Cover of the first issue (February 1997) |
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| Editor | David McComb |
|---|---|
| Categories | Lifestyle magazine fetish magazine |
| Frequency | Every four weeks |
| Circulation | 28,979 (2009 average)[1] |
| First issue | February 1997 |
| Company | Dennis Publishing |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Website | Bizarre |
Bizarre is a British alternative magazine published from 1997 to the present.[2] It is currently published by Dennis Publishing; it is a sister publication to the Fortean Times.
Contents |
Bizarre covers alternative culture through interviews with counterculture personages; and articles about LGBT culture, fetish subculture, drug subculture, and other subcultures. It also reviews the work of avant-garde directors, musicians, authors, and visual artists—and of those who have a cult following.
The magazine's news coverage includes unusual news events from around the world; development and impact of legislation concerning sex offences, censorship, civil liberties; and, occasionally, incidents of abuse of human rights. Articles in Bizarre have examined the Manchester police's Operation Spanner of 1987, Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, British legislation banning 'extreme pornography', and Terrorism Act 2000. After the murder of Sophie Lancaster in 2007, Bizarre campaigned for awareness of bigotry against people who exhibit some form of cultural deviance.
Like lad mags, issues of Bizarre commonly feature a semi-nude female model on the front cover, and reviews of weird gadgets, films, music, and websites.
Earlier issues of Bizarre had a sealed section featuring censored pornography, in which images of genitalia, anuses, semen, and sex acts were obscured. The censorship was self-imposed to avoid alienating mainstream newsagent's shops and booksellers.
Bizarre was launched as a bimonthly title by John Brown Publishing in February 1997 and was edited by Fiona Jerome. It was an immediate success and changed to monthly issuance a year after its launch. Circulation peaked at more than 120,000 in 2000, but later the same year declined to less than 30,000[3] when I Feel Good (IFG) bought the magazine for £5 million. IFG was a company founded by former James Brown, the former editor of Loaded magazine. When IFG collapsed, Dennis Publishing acquired Bizarre. The current editor of Bizarre is David McComb.
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