SAD Magazine evolved from the defunct East Kent Doctor Who Society's fanzine "Hyperion III". Paul Morris decided to revive the concept of a group magazine and elected himself editor. Rob Morris, who is no relation, harrangued Paul until he was allowed to design the thing. The first issue was 12 pages long and very badly designed.
By issue two, as part of the team's determination to break the mag away from being a Doctor Who fanzine, they discarded the East Kent Society's shackles and went out for variety and high quality articles. These were hard to find so they wrote them themselves and Simon Barnard, working for Radio One, provided a load of top notch interviews. The issue was incredible. At double the number of pages, using more space on the page and a smaller font size. It crammed so much stuff in it was hard to believe it cost only a pound.
It was in this issue that Paul Morris summed up the magazine's ethos in this way:
Well balanced, fair-minded and objective journalism, tempered with a deep and abiding respect for the genre and all who sail in her - that sort of thing really pisses us off. If this comes as a shock to you, put the magazine down immediately, as you might a rabid and incontinent aunt.
We come to bury Doctor Who and to praise it. Ditto everything else we cover, apart from Star Trek (which we would bury alive, except it never has been).
SAD Magazine will wander distractedly out of the arena of science fiction as and when necessary to cover other cult phenomena whose followers could charitably be described as strange and dedicated. (Star Trek fans will be catered for in an occasional section where they will be strangled and decimated.) Comedy and classic childrens television will also fall prey to our analysis vulture, allowing you to pick over their distended carcasses at your leisure.
In short, we aim to go forward in all our beliefs and prove to you that you are entirely mistaken in yours.
Issue two was released into the public domain during March 1998. Doctor Who Magazine called it "curious" which seemed to help it sell. The leader of the East Kent Society said "I'll be saving my hard earned pound in future" while another member said that he became so engrossed while reading it on the train he missed his connection. With plaudits like these the SAD team were determined to inflict another issue upon the world.
This appeared in the form of Issue Three which, due to some interest from new writers, actually wasn't entirely written by Paul & Robert. It appeared in March 1999, maintaining the annual schedule which seems inevitable. This time, however, one of the writers, Simon Guerrier, convinced the team to bring the issue along to the famed fan pub "The Fitzroy Tavern" in London. To the surprise of all, regulars and editoria team, they spent the next three visits selling copies (and having to get a reprint done as a result).
Spurred on by this success Issue Four was released September 1999 and seems to be doing rather well for itself. The fact that suddenly loads of people are praising it and wanting to write for it (okay, well a few then) is causing an ego overload somewhere in Kent. Don't worry, we'll be back down to earth before you know it.
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