A Short History of 'Man Magazine'

'Man Magazine' was a short-lived (it lived for just one issue) magazine published by 'Street Horse Publishing'.  'Man Magazine' (or 'Man' for short) was one of Street Horse's first forays into the cut face world of magazine publishing.  'Man' followed Street Horse's previous magazines 'Upper Cut Weekly' (a weekly look at the world of illegal underground cage fighting..the magazine was banned after just three face-pounding issues), 'Adult Jazz Thrice-Monthly' (a thrice-monthly exposition on the esoteric world of adult jazz..this face-stroking magazine was cancelled after just two issues after the suspicious death of editor T G Crawl) and 'Africa Now' (a twice-yearly A2 format mag dedicated to contemporary Africa.  Still being published, but now only on a  bi-decade basis due to financial issues/problems).

The story of 'Man Magazine' is both fascinating and tear-jerking.  The magazine was conceived by Street Horse Publishing founders (and brothers) Chris and Andy Gilbert alongside their close pal Stewart Cliff.  The idea for the magazine arose during the aftermath of a particularly hedonistic keg party in the mid to late 90s. The magazine's remit was to take the template of the popular 'lad culture' mags prevalent in the aforementioned mid to late 90s.  However, the lad mag template would be turned on it's grubby head..'Man Magazine' would feature absolutely no tits and arse, but still retain the hard-hitting man-orientated features of the lad mag.  Street Horse Publishing would produce a magazine made by men for men..real men..a magazine that would appeal to the man who wanted his football, cars and gadget features but had no interest in perving over semi-naked pin-up models and embarassing himself when getting caught looking at such material by his mum or grandma etc.

'Man Magazine' issue 1 hit the shelves of the newsagents of the UK (and Bosnia, where market research showed there would be a strong market for a mag like 'Man') on the 2nd of October 2010 (from it's inception in the mid to late 90s, 'Man' took many many years of planning and research).  The cover of the magazine was kept bereft of clutter..it contained everything you needed to know..MAN MAGAZINE ISSUE 1 (newsagents were told to inform the customer of the price upon taking the mag to the till..£4.55).  The man in the newsagent could tell from the first glance at 'Man' that this here was a magazine that wasn't fucking around.  The front cover featured a black 'n' white image of Stewart Cliff and an unknown man.  Street Horse Publishing considered the image to be both strong and hard-hitting with a heavy impact.  Two men, black 'n' white..no fucking about.  Now here comes the tear-jerking part..a (major) error at the printing factory meant that issue 1 of 'Man' was printed as just one page..the cover (with nothing on the other side).   Suffice to say, the mag sold zero copies and due to the massive financial loss no more copies of 'Man' were produced.

Alternative Cover (never used)...