The archetype first "subscriber" cover of Juxtapoz. No newsstand concerns = no blurbs, no barcode, no B.S. Just amazing art and the logo. The circ department and publisher were vehemently opposed, but the owners and editors loved it. Me too.

This was joke. I was literally putting all of the things onto a Thrasher cover I was told NOT to do. No-context "guy in the sky" image? Check. helmet? Check. Vert? Check. Obnoxious and idiotic cover blurbs? Hell yes—I wrote those too.

This mag came polybagged with free stickers, so the lack of cover blubs in this case was not controversial. This skateboard-less tattoo-covered shirtless Antwuan Dixon image however took a HUGE internal struggle to actually get published. When I saw David Broach's photographs of Antwuan, I knew they had potential to be the perfect "portrait" cover—and our annual photo issue was just the canvas. I can't take credit for taking the photo or even the layout in this case, but the fact this cover even exists is due in no small part to my lighting the fuse and fanning the flames. Art Director Dan Whitely killed it with the layout and logo design. In hindsight, I'm sure it never would have happened if it were not a "special" thirteenth issue, but I'm sure glad it did.

I interviewed Neck Face for the July 2005 issue. People either loved this cover or hated it. I liked it so much that I turned it into a Thrasher t-shirt that is still for sale a decade later. Even though it's one of my all-time favorites, it was admittedly one of the weaker selling newsstand covers that year.

The ONLY cover without ANY blurbs of the 165+ covers I touched during my period managing Thrasher design from 2001-2014. In fact this Andrew Reynolds backside flip photo was only the third cover of more than 400 to ever go blurb-free.

 

Dan Whiteley was the art director of the print mag at this time, and Dan Zaslavsky the photographer. The publisher, circulation team and photo editor hated this cover, but I was able to get the editor and the owners to sign off so here it is.