BEAR is almost here!
It’s rare we will shout about another magazine, but this one is special. Frankly, we probably wouldn’t exist if BEAR hadn’t launched back in 1987. It kicked off a movement we are proud to be part of and help keep alive, too.
But when our founder, Richard Jones, took over the brand and the social media accounts, he decided that with the attacks on queer media on the tech platforms, the time was right to once again entertain and preserve the bear community in print, four times a year.
Well, the launch edition is off to the printers this week, and we had the privilege of peeking at the layouts and seeing what’s coming. You are going to love it!
Sneak peeks at some pages designed by Steven Harwick:
There are three full layouts of naked bears – please don’t make us choose a favorite because we love them all: Brett is a young cub (by John Orbit’s Real Men Real Life), David is one of the hottest Daddy Bears we have seen (by Jeremiah Damian), and a Mack Sturgis model, the ruggedly handsome Jason Morris, is gracing the cover. Perfection!
There’s also a celebration of Leather Bears smoking cigars at various USA-based events, by Tristan Sutphin; a full fashion layout with 3 great models (John Hernandez, Avery Leach & Richard Rider), photographed by Catalin Stelian, wearing Devious Saint; plus an interview with Syluss Afano, a leathermaker in NYC.
Regular features will include articles from Les K Wright, and a new Agony Uncle, Cody Daigle-Orians, called Daddy Knows Best.
We love the new regular feature on bear bars and peeking into their fun men’s rooms, and there’s more features on artists and recommendations of other physical media, including other queer magazines too.
The time and trouble taken to bring BEAR back to life is both impressive and heartwarming. We can see that the effort to represent the full bear community is huge. There are also plans to increase the page count & increase the number of naked bear shoots to really make sure we see the bear community we love!
The Editor will be going on tour to bring the magazine to bear events and bear bars around the USA, from October this year to the summer of 2027. If you can’t make the big events, you can, of course, get an edition delivered to your door or pick one up from some bookstores around the USA, and some limited stores around the world including Portugal and Australia.
The quality will be impressive, but it’s clear you can see the influence and heritage of the original BEAR, and the philosophy of the original creators, Richard Bulger and his partner Chris Nelson, shining through the pages.
There will only be 3,000 copies printed of the 1st run of the 1st issue, and nearly a third has already been pre-sold, so don’t wait, get your order in now here, and if you want a bit of a discount, grab the four-issue bundle which will save you 20% off the cover price.
