30 years of Viz

Joe — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:03:01 +0000

Hard to believe but a comic which more or less started out being pasted together in some mates’ bedrooms, sold door to door in local pubs and clubs and stores in the North East of England and which delivered a rude, crude, vulgar but bloody funny pastiche of classic British comics for an adult audience has hit its 30th anniversary. Yes, of course I am talking about Viz, an underground, homemade comic which became a huge hit with characters like the foul mouthed Roger Mellie, the Man on the Telly, Buster Gonads and his Unfeasibly Large Testicles, Finbarr Saunders and his Double Entendres and we can’t forget the Fat Slags, can we? Viz has happily taken potshots at classic comics, cultural icons and just about every strata of society, which has earned itself a place in UK reader’s affections (it was essential student reading in the late 80s and early 90s when it truly went national, even with students who would probably deny being comics readers).

The Cartoon Museum in London will host an exhibition to celebrate the anniversary starting November 4th and running through to January 24th and Viz itself has a bumper-sized birthday edition out now, which includes a special version of the classic Pathetic Sharks strip by the always excellent Lew Stringer, who also discusses the comic on his blog. (via Bloghorn)

Doctor Poo

Joe — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:01:36 +0000

Viz, Britain’s great repository of delightfully vulgar, childish comics (bless ‘em) offers us up this cartoon riff on our favourite Time Lord with Doctor Poo. Crossing time and space desperately in search of a quiet loo where he can park his bum before the sanctity of his trousers are violated. Its crude (both the theme and the simple animation) toilet humour but its funny and it does actually riff on a number of Who aspects -- Sea Devils, Cybermen, Jamie and I love the ‘handicapped’ emblem on Davros’ personal toilet. And the farted version of the classic Baker-era Doctor Who theme. I’m suddenly reminded of Blackadder goes forth, when the fiendish Prussian officer holds our plucky heroes captive and remarks how for Germans the toilet is simply a necessary bodily function, “for you British -- the basis of an entire culture”. (via SF Crowsnest)

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log » Viz

30 years of Viz

Doctor Poo