The 5 Best Paste Magazine Covers of the Decade

We’ve already looked at the Best Debut Novels, the Best Movie Soundtracks and the Best Music Videos. Before we end this Best of the Decade month at Paste, we thought we’d look inward to some of our own favorite moments. These are my five favorite covers in our history that began earlier this decade:

5. Issue 47, October ’08, The Violence Issue
For October, we decided to devote an entire issue to exploring violence in the arts, in all its complexity. With stories on crime photographer Weegee, slapstick comedy, video-game violence and the responsibility that comes with creating violent art. Nothing screamed “cover image,” but design director José Reyes came up with the idea for shattered glass, and photographer Greg Slater brought it to wonderful fruition.

4. Issue 13, December ‘04/January ’05, Wes Anderson
Director Wes Anderson wasn’t interested in a photo shoot, but we thought that one thing more recognizable than his face was his brother Eric Anderson’s iconic drawings for all of Wes’ Criterion Collection movies. Eric not only agreed to draw Wes with Bill Murray and Owen Wilson, he also drew inset images of R.E.M. and Neko Case. The issue also featured Tom Waits, making it one of my favorite inside as well.

3. Issue 30, April ‘07, Modest Mouse
In creating our 30th issue of Paste, we learned that the guys of Modest Mouse are really good sports. To capture the band “floating,” Paste photographer Pier Nicola d’Amico shot each of them jumping at Primus Studio in New York. “With Isaac and the band, all I knew at the time was that I wanted to get some shots that lack gravity—so we got a crash pad and trampoline,” d’Amico says, noting that the extensive post-production work from illustrator Chuck Anderson seasoned the nautical theme with “celestial overtones.” But apparently Modest Mouse should investigate adding trampolines to its tour riders. “That was the most fun we’ve had on a photo shoot!” says bandleader Isaac Brock.

2. Issue 40, March ‘08, Michael Jackson glove
Before Michael Jackson’s death, even before he had planned his comeback tour, Paste managing editor Nick Marino had penned this essay about what was lost when our American culture became fragmented—as much as we appreciate what was gained. We searched for replica gloves, but nothing seemed worthy of putting on a cover. Instead we commissioned the artist Mizzae to create one for Greg Slater to photograph. I like the juxtaposition of the sparkling glove on the inside with the faded one inside. We were surprised to see a video at SXSW of someone recreating the whole process of us creating the cover in a short film.

1. Issue 56, September ‘09, Where the Wild Things Are
Our first idea was to photograph Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers and put them with images of the monsters from the film, but Spike Jonze didn’t want the movie monsters to exist out of the context he’d created for them—something we could respect. And as Charles McNair’s cover story became more about the enduring nature of the book than the film, it became clear that we should take our cues from the original. We had illustrator Stephen Purnell start with a shadow of Max before he designed the silhouette, which I loved. But my favorite part by far was seeing the “PASTE” masthead done monster-style. This is also, unsurprisingly, my kids’ favorite Paste cover.