it was probably inevitable. with hillary clinton and donald trump battling for the presidency, spy magazine is returning to chronicle every daily twist and turn of the campaign<u+2019>s final stretch. in its new iteration, spy is resurfacing as a short-lived digital pop-up that will be available on esquire magazine<u+2019>s website, esquire.com. the new edition launched tuesday and will last appear on election day. esquire is owned by closely-held hearst corp. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re pleased to do a quick sprint,<u+201d> said david carey, president of hearst magazines. <u+201c>you never know where something like this may lead.<u+201d> spy, a raucous humor magazine, was co-founded in 1986 by graydon carter, now editor of vanity fair; author kurt andersen, and tom phillips. in its day spy lampooned many of the rich and famous, describing mr. trump as a <u+201c>short-fingered vulgarian<u+201d> and portraying mrs. clinton on the february 1993 cover as clad in a leather dominatrix outfit. the publication was sold in 1994 to investor jo colman, chief executive and owner of psychology today. mr. colman closed spy in 1998 but retained ownership. mr. colman said that he has licensed spy to hearst corp. for the length of the digital edition. the new spy has a staff of four led by special projects editor josh wolk. it is launching with six to eight stories. going forward, spy hopes to publish as many as five original pieces daily. wieden & kennedy is overseeing advertising. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a fearless project and we<u+2019>re happy to be involved,<u+201d> said colleen decourcy, global executive creative director, via an email. mr. andersen said in an interview that he<u+2019>s among those contributing to the first day<u+2019>s edition. <u+201c>i wish it well,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s amazing that it<u+2019>s back in the picture.<u+201d> mr. andersen<u+2019>s piece is in the form of an introductory letter to readers. fans can expect to find new versions of such classic spy features as <u+201c>separated at birth<u+201d> and <u+201c>logrolling in our time.<u+201d> some original spy stories may also be republished. <u+201c>there may be a lot of humor surrounding this election, but there<u+2019>s ample room for spy<u+2019>s special appreciation of the absurd,<u+201d> said jay fielden, who became esquire<u+2019>s editor-in-chief last april after having served as editor of sister magazine town & country. <u+201c>spy<u+2019>s past dovetails with the rise of the two people running for president. it will be a fact-based journalistic satire digitally reimagined.<u+201d> mr. fielden, who remains editorial director of town & country, added that nov. 8 will be the edition<u+2019>s last day <u+201c>unless there are any hanging chads.<u+201d> write to jeffrey a. trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
<u+2018>spy<u+2019> magazine returns as digital pop-up - wsj
jeffrey a. trachtenberg