Empire magazine is a movie magazine which usually pays homage to one main movie or character from within a new movie. This cover in particular is more eye-catching than most movie and certainly lifestyle magazines on display alongside.
The masthead is its usual red shade, which assists the regular audience in recognising the magazine from afar. This edition of the magazine is focusing on the movie 'HellBoy 2', and the masthead has been edited effectively to appear as if it is flaming or on fire. This of course can be linked to the main sell-line promoting the 'HellBoy 2' movie- as hell is heavily associated with fire and pain. However from an advertising perspective it could be said that the magazine is so 'hot' or popular that it is selling rapidly. Thus suggesting that the information or articles within are 'on fire' and possible audiences need to buy it.
The more unusual positioning of the date and price, is placed above the letter 'M' in the masthead. The words and digits mimic the triangular dip of the letter 'M' which makes the magazine appear more elegant and carefully planned in contrast to the flaming masthead that rests below it. As most magazines in modern societies, 'Empire' advertises their website address on the front cover of the magazine, so if an audience member cannot access the magazine, they can go online at any time and find out more.
As with most well established magazines, Empire has the main character in front of the masthead, showing that it is well enough recognised for the magazine to afford to advertise the movie even further. The flaming masthead behind the characters head reinforces the idea of hell and implies that the movie 'HellBoy 2' will possibly be set in hell. The image of the character is presumed to be 'the devil' or certainly evil takes up the majority of the cover of the magazine. The devil is thought to have two horns on his head and this character does indeed have two circular bumps on his head appear to be a type of horn that has been sawed off, reinforcing the idea that he is the devil or trying to hide that he is the devil and evil. His skin is coloured red, linking back to the idea of hell or of this character being the devil. The expression the character is wearing is hard and threatening in a controlled manner. The fact that his teeth are showing presents the character as animalistic and ready to attack anyone, while the characters left hand over his large armoured hand is reminiscent of a evil business man contemplating wether to let the victim go free. The characters appears to be muscular and therefore strong, allowing the audience to know that he is an important character in the movie and will feature heavily in the movie and possibly the magazine.
The layout of the magazine follows the usual conventions of magazines, as the main sell-lines are on the left hand third of the magazine- where the eye is drawn to first. The layout is simple compared to some movie magazines, as the cover is not crowded or cluttered but the space is used effectively. The dark background contrasts well with the red flaming masthead and red character, as well as assists in making the sell-lines stand out and easier to read. The target audience for most movie magazines are male, the simple layout and large, colourful and eye-catching image support this as men tend to like simple, non-confusing things. All of the text on the cover is clean, bold and easy to read, which contrasts with the striking masthead- this however is a good technique as the simple text is more likely to drawn more audience members towards buying and reading the magazine. A puff is included on the right side of the magazine reading '40 movies that will get you sex!' this suggests that the target audience are predominantly male as they are drawn easily to topics such as this. The sell-line 'Natalie Portman Vs. Scarlett Johansson, well who would you choose?' also supports the idea that the magazine is aimed at males as they are likely to admire the actresses and the informal tone the magazine has is also a positive for male readers.
The use of iconography is contradictory as the devil character has rosary beads wrapped around his wrist. The two represent total opposites of religion, which people turn to in times of need and worry. Religion is also focused upon in a lot of horror movies, which implies further that 'HellBoy 2' is in fact a horror movie. The words 'First Look' are highlighted with a dull golden colour which matches the puff, this infers that the information in the puff will also be brand new. The phrase 'you and whose golden army', carries an informal and sarcastic tone and a challenge is almost presented to the male target audience who are likely to take it up.
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