Mark Millar to Edit San Diego Comic-Con Issue of Wizard Magazine [Exclusive]

"This issue will be nothing less than spectacular. Your brain will explode when you see what I have in store." -Mark Millar

What could Mark Millar be referring to? "Kick-Ass" #9? The first part of the sequel to "American Jesus: Chosen?" The finale of "Nemesis?" A new piece of American currency?

No, from a press release that appears to be entirely unrelated to April Fool's Day, Millar will be guest editing Wizard magazine for their July issue, out on June 30th just in time for the San Diego Comic-Con. Billing July's #228 as nothing less than a "relaunch" of the stalwart comics/nerdery showcase, Gareb Shamus and Wizard Entertainment are bringing in comics' greatest hype-man of the 2000s in hopes of reinvigorating their reader base and their sales.

Interestingly, while Millar is a comic writer, his biography here would seem to reflect Wizard's changing coverage towards general pop-culture stuff - just as Wizard, and their conventions, are shifting their focus specifically from comics to the overall picture of genre/sci-fi/fantasy/horror geek/nerd culture, so Millar's biography in the press release focuses on his contributions to film with "Wanted," "Kick-Ass" and and the effect his "Ultimates" had on the upcoming run of shared-universe Marvel movies starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Equally interesting is the fact that Wizard is apparently putting out an issue of their magazine to promote the news and hype around basically the only convention that isn't theirs which they aren't attempting to directly compete against. With Big Apple Con rubbing up against NYCC and Wizard World Chicago going to war with C2E2, San Diego is the one juggernaut that even the ambitious Wizard doesn't want to provoke. It'll be interesting to see if it rubs up against Wizard's Anaheim convention following any possible move away from San Diego.

Full press release:

WIZARD KICKS ASS WITH JULY RELAUNCH!
NEW YORK, March 29, 2010

About Gareb Shamus:
Gareb Shamus founded Wizard Entertainment in 1991. Today, Shamus publishes consumer magazines Wizard, ToyFare, FunFare and numerous books about pop-culture's top talent, comic books and toys. Shamus also produces a North American Comic Con tour.

About Mark Millar:
Multiple award-winning writer Mark Millar has revamped the X-Men, launched a number one Spider-Man title, brought Captain America into the 21st Century and made Superman a communist. He is also the writer of the US industry's biggest-selling comic book of the past decade, Marvel's Civil War, published in 2007. His Wanted comic series was the industry's biggest-selling creator-owned book of the last ten years until he smashed his own record with Kick-Ass, each issue selling more than Spider-Man and X-Men from issue one with an unprecedented five printings every issue. Both properties were sold as movies before the first issue hit the stands and everything Millar has ever created is in various stages of theatrical development. Wanted starred Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. Kick-Ass stars actor Nicolas Cage.

Outside comics, Millar has been praised by Marvel Studios and screenwriter Zak Penn for creating the template for their 2008-2012 movies with his Ultimates monthly series. He and artist Bryan Hitch cast Samuel L Jackson as the leader of this super-team and their influence extends into every Marvel movie on their upcoming slate. Although busy creating his own movies and comic-books now at Millarworld, Millar remains under contract at Marvel to write some of their most high-profile projects.