Friday, May 24, 2024

MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY # 10

 

MEN’S ADVENTURE Quarterly Issue # 10

The Vietnam Issue

Edited by Robert Deis & Bill Cunningham

Subtropic Productions, LLC.

167 pgs

 

When this issue arrived in the mail, we found our thoughts traveling back in time. This July, 2024, will mark 56 years since this reviewer came home from Vietnam as a U.S. Army soldier. We were twenty-one at the time. Honestly, it seems like it was another person who experienced those twelve months that war-torn foreign land.  

Since returning, we’ve never read a single book about Vietnam; fiction or non. It just wasn’t something we wanted to remember all that much. Oh, we saw a few movies, but for the most part, they were just make-believe to us. When young American country boys went off to fight in the Civil War, they compared it to going off to the circus to see an elephant. That’s what eight million of my generation did in those short years between late 50s and early 70s. We went off to see the elephant. Thousands of my brothers never came home and that’s something we’ve never forgotten.  

Okay, so back to this review. As ever we tip our hats to editors Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham who have once again put together a great package filled with both gritty, typical men’s action/adventure stories accompanied by truly gorgeous artwork. Their zeal of preserving the Men’s Adventure Mags of a by-gone day is praiseworthy. Each of their issues provides its readers with a glimpse into a literary genre that evolved from the pulp mags and paved the way to today’s modern thrillers.

As for the Vietnam theme, it was a bit hard to read some of those stories while at the same time smile at the memories of some of the great guys we served with. Hell, even the section on the beautiful Raquel Welch and her 67 Christmas tour with Bob Hope echoes in our heart. We were part of that 100,000 military audience they entertained in Long Binh during that junket. It was truly something else. As is this issue. Thanks, Bob and Bill.

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