egafd.com

I have to admit I've never read a copy, let alone bought one.
But I've just been given a brilliant birthday present : Roger's Profanisaurus.
Brilliant.

Mart

Its crap since 1995
Try any VIZ from 1984 onwards, now THAT was when it was HILARIOUS

I have to agree Ace. Though its not total crap, lately they have had a new cartoonist who does "Drunken Bakers" and "Driving Mr Beckham" (which seems to be about some gerbils who operate David Beckham!) and just lately "the two ronaldos" (Ronaldo and Ronaldo spanish accent shennanigans a la "Fork Handles")

Nothing short of genius and worth getting Viz just for that !

Worth getting for the Letterbocks page and also the Top Tips.

Like so many things, not as funny as it used to be, but still a good laugh.

There's always something in it that makes me laugh aloud. The Driving Mr David strip, as mentioned, is sheer class, and I love some of the social attacks---The Modern Parents, The Critics and so on. As for Laurie Driver and Raffles, the Gentleman Thug---just brilliant.

I used to take it (Viz) and it always struck me how outrageously and brilliantly observed the characters were - the scumbags, Chavs, idiots, ponces, pretentious twats of real life are all vividly illustrated in the shape of '8 Ace' Sexist Sid, Fat Slags, Modern Parents and The Critics. Then there was the brainless shell suit wearing 'Kappa Slappas' The brainless 'Bored Shop Girl' and one comic strip, on one occasion, that chillingly portrayed the brainless malevolent baseball cap wearing adolescents that hang around bus shelters, phone boxes and the local shops on council estates.

The characters depicted were so true to life (though, as with any cartoon, obviously exaggerated) that I was always amazed how they got away with it. I mean, you would?ve expected some politically correct middle-class ponce to take exception to 'patronizing the poor' but if they did it never made the headlines. Also the cartoonists and publishers would, I have no doubt, have been predominantly from a middleclass background, yet they had no qualms about pointing the finger at various groups in society and hilariously (if cruelly) highlighting their faults and deficiencies. I found this very encouraging. Here were middleclass people who were not politically correct and poncy. They were prepared to stare reality in the face and confront it, no matter have ugly it was. My sort of chaps.

Officer Dibble

Viz did get in trouble a few years back for poking fun at the 'travelling community'.

I think the cartoon strip was called the 'Thieving Gypsy Bastards'.

Seem to remember they had to publish an apology in a later issue.

Bloody funny though...

Do you think its possible (holds breath) that some of them might even have been to university and (tell me its not true) read the Guardian.

Mart

Who, the gypsies?


Wasn't it Simon Donald and his brother who started Viz. A couple of geordies I think.

But no idea if they went to uni or read the grauniad. One of them used to pop up on a Radio 5 phone-in and spoke a lot of sense.

"'Thieving Gypsy Bastards'."

Love it, love it!

Strange as it may seem I was just taking about this very subject with my next-door neighbour not one hour ago. He used to have a welding supplies firm in an industrial part of town some years ago and he recounted how "The Gypo's" would send in a couple of their kids on the pretence of asking for empty cardboard boxes. Their real mission was of course casing the joint, seeing exactly where the most expensive and most disposable stock was located and to report back to the big gypos. A burglary or attempted burglary would always follow in the next day or two. Middleclass hand wringers always complain about stereotyping. But there's no smoke without fire. Yes, it's wrong to automatically make assumptions about folks and theys hould be given a chance. But due regard should also be paid to the years of experience society has regarding the nature of various groups or one could end up being very sorry.

Officer Dibble