Goodman's Aces

malemagazines01

Lots of folks who peruse this site are interested in the history of Marvel Comics. One aspect that doesn't get a lot of attention is that Martin Goodman, the firm's founder and publisher (until he sold the company in the late sixties) published other kinds of magazines, as well. His outfit, which was sometimes called Magazine Management, put out a lot of cheap "men's" magazines — some with macho adventure tales, some with pictures of undraped females. A lot of notable writers worked for that side of the company, including Mario Puzo (best known, of course, for The Godfather) and Bruce Jay Friedman, who wrote many fine stories and dramatic works, including the play, Steambath.

Josh Alan Friedman is a son of Bruce Jay, which also makes him the brother of the fine cartoonist, Drew Friedman. Josh is an accomplished musician and author, and his weblog has been serializing some interviews and pieces on the history of Magazine Management. Here's Part One. Here's Part Two. Here's Part Three. Here's Part Four. And here's Part Five. I hope there will be more.