When Out editor Aaron Hicklin personally invited us to his soiree last night at Bubble Lounge, we immediately blocked out our calendar. It's not that we wanted to go to another event with gays, media types, and champagne all shoved together. Rather, we wanted to see if Hicklin would show up at his own event this time. And did he show? Yes he did, cheekbones and all.
Though it can be difficult to have a serious conversation about a magazine when pretty boys have their shirts nearly unbuttoned and Michael Musto is actually standing still, we wanted to know all about Hicklin's process. Because it's all about process, isn't it folks? For Aaron, his process begins like this: "Picking the cover is a chore." You mean, choosing the hottie your newsstand buyers are going to ogle at is the worst part of the job? For Aaron, 'tis. He's more concerned with putting content "between the covers … that you won't find in Details."
Which is a nice segue into something that's been burning a bigger hole in our heads than sophomore year's E trip: Isn't Out just a gay Details, and isn't Details just a straight Out? And, more importantly, have they ever slept with each other?
The recent attention we threw Hicklin's way had to do with his choice for the September cover — the first issue that's entirely his. An early mockup showed Johnny Knoxville with a coverline quite similar to a Genre issue from last year. The actual version now being distributed? Knoxville's still on the cover, sans mimicky coverline. But the real cause for concern among the gays was why Knoxville is even on the cover. Shouldn't a gay mag feature, you know, gay people? No, insists Hicklin, who says his cover choice was based on Knoxville approaching Out directly – we also hear Knoxville has approached HX – that caused Out's staff to swoon. You wouldn't see Brandon Routh's camp reaching out to the homos, now would you?
And how about someone like Lance Bass, whose coming out earned mixed reactions among the homos. "I don't want Lance," Hicklin says. "By November it [his coming out] will be old news. … Is a coming out story [enough reason to be on a cover]?" Well, the more important question is really "Can Lance Bass sell a magazine?," and we tend to think even his Tigerbeat years are over.
So what's next from Hickin? He wasn't exactly spilling his editorial calendar, but if his repeated insistence that he "didn't grow up with images of sexualized men" is any indication, you can expect plenty of repressed libido to be popping up. At least between the covers.
[Photo: Out editor Aaron Hicklin with Jossip's Corynne Steindler.]
Related: All Out Magazine and Aaron Hicklin coverage
Can someone tell me who is still buying magazines? Ok, if you're stuck in the woods without wifi, a magazine can provide company and a useful source of paper which is better than accidentally using poison ivy. But am I missing something? Who is still reading magazines?
Aaron Hicklin. This is the same man who, last month, ran a BS, apologist, piece on the awful hate bashing/ near-death assaults of two CBS newsmen (Ryan Smith and Dick Jefferson) in St. Maarten.
Apparently, Out was trying to play down what is happening to gays in the Caribbean because it has a cruise line that takes thousands of gay guys to that island all the time and makes lots of $$$$$$$$$$$.
Nice! Trying to make a GAY BASH look like it was a victims fault…when it was probably the mags ads. & news that got them to go in the first place.
Aaron Hicklin and his cheekbones can go fuck himself.
He and his mag need to decide who he is for. Gay men or gay bashers.
Who Reads Magazine's? I do. I subscribe to Out and the Advocate and after a free one year subscription to Instinct that ran out a long time ago still recieve it. Why? Bathroom reading and in bed! I also read while the bf is watching bad television. I still like reading magazines and looking at all the ads.
I read them - for free at Barnes and Noble like everyone else. No one should pay good money to read them; these fagazines are trite, shallow, played-out, etc… In my opinion - and only mine - I think Hicklin is to gay culture what Vanilla Ice is to rap: something to be embarrassed about. I don't like him. I don't trust him. And for some unfathomable reason, I get the feeling that he's straight. Weird, huh?
>>>>>>I don't like him. I don't trust him. And for some unfathomable reason..
Hicklin is not the only thing gay culture should be embarrassed about–you are forgeting about his magazine, OUT.
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