Unseen 'OO7'
In 2003 ‘OO7’ Magazine launched an all-new look with its Special Die Another Day issue #41. But before the issue we all know arrived in our mailboxes, publisher, editor and designer Graham Rye considered a very different approach. Now CBn gets a peek inside the ‘OO7’ Magazine design studio at two unused covers for issue #41, with the story behind the story from Graham Rye himself.
“Prisoner 007” cover
Pierce & Halle cover
Final cover of issue 41
I was originally going to run with two different covers for issue #41. The Pierce and Halle cover was going out through our distributors, and the “Prisoner oo7” cover was the design to be received by JBIFC subscribers — or the other way round — I can’t remember which. It’s a real shame it didn’t come to pass, because we had the jump on everyone with, what I liked to call, “the hairy Bond” shot. Unfortunately it was not to be.
The reason neither of the cover designs were used was because it was at the time that everything came crashing down around my head and The JBIFC closed down. Issue #40 (January 2002) had been the last issue published, and it would prove to be a full 20 months until the Die Another Day issue #41 would be appear, by which time of course, the fact that Bond/Brosnan was incarcerated was old news.
In the past I very rarely had the luxury of mocking up alternative covers for the same issue, and usually went with what first came to hand. Only since issue #41 onwards do I now have the time to bother with different cover concepts, but it’s usually my first choice that makes the final cover. I also re-designed the magazine logo as a block that could be positioned anywhere (within reason) on the cover, as this allows for a far greater selection of images to be used as a cover picture.
To learn about the colorful history of ‘OO7’ Magazine and how the magazine is put together, please read The Graham Rye CBn Interview. Visit the official ‘OO7’ Magazine website to purchase the latest issue, SUBSCRIBE, or back issues.