Remember When?: GQ covers, Part II: 2008 and 2009.

Getting right on with it, Part II to our Remember When?: GQ covers series will take a look at 2008 and 2009, where we see the emergence of a trend towards catering to teeny boppers and the "let's put half naked women on the cover in a desperate attempt to raise sales while giving no regard to our integrity" syndrome.  Some of these must have sold quite well, because as we saw in Part I, there are a fair number of repeats in a short period of time (see: Tatum, LBJ, LaBeouf, Franco...all dudes who appeal to young people...coincidence?).  Enjoy.

January 2008.  Hmm. Questionable, as is Brolin's go-to-outfit, the dark shirt/sark suit combo.  But it's the first issue of the year, so we'll let them have this one.

February 2008.  See, we let them off easy in January, and this is what we get for February.  Sex sells.  Teeny boppers buy magazines.  Talk about fleeting fame...

March 2008.  Is Bana badass?  Yes.  Does he have fashion sense? Yes.  Good job, GQ.

April 2008.  God forbid they have two legit covers in a row.  I think you know what category this falls under...

May 2008.  Very timely choice, and he has a very original style, which is always good.

June 2008.  While definitely not deserving of two covers in such close succession, he deserved one, maybe.  Maybe.

July 2008.  Do I need to say anything?  At least she's a fashion model, I guess...

August 2008.  Comedians rarely have style, of course, so it's tough to fault them here, but the real question is...why do a "comedy issue" at all?

September 2008.  An exception to the 'comedians rarely have style' statement. 

October 2008.  Give them some credit; they went two straight issues without a female sex object on the cover!  This one was due.

November 2008.  Definitely NOT an exception to 'comedians rarely have style' statement.

December 2008.  No complaints here.  Even some of the other cover boys this month, such as Obama and Jon Hamm, were decent picks.  Oh, they also had Michael Phelps on the cover? Oh...

January 2009.  Ah, the infamous Rachel Getting Naked cover.

February 2009.  LBJ, always a good choice.  Probably why they use him so often.

March 2009.  Another solid choice.  Wow, two in a row.  Timberlake is a prime example of how building a personal style is a process.

April 2009.  You might be surprised by this, but no, I have no complaints.  Despite his filmography, Pattinson is genuinely talented and has both fashion sense and style influence.  That hair alone makes him deserving of the cover.  Three legit picks in a row for GQ, are we possibly seeing the turning of the tide to the good ol' days?

May 2009.  There goes that theory.  Teeny bopper placation if I've ever seen it.  The ONLY thing Efron had done at this point was catered to 12-and-unders.  So he's on the cover of a men's magazine because...?   

June 2009.  Bale had a temper tantrum that became an international sensation, so let's put him on the cover, despite the fact that he is sartorially barren (when dressing himself, that is...Patrick Bateman is awesome, of course).

July 2009.  I'm torn.  On the one hand, this is obviously deeply disturbing, but on the other, at least this is suitable punishment for all those men who bought a subscription based solely on the January 2009 cover...

August 2009.  Deserving of two covers inside 18 months?  No.  Deserving of one?  Maybe...

September 2009.  OK, he died, so people want to read about him.  Give the people what they want, I guess.  At least they somewhat recognize that he hasn't been culturally relevant for decades (schadenfreude aside, of course).

October 2009.  We haven't seen a half-naked woman grace the cover since January (although July came close), so I guess it's about time...

November 2009.  GQ trying to make up for lost time...two in two months.  A least the interview was actually interesting...

December 2009.  I forgive GQ all its prior faults; awesome cover.