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Sunday, November 2, 2008

Can you tell me what you're looking at...? That's the very 1st cover of the very first BEAR magazine (full cover) which was published back in '87. Were you ever curious as to what those early BEAR rags looked like? Well you'll soon be able to see all the back issues online. Bear Fund is working right now on posting the complete archives ~ issues #1 thru #64. All the proceeds will benefit the Bear community through the Bear Fund and the Bears of San Francisco.

A little Bearish history lesson: Richard Bulger and Chris Nelson started the mag back in '87 as a photo-copied flyer. As the magazine grew in popularity, they decided to 'inc' it and they formed Brush Creek Media (archived website) as well as grab the brand name 'BEAR' as a registered trademark.

In '94, they sold the company to BearDog Hoffman who at decided to expand Brush Creek into several 'special-interest' mags (such as 'International Leatherman', 'Hombres Latinos', 'Foreskin Quarterly' to name a few). However, by '00 the company was having financial issues and by '02, BearDog had run the company into the ground. This forced Brush Creek to go bankrupt.

For years the brand name 'BEAR' was actually up for grabs, and either nobody knew about it or nobody actually cared. It wasn't until '06 when Butch Media Ltd of Las Vegas, a creditor's of Brush Creek, decided to go court and they were judicially assigned the name BEAR. Since then, Butch Media has formed Bear Omnimedia and has already published their very 1st BEAR Magazine ~ issue #65, with issue #66 slated for the winter '09 (website - interview - profile).

Once they acquired the BEAR name, they also acquired all the back issues (1 thru 64) as well as the videos. After speaking with the guys at Bear Omnimedia, they told me that they might put up a pay section for guys to view the back issues and whatever proceeds they make from doing this, it will to be benefit charitable groups.

So there's your Bear history lesson for today. Keep an eye out on the Bear Fund website, and we'll be sure to let you know here at PlanetBears when you can start perusing them very 1st BEAR issues... 'cause it's real important to know where your Bear roots come from, and what better way than to look at naked photos of Bearish men (some sources from Wikipedia's article on BEAR Magazine).

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Monday, May 12, 2008

There's a new magazine coming out... but it's name is one we all know and love. It's called BEAR magazine and PlanetBears was lucky enough to conduct an interview with the guys who are behind this hot new rag.

Check out the interview here.

Now way back in August 2007, PlanetBears mentioned about the resurgence of 'BEAR Magazine' (article here). At the time of that posting, there was very little known about the mag aside that it was being published by the same guys who give you 'Muscle + Fur = Butch Bear'.

Now for those of you who don't know ~ BEAR Magazine has been considered an important chapter within the history of Bear culture as it was the 1st magazine to truly celebrate the Bearish man. Its roots stem from 1984 as it was initially a flyer created by Richard Bulger in San Francisco who, over time, turned the mag into an internationally known symbol that became one of the staples to recognizing Bear culture, the community and what a Bear man looks like as well as what a Bear man represents. Richard then sold the company 'Brush Creek Media' to Bear-Dog Hoffman who, to make a long story short, ran the business into the ground. Brush Creek went out of business and the last issue of BEAR Mag was sent around the summer of 2001 (more about BEAR Magazine here on Wikipedia).

Ok, so what happened... near the end of BEAR Mag's reign, a lot of people were taken for a ride; models and photographers were not paid; advertisers who bought prepaid spots in their magazine lost their money, and of course; all those who had a subscription... nobody was refunded. Kicker to all this? The Brush Creek website still exists to this day and is still selling stuff. Now I am not going to link it here simply because I don't want someone who is not reading this article and is simply clicking the pretty links to go to that webpage and then decides to buy something since they will be spending their money on things that do not exist.

Once BEAR mag went belly up, there was a lot of online talk about it, especially in the now defunct 'Bear's Mailing List'. However, like all things, the 'BEAR mag buzz' simply buzzed out and nobody cared about the issue any more.

Now fast forward to 2007 and there's a few leaks about BEAR coming back. Since then, the buzz has started all over again - both off and online - however it's mostly been gossip since nobody really knows anything about the new BEAR.

Well I was fortunate enough to get a hold of the guys who are manufacturing the new BEAR mag and they were more than cool to conduct an interview with me. Read the interview here ~ it'll definitely clarify any misconceptions you might have had and it will also enlighten you to this new BEAR mag era which is just upon us.

So... does this new mag interest you? Guess what... they are giving the 1st issue to you free. How? Head on over to bear-magazine.com (you simply pay the postage).

Is the world ready for a new BEAR Mag? I'm more than positive it is. Will it live it up to its name? Time will only tell however the Butch Bear material has always been A level material so I'm also positive that the new BEAR mag experience will simply be better.