Here is Complex‘s cover. Here you can see they have T.I. covered with a bunch of wires or something. High-contrast black and white. Art.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the publishing spectrum, here is the King of the South looking damn smoove with cigar in hand. Yes, we adapted it from a movie still, but it works well. I think that we are able to stand on our own:

For the record, the Complex story is a Q+A. I, on the other hand, actually wrote a full-length feature about T.I. (and his love for cigars) based on a 20-minute phone conversation he was nice enough to do with me for my tiny little magazine. Not to toot my horn, but I think it’s pretty good.

(toot.)

I’ll put it up here when our issue is off the shelves.

I don’t want to sound bitter, but roughly one kazillion more people are going to read the Complex feature than will read mine. But they should really consider my story. I’m of the opinion that magazine Q+As are the written-word’s equivalent of Terminator  Salvation: there’s lots of things happening, it seems like something interesting should be going on. But in the end, there is no there there, and then we all die a little more inside as a result. And I’m not going to argue that interviewing isn’t an art. It is.  But, when I buy a magazine, I’m hoping for the opportunity to learn about the person on the cover—and I get that through a good writer’s descriptions of how they speak, small vignettes of how the subject reacts with their entourage, or observations of how their face looked at different points during the conversation. Little moments. Things that won’t come through in some summer intern’s transcription. I want something that will captivate and challenge me for the duration of my subway ride and/or extended shit.

Just saying, I enjoy a good feature piece.