Ten Years Ago in Spy

Reliving one’s formative years of logrolling, short-fingered vulgarians and Separations at Birth

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We hereby cast our eye back on Spy, “The New York Monthly” – that exemplar of “irony,” memorably belligerent, bilious adjective chains, and thrillingly recherché typography, from which our entire writing style (and ironic, memorable, belligerent, bilious, and recherché personality) derived.

For two years, I wrote reviews of the old Spy magazine, usually once a month. Those reviews have been completed.

Spy: The Funny Years

The retrospective book Spy: The Funny Years came out in 2006, and, after many months, I have a half-arsed review.

Final reviews

• This month’s issue: December 1987
• Last month: October 1986, the very first issue of Spy!
• Month before that: December 1988
• Archives

Need a copy of an article?

If you’ve ever written me to request that I hunt through my pile o’ Spy to find an article for you, then copy it and mail it your way, be advised that I won’t be doing so even if I told you I would.

Back issues solicited

I have a highly incomplete pile o’ Spy. If you’ve got any of the issues I need, talk to me. Anything after 1993 I am not in a big rush to acquire. Before that, of course, is gold.

List of issues updated and correct as of 2007.05.03

Year	Got	Need
1986	10	11, 12
1987	10	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7–8, 9, 11
1988	3, 4, 5, 6, 7–8, 9, 10, 11, 12	1, 2
1989	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11	1
1990	1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12	Nil
1991	1–2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12	7
1992	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7–8, 9, 10, 11	1, 12
1993	All	Nil
1994	2, 3, 10, 12	4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11
1995	2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
1996	2, “Holiday”	Remainder, if any
1997	10	Other than October
1998	Nil	All (there may only be a few)

Illustration credits

Michael Russell does nearly all the scanning for this tiny site. It is vaguely ridiculous that I don’t have a scanner – still.