Thanks for the extra pics.. haven't seen those ones before
I did find the following piece of info some time ago:
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And here's the complete story of the Boy cover.
There is an interview around the time of the Joshua Tree tour where Bono talks about this. The boy was a kid who lived across the street in front of Bono's house in Dublin. Quote: "He was a smart guy, know-it-all, he's probably taller than me now."
The name of the boy is Peter Rowan. Peter Rowan is the brother of Derek "Guggi" Rowan, and Strongman - both of which were in the Virgin Prunes. Peter later became skate-board champion of Ireland, works in a skate-board shop and has also had various acting parts, notably in 'The Commitments" and "The Snapper".
Bono declared that the picture of the child on the cover was a very important image. It was taken by a photographer named Hugo McGuinness and the eventual sleeve was designed by Steve Averill, a friend of Adam's who was in the graphic design business at the time. (Steve would go on to work on many more U2 album covers). It signified the beginning of something new for the band, while also symbolising the childlike innocence and trust that U2 seemed to display.
Unfortunately the cover photo had to be changed to a band picture for the American market, where it was feared that some would interpret the image as a symbol of paedophilia. They had "a vague worry that there might be a homosexual impression left from the boy's waist-up nakedness." So, Warner in the USA decided to change the cover of Boy for fear of paedophilia claims.
Despite this, some unaltered copies entered the US on import, and led to U2 finding a largely gay audience in the beginning. The original cover was eventually restored.