For men who want to hear the top news, but prefer that it look like a comic book and come with a steady stream of busty women.
Don’t worry, I decided to post these more for the humor than the design. The design is endearing I suppose. Every now and again gaudy old designs give me that cozy feeling from yesteryear, and they make good design look even better. I guess it’s like a palette cleanser.
See more inside the post!
Real Men Magazine covers are from 1960, Action for Men (jungle) is from 1959, and (boat) 1963, A-Okay for Men is from 1963, and Battle Cry is from 1962. All images are via Flickr, and there are several more in the collection I found these in.
Joe Ackerman’s Two-Fisted Tales of True-Life Weird Romance frequently reproduces stories from this sort of magazine. (The ‘blog also features stories from “true crime” magazines and from genuine pulp magazines, collections of photos of actresses who appeared in films noirs, and occasional comic-book stories.)
As for me, I own two copies of one “men’s” magazine — Fury, June 1957; fortunately for me, there are no women being hurt or menaced on the cover of that issue. I have it because it contains a bogus article claiming that H. Rider Haggard’s Ayesha was based upon a real dynasty of “white queens” ruling a tribe in Africa, and I happen to collect things associated with Haggard’s stories of Ayesha.
LOL! That blog is awesome! There has to be a following of these magazines- they’re hilarious. I’ve never seen one in person to read any of the articles in them. Are they any good? I think the headlines and cover art alone make it worth collecting.
I won a Society of Publication Design award once that let me work in the magazine industry in NYC for a while and it was definitely not a friendly place. I cannot even imagine what it would be like working for the men behind these magazine. Yikes.
I’ve only read a few articles from the “men’s” magazines, but I’ve not found those that I read to be of much merit — they managed to be both implausible and predictable at the same time. For my part, there is more fun to be found in the advertisements, and in looking-up the history — often criminal history — behind those ads.
The “true crime” magazines seem better, though I’ve also not read much from them, and still wouldn’t recommend them.
I am, however, a fan of the adventure and SF stories from the old pulp magazines. And the cover art of those old pulps is of course now legendary.