Feb 16, 2008

Where is Icon Magazine?

Cover of the May-June 2007 issue of Icon Magazine.Whatever happened to Icon Magazine, that high-end glossy FHM for gay and bisexual guys? I have bought several issues of this promising magazine and I find the contained articles very thoughtful, the layout professionally done, and the boys just plain yummy, without delving into sleaze. (I'm still drooling over the close-up shots of skinhead cutie Paolo Cabalfin in the second issue. And Mark San Diego's photoshoot.)

It seems that the last issue was the May-June 2007 issue that had a smorgasbord of guys on the cover. After that, I haven't heard of any further issues. Even their website (http://www.iconmag.com.ph) isn't working anymore.

Is this symptomatic of a larger problem in the gay publishing industry? Can't they sustain their production costs (like, the talent fees of the models might be too much for them)? Is the pink peso not strong enough? Or do we just want the nudity that other more risque magazines have to offer?

13 comments:

Boyd wrote on March 30, 2008 at 2:19 AM:

i heard rich villarin and suki salvador had a falling out. talagang never mix business with pleasure.

 
Vince (Discreet Manila) wrote on April 11, 2008 at 12:15 AM:

Boyd, oh, so it wasn't a business problem but a personal problem? Tsk, tsk, tsk.

 
Bright Productions wrote on April 26, 2008 at 5:24 AM:

yes, i was also wondering what happened to the magazine. Too bad, we need to support more gay publications in the philippines to survive. I miss icon.

Most likely it is a business problems. It is expensive to run a magazine and if you don't have the back up of big money like summit and abs then you really have to be creative in your marketing.

 
Boyd wrote on May 8, 2008 at 12:16 AM:

i think it's business AND personal problems.

my friend was talking to suki and he implied that it was partly personal. that's how i learned about it.

anyway, what a loss, huh.

 
Vince (Discreet Manila) wrote on May 12, 2008 at 2:06 AM:

Muti, yes, we need more PLU-friendly publications.

Boyd, yikes. I wish they could've given the magazine to somebody else to run.

 
Anonymous wrote on September 18, 2008 at 9:18 AM:

ey there. was part of the icon team. it's really great to know that people appreciated the magazine. =)

anyway, i think it was more of the production cost. even if the magazine was selling, ads weren't enough. i'm quite sure that the ed team's issue were just secondary. =)

 
Vince (Discreet Manila) wrote on September 22, 2008 at 2:52 AM:

Anon, sad to hear that the advertising revenue was not enough. I guess the pink peso is still not as powerful.

 
Anonymous wrote on September 26, 2010 at 2:24 AM:

Too bad..I too was a fan of ICON magazine..

I just loved it...I think gays here are just good at criticizing..but when you need support..wala..

No wonder walang tumatagal na publishing dito..nahihiya kasi bumili sa regular bookstore...

 
gene@logy13 wrote on August 24, 2011 at 4:18 PM:

I'm also a fan of ICON and would love to buy again a similar magazine or it reincarnation. Would you know any magazine that's still being published today? Please help me find one... Salamat!

gene

 
Vince (Discreet Manila) wrote on August 25, 2011 at 2:04 AM:

@gene, unfortunately, I don't think there are any "high-end" gay magazines in circulation anymore.

 
tim wrote on November 1, 2012 at 10:38 AM:

I was wondering if someone sells icon magazine pa? Kahit na back issues? I would like to buy them. thanks. collector po ako.

 
Tim wrote on November 1, 2012 at 10:39 AM:

May nagbebenta po ba ng ICON here? Interested ako to buy kahit na luma na. Collector here. TY.

 
Unknown wrote on June 12, 2014 at 6:01 PM:

Hi sa mga interested sa back issues email text me 09464534680