There are plenty, though, like Monocle's pages, they are not glossy. A few could-be Wallpaper* holdovers -- Cartier, Versace, modern furniture houses and designer watchmakers -- but the majority are upscale sartorial buys, mostly for men's threads. An errant ad for the International Herald Tribune seems out-of-place until you realize that IHT struck an exclusive content distribution deal with Brûlé, announced shortly before Monocle's launch.

Wallpaper*'s trademark was its design. Big Monocle's seems to be its reporting. Brûlé dispatched some 60 "editors, writers, researchers, translators, photographers and fixers" across 50 locations and six continents for its premiere issue. As the magazine states in its "World view" opener, "sharp and original reportage is core to Monocle's editorial mission, both in print and online." The coverage is vast -- business, culture, design rub up against NBC's Ann Curry (yes, her) -- and literally globe-spanning (a profile of Kitakoga, Europe's highest city, alongside Ensenada, "the about to boom town" will make you feel fleetingly cool).

Globe-trotting content does have a downside: Monocle's "Sunday Best," its take on products for the "perfect Sunday morning" ("a cycle through Lisbon, our ideal media menu and a brunch prepared by our Aussie friends") is as pretentious as it gets. Sample passage: "Then it's time to run by supercool Sneaker Delight and pluck a pair of Pumas off the trainer tree erected by artist Joao Pedro Vale before heading to the in-house hairdresser for a trim." Monocle's media coverage, though, shows great promise: a diary of an unanonymous producer at Sundance refreshingly ripping Graydon Carter's Chicago 10 ("It's repetitive, noisy and frustrating") a first look at Wall Street Journal-backed India financial daily, Mint, and a profile of Massoud Sanjer, Kabul's Howard Stern.

That's not to say that Monocle is not concerned with design. Far from it. It's just such a stark contrast from Wallpaper*'s bright, bold waves that one tends to forget the subtleness of it all. Brûlé's trademarks remain: crisp, clean layout is on display throughout its 239 pages. But it's more textbook than textbook design -- not necessarily a bad thing.

Not many to speak of. In fact, none at all, save for the various global maps -- seemingly inspired by war rooms -- pinpointing the point of dispatch.

Monocle purports to be a "Briefing on Global Affairs, Business Culture & Design." It is anything but brief. It's better served as a textbook -- both in design and context -- for the nouveau-riche. But it marks Tyler Brûlé's passage into his post-Wallpaper* print years. He wants to be globally relevant. That Monocle doesn't smack of desperation is admirable. But there's no way anyone who doesn't have patience for a high-end literary journal's gonna read it.

Monocle | Issue 1, Vol. 1 | March 2007 | 3.75 (out of 5)

[Dylan Stableford is mediabistro.com's managing editor, media news and editor of FishbowlNY. He can be reached at dylan AT mediabistro DOT com.]