First Issue Review: Neon Magazine

Emap today publishes its new monthly cinema title, Neon magazine, at a special introductory price of £1. Published by the creators of both Empire and the music title Select, Neon is clearly aimed at the 18-25 year old Trainspotting generation. The growth in the consumer magazine sector over recent years is allowing a more confident approach from editorial teams. As Philip Thomas, Publishing Director of Neon points out, “Empire cannot be everything to everybody”. On this philosophy Neon was born, looking to cater for the market that perhaps finds Empire rather too mainstream. A lot of research has evidently gone into locating this market: with the success of films such as Seven, Heat and Trainspotting, Neon has realised that there is a large young audience interested in cinema which can no longer be categorised as stereotypical ‘film buffs’ – and this is the clear target of the magazine.

A good balance is maintained between film news and features. The “Out There” section is jammed full of up-to-the minute set news and details of forthcoming releases, including perhaps one of the most informative and to the point articles concerning George Lucas’s new Star Wars project to appear in the press in recent months. There is no shortage of quality articles, including a good review of Jack Nicholson’s career to date, and a revealing interview with Robert Downey Jnr. This issue is however rather heavy on “one off” features; for example “100 Reasons Why Star Trek Sucks“, “Apocalypse How?” (the future degeneration of the planet as predicted by sci-fi cinema), and “Birth, School, Work….Betty Ford” (yes, the compulsory article re: Hollywood, drugs, and who did what!). Although these features themselves are very much up to scratch it will require a large amount of work to maintain the quality of content and ideas in the future if such a format of one-off articles is to be kept.

The magazine as a whole reads well, treats its audience with frankness and reflects very well the interests it expects its audience to have. Careful planning of this title has given it a firm direction: indeed, Emap may well have found a gap in the sector and seem ready to make the required effort in achieving its aim. If it can grasp its initial audience and maintain content Neon should not have too much trouble holding on to its readership. Although the next issue is not due until January (price £2.20), it should be worth the wait.

Emap Metro: 0171 436 1515