brings ital together. TOYS, TOYS, TOYS ‘and it aint even Christmas yet! MR. SANDMAN Neil Galman brings you more than dreams.. THE BRAIN-EATER ‘Alook at Venom, Spider-Man's deadliest foe! BATMAN RETURNS! The latest news from the new Batman movie In produetion.. BRUTES & BABES This month: The at of coloring PAUL MOUNTS ON ART ‘Amaster colorist shares his insights, LATE NEWSMAKERS Wizard News keeps you on top ofthe comic world. DEPARTMENTS Wizard Comic Watch ‘couple of comics you'r gonna need oven mittens for. Amazing Artists ‘Stupendous amateur at trom ou readers Break The Code Win Venom Comics Autographed by Erk Larsen Toying Around ‘30 New Marvel action rigurest Wizard Challenge Cover Shots, CBIO and lots more, Crystal Ball Sneak into the Wizard's Tower! Collecting in the 90's What's all his hype? No. Ones Shipping ‘What not Books are onthe horizon? Here's a look. Top 100 Did your favorites make the charts? Picks from the Hat (Once again, we pick the winners for you... in advancel Wizard Of Cards ‘Steve “Butta” Shamus on the card market. Top 10 HOT... HOT...HOT Market Watch ‘Shake-outs, winners and losers. Comic Book Price Guide All new lstngs for Sliver Age to present Shows & Conventions Checkout your local show isting. Letters What the readers are thinking 54 60 72 76 77 78 79 80 87 92 94 96 153 157 When they're gone... they're gone! Each dazzling issue has it's own full color poster bound inside. Keep up with the best comics. Collect the whole set! CLIP OR COPY COUPON J want the whole enchilada! Send me these: Name Steet iy jictnses. state ip tssue #1-$3.75 Send this card or sssve 4289.50 a copy of this issue #3-53.25 ard along with a check or Issue 483.00 money order (in ‘ssve 4559.00 US dollars only, “issue 463.00 please) to: —) issue “$3.00 wizard Press $3.00 Back Issue Dept. ‘Ail Sevens21.00P.0.B0x 434 Issue Monsey, NY ‘Comic Con issue #1-$6.95 10952-0434 Pleas Shipping & handing: $2. Sorat book ($4.50Minst book freign address), plus $.80 foreach add'l. book MAY 1992 3 Te Tye) ea) ere mercy CS Qc ‘Martin Schranz DESIGN & ART DIRECTION Deine ts UNAM Reel) Tee aI (415) 681-0262 BE ie yaar VSO EDITOR een ten (a) eg oad Pee eer il Sa) Brian Cunningham VEU Geueausecitay Patrick Daniel O'Neill Lunes Se caM Scans uy PRODUCTION (orate Keres OFFICE MANAGER Coren) Xero TNL) Niners ema Uo} Cees ORAL INVESTIGATIONS Tease) rN) Leo McCarthy, designer Teteaa aN MeL iead Any statements made, express Wizard: The Guido to Comics aro st of the persons being interviewed represent the editorial postion of the publisher Cenarion caetst en aor a Coes Doosan DBA’ Wizard Press. 3 RSet are MNT Me) er lc eee I Teo NaeRr ee ey Eee TCT CRUE ay Caren Mee ei Rens Rm ras TU oaks Caras eTocs tc) en any form without prior writen of Wizard Press and Gareb S. A Letter From Our Publisher “Hey, hot babe! 47 Gareb’s bret, but friendly brush with Death. Whoa! That's all | could say! On January 27, 1992, Fed-Ex delivered an oversized package. | was so excited, | ran to get a knife to open it and see what was inside. | love getting packages. | cut a small hole in the box and the scent of fresh airbrush paint came flying throught the air, so | cut faster. That's when | said “whoal" This Venom piece knocked me to the floor. | knew #9 was going to be a Killer. So when | sent around flyers this month, | decided to tease everyone and not show them this masterpiece. | don't think !'ll do that again. | received floods of mail asking what the cover looked like and who drew it (which |, 'till this day, have kept a mystery). So | ask you, have we let you down? We've filled this issue with lots of cool stuff to read. | even flew out to L.A. to personally bring back the interview Alex and | did with the new Image Press. What a fantasy! We were out in Malibu, right on the beach, with Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Mark Silvestri, Hank Kanalz and Jim Valentino! | could kick myself for not bringing comics to get autographed. Valiant has also brought us some really big crossover news with "Unity," so make sure you check it out. Wait a minute...some great news (how could | forget?)...we've got a look at the new Toy Biz figures and Marvel Series III cards. Don't miss it! | sure didn't. Truly Yours, Gareb S. Shamus The Big Cheese MAY 1992 5 Top tow, left to,7ight, Erik Larsen, Rob Leiteld, Tod McFarlane, Marc Silvestri; bottorrow, left. 10 right, Hank Kanalz, Jim.Lee, Jim Valentino By Alex Chun n Febfuaty 8th, some of Marvel Comies’ top artists Sat/together in the=tiving ‘room of Wolverine ‘artist Mark Silvestri's Malibu beach front home. The purposes of this pow wow, which also included Jim Lee (X-MEN), Rob Liefeld (X-Force), Todd McFarlane (formally of Spider-Man), Erik Larsen (Spider-Man) and Jim Valentino (Guardians Of The Galaxy) was to introduce their new creator- 10 WIZARD #9 ‘owned company, Image Comics. Tinage Comics will also-be an imprint of the Malibu Graphics Publishing Group, with | rep resentatives from Maliby/also in attendance. What makes Image significant is that all the characters will be owned by their respective creators, and all this hot talent will be leaving one of the “Big Two", Also worthy of note is the fact that these creative people, as well others bt in attendance, aré leaving titles atethe-pinnacle of popularity for asproject not without risk. Amongtthe titles that will comprise: the Image Universe are the Spawn by McFarlane, Youngblood by Lieféld, Wildcats by Lee, The Pact and Klone by Valentino, Cyberforce by Silvestri and The Dragon by Larsen. And so after a lot of banter, and some mocking of a Silvestri Wolverine page still onthe drawing board, the artists sat down for a ToundtablesdisCussion, about, their new books, their teasons for forming Image Comics, and their plans.for the future, WIZARD; Other thant the-péople seated herepwho élse-is-going-to be involved with Image? Lee: Whilce Portacioswho) is CUrrently the artist on thé UNCANNY MEN, is going to,be doing a project with Chris Claremonbor later this Pear. Chrisrealled me,up from Paris, Francesandisaid they're,still working olit the details, Valentina; Uhave'a friend, who.wwas.at that/Convenition_in Framieey and he said Chris coUldn'tstop talking about the project and.yas/giddy about its Lee We're delighted tO:have.a-téal writer join the crew. George Perez. will also be doing, pinups, and-he probably be inking some-work. He's Booked up through the-spring of-93, but aftér that he's entertaiping the notion of breaking out-with an all new George Perez, superhero team {for Image. I got confirmation or that today. WIZARD: Will Scott Williams be doing any work for Image? Lee: eah, he'll be thesinkerron Someiof the books. Valenitino: Weals6 have a really big surprisedf-we can Swing’ deals We've! beerttalking with someone sho, shock eversbody. WIZARD: Other than Claremont whio else will be writing? Liefeld: It’s gatite possibtetthat anonymous létter man is Ifi-this. room [laughing]. (This was in “referencemjto Na controversy, ver a lette¥ sent'to the ComicBuyer’s Guid& \By any ‘anonymous,artist, which simply statedisaid that it's much easiertto be a writerithan.an-artist and that readers buy the books not so-much for the writing but the artwork.) Lee: Todd will be writing his own work. Rob will be working with a new guy named Hank Kanalz. I'm going to be working with a friend of mine who‘has-been helping-me-out with some-stories.His-name-is Brahdorr Choi.-Heworks-with-1ie-ont the MEN stiff and lvelknowr:him since the fourth grade. Silvestri: [ll be writing a book called Cyberforce. | am the old man ofthe group, so I will be using a cane/to help me draw my book {laughing}. Valentino: I'm going to be‘writing my own stuff. WIZARD: First of allylet’s get-dovin, to what the ¢réative teams will’ be-on, ‘each book. Latsent The Dragon will be by rik Latsén, who will hexwriting it,sand Tm-thinking about getting Erik Lavsen to pencil it, and I'm pretty. slfe:t can. get Erik Larsefi to ink it, Chiris Hlipolous is going to letter'the bok. Thave no idea whos going to color it at this point. The Dragonvis About big guys who-kick’the shit out of eachother. It's Super hero. stuff, Whire-are-we-going to set allthis stuftslaskingsthe test-of thé'groupl Mine'sitiChicago. McFarlane: Spawn will bejwritten, inked and penciled- by me: Lettering. Will.be bysTorn.Orzechowski of 45 MBN Dale Keawn-wilt86'a pin-up in issue #1, and it'll be a\character of his ovén.creatiOn,ashich he'll 6wn,the copyrights to: Hopefully. we'll have Dale on board down the line-and: mayhe expanding off his. character. Tl also have George-Perez do a/one Page-pihsup of Spawn, and he'll be penciling and-inking-it himself. And in the centenyof the book we willbe iving\away a free’ poster that Vksbe doing the black and white to-and'Ken Steacy-will be déing the airbrushing. for. It be apull out. WIZARD: Tell-us-a-little bit about the Spawn. McFaflaner=1'd'ather.not.go.into all that mich detail;-but-what-I-can.say right now is that he was originally Killed in 1987, and he's been shot back’to what he thinks is the day, after he was killed>But-by.cruel fate he’s back five years later, and where he was originally a black man, when he comes back he's a white man. The big thing about the Spawn is that he is a combination of the guy with no superhero powers, like Batmanjcall-the way to guys like Supérman. He’s going to play it as straight as he can as a human being, but Hehasthe power literally to move a planet, He won't do that, however, becaus@\byery time he uses any kind of power dt Brings him closer to death, He's the kind of superhero who, cangand will die someday. He's)got a finite amount of power and that’ it Liefeld: The booksl’m doing is Youngbloody and it comes oitt in Margh-lt's a government strike force made pjof super-operatives;-extre- hurrian-people -who~haye (been genetically -~ enhanogd /) /and Stiettifidally enhanced?tt’s got «Job of government corruption and genétic corruption—it’stike super Sterdids In theif-environment/ Youngblood are thie super celebrities! Leer Myhook had {0 be tailored to, the thingssRob is establishing Af doe’ make thirigs a little difficult Liefeld? The!thing/ with Youngblood istthal they don't just“go to a super heroes--headquarters’” Bet’ fan assigninent’ and go out. ‘The government -assigns them) to ftefrorists, digs, Stuff like that, but they have P-R. people for whenit's all done- They havea’ guy who spreads théiy-speech for them. They have costume desigteks. They think about their public images One of the guys in Youngblood-is-aparoled criminal who they- have juSbsaid hey} “You've got Some extra-abilities;and we want to insert-you-into the\teatt” But ‘he’s sill-eommittiog heinous crimes, and they-{the P.R. people} cover therm up, and yourget to,See how the P.R.- people go’ to workjand everyone comes outsmellingilikea rose Just like our/governMent: It’s like ‘teal life kxcept with Superspeopile; that’s how Lsee_it. (Within the.[mage Univefsel,thisscelebringustatus can be lithited {0 Just-thie Youngblood team. ‘They're just extremely popular with the media. With Ronald Reagan, who Jim always refers to,as the Teflon President, things\just\bounce right off him, so Youngblood is like the Teflon super team in the media eye. Silvestri: So do egos come into play? Liefeld: Oh, sure. Some people don't care. Shaft is a weapons guy and an MAY 1992 11 ex-FBI agent who they yanked out of the FBI and inserted into the program immediately. He doesn’t have any superpowers, but he’s just good with weapons and very athletic and agile. He's in training and you're going to see that this is first time he's on the job. He's going to be leading people who are used to being lead by a guy named Battlestone, which spins off into another book called Brigade, but that’s another story. Jim L: I'm doing a book called Wildcats and basically since Rob was starting this Youngblood thing, to do something different, I'm going to say they are covert—purely covert—even though part of Youngblood is. What if a company existed that was a multi-national conglomerate with billions of dollars? They're not going to stop at bribing politicians to exert world influence. So what if they hired superpowered people to act as their agents abroad, and what if you had a cabal, a number of corporations around the world, who were each doing this and then setting their teams against each other to further their companies’ ultimate agenda. Silvestri: What's the name of this company Jim? Lee: I haven't figured out the name of this company, maybe Image? The leader of this company is Emp. He's this real diminutive, cocky leader who's not the greatest role model for the Wildcats. To say anymore, I would be ruining future issues. It goes a lot deeper than that, and there is an ultimate plan being enacted here, not just mindless scuffles over turf and over resources. I see each book as a chapter in a novel but being able to stand on its own. WIZARD: Tell us about the specific characters. Lee: We have Emp, who is the leader. He sort of has this cosmic being who is his counselor, and her name is Void. The covert action team is called Strafe, which is made up of Spartan, Morph, Zealot, the Grifter and a guy named Hadrian—he's going to have a code name soon since everyone hates his name. They are all endowed with different powers, and they are 12 WIZARD #9 oing to be introduced in a three- part mini-series. I'll be coming back in January of ‘93 with a regular series, assuming the mini-series (which will be coming out in July, August and September) goes well. I'm going to be taking some time off since I have a baby coming in July, Wildcats will be the only book I'l be doing starting in January. [also have another character called Deathbiow, and he's basically a man on a crusade against demons—we think they're demons—and he has a sword from the Crusades he uses to kill these demons. That's going to come out in a black and white anthology book. I'm going to do Deathblow, Rob is going to be doing a character called Bloodwolf and Sam Kieth is going to be doing his own character. It'll be out later this year. (Incidentally, the new anthology has tentatively been tilled DARKER IMAGES.) Silvestri: My book is called Cyberforce. It's a super team book of mutants (laughing). Basically what happens is that this corporation that deals in military technology rounds up various mutants and_ performs cybernetic to enhance their natural abilities. They take their genetic powers, whether it's lying or superspeed, and enhance them mechanically. For example, one of the characters named Sasha Bullet has the ability to run faster and do things faster than anyone ever could. Lee: I have a fast character. Silvestri: No, this one is faster than yours. You can’t even see mine. And basically this character is too fast for her physical abilities. If she ran into a fly going 2000 miles an hour on the ground, it would go right through her head. So what this company does is they enhance her with mechanics, Valentino: Can't they just give her a helmet? Silvestri: Damn, that's a better idea, ‘They give her this helmet with a fly swatter visor. The basic gist is that this company improves on the inal design with technology that enhances these mutants’ latent abilities. WIZARD: Are there new characters that will constantly be undergoing this process, or it is more or less a set team? Silvestri: It's a set team, Valentino: Are there going to be any guys in this book? Silvestri: Yeah just one, but he's going to be in the background. This is going to be called Butt-shot comics [Laughing]. ‘The team is split either four men and three women or three men and four women, and they're not celebrities. They're not going to be on the Arsenio Hall show or anything like that. That's the domain of another book, but I can’t remember the name of it right now. Cyberforce starts as a mini-series through the summer and depending on how well it does, it will come back as a regular monthly book with twice the collectibility with a gatefold cover printed in five different versions, and die cut pages actually on the inside. I'll also. be writing and drawing Cyberforce. Valentino: I have two books. One of them is called The Pact. The Pact is a group of four characters who don’t trust Young-blood, and they don’t trust the government, They want to strike out on their own and follow their own rules. ‘They're led by a young kid named Slam, He's a super| speedster, but he’s huge. He's the size of the Hulk. He can’t run that fast, only like Mach 2, so he’s the slowest super speedster. Then there's a chick called Cutlass, She uses swords and knives and that kind of thing, but she’s blind. There's a kid called Firearm. He's our loose| cannon. And then the final one is Blacklight. He's an older one, He was a hero in the 1960s. The other book is a new concept, and the: reason I might not do The: Pact is that there are so many other group books that we need some solo. characters. The other idea I have is a character originally called I Mutant [now tentatively called Klone], and this character was basically created in a test tube. He may be an alien or he may be of about a character dealing with what he is, whatever the hell that is, which is completely different from everything else he sees. I will be writing and drawing the books, like everything else I've ever done my entire career. So blatt to all those people who say you can't write and draw at the same time. And my wife will be lettering and coloring it. The Pact takes place in LA. Back to Erik. Silvestri: What does The Dragon do? Does he do any dragon stuf? Larsen: No, he doesn't do any dragon stuff Lee: Flames and stuff? Larsen: He very well might be be doing such a thing Silvestri: All those who think he should breath fire, say “Aye”. Everyone: Aye. Larsen: He'll be breathing fire in issue #1. The Dragon works for the Chicago police department. He's a one man S.W.AT team. If some bad guy, like any of Mark's characters, are ripping up the place. Silvestri: .. . Or you mean badly drawn guy. What does he eat? Larsen: He eats coal (laughing). He's just a regular guy—with green skin. Okay he's a regular guy who's 5 foot 10, weighs 450 pounds, breaths fire and has 7) regula sage “ % — Silvestri: What's Pe that thing on his WIZARD: have any powers? Does he special f Larsen: He's strong jf] asall bel Is he magic, he have a A what of ‘0 but he'd Larsei gold? like to. Silvestri: No, he said hoard, not whore (more laughter) Relax guys you're stressing out the dog. [Mark's Keeshond]. McFarlane: The one thing that bugged me is that Superman can play ping-pong with planets, and he can use his power at any time. This guy doesn't. He has a finite amount, T've been talking to these guys, and they think it would be a cool visual, even though I didn't know he should another race, and the story revolves It's a story basically around that. about rage and about anger and MAY 1992 13 Image Press and Malibu Comics present YOUNGBLOOD and all characters pictured here (Bedrock, Chapel, Combat, Shaft, Diehard, ‘and Vogue) are trademark ™ and copyright © 1991 Rob Liefeld. =S e s s / A . : : Z ae ALL

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