First published in 1990, NickelodeonMagazine is the monthly periodical of the children’s TV programming juggernaut. Although deeply tied into its network parent, the magazine covers a variety of subject matter, including comics. Each issue contains a section called "The Comic Book," which offers a variety of strips by such underground comics icons as Craig Thompson, James Kochalka, Sam Henderson, Kim Deitch and Johnny Ryan.
NickelodeonMagazine has garnered numerous awards, including the Edpress Awards and Folio Awards for Editorial Excellence. Its circulation is about 950,000, with about 90% from subscription and 10% via newsstand. According to a Nick Magazine spokesperson almost eight million children read the magazine each month.
Each monthly issue takes a different theme, said Laura Galen, senior v-p and editorial director of the Nickelodeon Magazine Group, pointing to recent features on Halloween, SpongeBob SquarePants and the fantasy genre, on top of the usual mix of humor, puzzles, kid celebrities and comics. The December issue’s fantasy theme featured comics-style cover art by Dragonology artist Douglas Carrel, an array of unicorn gag cartoons (by Johnny Ryan, Karen Sneider and others), and a choose-your-own-adventure fiction/comics hybrid by Jason Shiga and Drew Weing.
The Nick Magazine editorial department is currently working on its third Best of Comics issue, which features both Nicktoons comics and exclusive magazine-only strips by an impressive bunch of cartoonists that includes Michael Kupperman, Bobby London, Kim Deitch, Terry LaBan, Scott Roberts and Ellen Forney. While not the first place you'd think of for underground cartoonists, NickelodeonMagazine has a surprisingly rich history of showcasing these talents to a new audience in kids.
“When we started the magazine, we wanted to include comics because we wanted to offer different kinds of reading experiences and humor,” said Galen. “But there were mostly superhero comics out there. Instead, we wanted comics that would appeal to our whole audience: both girls and boys,” she explained. “So the magazine and the comics section favor humor comics. We don't necessarily favor underground/alternative cartoonists,, but the question we often run up against is, 'where do you find funny cartoonists?,’” said Galen.
“So-called mainstream comics are mostly superheroes,” explained Nickelodeon Magazine senior editor Chris Duffy. “Comic-strip humor is a little too staid these days. I think you see so many ‘surprising’ cartoonists in NickelodeonMagazine,” Duffy sasid, “because those [comics artists] labeled ‘alternative’ often have the freewheeling, anarchic sensibility that 10-year-olds like."
Another thing that 10-year-olds and the broader readership of NickelodeonMagazine likes: the mascot Zelda Van Gutters. A Lakeland terrier by birth, Zelda has been the magazine’s “roving reporter” since the inaugural issue. "She has a running discourse throughout the magazine, and has something (funny, we hope) to say about every story," said Duff, who added that the cute, “irresistible” doggie mascot occasionally stars in her own photo serial. “We thought our 8- to 14-year-old readers, both boys and girls, would like having a dog [mascot], too,” he said.
