I miss magazines like Amazing Heroes and Comics Scene. ACE Magazine aims to fill that void.
Not to sound like Middle-Aged Comics Guy, but I do miss the days when I would pore over every word in Amazing Heroes. It was as exciting as enjoying a favorite comic book.
Today, it’s a cyberworld. That’s a fact. I mean, this is a website you’re reading.
But I still read my comics the old-fashioned way — on paper. And judging by the crowds at my comics shop every Wednesday, I’m not alone.
Still, ACE Magazine, a monthly pub edited by Jon B. Cooke, is a daring proposition in a world chock full of comics websites: A print-only product that aims to cover what’s hot and current.
Great magazines like Back Issue or Alter Ego have the benefit of writing almost solely about the past. To produce a monthly magazine that wants to be current without any Internet component is a dicey concept.
The good thing is that ACE makes it work: It’s a lively and colorful read, jammed with interviews and trend pieces. It’s great to relax with on the couch when you want to mosey through various corners of the comics world. And it has a price guide.
Issue #3 is out 5/20 and it features a broad range: There’s a look at Godzilla comics from Marvel in the ’70s to today’s IDW output. There’s a retrospective of 20 years of The Goon. So you have your broad-range history.
But there are also interviews with people like Noelle Stevenson of Lumberjanes and Jason Aaron, one of comics’ biggest stars today.
It’s all guided by Cooke, who, given his lengthy career as a comics journalist and historian, has terrific access to major writers and artists.
Pick it up this week when you get your stack. It’s good stuff.
