'Hell Raising Spy In The Kremlin'

The headlines on the covers of fifties and sixties men's magazines, particularly on those at the lower end of the market, can appear to be random assemblages of words, designed to fit as many sensational or provocative words into one phrase.  Whether they actually make any sense is another question, of course.  Take this cover for the June 1966 issue of Complete Man Magazine, for instance - 'Tin Can Hero of Guadalcanal's Blood Alley' sounds, on the face of it, like complete gibberish, but packs in the key words 'Hero' 'Blood' and Guadalcanal' to suggest that it is an action packed war story.  But, to be fair, if you know some US naval nomenclature, then its meaning becomes a bit clearer: 'Tin Can', as I recall, is US Navy slang for a destroyer.  So it is probably safe to say that this is a stirring story naval heroism during the Pacific war, (Guadalcanal being the location of a famous battle between Japan and the US.  'Love-Lease Girls of Wild Sintown', whilst conveying the idea of some kind of sleazy sex story, is another baffling collection of key words.  I've no idea what 'Love-Lease Girls' are - prostitutes procured on similar terms to the Lend-Lease agreement between the US and its allies in World War Two under which military equipment was supplied, perhaps?  (To be returned intact or paid for if not destroyed at the conflict's end).  

'Nightmare for a Naked Redhead' is a bit more explanatory, implying a 'woman in peril' type story, with the 'Naked' raising expectations of sexual peril in the minds of potential readers.  The cover painting - somewhat cruder than those used on other men's magazines, but typical of this particular publication - illustrates 'Hell-Raising Spy in the Kremlin', another fairly generic assemblage of key words to indicate a Cold War espionage tale of another of those macho spies who fight communism by shagging every woman in sight, something backed up by the illustration.  Complete Man Magazine put out eleven issues, to a somewhat erratic schedule, between 1965 and 1967.  All of its issues featured these staccato story headlines that sometimes border on the meaningless and felt as if the magazine was shouting them in your face, giving the impression of a publication desperate for attention and in a hurry to get potential buyers to take it off of the newsstands.  The magazine was apparently a continuation of Ken for Men, which had put out fifteen issues between 1956 and 1961 and employed similar headlines and covers, (in fact, the fourth issue was even titled Complete Man's Magazine).  Complete Man Magazine continued the numbering scheme of Ken for Men, despite the four year gap between the two titles.  In both incarnations it had erratic publication schedules and was generally undistinguished.