Men's Adventure Magazines

[BlueTrain]

One joke is that a comic strip draws the same thing every day, only differently.

Everything graphic has changed, although it was hardly overnight. We actually employ artists where I work, as well as designers, but they don't work with paper and paint or ink but rather with computers (Apple computers, they are). The company might be said to be in the advertising business. But otherwise, I have no idea what the do. We also have some super sophisticated and super expensive graphic equipment to turn out the finished material. That includes printing equipment that turns out extra wide (three feet and wider) prints. Incredibly, the high school where our kids went even had similar printing equipment for some classes.

 

[MikeKardec]

That includes printing equipment that turns out extra wide (three feet and wider) prints. Incredibly, the high school where our kids went even had similar printing equipment for some classes.

That stuff is pretty cool. I have a friend who's business uses printing equipment like that to do templates for the wood, fiberglass and metal pieces they use for making RVs, occasionally they'll do an ad wrap on a promotional vehicle. My buddy comes in at night (he owns the company) and uses it to print huge landscape murals shot on his digital camera and stitched together which he mounts on frosted Lucite and sells as art. It's just normal color printing on clear material but the results are very impressive!

 

[BlueTrain]

We have done vehicle wraps but the work itself is actually out-sourced to another outfit just up the street. In fact, we're in the process of having new graphics done for one of our own truck. Most of the stuff we do ourselves in our own shops is highly customized, one-off stuff, and not exactly production-line work. I can only imagine the differences in the publishing business.

 

[MikeKardec]

We have done vehicle wraps but the work itself is actually out-sourced to another outfit just up the street. In fact, we're in the process of having new graphics done for one of our own truck. Most of the stuff we do ourselves in our own shops is highly customized, one-off stuff, and not exactly production-line work. I can only imagine the differences in the publishing business.

Ha! That's for sure. You don't have to charge as much if there's a bunch of people buying the same thing! But then again, you do have to convince a whole audience to buy your stuff and then you just wait around with fingers crossed.

I always thought it would be fun to put a wrap on my truck that looked like my yard and my street ... my neighbors couldn't complain about where it was parked if they couldn't see it, right?

 

[BlueTrain]

Oh, that reminds me of the painted vans that were popular with a certain crowd around 30 years ago.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I remember once crossing an interesting book in the bookstore that focused on the more... erotic side of comic book artists. It was an entire book filled with the pornographic super hero imagery that had been drawn by original comic book artists

Lois and Lucy Lane, together with Jimmy Olsen . . . hmmm . . .

 

[BlueTrain]

I was talking about our own van that was being "wrapped" back in the warehouse with another employee here. He son is in that particular end of the graphics business and lives in Indianapolis. I learned that an entire car can be "wrapped," even with a plain skin or whatever it's called (meaning no pattern or pictures). She showed me a Facebook page with lots of photos of all sorts of cars, including race cars, that had been given the treatment. Even motorcycle helmets can be wrapped. Very remarkable.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Looks like we have an updated contender for the title of new mens adventure magazine:

https://true.ink/about/

Go to the tab titled "library" for what I think are some interesting articles. General Patton's sailboat? Speaking of "interesting", the reason I discovered the link is because it is edited by Jonathan Goldsmith, the actor formerly known as "the most interesting man in the world." BTW, for Christmas I want one of those giant Spanish leather bota bags mentioned on the "Kitchen" page.

Anyway, the link is another diversion that I intend to keep my eye on.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Looks like we have an updated contender for the title of new mens adventure magazine:

https://true.ink/about/

Go to the tab titled "library" for what I think are some interesting articles. General Patton's sailboat? Speaking of "interesting", the reason I discovered the link is because it is edited by Jonathan Goldsmith, the actor formerly known as "the most interesting man in the world." BTW, for Christmas I want one of those giant Spanish leather bota bags mentioned on the "Kitchen" page.

Anyway, the link is another diversion that I intend to keep my eye on.

My server won't let me access that site. I get a "can't provide a secure connection"page. Is there any other way in?

 

[Tiki Tom]

My server won't let me access that site. I get a "can't provide a secure connection"page. Is there any other way in?

Sorry, inkstained, I wasn't able to find another link. That whole "dot ink" thing is something new to me too. Have never seen it before. That having been said, I did find this article about the "True" undertaking...

http://digiday.com/publishers/niche-site-true-ink-getting-readers-pay-offline-experiences/

Best regards, TT

 

[BlueTrain]

It is an interesting idea but it's being marketed to a completely different crowd, I think, than the old adventure magazines were. The older pulp adventure "men's" magazines were purchased by men who got up in the morning, ate bacon and eggs for breakfast, then went out and drove trucks, worked in a factory or a mill or other blue collar kinds of work. They didn't sit at a desk all day long (with or without a computer). They didn't go mountain climbing, white water kayaking or travel overseas. They might go to the beach once a year with the family, hunting in the fall or fishing. They watched the Friday night fights on television and went bowling on Saturday nights. The people who will subscribe to true.ink don't do things like that.

On the other hand, as is often the case, I could be totally wrong.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The best description of the postwar men's-adventure-magazine demographic I ever saw was "pissed-off blue-collar ex-GI's." It was precisely this audience that also made Mickey Spillane a best-selling author.

 

[BlueTrain]

A difficulty that magazines have always faced was the way their market changed over the years. The true ink mentioned the 1930s, clearly before the post-war period of blue collar ex-GIs dealing with their civilian problems. In other words, the readers age. Things that younger readers would want to be seeing in a magazine, which was invariably illustrated with half-naked girls (both then and now), would eventually begin to bore a man as the decades pass by. The sports cars would be replaced by travel trailers and station wagons. These days extra-large pickup trucks fill magazines and yes, they are often photographed with half-naked girls. Smart auto show exhibitors and for that matter, any exhibitor at a show will have plenty of half-naked girls around. I'm in the trade show business where they're referred to as booth babes.