This is the issue where we “come of age”, so to speak. You can really see how slick we’re getting, what with the neatly spaced-out columns and the restrained word count. There’s still too much to handle material-wise, but we really can’t help it – if our investors would let us, we’d cram it all in ’til the pages were blacked out. Anyway, what’s in this issue? Interviews with OZ magazine founder Richard Neville (excellent!), celebrity garbologist A.J. Weberman, specials on fake tattoos, novelty specs and juvenile delinquent films, plus articles on why Bono is actually not that bad (read it and weep) and Devolution: Why Everything Is Ugly In The World. Featured artists including Michelle Hanlin, Cybele Cox and Agatha Goethe-Snape, and a sci-fi inspired fashion shoot Sputnik isn’t even all of it. Oh, there’s just too much.

Public Opinion says:

When a truly amusing, irreverent magazine with a darkly twisted aesthetic comes along it is reason to celebrate. Described as an irreverent pop culture, fashion and art magazine, DUKE was created by Sydney artists Raquel Welch and Emily Hunt as an expression of all things counter-culture; counter-culture to the point of decidedly odd. An energetic take on the usual pop culture irony and cynicism, the magazine is iconoclastic and wickedly satirical and as refreshing as a dominatrix in a convent.

-- Anonymous. No it wasn’t us!

Some would describe the creators of DUKE, Emily Hunt and Raquel Welch, as self-absorbed. Others would say self-absorbed is not even where you would begin describing the narcissism involved in DUKE’s creation. A big culture shock for those who read Cosmo and the like, it is most entertaining all the same and will keep you enthralled for days.

-- Fork Magazine

Back issues available online.