The magazine Revolver Revue came into existence in January 1985. The name of the journal has a lot of associations -- not only risk and courage, but sensationalism (in colloquial Czech the adjective "revolverový" is associated with tabloid journalism), as well as the idea of a mechanism like the revolving cylinder of the weapon, like samizdat publications moving around among people and firing off their sharp messages. This mixture of both seriousness and irony in the approach that the authors around Revolver Revue applied to their own work was and is typical of the magazine: the logo of the magazine was initially the "Kosíre Madonna", an advertising pinup framed above the bar of the Prague pub Klamovka, where the editorial board used to meet.

A circle of collaborators and authors of Revolver Revue formed one of the most striking new generations to appear on the scene in recent decades, especially in the fields of poetry and prose. The magazine published literary texts that the official state publishing houses, for a variety of reasons, were unwilling to handle. Another striking feature of Revolver Revue was the emphasis on the appearance of the magazine. Unlike other samizdat publications, Revolver Revue had a well-designed cover, was bound, and included illustrations.

In November 1989, the editors who had been producing Revolver Revue drew on their experience to create the Independent Press Centre, which issued its Information Service during the "Velvet Revolution". The first legally printed issue of the magazine for literature and art Revolver Revue came out in December 1990.

At the present time, Revolver Revue has about 300 pages and appears four times a year. New technology, undreamt of in the samizdat days, enables us to pay considerable attention to art, in the form of thematic blocks that are comparable to short monographs. But it is typical of Revolver Revue that in this realm too it betrays no interest in the trends and fashions of the moment and offers space to artists who, despite their unquestionable quality, are for one reason or another ignored by the general public and official art institutions. In 1995-2004, the editors put out a second, quite separate magazine: the Critical Supplement, devoted to criticism on art, literature, film, theatre, television, and social and political events. Since 2005, Revolver Revue includes a critical part in every issue.

self-description in Czech