MAY 2000 — EDITOR'S COMMENT
Imagine! It has been exactly three years since the May 1997 issue of "the new" Skin & Ink hit the newsstands. Man, do I remember the nasty mail we got when we changed the format! For five years previous to our arrival, Skin & Ink mainly featured lengthy tattoo convention photo-spreads and picture stories about artists' girlfriends. To be quite honest, much of the photography was excellent, thanks to the ongoing contributions of Jan Seeger. So, when we began offering four times the words to read and a raft of new photographers, Jan fans got unhinged. Especially since the first issue included the vitriolic vituperations of Mr. Joe Vegas, with his classic, untethered critique of the 5th Annual Inkslingers Ball. I must say, thanks to Joe's tainted tongue, our new logo, a groundbreaking, sepia-toned cover of Mrs. Ted Hamilton, our refusal to accept tattoo supply ads and no Jan Seeger, Skin & Ink became the hot topic of conversation in Tattooville.
The truth is, many longtime readers of the magazine went ballistic. The postman had to deliver the mail with asbestos gloves. But, I must say, a few brave hearts actually liked what they saw. I mean, where else could they find a full-length, front-and-back color photo of Pote Seylor wearing only an oak leaf? What other tattoo magazine offered Merde of the Month, which spotlighted bad tattoo art? In fact, the feature on the Paul Rogers Research Center, with that great photo of Paul and all his memorabilia, drew raves.
Bunny got her first tattoo in Episode One of Gripper Pendragon's fictionalized account of a young, Catholic girl's harrowing adventures involving Bing cherries tattooed on her bum. Eddy Deutsche allowed us access to his newly opened 222 Tattoo in San Francisco, and Skin & Ink Babes featured five women and one man in an homage to our publisher Larry Flynt's centerfold format.
A trademark cartoon strip seemed a natural, so mustachioed Bruce Litz made his bow with Captain Eddie. Brad Bucklin's Tattoos in Cinema featured a great full-pager of Robert De Niro's jailhouse ink in Cape Fear, and Rod Steiger as the Illustrated Man. Hope Urban visited Borneo with photos by Clarence Williams, and, of course, Permanent Mark got us off to a fast start at the Berlin Tattoo Convention by interviewing Hanky Panky, Running Bear, Mao, Frank Weber, Spider Webb, Marco Leone, Little Vinnie, Tin-Tin and Steve Bonge.
A lot has happened in three years. C.W. Eldridge, Zeke Owen, Holly Tuesday, Ed Hardy, Danielle Oberolser and Danny Fowler are regular columnists. Our major feature writers include Mike McCabe, R.J. Musolf, Tim Coleman, Paul Sayce, Permanent Mark, Lucky Bastard, Pat Fish, Lal Hardy, Hanky Panky and C.G. Morris. Our photographers are the amazing Charles Gatewood, Rob Webster, Maury Englander, John Wyatt, William Young Jr., Bernard Clark, Dahlan Netsch and Dianne Mansfield.
We've dodged most of the tomatoes hurled at us, stood by our convictions and humbly established our place in the ever-changing world of tattoo art. To our dedicated readers, thank you. We trust that our parallax view of tattooing both entertains and enlightens you. It is due to your heartfelt comments and support of Skin & Ink that we celebrate this, our 19th issue, with pride and satisfaction.
—Bob Baxter
Editor in Chief