Thursday, June 4, 2009

Nerds With Bad News


From the LA Times:

Viacom is shutting down NICK MAGAZINE this week and will lay off about 30 staffers.

...like other magazines, Nickelodeon has suffered from the double whammy of more of its audience going to the Internet (darn those early adapters) and a prolonged advertising slump. Although the cable network remains dominant, the value the magazine provided as a marketing tool for it had faded over the last few years.

This one really sucks. It's a shame to see the supermarket stands lose more comics material. NICK MAGAZINE has long been an excellent showcase for talented new and established cartoonists. The comic stories and strips weren't just promotional items, they were their own quality products.

Even the licensed characters' stories - the ones incorporating a house style - retained the personal signature of their respective artists. Nick also published quarterly all-comic specials, many focusing on a specific characters such as SpongeBob or The Fairly Odd Parents. No official word on those issues, but since they mostly compiled strips from past issues of NICK MAGAZINE, it's doubtful they survived the scouring of the shire. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though. The world absolutely needs more humor comics magazines. MAD can't carry the burden alone!

More info and some bittersweet comments from past contributors can be found at THE BEAT.

2 comments:

  1. Oh MAN did I used to look forward to my Nick Mag every month. I used to love reading The Comic Book, even though I didn't know I was getting good new stuff.

    Plus they had a recipe for SLIME CAKE. I HAD A SLIME CAKE ON MY BIRTHDAY AND IT WAS AWESOME.

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  2. Hate to hear any magazine with comics content go under. First Disney Adventures, now Nick...

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