First Issue Review – Bizarre
John Brown launch their new bi-monthly men’s title Bizarre this week, at a special first issue price of £1. As the most recent ABC figures show, the men’s magazine market is very much alive and still continuing its remarkable rate of growth, with Emap’s FHM in particular achieving a very noticeable circulation rise of 217%. It would seem that every major magazine publishing company is now trying its best to get a piece of the action, and are recognising that whilst there is plenty of opportunity within this sector, success can only be really achieved through a clear commitment to not only quality journalism but also a clear vision as to the demands and interests of the potential audience.
This is more or less the approach John Brown are looking at when they describe their aim to provide a magazine for “men who share an attitude, not a lifestyle”. Bizarre seeks to “wrestle with the much-vaunted but rarely unraveled tapestry of life”. Such promises! Well the front cover is certainly doing its best to lure in all those lads out there, with a suitably semi-nude Teri Hatcher sprawled out!! It just seems to be becoming one of those things; You can’t have a women’s title without something about ‘make you man better in bed’ on the cover, and these days you can’t get a men’s title without either Scully or Lois Lane advertised as one of the main attractions.
The content of the magazine itself is actually surprisingly good. There are always titles popping up these days, claiming to provide a thorough investigation into the world of the strange and mysterious. Usually this consists of half baked articles, which tend to merely raise the same old questions time and time again without having anything of any real interest or purpose to say. Thankfully in its first issue Bizarre has not fallen into this trap, and presents us with a really good set of interesting, varied and well written features. They haven’t tried to be too outlandish with their choice of subject, here looking at ‘The secret world of orgies’, ‘the curse of Superman’ and an investigation into the effectiveness of ‘legal highs’ available in the shops. A nice balance is maintained throughout the publication, with all the articles giving a good insight into their subjects and keeping a nice easy-to-read feel – and best of all, only one tiny little UFO article, rather than the usual mandatory ten pages that comes with these titles.
Recognising that readers are going to want more than just the zany and strange, Bizarre also manages to fit in film, music and club reviews. The travel section is well worth a read, this month giving a fascinating run down on the Miami underworld. Although this title is aimed at 18-30 year old ABC1 men, its lack of ‘laddish attitude’ makes it just as entertaining and acceptable to women and should appeal to both. As long as it continues to avoid the pitfalls of cheap sensationalism which often surrounds magazines claiming to investigate the world of the strange, Bizarre should be, and certainly deserves to be a success. One thing though – a plea to Bizarre – please, no articles about Roswell – everyone’s worked it out by now: could you try and sort out this Loch Ness business please.
Bizarre will be published bi-monthly at a regular price of £2.50. It has an ad:ed ratio of 30:70.