Where’s the Existential Angst this Summer? 

button-launchMagazine launches this summer continue to be ahead of last year’s pace, as noted by Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni in his monthly Launch Monitor. July is no exception, with 81 new titles, up from 77 a year ago.

The numbers look great. But there’s something else that caught Husni’s eye.

“Many of the new magazines are promoting the positive and trying to eliminate the negative, which in Mr. Magazine’s™ opinion, has been long overdue,” Husni writes in his Mr. Magazine blog.

“From The Netherlands’ ‘Remarkable’ and ‘happinez’ to First Descents’ ‘Out Living It,’ people all over the world are putting their best foot forward and looking to the future as something bright and welcomed, rather than an unknown entity out to swallow us up in its unmitigated darkness,” he comments.

What a great thing to see in the print magazine world, and certainly a positive sign not just for the industry but for all of us.

The top categories this past month for launches were in exploration and special interest, and many of the titles are luxurious book-a-zines and true lifestyle publications. The latest crop just proves that magazines continue to engage, enthrall and be just plain amazing.

Print dead? Please. That’s just funny. Magazines are happily and beautifully moving toward the future.