Where to get your Comic Book Buzz! Part 2 of 2

Yesterday's post covered the internet comic book "news" sites. Today, we will cover Magazines, e-zines and other review sites.

There are two magazines which - when put together - cover the comic spectrum fairly well.

Comic Buyer's Guide was briefly discussed yesterday but it is, in my opinion, the best comic magazine out there. This monthly has dozens of reviews, columns as well as a price guide, great letters column, convention schedules - well, it has it all. While this rag might touch on comic book movies, toys, games and such, its real focus month after month is comics. They were weekly for the majority of their existence but - thankfully - turned into a monthly book about two or so years ago.

Wizard Magazine is the ultimate fanboy repository for hot babes, hot books, hot movies, hot..... well, you get the picture. Unlike Comic Buyer's Guide, Wizard is more pop culture centered around comic books - i.e. they are very big on movies, TV, toys, games - just about everything that has to do with MODERN comics. They are pretty much clueless if it is a book published before 1980. I remember snickering at their top 50 comic book moments of all time and none of them occurred prior to 1970 - you would think that Action Comics #1 or Amazing Fantasy #15 would have made the cut. Or even their pick of X-Men 2 as the best comic book movie of all time - wierd... However, smart comic book dealers read Wizard pretty much cover to cover as when Wizard says it is "hot", then you better reorder the book because that is usually all it takes.

There are more than just two worthy comic book mazazines though - you can go to the DMOZ directory for Comic Book Magazines and find a bunch of great magazines, fanzines and e-zines. Ones I would focus on are "Alter Ego" published by TwoMorrows Publishing, "The Comics Journal" and, if still published, "Savant". The Comics Journal and Alter Ego are better if you want to delve more into yesteryear although they do touch on the modern stuff. Savant is great for you right brained, counter culture activist types that like things a little more out of the box.

Finally, if you want your online reviews from a variety of sources then once again go to DMOZ and their comic reviews directory. The only criticism I have of the DMOZ project is that it is out of date and incomplete. One of the better comic review blogs that I have stumbled upon is Steve Flanagan's "Gad, Sir! Comics!" - great writing and that droll Brit wit....

I could go on and on and on and on.... the bottom line is that there are a ton of resources if you want to find out what is good, what is bad and... well... what is "hot".

If you have a favorite comic book buzz resource, by all means let us know.