Yesterday the world's first e-ink magazine cover made its debut in front of an excited media. The cover was unveiled in honor of Esquire Magazine's 75th anniversary, bearing the flashing words "The 21st Century Begins Now." It's an interesting piece of technology paid for by a Ford ad that flashes on the magazine's inside cover.

To be completely honest, I wasn't especially excited by it when I saw it today. Like any other first go at a new technology, the results are a bit disappointing. Once we got the thing in our hands, however, there was only one thing to do: take the thing apart.

Check out all of the gory pictures, after the jump.

Taking the proper precautions is, of course, essential to any surgical procedure.

The e-ink technology is sandwiched between two pieces of cover stock and a foam backing, making it extra sturdy.

Success. The inside Ford ad is on the bottom. The outer layer of plastic is on the left, with an image of the car. The image overlays on top of the e-ink backing (note that the e-ink is entirely black white. The e-ink panel is attached to a circuit board.

The full e-ink insert pulled out of the magazine. Front cover is on top, the inside Ford ad on the bottom, currently flipped backward. Both pieces draw power from a central circuit board.

This thing requires a ton of batteries. According to Esquire, the cover should keep flashing for up to 240 days.

While still inside the cover, sandwiched between two pieces of cover stock, plastic, and foam inserts, it's hard to get a good idea of just how flexible the thing is. It's tough, too we gave it a couple of good whackings with a hammer, to no avail.

Peeling back the outer layer of the e-ink. There's a metal backing beneath the ink. The metal seeps through at points, to designate borders between flashing sections. The blade in the shot is scraping off a small section of ink.

We thought it wasn't fair for Esquire to be the only magazine on stands this October with e-ink love, so we hacked up a one-off of the latest issue of PC Mag. Eat it, Esquire.