A new fanzine is out focused on “men’s adventure magazines,” also known as the “sweats,” Men’s Adventure Quarterly. The first issue came out in January, published by Subtropic Productions. Publisher is Bob Deis and graphic designer is Bill Cunningham, who is behind the publisher Pulp 2.0 Press. Both are editors, along with guest editor Paul Bishop, who runs a blog focused on westerns.
This first issue is well designed, with both color and black-&-white artwork, articles, and reprints that include fiction, non-fiction, cartoons, and pictorals. It comes in at 150 pages, and is 8.5×11 inches in size.
Full disclosure, I was sent a copy to review.
First up, let’s talk a little about men’s adventure magazines (or MAM). These were an outgrowth of the pulps, with many of the first ones being pulp magazines that changed their focus and format. Paper changed from pulp to slick. Focus was on what interested men: pinups of girls, stories of lurid adventure with wartime feats, exotic travel, or wild animals, as well as non-fiction. This mixture of fiction and non-fiction would change over time to all non-fiction (or fiction presented as non). Many claimed to be “true life” adventures, but probably most were not, or heavily exaggerated. This started in the 1940s, and several pulp magazines changed over to this, including Argosy, Adventure, Blue Book, and Short Stories. Plus new magazines like Cavalier, Swank, and Stag along with titles like Man’s Life, Men’s True Adventure, Male, For Men Only, and many more, over 150. For some pulp publishers, I think that switching over to publishing men’s adventure magazines was how they stayed in business.
One could almost say they were a replacement of the prior spicy pulps. However, I find the quality of the artwork in MAM much higher than the spicys, and the pulps in general. While cover artwork is similar, even having the same artists, the interior artwork of the spicys were pen-and-line work and of poor quality, while the interior artwork in the MAM were high-quality paintings, usually monochromatic along with pictorals. But the men’s adventure magazines were one of the formats that replaced the pulps, along with digests and paperback books. They died out in the early 1970s by which time the “true life” fiction had been dropped for more nudie pictorals and non-fiction pieces.
Each issue of Men’s Adventure Quarterly will have a theme, and this one is on Westerns.
After a trio of editorials that are all interesting. Bob Deis gives a good overview of his intro into the world of men’s adventure, which is helpful for those new to this as well.
We then get nine pieces of fiction, a pair of articles, and a pictorial from MAM. But before each one we get an editorial that runs from one to three or four pages. These editorials gives us background on the pieces, such as the author, publisher, and artists involved, often with related works and lots of art. In a few cases where the story involves real people, we learn something about them as well.
To me these editorials really elevate this magazine. Too often with pulp reprint works we either get nothing, or maybe a paragraph or two at most. For me, this magazine really raises the bar for reprint magazines that I think most will not equal, sadly. Can they keep it up? I hope so.
The fiction pieces give some great examples of what you’d find in MAM. The stories have a level of sex and violence that wasn’t seen in the pulps, other than as I said maybe the shudder or spicys, and even then I think it’s at a different level. You have examples where the violence is coming from women, something that the pulps often avoided. Too often in the shudders and spicys, women are the target of violence, rarely the ones doing it. And I’d have to think even now we don’t see this level in most fiction.
The pair of articles are very different. One is on James Arness, the star of TV’s Gunsmoke, and the other is a historical piece on the madams of the Old West. I don’t think you could have found a more opposite set of works. The pictoral is on model and actress Juli Reding. There is also a gallery of cover art. I also loved seeing the same piece of artwork used for three different covers, one being flipped. I’m reminded of the articles showing pulp cover art being reused, but I’m not sure I’ve seen it done three times.
Now, for those who want to delve more into the world of men’s adventure magazine, check out the many books that Bob Deis has put together. He has done several at this point, under the name “Men’s Adventure Library.” Some reprint fiction, like I Watched Them Eat Me Alive and Cuba: Sugar, Sex, and Slaughter. Some are focused on artists like Samson Pollen, Mort Kunstler, and Gil Cohen. One is on model Eva Lynd. And more are coming.
As to Men’s Adventure Quarterly, the next issue with focus on espionage! Hopefully its out by the time this goes live. I wonder what might be future themes. I was trying to think of some myself, and I came up with about a half dozen or so. So I hope they can keep this going before they repeat themes.
While men’s adventure magazines aren’t an interest of mine (can’t get into too many things), I will be interested in seeing where this magazine goes. I certainly encourage anyone with an interest in this area to check out this zine and the other works from Deis. And I hope that other pulp fiction reprinters look at this one for tips on how to improve their works as well, as I’d love to see a pulp fiction reprint magazine like this one.
