I have a subscription to Maxim magazine.
I used to enjoy the issues from front to back.
Maxim Magazine isn't as hot as it used to be.
Every story was well-written, every joke was funny and you felt like you had to read every article. It was the must-read magazine, and really made the men’s magazine genre take off (at least, the men’s magazine genre that didn’t come delivered in a brown paper bag).
It spawned plenty of imitators, such as FHM, Gear and Urban Male Magazine. It even spawned off two magazines on its own, Stuff and Blender (although Stuff has since folded back into Maxim).
But the magazine is not like that anymore. It has lost its edge, and it’s kind of sad.
There are plenty of reasons for it. First, the magazine used to be twice as thick as it is now (in it’s heyday, Maxim would have slammed home a great joke with that line, but now it would be predictable and not very funny).
Second, by splitting it up into three different magazines, it has really watered down the quality. Instead of doing one magazine and having it be awesome, they did three magazines and did it adequately.
Third, when it first came out, it would focus on women who weren’t normally seen on covers of magazines. It’s where you could see women such as Jill Hennessy from Law & Order and Christa Miller from the Drew Carey Show. Then it became showing whatever hot girl happens to have a movie coming out. (You can see a list of Maxim magazine covers here.)
Eliza Dushku is on the cover of this month's Maxim Magazine, but be honest, you've seen better magazine covers and better photos of Eliza.
And finally, the covers they have now: I’m sorry, but they don’t choose the best shot for the cover. There are plenty of better photos, or else they have photographers who just aren’t as good as they once were.
I still have a subscription, and will still hold out hope that the magazine can recover to its glory days.
But that hope is dwindling more with each issue.
