Spy assassinated again
Mag dies second death of 1990s
Sussex topper John Colman called the Jan. 29 move a "hiatus in publication," and said Tuesday that several potential buyers have expressed interest in relaunching Spy.
"It's a tremendously strong brand, and has played an important role in the magazine world," Colman told Daily Variety. "Unfortunately, we just weren't able to get our advertising and consumer acceptance levels up to where they needed to be, so we thought it best to call a halt."
The magazine, Colman said, had been losing about $500,000 a year, and circulation had dwindled to around 125,000 from a onetime high of 225,000. Spy was hit hard by the recession in 1991, and according to sources, it never recovered.
Several insiders said the Sussex-Spy relationship had always been a "weird fit," with other Sussex titles being Psychology Today and Mother Earth News.
Sussex bought a dying Spy in 1994 from Jean Pigazzi and Charles Saatchi, and relaunched it after a three-month break. Colman said he went through "a number of editorial changes" until finding editor Bruno Maddox about 18 months ago.
Maddox, who now plans to spend time on a book project, said, "The news came as a bit of shock, as the buzz was starting to build again" and Sussex had increased publishing frequency from six to nine issues a year. Maddox, deputy editor Adam Lehner and six other employees were let go.
New Yorker columnist Kurt Andersen, who co-founded Spy with Graydon Carter (now editor of Vanity Fair) in 1986, said that under Maddox's watch, the mag had served up some of its best offerings in years, but that he knew Spy had been on "life support" for some time.
"Given what has dominated the news lately, it seems like the perfect time for a magazine like Spy to thrive," Andersen said. "Then again, when you look at what's in the mainstream news these days, maybe there is no need for satire."
The last issue of Spy hits newsstands next week.
