Each issue of SKIN&INK poses an intriguing, monthly challenge: how to fill the pages. It's not like a newspaper, where the activities of the day dictate content. A four-alarm fire in a yoyo factory? Great! Page one, with a picture. Troops coming home from Iraq? Banner headline, 72-point type. Instead, SKIN&INK is content-driven. In other words, we build each issue using carefully selected ingredients.

Back when we started 1997, our resources were meager, to say the least. Forget the luxury to pick and choose. Even so, with barely two weeks' notice, we pulled together a crew. In some cases, that meant telling a tattooist who had never written before, "You can do it, baby," and hoping for the best. We worked to build a team. Even shorthanded, our first issue showcased a feature on Paul Rogers and another on Eddy Deutsche's 222 in San Francisco's Mission District. Dottie and R.J. Musolf pitched in, as did Hope Urban (on Borneo), Brad Buckin (on tattoos in movies), Pote Seyler (wearing only an oak leaf and ink by Filip Leu) and Permanent Mark (and his rowdies at the Hanky Panky museum in Amsterdam).

Several contributors have been with us for a decade. Bruce Litz (the illustrator for Capt. Eddie) was on the job from the start. The newest of the bunch, Mr. G, has just three columns under his belt.

Each comes with a different viewpoint. And now we can pick and choose only the most colorful, entertaining and informative articles-just like our contributors.

Take this issue, for example: Matty writes a column about custom irons, Mr. G and Chinchilla's share their tattoo memorabilia museum, Tim Coleman covers Bombshell Betty's pinup modeling workshop, Aaron Bell interviews two young Japanese hand-pokers, Charles Gatewood conjures up some tattoo magic, Lars Krutak unravels the symbology of Haida tribal crests, Jeff Davidson shoots tattooed sneakers, Mick travels to the Philippines, Patty Kelley paints our Legends poster and New York City's Maury Englander visits the Greenwich Village Gay Rights Parade. Plus, of course, Readers' Gallery, Spotlight, Q&A, Travelin' Mick, Our Living History, An Artist's Life, SKIN&INK Dolls, Big Ten Questions and Bakaty's World.

And every thirty days, we start all over again.

Bob Baxter
Editor in Chief

baxter@skin&ink.com
www.skinandink.com