A Melting Pot of Mayhem

Men’s Adventure Quarterly and the New Pulp Renaissance

When we first started American Pulps, we were kicking around ideas for our zine. Like I’ve said in previous articles, we both knew we wanted to write pulp fiction, but we wanted to “niche down” a bit, with pulp fiction being a broad catchall genre. 

We were at John’s house and he pulled out Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle’s magnum opus, Weasels Ripped My Flesh!  It was like being introduced to the music of Iggy Pop and the Stooges for the first time, it was weird and entertaining, my brain didn’t know what to think. I loved it.  He then pulled out his phone and said “I want to write this stuff,” and showed me this Mort Künstler painting. I was on immediately board. 

Mort Kunstler

So to say we were excited when we found out Bob Deis of menspulpmags.com was coming out with a Men’s Adventure Quarterly Magazine (MAQ) would be an understatement. We owe a lot to Subtropic Bob

The MAQ

Men's Adventure Quarterly Magazines Vol. 1 Issue No 1

People always ask us where they can buy issues of these old Men’s Adventure Magazines. Well, here’s your chance. The Men’s Adventure Quarterly features reprints of fiction stories, articles, artwork, and pinups from the old MAMs all with one central theme in mind. Volume 1, Issue 1 is Westerns. The next issue will be espionage, which I’m very excited about. 

Bob Deis is the authority when it comes to Men’s Adventure Magazines. But with the help of Bill Cunningham (founder of Pulp 2.0 Press) and guest editor Paul Bishop (novelist and co-host of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast), this issue is full of really insightful facts and backstories on the writers, artists, and magazines the content has been reprinted from. It’s not just fun stories and great illustrations—it has that too—it’s informative. Scholarly Pulps. 

If I taught a college course on Pulp Fiction, this magazine and the other books in the Men’s Adventure Library would be required reading.  

Fiction Stories and Articles

The Bloodiest Mass Murderer of the Old West from A-OK For Men – Oct. 1962

What I love about this collection of stories are the “Editors notes.” Like I said before, the reprinted stories and artwork are great, that’s expected, but this is an added element that makes the MAQ worthwhile in my opinion.  

The stories from this issue are excellent. I particularly loved Trigger-Happy Marshal, Say ‘No’ to Laura Lee…And Wish You Were Dead, Saga of ‘Buckskin Frank’ Leslie, and Shootout at Mad Sadie’s Place. There’s also a really interesting article titled Madams of the Old West

From the Gal-ery: Juli Reding

Each issue will feature a pinup model, this issue’s model is Juli Reding. 

The best part in my opinion is the factoid about her pets. “Juli has two pet parakeets named Stop and Go and a cat named George Gershwin…”

MAQ Gallery

The reprinted illustrations are obviously great. Here are a few:

Art by Mort Künstler – June 1967
Also featured in The Men’s Adventure Library book Cryptozoology Anthology
Art by Armand Weston – April 1959
The West's Wildest Hell-Raiser, Stag story illustration, January 1958
Mort Künstler art for The West’s Wildest Hell-Raiser in Stag magazine – January 1958

The West’s Wildest Hell-Raiser by Jules Archer is another story that’s featured in this issue.

If you want to see more, buy the book. It’s 155 pages of awesome artwork and great Western yarns.