Viz-tastic!

There's not one but two Viz publications out this week; the regular monthly issue plus the annual hardback edition.

This year's Viz Annual, titled The Five Knuckle Shuffle (apparently it's a poker reference ;-)) is a 160 page whopper collecting selected material from issues 172 to 181 for the bargain price of £10.99. There's a wealth of funny material here that the critics of Viz would do well to study, because it's not all toilet humour. Like the best contemporary literature, Viz reflects the frailties of the human condition, exposing society's hypocrisies and laying bare the fragile structure of modern society. And it also features The Fat Slags and Nobby's Piles.


As ever there's a good variety of strips from Graham Dury, Simon Thorp, Alex Collier, Davey Jones and others, and even a couple of pages by me (The Pathetic Sharks and Suicidal Syd).


Also out today is Viz No.199 with 52 pages for £3.20. Amongst this month's offerings are Farmer Palmer, Tinribs, Major Misunderstanding, Samson's Arse, Suicidal Syd, and the return of God-botherer Ivan Jelical. There's also a fantastic centrespread drawn by Alex Collier of Tasha Slappa and her pals at an airport departure lounge that's scarily true to life.


One part that particularly amused me was this spoof ad. Let's hope it doesn't give ideas to any crusading anti-comics trolls who might stagger in here...


Viz No.199 is available at all major newsagents and supermarkets on the top shelf. Or in the case of some corner shops who don't look at the cover advisory, nestled in with Tinkerbell and Disney Girl.

http://www.viz.co.uk/