When the May issue of Esquire arrived in the mail today, I found George Clooney staring up at me. I’m not yet sure what project he’s plugging, as I’ve only just begun skimming through it. Maybe he’s only there to tell us “How to Be a Man,” which is the theme for the issue.

Here he is.

As I paged through the issue, however, I noticed that not only did it feel stiffer than usual in my hands, but there were two perforated lines running horizontally across the middle of the cover, one above and one below Clooney’s nose. Small type at the far right of the narrow strip in the middle suggested that I “lift and separate.” So I did, and here’s what I found.

When I peeled back that center strip, a different nose was revealed, and then a new chin, and finally a completely new second cover, this one featuring Barack Obama.

But that wasn’t the end of it! I saw an additional set of perforations, and when I began peeling back again, here’s what I found:

Again, a new nose, a new chin, then new eyes, only this time, it’s Justin Timberlake.

It stops there, but obviously, the editors hope we’ll start playing mix and match. Here’s one of the many possibilities—Clooney eyes, Obama nose, Timberlake chin:

That’s all the blending I can bear tonight without causing myself nightmares, though, so if you want to fool around further with this experimental cover, you’ll have to go out and buy your own issue!

This is the second time in recent months that Esquire has fooled around with a peel-back cover. I’m guessing the additional advertising space is profitable for them, but whatever the reason, I find them interesting. I do wonder, though, whether newsstands are littered with damaged, unsold issues which people have shredded and left behind.