Polite Dissent

My first issue of the new monthly Comic Buyer’s Guide arrived today, horribly mangled by the postal service. I haven’t read it front to back yet, but I’ve read enough of it to form some definite opinions.

At 290 pages, the magazine has a definite heft to it, and the binding is nice. It’s clearly designed for the magazine rack. The title is large and there’s a prominent picture of Spider-Man on the front. The front cover blurbs were a little “magazine-y”. Examples: “Are comics shrinking? Analysis inside!” and “The Purr-fect Guide to Screen Catwomen.”

The interior layout is improved with cleaner fonts and better graphics. About half the pages are black and white newsprint, while the rest are a heavier color stock. Page numbers are prominently displayed, and the ads – even the cheesy ones – are better looking than ever.

Nearly every columnist has migrated from the weekly edition to this monthly one, with an appropriate increase in page count. Tony Isabella does well with his pages, and Peter David’s column, while interesting, would have been better served at half its length. It’s particularly nice to see “Mr. Silver Age” on color pages, but it seems a waste for Captain Comic’s “Canceled Comics Cavalcade” to be in color while the rest of his column is in black and white. The letter pages are still included, but are now located in the back. I guess that’s more traditional for comics, but I always liked them up front. The comic strips are back, for better or worse, though I didn’t see any Fred Hembeck.

The review section has increased in size. With nearly instantaneous reviews available online, monthly reviews strike me as archaic. In general the reviews online are longer and more in-depth than the blurbs available in the CBG. I’d rather see the space used for more columns or historical articles. The manga/anime section has also increased in size, but should still be several pages longer.

There were several interesting feature articles. The best concerned the actresses and voice actresses who have played Catwoman, while the one relating the history of Catwoman was far too superficial. The section on comic book movie trailers also struck me as too superficial and uncritical.

My biggest concern with the monthly magazine is the inclusion of the price guide. Do we really need this on a monthly basis? A price guide just reinforces the idea that comics exist mostly as a collectible item. It also takes up nearly one-third of the magazine. And is a price guide for super-hero collectible card games really necessary?

Overall it is an impressive looking magazine. Production values are clearly improved, and content essentially the same as the weekly incarnation, only more so. There seems to be a concerning trend toward the superficiality in articles; I’d rather have fewer longer articles than more short ones. At this point I can’t recommend it over the weekly version, but I’ll certainly give it a few more months to catch its stride before I decide for sure.