•Q Magazine: Jackson Unmasked: Inside his Mad, Bad World

This UK music monthly could probably do with a surgical mask to cover up its embarrassment after it was unable to withdraw its July edition from hitting the stands after MJ’s death. While the editor has issued a sheepish apology stating, “no offence was intended” by the feature, the unusually frank portrait of the pop icon—which the photographer reportedly had 90 seconds to shoot in the magazine’s London office—can easily be titled Dorian Gray, 2009. Michael’s sunken cheeks and sallow, blotchy skin give him a cadaverous look while his oddly knotty nose looks like a say-no-to-rhinoplasty warning. The photograph has already invited media comment. The Daily Star, for example, notes: “The warts-and-all shot appears to show the heavy toll addictions to prescription drugs, crash dieting and plastic surgery took on the tragic star”. Only Michael’s eyes remain inaccessible, hidden behind dark glasses, like a silent reminder that not everything about him can be known.

•Rolling Stone: Not Like Other Guys

Pointing out that “tragic wages-of-fame stories are a dime a dozen”, music journalist and author Rob Sheffield eloquently chronicles how “of the many weird things about Michael Jackson, the weirdest will always be the music”. Sometimes in a positive way, sometimes not. Even in Thriller, “anyone could hear how weird and wounded he was, yet there was something heroic in the way he turned his psychosexual agonies into such impossibly exuberant music—you could hear it in the irreplicable whoops and hiccups and glides of his voice”. But as his personal life plummeted, so did his music. “...as he got older, his music got heavy and ordinary, and his voice lost that wiggle and bounce— by the time he started calling himself the King of Pop in 1991, it was a kingdom that didn’t exist anymore, and he seemed like the only one who didn’t realise it.”

•The China Post: Michael an icon in Taiwan

A household name in Taiwan ever since the ‘70s, the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson were popular here “from the days when the radio station now known as ICRT was operated by the US armed forces”. With a tinge of pride, the editorial points out, “Remarkably, Jackson also happened to be in Taiwan when news broke about him being accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch. When the news hit, Jackson locked himself in his hotel room at a fancy Taipei hotel and family members came to Taiwan to defend his reputation, making worldwide headlines.” According to music magazine publisher Yu Kuang, says the article, Jackson’s wish to perform in mainland China was never fulfilled but he “stayed close friends with fans in Taiwan”.

•Hurriyet Daily News: Reflecting on Man in the Mirror

In an indication of how huge Jackson is in Turkey, the paper recalls how the song Black and White cut into the regular broadcast of a TV channel as ‘breaking news’ in 1991. A writer from Turkish music magazine Blue Jean points out in the article, “He was not just a pop icon, he was a symbol of the Western culture...In Eastern countries, listening to him was a way to ‘go West.’” Turkish websites dedicated to the icon were overflowing with messages such as “You left me, Michael—my mother, my father, my friend, my everything. What can I do now?”

•Showbizspy.com: Did Martin Bashir Kill Michael Jackson?

Was it an overdose? Was it a heart attack? Or was it TV journalist Martin Bashir? According to gossip blog Show Biz Spy, it was the “unforgivable” 2003 ITV documentary Living with Michael Jackson that led to the singer’s unravelling. Bashir had interviewed the usually reclusive Jackson over a span of eight months, befriending the singer along the way. The final interview, however, focused firmly on the ‘wacko’ part of the “Wacko Jacko” epithet, particularly Jackson’s love for hosting children in his Neverland ranch, leading to some controversy over Bashir’s interviewing and editing methods. “Watching the last part of the documentary is especially moving, as the ‘King of Pop’ has to explain himself regarding Bashir’s awkward questioning on Jackson’s children. (He pleads) ‘love’ is being lost in the world, and his emotion perhaps cites his own childhood woes...So, is this what eventually killed him? A constant loss of trust that disillusioned Jackson with anyone close-by.” Comments on the site seem to agree with this sympathetic view, with one reader remarking “Martin Bashir has Michael’s blood on his hand”.