Inked Magazine

I was in Barnes & Nobles the other day with my roommate looking through the magazine rack when she pointed out a mag tittled Inked in classic Gothic font and Diablo Cody on the cover. I am a total mag monster, I read everything from ELLE and VOGUE to TATTOO and Juxtaposition so I bought it. And it was one of the best tattoo magazines I have ever bought.

A lot of the tattoo magazines I have read are usually packed with images of tattoos all themed by body placement or artists with the occasional articles about feature artists and recent conventions. They are usually more of a book of designs than an actual magazine. But Inked has a good mix of solid articles and interviews all about music, travel, fashion and people all connected through tattoos.

The September issue has Diablo Cody (Juno, United States of Tara) on the cover sporting a pin-up tattoo on her arm and the 'yes' scripted on the inner wrist and the interview was just as nice. It covered everything from her current projects to her ink as well as how she view her critics and the success of Juno . Till this interview, I never know who was behind Juno or that she was doing a horror movie starring Megan Fox (who has one of the best Marilyn Monroe tattoos I have ever seen) as a cannibal cheerleader, talk about maneater.

My favorite article was "The Art of War" which was all about a soldier who is serving in Iraq who, randomly began to tattoo his fellow soldiers on base. Usually can't get into articles about the Iraq war because I am totally against it and most take and outsider view, this article is through his voice. He lays out why he went into the army and his experience in the war. The article does a great job of painting the picture and keeping true to this soldier voice, they don't edit the curses out and it seems as if your there listening to his story. I thought it was cool that he began to tattooing because another soldier was bored with no missions to do and asked he to ink him. It really shows how tattoos are a form of escapism for many of those who are fighting the war as will as a medium to honor a friend.

All in all, Inked is a really good magazine for anyone who may not have a full bodysuit but is really interested in tattoos as well as art, fashion and music. It does a great job in connecting all these different subjects with tattoo art. Oh, p.s, this mag has some hot eye candy for both boys and girls.