Viz

[Rob Baker]

I went up to London last weekend as I was invited to a mate's missus' party. On the Sunday it was bucketing down with rain, so still feeling a bit fragile, I thought I'd pop into the Cartoon Musuem near Russell Square.  There was a great selection of some old Beano and Dandy originals (though I thought looking a bit worse for ware) and a special exibition of original Viz art, celebrating 30 years of the comic.
I was disappointed not to see any Beau or Horace artwork on display, though there was a few old (Reg Smythe) Andy Capps. Nor could I see anything by Giles, which suprised me, as I think the Express still publishes a book every year.
Anyway despite that, I just thought I'd mention this place as it's well worth whiling away an hour or, if you're around that area.

The Viz exhibition gallery reminded me to dig out a couple of spoof newspaper strips they did a few years back:

[Malc]

It's probably just me, but I didn't find the Andy Clap one as funny as the Bed/Bread Basset ones.
I think it's because it approached the exercise from a different angle. The Bed Basset strips used inanimate objects in place of a mostly inanimate dog. This highlighted (whether by accident or design) the fact that Fred Basset was a boring strip about a boring middle class dog from a similar family. Like the time Have I Got News For You replaced Roy Hattersley with a tub of lard, it had that sophomoric yet apposite appeal.

However, the Andy Clap strip started from a misguided premise, i.e. that juxtaposing Andy Capp with an STD had good comic potential. Meh. It doesn't, and that indicates that the mildly humorous Bred Basset stuff was arrived at purely by accident.

[Diane CBPFC]

If ever they decide to do a competition show for youngsters, "So you Think you Can Cartoon" - Malc could be the next Simon Scowl. 

[Malc]

Diane, there may be a couple of crossed wires here (and stop me if you already know this). Viz isn't a comic drawn by kids or for kids, it's a UK national institution, a satirical mag, written and drawn by adults for the adult market, which uses parody of existing British comic styles to make humorous points.

Thus we get features like Black Bag (a plastic garbage bag which floats around performing heroic deeds) which is a parody on Black Bob, a heroic collie which once featured in The Dandy. At its peak, Viz was hilarious, a must-read for adults who love satirical humour the length and breadth of the UK, even though it was published out of a tiny office in the North East of England.

[Diane CBPFC]

Malc, firstly, I didn’t know anything about the Viz but did wonder about “Andy Clap” – for surely Andy is too lazy to catch a bus never mind a STD.

Have you heard of “So you think you can Dance” a show of young dancers who get critiqued by Simon Cowel and his sidekicks?

I thought it would be funny if young cartoonists did the same thing and you sat there with your arms across your chest and came out with the technical jargon as why they were not so good.

[Malc]

I used to do that, both in real life and face to face. I was a guest lecturer in what is known here as TAFE (sort of tech college) and also was often asked on various cartoonists sites to offer opinions on newbies work.

At TAFE it came with the territory, but on the Internet it was getting to the stage where, instead of people being repelled by someone as opinionated as me, I was sought after. I even got emails (still do) from people asking for critiques on their work.

Two things stopped me from carrying on with this pantomime: One was that I have always been aware of my own failings and inadequacies, and never really felt comfortable pointing out other peoples'. The other was that it proved to be the most futile and irritating exercise. Nobody but NObody ever accepted the advice graciously, honestly and with any desire to actually improve their work. Almost without exception, the recipient would say "yes, I already did that/know that, this is just a rough draft/preliminary sketch/beta test, I'm going to finish it off later prior to submission".

That sort of thing. Even with a polite "thanks for your input, Malc" you could tell it was typed through gritted teeth, the keys pounded within a hairsbreadth of their tolerance.
People don't really want to hear anything other than "this is the most brilliant piece/drawing/writing/design/concept I've seen in many a long year. You needn't do a thing to it, any publisher/network will snatch your hand off - make sure you engage a first class lawyer to guard against copyright theft!"

I could write a book on this stuff.