The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1498: National Lampoon v.1 #81, December 1976

Pretty disappointing issue for comics, to be honest. Not many of the regulars, not "Trots and Bonnie" and no "Idyl."

It did, however, have this amazing ad for Tom Waits records. This ad was definitely the best part of the issue:

"@*!!*@* Motherfucker !@*!* Asshole @! *!@!**!* Cunt *!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1497: National Lampoon v.1 #78, September 1976

Another full-colour "Trots and Bonnie" in this one. So fricking great. Not to mention that we get a full-page Trina Robbins comic, a very, very weird little gem called "Planet Love." One of the things that keeps me from thinking that the National Lampoon people are not simply cruel and vindictive is that they've got some really great lady cartoonists working for them, cartoonists who are very much inflected by the second wave of Feminism. Smart ladies like that wouldn't work for a bunch of misogynist racists, right?

That's the hope, anyway. And, of course, National Lampoon is satire. All of the horrible words and ideas contained in the magazine are there for the purpose of making fun of those self same words and ideas. That doesn't make them any easier to read, and nor should they be easy to read, quite frankly. As I noted yesterday, I'm not sure that making such things humorous serves the purpose that we think it might, but that's something I'm going to have to put a lot more thought to.

One more issue tomorrow, and then back to some comics.

"Our up-to-date Spaspek machines are plugged in and waiting to teach you Calustan in two days!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1496: National Lampoon v.1 #76, July 1976

This one was really, really hard to read. The whole thing is a parody of Southern U.S. culture, skewering the Rebels and everything that their side of the Civil War stood for. So there's a lot (A LOT) of racist writing, a lot of horrendous social ideas, all presented under the shiny veneer of satire. The trouble is, seeing how the United States is currently deporting itself with regard to race, class, gender, everything, makes this satire distasteful. They may have thought they were making fun of a dying culture, but sometimes, in this case and in the case of facists/nazis, cultures should simply be left to die. Remember them, historically, sure, but let's stop using them as sites of entertainment. When we do this, we de-fang what is really a very brutal, destructive way of thinking. While satire in some ways connotes superiority in the presumed reader, that superiority, the ironic stance, can also obscure the danger of destructive cultures. If we get so used to laughing at it, how can we be ready to stop it when it rears its head again. To me, this is what's happening with the growth of white supremacy in North America - we spent so much time laughing at it that when it ran for president, we thought it was a joke.

"Remember, don't be fooled by ecology, environmentalism, or any of the rest of that crap!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1495: National Lampoon v.1 #72, March 1976

Some fun comics in today's issue, though I am looking forward to getting back to traditional comics. I feel bad flipping past all of the articles in this magazine. I only like it for the pictures ;D.

The "Turtle Farms of South America Expose," illustrated by Frank Springer is pretty hilarious. The real gem, however, is a full-colour "Trots and Bonnie," in which Bonnie gets quite naughty. This isn't the first full-colour, multi-page TnB I've seen, and they're always a welcome treat. I've been kicking around getting the collected edition. Perhaps when I've got a job.

The other content was quite excellent - the bar for comics in National Lampoon is pretty high, to be honest. There's some Spain, Gahan Wilson, and the usual ridiculous photo stories.

"You throw it into a pail with battery acid - then you stir it around with a screw driver."

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1494: National Lampoon v.1 #71, February 1976

You'll notice up there on the cover the words "Clowning Around with Tits."

One thing I will say about National Lampoon is that you're pretty much always guaranteed at least on nice picture of breasts per issue. Now, before I'm shit upon, yes, it sucks that there aren't as many bare-chested men with rippling abs and lovely pecs. It sucks that there aren't more representative body shapes and colours as well. I'd love to see all of that just as much as you would. But in reading something that's now 40+ years in the past, especially something as contentious as National Lampoon, one has to see the positives where one can.

And I'm positive that there's always going to be some nice breasts to look at in National Lampoon.

Today's issue also had a comic in it about people who came to realize they were made of ink, and that their world was defined by panels, and it did some fucking wonderful, insane things with self-referential comics.

Actually, just read it. It's fucking great. From the mind of Ed Subitzky.

"Well, Solevitch believes it's all done for something called a 'reader'!"