If you were a kid in the late ‘80s, or early ‘90s, your room probably had stacks of these.
Not to sound too much like an old man yelling at a cloud, but for those of us who are of a certain age, we didn’t have a fancy internet to entertain us when we were kids. What we did have, however, was a plethora of incredible magazines.
Yes, we’d eagerly await the mailman’s arrival to see if he, or she, had something with our name on it, something in the form of a publication JUST FOR US!
Here are five such publications we remember having subscriptions to back in the day.
Zillions
Originally named Penny Power, Zillions was Consumer Reports for kids. Not only did it have product reviews and comparisons of brands, both major and discount, Zillions dealt with kid-related money issues, like how to make money when you’re a kid; how to save money and how to figure out a budget when your entire income comes from allowance, mowing lawns and babysitting.
Today, if we want a review of a product we go on Amazon, sift through hundreds of random folks’ thoughts on the latest vacuum cleaner and try to determine if HugoLovesSloths84 really knows his shit. Personally, I’d still prefer to read this gorilla’s thoughts on binders (side note: I don’t think the gorilla was an actual reviewer).
Sports Illustrated For Kids
Sports reporting without the steroids, sexual assault and other controversies that surround far too many athletes, Sports Illustrated For Kids was (and I assume, still is) the perfect magazine for kids who love sports. It gave us everything we wanted; shielded us from some of the realities we didn’t need to know about yet and allowed us to have our heroes.
(Fun fact: The young girl on the cover of the issue above is none other than Jennifer Morrison (House, How I Met Your Mother, Once Upon a Time)!)
Each issue came with a poster, and I remember having the two sided Bo Jackson poster on my bedroom wall (one side was baseball, one side was football). A Kirby Puckett poster hung proudly, as well.
There were also nine trading cards per issue. As a child, I sent the card of hockey superstar Brett Hull to him, care of the St. Louis Blues, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope, and a letter asking for an autograph, and he sent the card back signed! Thanks, Brett!
Ranger Rick
Before there were cat videos on YouTube, or even animals knockin’ boots (Boots? Hooves? Paws?) on the Discovery Channel, there was Ranger Rick, and our childhoods were better for it.
Ranger Rick (which, thankfully, still exists) brought us one step closer to the animals we wanted to know more about, and it’s a good thing it did, because with the exception of dissection, animals aren’t exactly a topic taught in school. Oh sure, there’s the occasional field trip to the zoo, but if we wanted to know more about animals, it was usually a self-study thing. Ranger Rick put us on that path to knowledge. Plus, sometimes there would be pictures of tiger cubs, or otters, and who doesn’t love the occasional cuteness overload?
Nintendo Fun Club News
Before there was Nintendo Power, there was Nintendo Fun Club News. Basically a stripped down version of what would eventually be Nintendo Power, this magazine was probably most gamers’ first video game related read. Walk-throughs, previews, reviews and the like were in this slim, but useful, publication.
Sure, it was basically an extended advertisement for Nintendo, but we didn’t care. It helped us get through games, and, at one point, featured Mike Tyson on the cover.
Simpsons Illustrated
Simpsons Illustrated only lasted 10 quarterly issues, but if you were a Simpsons fan, it was a dream come true. Not only did it have fun Simpsons related material, it also had in-depth interviews, and real news related to the show.
The legacy of Simpsons Illustrated is that it led to the establishment of Bongo Comics Group, which was founded by Matt Groening in 1993. The company publishes comics related to The Simpsons, Futurama and SpongeBob SquarePants.