by Trymaine Lee
"We need to talk about KING," the Harris Publications exec told Datwon Thomas, editor-in-chief of XXL magazine and a founder and editorial director of KING, the men's lifestyle magazine. It was early 2009. The economy had tanked and the magazine industry was in a tailspin. Magazines were folding. Advertisers were in full-blown fallout mode. And KING had gone through several rounds of layoffs. The writing was on the wall. The executive told Thomas that KING was unsustainable, that advertising dollars had slowed to a trickle and that the next issue, its 51st, would be its last. KING was done. For nearly eight years, KING, the self-proclaimed "Illest Men's Magazine Ever" had been Thomas' baby and a jewel in the Harris Publications crown...[continued]
