When I saw the cover of this week’s paper, I just assumed the whole thing was photshopped together. Sexy Scott was obviously photographed in one place (maybe in the cage at his go-go dancing job?), sexy Cassandra was snapped in another, that weird obese corgi was adorable clipart and it was all layered over with some fake-wood font.

68e9/1236901728-9-41-cover.jpg

Then I stopped into art director Justin “Scrappers” Morrison’s office and noticed the giant wooden “SEX” cutout in the window. Scrappers broke two jigsaws carving the entire title and Portland Mercury logo from wood. “You’re insane!” I said, “Why would you do that?! You could have just photoshopped it.” Scrappers smiled. “I know,” he said. He then proceeded to show me the hilarious outtakes of the nude shoot, just to prove everyone was really all there together. The fatty corgi, which is Scott’s by the way, just wouldn’t cooperate!

cc63/1236893834-sexy-out-take-3.jpg

Portland Mercury: Never underestimate what we will do for art or sex.

More outtakes photos below the cut.

06b1/1236893857-sexy-out-take1.jpg

2ec0/1236893879-sexy-out-take-2.jpg

the blue flowers hide the money bits.

Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.

12 replies on “This Week’s <i>Mercury</i> Cover is 100% Real, Baby.”

  1. I analyzed it pretty closely after I picked up a copy, and could tell it was all real. And I appreciated that.

    Except I thought the Mercury logo was faked. Thanks!

  3. Two jigsaws.
    Craftsmen brand=Crapsmen brand.
    And yeah, haste does make waste.
    But what the fuck, I was on a tight schedule.

  6. nice work! That type of authenticity goes a long way. Like the 3D MFNW logo or the PDX Funbook logo. Besides, Jigsaws are much more fun to break than Photoshop.

  9. Nice tits, Cassandra. I mean that in the most respectful way. And a very courageous smile, considering the circumstances. Would it be asking too much to inquire if you’ve ever considered Suicide Girls?

  10. Wait, where is the NSFW version?

    (And we all know why Scrappers went to all this trouble: If you are gonna photoshop some pictures together, the people can just send them in, but if you are gonna do it real, the models have to show up, and you have to position them and deal with the dog, and there is a lot of time to check out some hot ass, well, ass.)

Comments are closed.