Jim Nelson, the new editor at GQ, has thrown the first punch in the new men's magazine market brawl. September's GQ was the first issue fully produced under his new editorial regime. The mag features some young feller named "Johnny Knoxville" on the cover. We haven't heard of this whippersnapper upstart Knoxville character, so we're glad that GQ is digging deep for the cutting edge younger market. Oh but seriously, folks, Mr. Nelson's vision is, as far as selling ads go, completely correct. As he notes in the Times: "There was a time when you could pick up GQ and not know what month or year it was." Of course, the same is true for readers of that other men's magazine monster, Men's Health, but that's because those readers are all so zonked on steroids, ketamine, and ecstacy.

Anyway, the fight is on in the Thunderdome of men's mags. GQ and Details: two magazines enter, one magazine leaves.
GQ, Under a New Editor, Is Not Quite So Coiffed [NYT]