I was just talking with my posse over at other magazine about sadly-deceased publications of the 1990s. Many zines were mourned, as were brainsploitation mags like Hermenaut and *Lingua Franca. *Then our thoughts turned to Suck and Feed and Word and all those other mid-1990s "Web publications" which seemed so groovy at the time but had no real business models. Suck, in fact, was produced right here in the land of Wired online. (Called HotWired back then -- so hip and dot-commie!)
I think what most of us remember about Suck, however, isn't so much the content. Sure, the stories were funny, meandering down the middle of the page in stream-of-consciousness rants full of teeny pictures and hotlinks (which were really cutting-edge back in 1996). What we remember most about Suck is Carl Steadman, the pub's co-founder. He was emo before emo, and a Weblebrity before Weblebrities -- and he posed in his underwear for a photoshoot that became the hottest thing online in the mid-1990s.
Steadman wore several cute pairs of boxers, and was himself quite comely. But that wasn't what made the photos so meme-tastic. They simply came at the right time in digital history. First of all, the glamor pics said that geek boys could be hot; and second they proved that geek boys could become sex symbols like rock stars, rather than success symbols like Bill Gates. Plus, this was an era when the media world was awakening to the idea that it's just as fun to objectify men as it is to objectify women. (Think of it as the pre-history of the metrosexual.) Steadman's underwear pictures encapsulated all these trends. He was a sexy Web rock star who loved to be objectified. Long live Steadman! Especially in his underwear!
