{"id":21911,"date":"2026-03-30T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/?p=21911"},"modified":"2026-02-16T18:31:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:31:57","slug":"mens-adventure-quarterly-no-13-fatal-femmes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/2026\/03\/30\/mens-adventure-quarterly-no-13-fatal-femmes\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Men’s Adventure Quarterly,’ No. 13: Fatal Femmes"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently received the 13th issue of Men\u2019s Adventure Quarterly<\/a><\/em>, the excellent magazine series focused on men\u2019s adventure magazines<\/a>, now starting its fourth year of publication.<\/p>\n

\"Men's<\/a>That\u2019s a pretty good accomplishment. They have been very successful at getting out four issues a year for the past three years, and in putting out a well-designed publication as well.<\/p>\n

This time, we get \u201cfatal femmes\u201d such as gun molls, black widows, pretty poisoners, kiss-me killers, and more, as we see on the cover. I see on the back cover that we get postage-stamp-size reproductions of the MAM covers for the issues that are featured in this issue. I think this is a first.<\/p>\n

As with previous issues, MAQ<\/em> is available in three formats: the full-color printed version, a black-and-white \u201cnoir edition,\u201d and a full-color \u201cdigital replica edition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Full disclosure, I was sent a copy of the full-color edition. And I would encourage people to get this one over the black-and-white edition due to all the great color artwork.<\/p>\n

Again, publisher Bob Deis<\/a><\/strong> (Men’s Adventure Library<\/a>) and graphic designer Bill Cunningham<\/a><\/strong> (Pulp 2.0 Press<\/a>) have another great issue. And their excellent intros to each piece are a big reason why this magazine series is so great. These intros get into the author, artist, and sometimes publisher behind that particular work. For me, I sometimes enjoy these more than the articles.<\/p>\n

This time, they are joined by guest contributors Terrance Layhew<\/a><\/strong> and Eric Compton<\/a><\/strong>. Terrance Layhew is a podcaster and author who has recently done a new series starring Mitch Mayhew<\/a><\/strong>, and my review is coming up soon. I reviewed his earlier standalone work. Eric Compton runs the Paperback Warrior<\/em> website and podcast.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s first look at the fiction we get here. We get eight fiction pieces and an article by Compton on 10 novels that feature fatal femmes. The only works I was familiar with were Stephen King<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Misery<\/em> and Mickey Spillane<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s I, The Jury<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On fiction, with some of the wildest titles I recall so far, we get works like: \u201cThe Gun Moll Who Hated G-Men\u201d by David Mazroff<\/a><\/strong>. We learn from the sidebar that Mazroff was a former con turned writer. He was involved in several holdups and even accused of murder. This story is based on \u201cMa\u201d Barker<\/strong>, a real life crime matriarch from the 1930s and the subject of several movies.<\/p>\n

We get a weird crime-noir tale in \u201cRich Lovers Wanted – Apply Madame Crielle, Champs Elysees\u201d by W.J. Saber<\/a><\/strong> (Warren Shanahan<\/strong>). Shanahan is a former social worker who broke into the MAM field in the \u201950s. Interestingly, he wrote one of The Phantom<\/a><\/strong> paperbacks (yes, the Lee Falk<\/a><\/strong> comic-strip character) and scripts for the Canadian animated series Rocket Robin Hood<\/em>, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cKiss Me and Die\u201d by Hiram J. Herbert<\/a><\/strong> is one of many stories based on a true one that appeared in MAMs. This time it\u2019s the case of Violet Merryman<\/strong>, who teamed up with another prostitute and an AWOL airman for a string of deaths in eastern Virginia. But the sidebar article lets us know there was more to Merryman than most know. It\u2019s like they say, truth is stranger than fiction.<\/p>\n

I think the most bizarre title has to be \u201cBlood for a Nympho\u2019s Flesh.\u201d The author is probably a pseudonym. This is your basic story of the hot wife wanting to get rid of her husband for another man. Will she get away with it?<\/p>\n

And I think the runner-up for bizarre titles is \u201cThe Incredible Norwegian Ice Nymphs,\u201d set in World War II. The author, Dean W. Ballenger<\/a><\/strong>, started his writing career with Western pulps before moving to MAMs. He also did a short-lived men\u2019s adventure paperback series called Gannon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I was a bit puzzled by the inclusion of the story by Don Honig<\/a><\/strong>, as it appeared not in a MAM but a digest fiction magazine \u2014 in this case, Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s Mystery Magazine<\/em>. But reading the sidebar helps make sense. Honig was a wannabe baseball player who instead became a writer, mainly in the MAMs, but also in magazines like Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s<\/em>, and then became a noted baseball historian. Speaking with the author, he suggested this tale that would fit the theme. I think it does, but in a different way.<\/p>\n

Several pulp authors made the transition to MAMs, and one example is Paul Chadwick<\/a><\/strong>. He\u2019s probably best known for writing several pulp-hero series such as Wade Hammond<\/a><\/strong>, Secret Agent X<\/a><\/strong>, and Captain Hazzard<\/a><\/strong>. But for the MAMs, he only wrote three works, one being \u201cThe Ever-Lovin\u2019 Nude Who Watched Her Boyfriends Die.\u201d The sidebar focused on Chadwick\u2019s pulp career and the series he did there.<\/p>\n

And from Mario Puzo<\/a><\/strong>, best known for The Godfather<\/em>, we get one of the works he did before there under the pseudonym Mario Cleri<\/strong> for Martin Goodman<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Magazine Management Co. Yeah, the guy who established Timely, Atlas, and Marvel Comics also did MAMs (and pulps). The sidebar article looks at another work he did, \u201cSix Graves to Munich,\u201d which was turned into the 1982 movie, A Time to Die<\/em>. But what we get this time is \u201cVendetta on the Street of Lonely Frauleins,\u201d which stars Scarlet Tracy<\/strong>, a sort of female James Bond<\/a><\/strong> type. The sidebar wonders why this wasn\u2019t made into a movie, and I would agree with that.<\/p>\n

For this issue\u2019s gallery, Terrance Layhew looks at Bond girls that went deadly. I think I\u2019ve rarely seen Bond girl lists that include characters like Rosa Klebb<\/strong> from From Russia With Love<\/em>.\u00a0 Yeah, she’s a girl in a Bond movie, but… And I\u2019m not sure about the inclusion of Kara Milovy<\/strong> from The Living Daylights<\/em>, as she was less a fatal femme than a patsy. It\u2019s another good gallery.<\/p>\n

So another winner from this team.<\/p>\n

I see that the next issue will focus on Bigfoot<\/strong>. I especially look forward to this one, as I recall a lot of stuff about Bigfoot and his \u201ccousins,\u201d like the Swamp Ape\/Skunk Ape in Florida and other areas, like the Fouke Monster in Arkansas (aka The Legend of Boggy Creek<\/em>) when I was a kid in the \u201970s. So this one should be great, like their UFO issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently received the 13th issue of Men\u2019s Adventure Quarterly, the excellent magazine series focused on men\u2019s adventure magazines, now starting its fourth year of publication. That\u2019s a pretty good accomplishment. They have been very successful at getting out four issues a year for the past three years, and in putting out a well-designed publication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Pulp Super-Fan looks at 'Men's Adventure Quarterly,' No. 13, Fatal Femmes.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[39,130,135,14],"tags":[430,429,2492,1935,427,804,559,2020],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-21911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-fiction","category-post-pulp","category-reprints","category-review","tag-bill-cunningham","tag-bob-deis","tag-eric-compton","tag-mario-puzo","tag-mens-adventure-magazines","tag-mens-adventure-quarterly","tag-paul-chadwick","tag-terrance-layhew"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/files\/2026\/12\/mens-adventure-quarterly-13-featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3eLo8-5Hp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21911"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22324,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21911\/revisions\/22324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21911"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=21911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}