Life to fold, be reborn as glorious online photo archive

When writing about riveting magazine covers last week, another idea that popped into my head was Life's über-famous photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on VJ-Day. That photo has so possessed the public imagination, how could it not be one of the top contenders? Well, turns out it was never on the cover! Alas.

Sadly, Life (a cousin publication to Business 2.0) will never have a riveting image on the cover again, as it will cease publication as of April 20th issue. Not that this is the first time Life's life has ended; it was first shuttered in 1972, and then again in 2000. The difference this time is that rather than ceasing to be altogether, it will become a free online archive of its 10 million photos. Free!

Until that happens, poke around Life's online cover archive to see some examples of why it became such a photographic phenomenon. Also, try putting in some random keywords to see what comes up! The results can be pretty strange.