I began subscribing to Sports Illustrated back in 1992, in an effort to follow my sports idol, Michael Jordan, on his march to championship rings and scoring records. I was surprised to find that come February-March the next year, there was a spanky swimsuit issue with hardly any of the incisive sports writing or profound game insights the magazine was known for. Apparently, it's a long tradition in the magazine history to have a special issue each year to keep the sports fan occupied through the slow sports news winter months. It was always followed by a regular issue of the magazine where every letter published would be condemning the swimsuit issue for objectifying women and reducing them to sex objects. Regardless, there's a spanking new swimsuit issue every year. Oh, I think I paid $300+ dollars each year for a swimsuit issue and got 52 issues of SI free. What a deal!
Eventually I discontinued my subscription to SI but continued collecting SI Swimsuit issues each year. Now I have a complete run from 1993 to 2011 (less 2 issues). Throughout the years, I was aided in amassing this collection by Comics Mart who imported this magazine for a period, various bookstores as well as eBay. I believe it was Meng himself who exclaimed that it's the only issue of SI that really sells in the store.
P.S. Anyone who is willing to spare a copy of the 1995 or 2003 issue which I'm currently missing, please get in touch with me.
2011 - cover
2011 - Singapore photoshoot
2011 - obligatory write-up promoting Singapore as a great place to visit...
1993
1994
1996
1997
1998 - a bit of an oddity as it seems thinner than usual. Also, the "Singapore licensed edition" on the cover makes me wonder if this was censored in any way.
1999
2000 - in 3-D!
2001
2002
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
