Checklists

Manhunt

Manhunt boasted it was the world's best-selling crime fiction magazine, and was certainly the "gold standard" against which all other "tough" crime magazines of the period measured themselves. Starting in January 1953 as a monthly digest, it flirted briefly (from March 1957 to May 1958) with a larger format to enhance newstand sales. The latter was not a success however and it soon reverted to digest size and dropped to bimonthly. In all it ran for almost 15 years and notched up a very respectable 114 issues.

From January 1953 to March 1956 the cover read Manhunt Detective Story Monthly, but the magazine was always called just Manhunt in the table of contents.

One notable feature of the magazine was the number of reprints it spawned. As well as a local reprint called Giant Manhunt which rebound 3-4 unsold issues of the magazine into a bumper issue, there were also at least two reprint series in the UK (one as Bloodhound Detective Story Magazine) as well as three reprint series in Australia (one as Manhunt Detective Story Magazine, one as Phantom Suspense-Mystery Magazine, and another as Verdict Detective Story Magazine).

1953
v1 #1
Jan
v1 #2
Feb
v1 #3
Mar
v1 #4
Apr
v1 #5
May
v1 #6
Jun
v1 #7
Jul
v1 #8
Aug
v1 #9
Sep
v1 #10
Oct
v1 #11
Nov
v1 #12
Dec

1954
v2 #1
Jan
v2 #2
Feb
v2 #3
May
v2 #4
Jun
v2 #5
Jul
v2 #6
Aug
v2 #7
Sep
v2 #8
Oct
v2 #9
Nov
v2 #10
Dec
v2 #11
25-Dec

1955
v3 #1
Jan
v3 #2
Feb
v3 #3
Mar
v3 #4
Apr
v3 #5
May
v3 #6
Jun
v3 #7
Jul
v3 #8
Aug
v3 #9
Sep
v3 #10
Oct
v3 #11
Nov
v3 #12
Dec

1956
v4 #1
Jan
v4 #2
Feb
v4 #3
Mar
v4 #4
Apr
v4 #5
May
v4 #6
Jun
v4 #7
Jul
v4 #8
Aug
v4 #9
Sep
v4 #10
Oct
v4 #11
Nov
v4 #12
Dec

1957
v5 #1
Jan
v5 #2
Feb
v5 #3
Mar
v5 #4
Apr
v5 #5
May
v5 #6
Jun
v5 #7
Jul
v5 #8
Sep
v5 #9
Oct
v5 #10
Nov
v5 #11
Dec

1958
v6 #1
Jan
v6 #2
Feb
v6 #3
Apr
v6 #4
Jun
v6 #5
Aug
v6 #6
Oct
v6 #7
Dec

1959
v7 #1
Feb
v7 #2
Apr
v7 #3
Jun
v7 #4
Aug
v7 #5
Oct
v7 #6
Dec

1960
v8 #1
Feb
v8 #2
Apr
v8 #3
Jun
v8 #4
Aug
v8 #5
Oct
v8 #6
Dec

1961
v9 #1
Feb
v9 #2
Apr
v9 #3
Jun
v9 #4
Aug
v9 #5
Oct
v9 #6
Dec

1962
v10 #1
Feb
v10 #2
Apr
v10 #3
Jun
v10 #4
Aug
v10 #5
Oct
v10 #6
Dec

1963
v11 #1
Feb
v11 #2
Apr
v11 #3
Jun
v11 #4
Aug
v11 #5
Oct

1964
v12 #1
Jan
v12 #2
Mar
v12 #3
May
v12 #4
Jul
v12 #5
Sep
v12 #6
Nov

1965
v13 #1
Jan
v13 #2
Mar
v13 #3
May
v13 #4
Jul
v13 #5
Sep
v13 #6
Dec

1966
v14 #1
Feb/Mar
v14 #2
Apr/May
v14 #3
Jun/Jul
v14 #4
Aug/Sep
v14 #5
Oct/Nov
v14 #6
Dec/Jan

1967
v15 #1
Feb/Mar
v15 #2
Apr/May

Giant Manhunt

None of the issues of this series were dated, although they probably appeared during the 1950s. It is also not known exactly how many issues existed (although #13 has been seen) nor if all issues with the same issue number contain the same rebound issues of Manhunt.

195?
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
#13

Manhunt (UK)

The first British reprint edition ran for 13 monthly issues, roughly six months after the corresponding US issue.

1953
v1 #1
Aug
v1 #2
Sep
v1 #3
Oct
v1 #4
Nov
v1 #5
Dec

1954
v1 #6
Jan
v1 #7
Feb
v1 #8
Mar v1 #9
Apr
v1 #10
May
v1 #11
Jun/Jul
v2 #1
Aug
v2 #2
Sep

Bloodhound Detective Story Magazine

The second British reprint edition ran for 14 monthly issues in the early 1960's under the title Bloodhound Detective Story Magazine.

1961
v1 #1
May
v1 #2
Jun
v1 #3
Jul
v1 #4
Aug
v1 #5
Sep
v1 #6
Oct
v1 #7
Nov
v1 #8
Dec

1962
v1 #9
Jan
v1 #10
Feb
v1 #11
Mar
v1 #12
Apr
v2 #13
May
v2 #14
Jul

Manhunt Detective Story Magazine (Australia)

This edition ran for 13 monthly issues in a very attractive "comic book" size.

1953
v1 #1
Oct
v1 #2
Nov
v1 #3
Dec

1954
v1 #4
Jan
v1 #5
Feb
v1 #6
Mar
v1 #7
Apr
v1 #8
May
v1 #9
Jun
v1 #10
Jul
v1 #11
Aug
v1 #12
Sep
v2 #1
Oct

Phantom Suspense-Mystery Magazine

The second Australian reprint edition ran for at least 6 issues at some point in the 1950s (the issues were undated) under the title Phantom Suspense-Mystery Magazine. Although it reprinted stories from several US magazines, the contents were predominently from Manhunt.

195?
v1 #1
v1 #2
v1 #3
v1 #4
v1 #5
v1 #6

Verdict Detective Story Magazine

The third Australian reprint edition ran for at least 10 issues in 1955 under the title Verdict Detective Story Magazine.

1955
v1 #1
Mar
v1 #2
Apr
v1 #3
May
v1 #4
Jun
v1 #5
Jul
v1 #6
Aug
v1 #7
Sep
v1 #8
Oct
v1 #9 v1 #10