Picking up the pieces
Picking up the pieces |
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Page 25 of 38  Milk and Cheese (1993) a none-too-sensible strip about two calcium-fuelled heroes. Art/script: Evan Dorkin This difficulty was overcome in 1987 when John Brown, the former managing director of Virgin Books, formed his own company, and began marketing Viz independently. The sales curve took off exponentially: by 1987 it was selling 47,000, and by 1990 it had broken the one million barrier. The final sign that the comic had arrived was when the big retail chains, Smiths and Menzies, set up separate 'adult humour' shelves. Viz was now established as a kind of modern Ally Sloper's Half Holiday: it was cheap, irreverent, working class, male and hugely successful. The big time brought its own pressures. Viz was now in the media eye as never before, and the reaction of the press took two forms. The first was broadly positive, and involved praising the comic for its earthy style. Newspapers keen to prove their liberal credentials ran pieces comparing the humour to Rabelais, Swift, Chaucer, and anybody else from the high culture canon who could be roped in. At the same time, it was fashionable for celebrity interviewees to sing the comic's praises. The second kind of reaction was not quite so affirmative, though the kind of critique depended on the particular political orientation of the paper. The right-wing press, for instance, took the view that Viz was simply beyond the pale, and even a threat to the moral stability of the country: smut was bad enough, it was argued, but this was smut which could easily land in the hands of children, who would mistake the drawing style for The Beano." Certain Tory MPs became regular contributors of frothing soundbites. Left-wing objections were more focused, and tended to centre on the question of sexism.  Cover, Viz (Viz/John Brown, 1989). Art/script: the Viz team. One of the great moments in British comics history. Part throwback to British children's comics, part pastiche of the tabloid press. Viz bucked the slump like no other title. Underneath all its vulgarity, there was a vein of trenchant satire, and it ended up saying more about modern Britain than any number of social commentators. |