[6] At the same time, it abruptly canceled Wizard magazine[7][8] and its other remaining publication, ToyFare,[9] to focus on its convention business.

[3] Wizard started as a price guide to comics but evolved into focusing squarely on pop culture, specifically targeting young adult males.

In 2000, Wizard founder Shamus forayed into the world of actual comic book publishing, creating the imprint Black Bull Entertainment, featuring several well-known creators, including Mark Waid, Chris Eliopoulos, Nelson DeCastro, and Garth Ennis.

Wizard purchased the Chicago Comicon in 1996; the renamed "Wizard World Chicago" was the template for a new kind of convention that shifted its focus from actual comic books to ancillary elements of pop culture fandom: celebrity performers, films, television, video games, and toys – "comic conventions" almost in name only.

[18] Beginning in 2005, Wizard CEO Gareb Shamus made a concerted push to dominate the North American convention circuit.

[34] Wizard went public in 2011; its financial statements proved that it was doubling down on dominating the North American convention market: The majority of our target audience is male-oriented and are major buyers of many types of entertainment and media.... We believe that this male demographic consists of tens of millions consumers in the United States and has hundreds of billions in spending power.... Our competitors are local one-time event comic cons.

We have a competitive advantage over these comic cons because they do not have our economies of scale and operating efficiencies.... Further, the size of our Comic Cons and the volume at which we produce them give us the leverage to negotiate discounts on such things as hotels and other travel expenses.... We also believe that the size and volume of our Comic Con tours create a barrier to entry of new industry participants because, due to their size, such new industry participants would find it difficult to enter into certain markets, such as the larger metropolitan cities.

[2]Wizard's 2011 convention calendar included "a show-a-month schedule" and guest-lists of "nerd-lebrities of various levels of fame,... turning their shows into autograph-focused events.

"[35] Ultimately, however, Wizard scaled back its 2011 operations to seven shows—New Orleans, Toronto, Big Apple (New York), Philadelphia, Mid-Ohio, and Austin—ultimately canceling scheduled conventions in Los Angeles,[36] Miami, Atlanta, and Central Canada.

In September 2013, Wizard World announced seven new stops for the 2014 tour: Sacramento, Louisville, Minneapolis, Atlanta, San Antonio, Richmond, and Tulsa.

[40] The explosion in Wizard-produced conventions brought accusations that the entertainment behemoth was deliberately trying to push its competitors out of business.

[10] The 2016 schedule, cut back to 19 events, included Wizard cons in Portland, Cleveland, Las Vegas, St. Louis, Madison, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Albuquerque, Columbus, Orlando, Chicago, Richmond, Austin, Tulsa, and Pittsburgh.