Swank (magazine)
Swank is a pornographic magazine for heterosexual men published in the United States. It includes hardcore sex, such as the use of sex toys, lesbian sex, and sexual intercourse between men and women.
There are also a series of DVDs and an official website produced under the Swank name.
History
The Magna Publishing Group bought Swank along with dozens of other pornographic titles, including Stag, in 1993 from Charles "Chip" Goodman, the son of Martin Goodman, founder of Marvel Comics. According to the New York Times[1], Stag and Swank “can even draw a line to the same pulp publishing outfit—Martin Goodman's Magazine Management Company—that in 1939 started the comic book publisher that eventually became Marvel Comics, and that in the 1950s and 1960s employed future novelists like Mario Puzo and Bruce Jay Friedman as writers and editors.”
At the time Magna purchased the magazines from Goodman, the company was known as Swank Publications, and was a part of the GCR Publishing Group, which also published non-pornographic magazines, including such titles as New Body and Victorian Accents.
New York journalist Robert Rosen details the history of Magazine Management and Swank Publications in his investigative memoir Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography, which will be published in the United Kingdom by Headpress in 2010.
The Magna Publishing Group's website includes the claim that Swank has been established for "well over 65 years." A magazine called "Swank" was founded by Fox Features Comics founder Victor Fox in the 1940s. This early version of the magazine was a knockoff of Esquire, but eventually evolved to its current format. The magazine has had breaks in publication of several years during its history,[2] so the "over 65 years" claim may be disputed by some media historians.
Popular culture references
In The Simpsons episode "The Principal and the Pauper", in Principal Skinner's seedy hotel room (after he is revealed to be an impostor), Skinner lists his meager possessions ("... Armin's liquor, Armin's copy of Swank, Armin's frozen peas!") and Homer asks to see his copy of Swank.
There is a copy of Swank magazine on Jimmy Stewart's table in his apartment in the 1958 film Vertigo.
In the song "Jen is Bringin' the Drugs/' by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, the narrator sees Jen in Swank.
Publishers
Swank is owned by the Magna Publishing Group, which publishes a number of other adult magazines, including:
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References
External links
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