I was flipping through some of my older Dragon issues today (early 90s) and noticed something. The older issues used a much thicker, more durable grade of paper than the current ones. In fact, with newer issues, it's not only often possible to look at a page and see the outline of what's printed on its other side, but also to sometime see the outline of what's printed on the the facing page. The current paper is also much more prone to tearing.
Is there any chance of getting the paper quality upped again? I like to keep my magazines for the long haul, so quality materials are important.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Unfortunately, we have no plans to change the paper grade in the near future, as much as it pains me to say so. It's simply too expensive, and we're unwilling to lower our payments to artists and authors as a way of paying for it.
On a positive note, the whole purpose of "relaunching" the magazines (114/323) was to attract more readers to Dragon and Dungeon. If the gambit works the way it appears to be working now, we may have an opportunity to revisit the paper issue in the near future.
--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dungeon
Also, the change to the thinner paper was necessitated by the massive increase in wholesale prices for paper across the board. From the early 90s until now, there's been a very significant increase (some grades of paper doubled in price).
If we get a bunch of new subscribers and/or if wholesale prices for paper go down, we will immediately change the cover and interior paper stock. It's something that Erik and I are committed to.
Sean Glenn
Art Director Dragon and Dungeon magazines