MAXIM ACROS THE USA SHOCK COP
9-4-06 POST RATED: Maxim, Maxim Magazine, Maxim March 06, Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars, Prema Graham, Ronald Dupuis, Hamtramck, Cover Girl, Maxim Issue 99, Across The Usa, Back Page, Shock Cop, Across the USA
Holy shit kids. It only took close to a hundred assignments but the Art Juggernaut has finally cracked out of the numbered pages and onto the BACK FUCKING PAGE! You might not grasp the significance of this. In the magazine art world there are only a few honorable positions you can achieve. Top honor would be the "Cover Artist" and since MAXIM MAGAZINE (The Number One Men's Lifestyle Magazine In The World) has only ever had one cover illustrated in all the time I can remember (Marge Simpson by Matt Groening) that's not an option.
The second coolest being the back cover, which in Maxim is always a nice glossy ad. So the third coolest to either of those is the back page, and considering option one and two don't exist, that makes the back page the coolest fucking page to illustrate AND NOW IT'S MINE!!!!. . . AT LEAST FOR TWO ISSUES.
It's not that big a deal to a reader of the mag, but it was one of my career goals. When I walked into the Maxim offices back in 02 I hadn't thought too hard on a particular pitch, but my then girlfriend mentioned a comic strip HOLLYWOOD DOGS which was a full page parody comic strip of Reservoir Dogs I wrote and drew back in 99 as a test sample for my portfolio.
See, I grew up reading Details Magazine (back when it was hetero), and I would flip directly to the last page for the new Jamie Hewlett's Tank Girl comic, and after reading that, straight to the Sex Column "Ask Anka."
- ANKA RADAKOVICH, Sex Columnist- when asked about Cojo's artwork.
In the years since Details crumbled I always thought it would be great to do a back page comic. I pitched Hollywood Dogs to THE SOURCE MAGAZINE a few years earlier (I had been the health and fitness artist for The Source from 98-00) but it was a no go.
After The Source passed on it I shelved the idea. My girlfriend at the time suggested I pitch it to Maxim. When I showed them the piece they loved it and mentioned that they had a concept for A DAY IN THE LIFE OF KEVIN COSTNER strip, but didn't have anyone who could execute it the way they wanted, and I would be perfect. I left with the job and a deadline. It printed in the April issue. (I WROTE ABOUT THIS BACK THEN.)
After that strip came to be, I started writing and illustrating regular full page "A DAY IN THE LIFE OF" strips about other celebrities and personalities about 4 times a year. Last year Maxim approached me with the idea of turning A Day In The Life of into a monthly. The back page no less, knocking out BAR EXAM which was a monthly quiz that occupied the back page for the prior 4 (or 6, can't remember) years. I was jazzed on this but didn't want to break the news to my readers till I saw it print to be absolutely sure.
Well, it was a good thing, cause crazy stuff happened. The art director went to another magazine, some of the staff changed around and before the piece could print as the first back page ("A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BRUCE WILLIS"- DRAWN BUT WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY) the whole A Day In The Life of as a back page concept was scrapped.
For a few months a lot of the Maxim freelancers were in limbo with the new staff, but eventually they came around and started calling again. Not that I was for a lack of work, but Maxim is my no.1 consistent world wide commercial client, and I don't like to miss an issue (having been in almost every issue since I started with that fateful April 02 issue).
Well, a little over a year later and lo and behold the back page opened up, and without even knowing, or knowing to ask, they gave me the spot. The new back page for Maxim (the American edition) is titled ACROSS THE USA, and spotlights a bunch of random bizarre, shocking, and weird news stories from all different states-Across The USA. I'm doing the first two, kicking it off, then it will be passed to all different artists with various styles.
THE VERSION THAT GOT CHANGED FOR CROPPING- ALSO NO BEARD
I've done two so far, the first one printing in this new issue. Issue number 99 with Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) on the cover. Next issue is the big MAXIM ISSUE NUMBER 100, so I feel totally honored to be holding down that last page for the 100th book. Hot chick on cover, flip open back cover and you got me. Yeah bitch, you like it like that!
In their words: (from the description on page 12)
ACROSS THE USA
Our brand-new back page celebrates the dumbest feats performed by people across this great yet surprisingly stupid land. (We say that based on the number of police Tasering their partners and mayors using city-owned laptops to cruise gay Internet chat rooms we encountered.) See what you've done, Ohio!
-Cojo
