Comic Heroes reborn

In 2010 Future Publishing launched Comic Heroes, a bimonthly newsstand magazine dedicated to the world of comics. Cynics predicted it would bomb, citing its £7.99 cover price as too expensive. However the magazine proved to be successful enough to maintain a good run of four years, albeit changing frequency to quarterly towards the end. Its final issue, No.24, was in July 2014. 

And that was that. Until today.

Comic Heroes is now back on the shelves of newsagents, with a quarterly frequency and a redesign but continuing the numbering with issue 25. The relaunch issue is a large size 148 page glossy mag and its declaration is that it's "Serious about comics". Hopefully not too serious. 

The issue is packed with a variety of features. Here's a few examples:

• Interviews with UK comics creators such as Grant Morrison, Paul Cornell, Jessica Martin, Mike Carey and Mike Perkins.

• A preview of the new Johnny Red comic.

• A look at Marvel's all-new, all-different relaunches.

•Joel Meadows looking at the new range of Vertigo comics. 

• Stephen Jewell previewing Dynamite's new James Bond comic.

• Paul Gravett on the Frech artist François Boucq.

• Leah Moore reporting from a convention in Mexico.

• David Barnett looks at Aces Weekly.

Plus reviews and tons more stuff.

I think there's a certain joy for anyone interested in comics to be able to wander into a newsagents and buy a magazine dedicated to the medium. I hope Comic Heroes is here to stay this time. Although a British magazine, its content is mainly American-focused because that's the stuff that its target audience is following and America is generating more comics than the UK. That said, it's clear that the mag is definitely willing to cover the UK and international scene as well. 

All in all, it's great to see Comic Heroes back and it's a magazine that anyone with a genuine interest in modern comics should be reading.

Comic Heroes No.25, 148 pages, £7.99. Out now! 

Comic Heroes - The final issue

Issue 24 of Comic Heroes is now on newsagent's shelves and, as reported here the other week, sadly it's the final issue.

From the sounds of things, its demise was not only due to low sales but to company restructuring at Future Publishing. However, many fans have often stated that it was the £7.99 cover price that put them off. Even though that was approximately the same price as three flimsy comics and that Comic Heroes contained more to read than three comics. 

Comic Heroes tried valiantly to be all things to all fans, with articles covering a diverse range of comics. Unfortunately, this may have gone against it, as some fans only have specific interests. So someone who's a big Marvel/DC fan might have thought £7.99 was too much to pay when half the mag was taken up with other themes, or vice versa. 

A few issues back Future abandoned the £7.99 format of mag plus extras in a packet and redesigned the mag as a chunky 164 page bookazine at £9.99. The frequency switched from bi-monthly to quarterly, presumably with the notion that surely fans wouldn't think ten quid every three months was too much to pay for a nice long read? Didn't work.

Personally, I've always been interested in the whole world of comics, so Comic Heroes was ideal for me to read about Marvel, DC, European comics, British comics, interviews with creators, advance previews of comics, etc. This last issue has a good variety of content too. Although dubbed 'The sci-fi issue' it covers more than that. There's a feature on Charley's War for example...

A six page preview of Bryan Talbot's new Grandville book...

A look at Titan's new Doctor Who comics...

Paul Gravett choosing his top ten items from the Comics Unmasked exhibition...

Walt Simonson on his new Ragrarok comic...

Plus an interview with Dave Gibbons, features on Superman, John Constantine, cosmic Marvel, and much more.

I get the impression that the fate of Comic Heroes hadn't been determined while most of this issue was put together. The only mention of its demise is a quickly designed half page notice on the inside back cover stating 'Comic Heroes 2010 - 2014 Thank you for reading!' 

It's a shame that yet another comic feature magazine has closed. Even its digital companion weekly, Comic Review, is gone now. I'll miss buying Comic Heroes from my corner shop. It was a good mag. Not every item interested me but that's the nature of such magazines. 

I suppose most fans get their info from the Internet, which is understandable as it's 'free' and constantly being updated, but personally I still feel it's more comfortable to read longer articles in paper format. And Comic Heroes never needed plugging into the mains to recharge.

Comic Heroes No.24. 164 full colour pages. £9.99. Available in newsagents, WH Smith, comic speciality shops and other retailers. 

Comic Heroes to close

Bad news in the comics industry today. Future Publishing's Comic Heroes magazine is set to close, with the soon to be released issue 24 to be the final one. 

The slick news and feature magazine was launched in early 2010 but had criticism from the outset for its high cover price of £7.99. (£9.99 for recent issues.) Yet for a chunky, professional, full-colour, niche magazine packed with information this wasn't particularly expensive at all. (Especially when one considers a standard 32 page American comic costs around £3 these days.)

One of the good things about Comic Heroes is that it was available in High Street newsagents (even my corner shop stocked it) so it was a good entry point for new comic fans who didn't have access to a comic shop in their town. Although the magazine focused primarily on high profile superhero comics (usually to tie in with the latest Marvel movie release) it also accommodated features on all areas of comics, including British titles. 

I believe that Future Publishing is currently undergoing some company restructuring so at present I'm not sure if it was only the sales figures that have caused the magazine's demise. Some fans have expressed hope that the mag might continue in digital format but it seems unlikely considering that Comic Heroes' sister publication Comic Review (a weekly digital mag) has also closed. 

Subscribers to Comic Heroes have been informed that their subs will be transferred to SFX magazine if they choose not to opt out.

Comic Heroes had a lot going for it, but from a strictly personal viewpoint this will always be the high point for me: 

Comic Heroes 23

Late last year, Comic Heroes magazine (published by British outfit Future Publishing) underwent a metamorphosis. Previously it had been sold in a card envelope, packaged with the preview comic Sidekick and a free gift or two (usually badges and a poster). A few issues ago it ditched those extraneous parts, absorbed Sidekick into its back pages, switched from bi-monthly to quarterly, increased its size, its paper quality, - and its price. Now it's a chunky 164 page magazine costing £9.99 an issue. 

Ten quid for a magazine? Is it worth it? Well, yes, if you're "serious about comics" (the new strapline on the cover). There's a lot of material in here. Issue 23 has recently been published and amongst its contents it includes an interview with Denny O'Neill on his Batman years, a long feature on the history of Wonder Woman, a celebration of Hellboy's 20th anniversary, news on the new Amazing Spider-Man comic and much more. 

As you've guessed, although it's a UK magazine, Comic Heroes focuses mainly on American comics. That's to be expected, with superheroes being so big at the cinema thesedays. However, the mag does cover other areas too. Amongst such features, this issue includes interviews with Emma Vieceli, Rob Williams, James Robinson, Grant Morrison and others, plus an item by Lee Sullivan on capturing likenesses for TV and movie adaptations. 

There's also a wealth of other features, including an article on the rise of digital comics.

Something that may interest fans of classic UK characters is that the 5 page revival of Smasher (the giant robot from Bullet) that appeared in Future's digital mag Comic Review the other week is printed in the Sidekick section of this issue of Comic Heroes. So if you couldn't read it before because you didn't have access to the app, now's your chance.

When Comic Heroes was launched several years ago, some people were predicting a short life for it due to its £7.99 cover price. Well, 23 issues later it's still here, and now £9.99. Can it continue to survive? Time will tell. Comic Heroes is mainly covering material that is aimed at the 16 to 30 cult comics/TV/movie demographic. That makes sense, although it would be nice to see a British magazine giving a handful of its pages to cover classic British material. (I wrote a couple of articles on UK comic history for the mag in its early days, but there's been little of that nature since.)

Comic Heroes No.23 is out now from WH Smith, Asda, selected newsagents, comic shops and other locations. Or you can read it as an app on an iPad or iPhone. More info:
http://www.sfx.co.uk/2014/04/17/comic-heroes-23-now-on-sale/?ns_campaign=comic_heroes_23&ns_mchannel=hb&ns_source=sfx&ns_linkname=fixed_ad&ns_fee=0