Pink Raygun Reviews: Girls and Corpses Magazine

“Maxim meets Dawn of the Dead” is one way of describing Girls and Corpses. Another way, from the deaditor’s mouth, is “a satire and parody of men’s zines like Maxim, Stuff and FHM” in the spirit of Mad Magazine. Although I think zombies are cool, I’m not Maxim’s target market and Alfred E. Newman has always creeped me out (Yeah, I’m afraid of bunnies, babies and Alfred E. Newman. . . don’t judge me). Will Girls and Corpses Magazine send me screaming into the night?

I’m ambivalent about Girls and Corpses Magazine and not for the stereotypical reasons that people might think, such as “It’s disgusting”, “It’s offensive to women”, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah. I don’t feel oppressed by models and cleavage.

My problem with the print edition of Girls and Corpses is that it’s not disgusting and offensive enough. It’s like the creative team got timid about the content and pulled back on the shock value.

Another problem I have is with low-resolution images, which look fine shrunk down for a computer screen, but don’t do so well when blown up to magazine size. Case in point, the “Got Corpse?” ad on the inside cover. In a smaller size on the web, it may look like the models and the corpse have milk mustaches, but in print it looks like spray paint.

Some of the content, such as the spoof ads, is a riot, but the overall impression I get is that there’s a lot of space to fill and not enough people to do it yet. Also, the back issues on the web pushed the envelope much further than the print issue and, I think, were funnier for it. I get what Rhine and his crew are trying to do, but the magazine seems to have lost something in the jump from web to print.

The print issue is missing gems like Celebrity Scat Match (issue #14) in which the reader matches the bowel movement to the obnoxious celebrity. Celebrity Scat Match is linked to “Her Sh*t Does Stink,” a dissertation on supermodel poop by Robert Steven Rhine, which made me choke on a Triscuit. My personal favorites spoof ads from the back issues are Starbutts Coffee Enema and Dismember Mints.

The Girls and Corpses print edition didn’t send me screaming into the night, but it did send me to the web where I got some laughs and almost suffered death by Triscuit.

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