Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The January 1996 issue of MA Training belongs to a moment when martial arts culture in the United States was especially visible in magazines, film, tournament circuits, and television. By the mid-1990s, the subject was no longer confined to specialized dojo communities. It had become part of a wider popular culture shaped by action cinema, performance-based competition, and an expanding readership interested in training methods, discipline, and martial arts personalities.
That context gives real weight to the pairing of Chris Casamassa and Hakim Alston. Both names are strongly associated with the 1990s martial arts world, and for collectors their appearance together signals the magazine's connection to that specific era of crossover visibility between competition, screen culture, and skills-based demonstration. A January 1996 issue featuring them works as a period document of martial arts media at the moment when the decade's energy around performance, technique, and personality was fully in motion.
Within the broader run of vintage MA Training magazines, this issue stands out as a useful reference point for how the publication presented contemporary martial artists during the 1990s. It also sits naturally within the wider landscape of 1996 magazines, when niche enthusiast titles were capturing highly specific subcultures with a level of focus that general-interest magazines rarely matched.
About the Publication
MA Training was an American martial arts magazine published by Rainbow Publications, Inc. The title began in 1988, evolved from MA Weapons, and ran through 2000. Its format was built for readers interested in practical martial arts culture, typically combining training-oriented material with coverage of personalities, techniques, and the broader world of karate, kung fu, and related disciplines. For collectors, it represents the kind of late print-era specialty magazine that documented martial arts with a dedicated enthusiast audience in mind. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
Key Highlights Inside
- January 1996 issue of MA Training featuring Chris Casamassa and Hakim Alston, the two named subjects identified in the source listing.
- Reflects the mid-1990s martial arts environment, when magazines increasingly connected training culture with recognizable personalities from tournament and screen-adjacent martial arts media.
- The raw listing broadly describes the issue as covering martial arts training techniques, philosophies, and culture, which fits the established editorial character of the publication.
- Especially relevant to collectors interested in 1990s martial arts magazines, period training culture, and printed appearances by Chris Casamassa and Hakim Alston.
- Specific article titles, departments, and confirmed interior features are not established from the source listing alone and should be verified from a contents page or full interior review.
Condition & Rarity
The source description characterizes surviving examples of this issue as newsstand copies in very good condition, with boarded plastic storage and little to no immediately visible wear. In collector terms, a newsstand example is often preferred because it avoids the visual interruption of a mailing label and preserves the intended cover presentation more cleanly. Bagging and boarding are positive preservation measures, but serious evaluation of any surviving copy would still depend on spine integrity, staple security, page completeness, edge wear, corner stress, cover gloss, and whether handling marks or storage impressions affect display quality. For a 1996 specialty title, desirability tends to come from clean presentation, complete survival, and the strength of the featured martial arts names rather than from rarity language alone.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
Issues like this are often most interesting when viewed as part of a larger run, because martial arts magazines reveal their character over time through recurring subjects, changing cover choices, and shifts in training culture. The broader MA Training archive is the natural place to continue that comparison.
The 1996 magazine collection is also useful for placing this issue in its wider print moment. Seen alongside other publications from the same year, it becomes easier to understand how martial arts were being framed for readers during the middle of the decade.