History
Gareb Shamus, the company’s CEO and Chairman, founded Wizard magazine in January 1991 shortly after he graduated from college. Originally based in Congers, New York, Wizard grew from one monthly magazine to a multi-title publishing company with diversified interests in branded products and related convention operations. Wizard’s publications reached more than 2 million consumers a month, in 40 countries with translations into 5 languages.
Wizard’s first magazine debuted in July 1991. Wizard: The Guide to Comics was launched (the magazine would later be re-titled as Wizard: The Comics Magazine and again as Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture). Wizard has won numerous awards including four Folio Gold Awards for Editorial Excellence and has been voted “Magazine of the Year” thirteen years in a row by hobby shop retailers. Wizard has been awarded “TOP 10” magazine launch of the 1990s by Samir Husni.
A second monthly magazine was launched in 1995: Inquest Gamer. InQuest Gamer was a source for information about collectible card games, role-playing games, and strategy gaming. InQuest Gamer was one of the first in the United States to report on some of the world’s hottest hits, including Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh. In 2007, publication of Inquest Gamer was canceled.
ToyFare: The Toy Magazine was launched in 1997. ToyFare covered new toys including Star Wars, Spider-Man and Batman, and won the Folio Gold Award. ToyFare has since ceased publication.
In December 2007, Darren Sanchez was named Vice President of Production at Wizard Entertainment.
FunFare Magazine was launched in 2009. It is published semi-annually and features consumer toy products for kids and the young at heart. It too ceased publication.
On January 24, 2011, it was announced that Wizard magazine would cease publication after 20 years, and would be changed to an all digital magazine called Wizard World launching in February 2011. Wizard Entertainment will also cease publication of its sister magazine, Toyfare.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.”
—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)
“Every member of the family of the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will have the right of exemption will be the mother ...”
—Ruth C. D. Havens, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)