The alleged killer looks dreamy, a kind of celebrity and a martyr. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick says the rock magazine’s moves are cover “out of taste”. The Establishment hate it. Rock on, Rolling Stone.

And you know the image from the front page of the New York Times and pretty much all other newspapers. But whereas they deal in new, Rolling Stone deals in pop culture and sounds. 

The cover line yells:

“The bomber – how a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam and became a monster.”

No trial. No presusmption of innocence. Send the man down. Rock ‘n’ roll.

Better yet, CVS has banned the magazine’s issue “out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones”.

Mindful of this marketing coup, let’s see what some other not-dead-yet magazines are looking to feature on their covers:

Title: NME 

Cover dude: Pol Pot

Headline: The Sultry Misunderstood Genius Behind Cambodia’s Summer of Love

Title: National Geographic:

Cover dude: Idi Amin

Headline: Uganda’s Sexy Soul Brother #1 is Spreading Jungle Fever

Title: Q

Cover dude: Ted Bundy

Headline: 40 Years Later, Ted Bundy Still Makes Girls Scream

Title: Smash Hits

Cover dudd: Jimmy Savile

Headline: World’s swooniest DJ was ahead of his time

Headline: Jeffrey Dahmer was Right: How Cannibalism can Save the Earth from Climate Change.

Title: Conde Naste Traveller

Headline: Leaving on a jet plane: the Mohammed Atta story

Spotter: Iowahawk, Brian hinkle,  Brit Abroad ‏