Winter:  For the second year in a row, the Winter cover was a major change from the others.

This time it would also be a harbinger of things to come as hand artwork was dispensed with and replaced with original photography for the very first time.  It would be a while before we'd see another hand drawn cover.  There would also be no more mini-covers from this point on.

The cover photo came to us through a series of accidents - quite literally.

Someone photographed the aftermath of a van crashing into three NYNEX payphones in New York City.  But we couldn't just print that.

The official 2600 dog, Walter, had gotten hit by a car in October, so we added him into the photo even though he'd never even been to New York City.

And the van which crashed into the phones wasn't a phone company van and certainly wasn't ours.  That was another change - the original van was blue.

And so, our first Photoshopped cover was born.  (Walter, while never regaining full mobility, was nursed back to health and would live another three and a half years.  Medical bills were paid with the help of 2600 supporters who got a Walter t-shirt in exchange.)