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Men's Adventure Quarterly: Vol. 1 No. 1, The Most Wanted Wild West Issue!
The MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY is a lushly-illustrated, full color magazine launched in 2021 that reprints and discusses classic stories and artwork from men's adventure magazines published in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. This first issue reprints rip-snorting Western stories by Lou Cameron, Dean W. Ballenger, Jack Pearl, Don Honig and other veteran action/adventure writers. Each story is accompanied by the cover of the magazine it appeared in and the original interior artwork, plus an introduction with background information on the writer, artist or magazine. Issue #1 also includes a special Western cover gallery featuring artwork by great artists like Frank McCarthy, Mort Künstler, Rafael DeSoto, Robert Stanley, Vic Prezio, Norm Eastman, Wil Hulsey, Charles Copeland, Bob Schulz and many others. There's also a "cheesecake" pinup photo "GAL-lery" featuring model and actress Juli Reding, classic men's adventure magazine cartoons and ads, and a guest editorial by Western expert and author Paul Bishop, co-host of the SIX-GUN JUSTICE PODCAST. Start your MAQ collection with this inaugural issue, and watch for new ones every quarter. The MAQ is Co-edited by Robert "Bob" Deis, Co-editor (with Wyatt Doyle) of the Men's Adventure Library book series, which includes art books like MORT KÜ THE GODFATHER OF PULP FICTION ILLUSTRATORS, ONE MAN THE ACTION PAPERBACK ART OF GIL COHEN, POLLEN’S THE ART OF SAMSON POLLEN, MEN’S ADVENTURE SUPERMODEL and illustrated story anthologies like WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH, A HANDFUL OF HELL, I WATCHED THEM EAT ME ALIVE and SUGAR, SEX, AND SLAUGHTER. The MAQ is designed and co-edited by Bill Cunningham, founder of Pulp 2.0 Press (KILLER, TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN, DEATH THE BOOK OF THE MOVIE, MIKE SHAYNE PRIVATE EYE COMIC COLLECTION, etc.). Each issue of the MAQ will focus on classic men's adventure magazines stories and artwork related to a particular theme. This first issue focuses on Western stories and artwork. Issue #2 will focus on James Bond-style Sixties espionage stories and artwork. Other topics will include motorcycle gangs, Bigfoot and other cryptozoology creatures, war stories, Beatniks and Hippies, the Civil War, and other favorite topics of men's adventure magazine readers. Be sure to get them all!
156 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2021
2 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Robert Deis
59 books38 followersRobert "Bob" Deis is a pulp and pop culture historian who collects and writes about vintage men's adventure magazines (MAMs) and paperbacks published in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He co-edits, with indie book publisher Wyatt Doyle, the MEN'S AVENTURE LIBRARY book series. That series now includes over 20 illustrated story anthologies and art books. Bob also co-edits the MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY magazine with graphic designer and pop culture maven Bill Cunningham. The MAQ reprints MAM stories and artwork and discusses paperback, movie and TV shows related to each issue's theme. Bob and Bill also co-edit THE ART OF RON LESSER book series, which showcases Lesser's famed paperback cover art, historical artwork, and more recent paintings. Bob's main website is www.MensPulpMags.com. He also writes a blog about famous quotations, www.ThisDayinQuotes.com. Bob lives near Key West, Florida with his beautiful wife (who graciously tolerates his piles of old magazines and books), their three dogs and four cats.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 16, 2021
It’s hard to get across just how popular the western was at its pop-cultural peak in the late 1950s. Imagine the popularity nowadays of superheroes, police procedurals, zombies and vampires, and now imagine that all these genres were one genre. Well, that’s how damn popular westerns were circa 1959 in every medium then available to the public: movies, TV, radio, books – and, yes, magazines. And thus we have the theme of the first fantastic issue of the Men’s Adventure Quarterly: westerns, that genre which is so American that even the Germans and the Italians had to try their hand at it! Collected in this inaugural issue culled from men’s adventure magazines from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s is a mix of fictional short stories and non-fiction stories that read (and probably to a great extent are) like fiction. Lots of gunplay and vengeance, lots of dance-hall floozies, and really fantastic art. The stories are not the sort that you would find in the New Yorker, nor were they meant to be. These were tales for regular guys who worked blue-collar jobs, and who wanted something that would take them to a more romantic and thrilling place than the factory and the rowhome in the old neighborhood. Escapist? Sure, and what’s wrong with that, right? The artwork in this magazine is absolutely first-rate, and brilliantly laid out and reproduced. So many of the great names in American popular illustration are represented here: Al Schmidt, Saul Levine, Jim Bentley, Robert Stanley, Tom Ryan, Frank McCarthy, George Gross, A. Leslie Ross, Stan Borack, John Leone, Mel Crair, Mort Künstler, Rafael (“Ray”) DeSoto, Wil Hulsey, Vic Prezio, Norm Eastman, Ed Emshwiller, and many more. The book is worth the price for the art alone, and if you are a fan of American “pulp art”, or a newcomer looking for a good introduction to this uniquely American art form, with a focus on the western, I highly recommend the Men’s Adventure Quarterly.
January 23, 2021
I just finished reading THE MOST WANTED WILD WEST ISSUE! in the first issue of MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY, and I have to say, wow! Wow! WOW! The editors have done a fantastic job of assembling some of the best Wild West art as well as a selection of thrilling men's adventure magazine stories and articles.
June 23, 2021
Color me impressed!
This is the first volume of what I sure hope is a continuing quarterly publication of stories and essays from the golden age of what are known as “MAMs” or Men’s Adventure Magazines. These were magazines mostly from the 1950s-60s that were geared toward men, often violent and with pulpy adventure style yarns. More often than not, the stories were accompanied by colorful art that featured scantily clad women. The publishers, after all, knew their target audience.
Now, Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham have put their considerable knowledge of the MAMs to work for our enjoyment. Each volume will focus on a single theme. This first one focuses on westerns and the second, already out, revolves around the world of espionage.
This is a large, slick, high-quality product. The cover alone makes my mouth water. But it is the contents that really blow me away. It’s chock full of reprinted stories and articles from the original MAMs as well as wonderful introductions by Bob Deis, Bill Cunningham, and guest editor, Paul Bishop. There are nine stories presented from the likes of “MALE”, “Man’s Life”, and “All Man” magazines complimented by impressive original full color and B&W artwork. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Additionally, there are a couple of in-depth articles as well as a full color art gallery of classic covers.
All of that would have added up to a sure-fire winner. But, for me, what really drives it over the top are the introductions to each story and article. Often when I read anthologies, I feel lucky when a story is introduced with a paragraph or two providing some background. But here, we get two and three pages of intro, describing each story’s origins, the author’s life, the artists involved and even the publishing background. The folks behind this publication really know their subject and their passion for all of it shines through in spades.
This will have a permanent place on my shelves, right alongside every issue that is published in the future. Highest recommendation!
This is the first volume of what I sure hope is a continuing quarterly publication of stories and essays from the golden age of what are known as “MAMs” or Men’s Adventure Magazines. These were magazines mostly from the 1950s-60s that were geared toward men, often violent and with pulpy adventure style yarns. More often than not, the stories were accompanied by colorful art that featured scantily clad women. The publishers, after all, knew their target audience.
Now, Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham have put their considerable knowledge of the MAMs to work for our enjoyment. Each volume will focus on a single theme. This first one focuses on westerns and the second, already out, revolves around the world of espionage.
This is a large, slick, high-quality product. The cover alone makes my mouth water. But it is the contents that really blow me away. It’s chock full of reprinted stories and articles from the original MAMs as well as wonderful introductions by Bob Deis, Bill Cunningham, and guest editor, Paul Bishop. There are nine stories presented from the likes of “MALE”, “Man’s Life”, and “All Man” magazines complimented by impressive original full color and B&W artwork. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Additionally, there are a couple of in-depth articles as well as a full color art gallery of classic covers.
All of that would have added up to a sure-fire winner. But, for me, what really drives it over the top are the introductions to each story and article. Often when I read anthologies, I feel lucky when a story is introduced with a paragraph or two providing some background. But here, we get two and three pages of intro, describing each story’s origins, the author’s life, the artists involved and even the publishing background. The folks behind this publication really know their subject and their passion for all of it shines through in spades.
This will have a permanent place on my shelves, right alongside every issue that is published in the future. Highest recommendation!
January 1, 2023
You have to be willing to enjoy this anthology for what it is, and not look down on it for what it isn't. I sought out this first issue because it was all about the Western, and I guess I was hoping I'd find the kind of top-notch oaters Elmore Leonard published in pulp magazines like Argosy and Dime Western Magazine in the '50s and '60s. To be clear, this isn't that. The reprinted articles/stories are mostly kitsch, a blend of lurid fact and fiction that you can tell was written quickly and and without much thought to posterity, and yes, much of it was written badly. Arguably, most of it is trash, but trash has its place, too. That's why we have trash culture.
What of cancel culture? First of all, I side with the thinkers who argue there is no such thing, and that what we think of as cancel culture is actually consequence culture, which in itself poses no real threat to the kind of niche entertainment we are talking about. Time and shifting mores have already sorted that business out for us, and no one needs fear a revival of the men's adventure genre any time soon. What we are looking at here is an artifact.
That said, for me, what makes this volume worth owning is the reproduced cover art and illustration from the men's adventure era--art which, to me, as a fan, is at best an unmitigated delight and and worst a guilty pleasure, the sort of thing you almost have to compartmentalize to enjoy.
For those who feel nostalgic for the men's adventure magazine (MAM) era, or those who regret missing it altogether, this might be right up your alley. Others, I'm sure, will find it a politically incorrect embarrassment. Others still, like me, will be a little more ambivalent about the content, and that's fine, too. Just know what you're getting into.
What of cancel culture? First of all, I side with the thinkers who argue there is no such thing, and that what we think of as cancel culture is actually consequence culture, which in itself poses no real threat to the kind of niche entertainment we are talking about. Time and shifting mores have already sorted that business out for us, and no one needs fear a revival of the men's adventure genre any time soon. What we are looking at here is an artifact.
That said, for me, what makes this volume worth owning is the reproduced cover art and illustration from the men's adventure era--art which, to me, as a fan, is at best an unmitigated delight and and worst a guilty pleasure, the sort of thing you almost have to compartmentalize to enjoy.
For those who feel nostalgic for the men's adventure magazine (MAM) era, or those who regret missing it altogether, this might be right up your alley. Others, I'm sure, will find it a politically incorrect embarrassment. Others still, like me, will be a little more ambivalent about the content, and that's fine, too. Just know what you're getting into.
June 23, 2021
The men's adventure magazines hit their heights in the Fifties, and this new series reprints complete tales and artwork from various issues. Added to the stories are reprinted features and more modern background commentary on the writers, artists and stories.
These are - let's face it - not the best-written literature available, but they are action-packed and move swiftly along. Basically, they're great fun, and that's all they strive to be.
These are - let's face it - not the best-written literature available, but they are action-packed and move swiftly along. Basically, they're great fun, and that's all they strive to be.
December 1, 2021
This magazine is full of great articles, short stories and artwork. I highly recommend this magazine.
February 13, 2022
Outstanding!
January 7, 2023
Fun stuff!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews