The inner workings of an alt-weekly fall somewhere between a daily paper and a magazine. The cover can’t just be a great photograph with no guts to back it up, but you’d better have a good image or you’ll be gritting your teeth all week. Over ten years and 500 issues, the Charleston City Paper has been adorned with many beautiful works of art, and a few total duds.
The Good
An alt-weekly’s editorial goal is to find the issues people are talking about, gather all the information we can, and let you have it. From parking to politics, presentation is everything. Catch the passer-by’s eye, they pick it up, they learn.
The Bad
Most of the really gawdawful covers showed up in the paper’s tight-budgeted early years, and are clearly products of the ’90s. The standouts:
Skin Sells
T&A on the cover is always a sure bet. We’re not sex-crazed, but we like it.
The Totally Cheeseballin’ Ugly
Here are the covers that slipped through the cracks. You may laugh at us.
Smokin’ Fun in the Art Department Can you find the bong?
Founding art director Andrea Haseley had the most fun designing ads for Granny’s Goodies by hiding a bong in the pictures. See if you can find
the hidden reefer-ences in these.
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