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Monthly magazines published in the United States

  • GQGQ began as a 1931 trade magazine that store customers kept taking home. It was first called Apparel Arts.
  • Wired (magazine)Conde Nast bought Wired magazine for $90 million after a leak exposed a $77 million deal with another publisher.
  • Game InformerGame Informer began as a store newsletter meant to sell games. By 2011 it was clearing 8 million copies.
  • Harper's BazaarA 1933 photo of a model running on a winter beach changed fashion photography. Models had mostly posed still.
  • GameProA famous GamePro "PROTIP" about the Cyberdemon in Doom was a fake. It began as an April Fools' joke for a fansite.
  • Electronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming Monthly's April 1992 issue faked a Street Fighter II secret character. Players chased it for years.
  • Next Generation (magazine)Next Generation covered the video game industry, not the games themselves. The magazine launched in January 1995.
  • Wide Awake (magazine)Wide Awake magazine's publisher married the author of its most popular serial. He first read her Pepper stories.
  • Vogue (magazine)When war blocked shipping in World War One, Vogue began printing in England. That led to British Vogue in 1916.
  • Discover (magazine)Discover magazine began when a Time editor saw that science covers sold better.
  • Playthings (magazine)When two World Wars cut off imported toys, Playthings magazine turned to American-made ones.
  • Official U.S. PlayStation MagazineOfficial U.S. PlayStation Magazine put a playable game disc inside every issue.
  • Rolling StoneRolling Stone magazine began in 1967 on $7,500 borrowed from family. Its first cover showed John Lennon in a helmet.
  • Esquire (magazine)In 1943, the government charged Esquire magazine with mailing lewd images. The Supreme Court disagreed in 1946.
  • Fortune (magazine)Fortune magazine was almost called Power. Henry Luce launched it in 1929, just before the crash.
  • PlayStation: The Official MagazinePlayStation: The Official Magazine began as an independent one called PSM. It debuted in September 1997.
  • Mix (magazine)Mix magazine began in 1977 as a tabloid-style directory of recording services. It later became a glossy trade magazine.
  • India CurrentsIndia Currents magazine launched in the San Francisco Bay Area in April 1987. Arvind Kumar was its editor.
  • Mad (magazine)Mad magazine once received a letter whose envelope carried no address and no name, only a drawing of a gap-toothed boy's face. The United States mail delivered it anyway. According to Mad writer Frank Jacobs, the face alone did the job.…
  • PC GamerIn August 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 became the first game PC Gamer's UK edition rated 97%. The old top score was 96%.
  • AnimericaAnimerica began as a preview issue numbered zero, dated November 1992 and printed in very small numbers. Viz Media published it, and almost nothing about that first copy suggested a long career. What exactly filled its pages? Why would a…
  • Computer (magazine)Computer magazine's September 2017 issue on blockchain in finance won a 2018 Folio: Eddie Award.
  • GameFanGameFan began in 1992 as an ad supplement for imported Japanese video games.
  • Popular MechanicsThree Alcatraz inmates used Popular Mechanics to build a raft. Their June 1962 escape attempt followed its instructions.
  • The NationThe Nation urged a vote for a Socialist in 1932, then backed Roosevelt three times.
  • Scientific AmericanIn April 1950, a government agency ordered 3,000 copies of Scientific American burned.
  • Ebony (magazine)Ebony magazine's first issue sold out all 25,000 copies in 1945. John H. Johnson wanted a self-affirming voice.
  • The AtlanticThe Atlantic magazine began with a five-hour dinner in 1857. A Boston publisher hosted Emerson and Longfellow.
  • Dragon (magazine)Dragon magazine began in 1976 because Dungeons & Dragons outgrew wargaming.
  • Dungeon (magazine)Dungeon magazine put an adventure on every page. It had no reviews, editorials or letters when it began in 1986.
  • The Comic ReaderIn 1961, comics fans could not learn who wrote or drew their favorite stories. The Comic Reader changed that.
  • Smithsonian (magazine)Smithsonian magazine passed one million subscribers within five years of its 1970 debut.
  • Play MeterPlay Meter, a coin-op trade magazine, scored video games from one to ten.
  • Astronomy (magazine)Astronomy magazine began as a college senior class project. Stephen A. Walther wrote its business plan for a class.
  • Comics Buyer's GuideComics Buyer's Guide began as a 17-year-old collector's ad sheet.
  • Pizzazz (magazine)Pizzazz, a Marvel teen magazine, printed the first original Star Wars stories. They appeared in 1977.
  • Physics TodayPhysics Today took on the Star Wars missile shield in the 1980s. It treated the plan as a problem in applied physics.
  • Vanity Fair (magazine)Vanity Fair magazine began as a men's fashion title called Dress. Condé Montrose Nast bought and renamed it in 1913.
  • PC WorldPC World magazine stopped printing in 2013 after thirty years. The August 2013 issue was its last on paper.
  • IEEE SpectrumIEEE Spectrum replaced a magazine called Electrical Engineering in January 1964.
  • National GeographicTwo U.S. colonels used a National Geographic map to split the Korean Peninsula at the 38th parallel.
  • Byte (magazine)Byte magazine blocked a rival called Kilobyte by trademarking the name for a cartoon series.
  • Life (magazine)Life magazine ran Dewey as the next president the day before Truman won.
  • The Christian CenturyCharles Clayton Morrison bought The Christian Century in a 1908 foreclosure sale. He cut its denominational ties.
  • Goldmine (magazine)Goldmine magazine began in September 1974 in Fraser, Michigan. Brian Bukantis founded it for record collectors.
  • Monthly ReviewA scholar's inheritance paid for Monthly Review, a socialist magazine. He offered $5,000 a year for three years.

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