History
Despite its relatively short life, Spy was among the most widely acclaimed and discussed of American magazines of its time, chiefly for its detached and ironic tone, its use of quasi-scientific charts and tables to convey information, and its elaborate, classically influenced typography and layout.
Spy briefly broke even in 1989, but ultimately was not successful as a business, particularly after a recession began to affect the U.S. economy beginning in the early 1990s. The founders sold the magazine to European buyers in 1991; several months later, Carter left the magazine; Andersen departed eighteen months later, being replaced by Tony Hendra. The magazine briefly ceased publication in 1994, was revived soon afterward under new ownership, and finally went out of business permanently in 1998. Its last editor was a recent Harvard graduate, Bruno Maddox.
In October 2006, Miramax Books published Spy: The Funny Years (ISBN 1-4013-5239-1), a greatest-hits anthology and history of the magazine created and compiled by Carter, Andersen, and one of their original editors, George Kalogerakis.
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