What was this cover’s inspiration?  Hint: Famous Boxer after the jump!

The “third iconic cover we chose to re-create for our seventy-fifth anniversary was itself a re-creation.

Based on Francesco Botticini’s fifteenth-century painting of the Christian martyr Saint Sebastian, the April 1968 cover depicted a persecuted Muhammad Ali, who had been stripped of his heavyweight title after refusing to serve in the Vietnam War.

Now we turn to another great martyr, Stephen Colbert.  He’s dealt with having one of the most popular shows on TV.  More horrible than that, he’s a white man.  And he’s been one his entire life.  To hear him tell it, that’s the worst kind of martyrdom, there is,” according to Esquire.

And while the inspiration for their recreation does hold water, the idea is slightly less unique.  Radar did this back in Sept. 2005 with Tom Cruise to illustrate his persecution for being a Scientologist.  Maer Roshan even had the original designer,  George Lois, create it.

 Posted by: Mark Pasetsky

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