• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 28, 2012

In an ironic and creepy endnote to a year that ended with an assault weapons massacre of young children at an elementary school in Connecticut, the two “most notable” magazine launches of 2012 were (in this order) a magazine aimed at the kind of extreme gun enthusiasts who covet aforementioned assault weapons, and a magazine aimed at young children, according to an annual list published by consumer magazine trend follower, Samir Husni, a professor at the University of Mississippi, who is also known as the “Magazine Guy.”

The aptly named Recoil ranked No. 1, Husni explained to online business news service CommPRO.biz, because it is “an artfully-done, gun-lifestyle magazine that is selling for as much as $125 an issue on eBay.”

Recoil’s debut issue features an HK MR556A1 on the cover as Playboy would a scantily-clad starlet, with the cover line, “Best AR Ever!” AR, presumably is an abbreviation of assault rifle. Subsequent issues featured similar assault weapon porn on their covers.

“For the gun enthusiast, this magazine is the answer to a prayer and proudly promotes the Second Amendment without apology,” Husni writes in his commentary on 2012’s magazine publishing highlights, of which No. 2 was actually Highlight’s Hello, a spinoff of the long-running children’s magazine, which Husni says is aimed at ages 0-2, although its readership likely skews on the higher end.

“The magazine is filled with things very young children can grasp and grow with. It displays the hope we have for the future through our children,” Husni writes in deadpan style, sidestepping the obvious incongruity between the two top-ranking magazines of 2012.

The other three titles rounding out Husni’s Top 5 list for the year include an equally electic mix:

No. 3: Dujour (targets the $5 million net-worth crowd)

No. 4: Howler (aimed at soccer enthusiasts)

No. 5: Cosmopolitan for Latinas (for Latinas, of course)

Overall, the varied mix of 2012 magazine launches (715 in Husni’s estimation, with 248 publishing regularly) is more new titles than were launched five years ago, which Husin assets “reinforces my mantra: You can’t keep good ink on paper down; at least, not for long.”