The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1261: National Lampoon #57, December 1974

About time we come to the end of my look at National Lampoon. We'll get back to them soon, but I can only take so much sarcasm. Time to read something a bit more earnest.

What I will say of this small taste of 70s satire magazines is that they weren't afraid to let go with both barrels. Even that picture on the cover. I can't imagine the controversy it would cause today, let alone when it was published. Though, now that I think about it, perhaps things were a bit more liberal, in some ways, than they are today.

Today's issue featured yet another stellar line-up of artists - I really had no idea that they all worked for this magazine. The Vaughn Bode stuff is a real treat, as is Shary Flenniken's "Trots and Bonnie" - a definite draw if I find any more of these magazines on the cheap. Though I still have quite a few to work through.

Tomorrow I'll start evening things out. And you'll see what that means in due time. More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1260: National Lampoon #55, August 1973

Another rather valuable issue of the magazine according to my guide, though given the fact that I can fully remove the front cover, and it has no back one, mine's not quite as valuable as all that. However, given the subject matter of the issue, perhaps being able to remove covers is quite serendipitous.

I'd hazard a guess that, much like yesterday's issue, it's a matter of the confluence of artists, coupled with the spicy nature of the subject being covered. Vaughn Bode makes an always welcome appearance, there's an extended and coloured "Trots and Bonnie," Neal Adams illustrates "VD Comics," and Ralph Reese illustrates a very, very strange sex ed. lesson.

Given that this caliber of artist is working in the issue, it's no surprise that it's all really good. The usual "Funny Pages" are all excellent, there's a great single page piece by Edward Sorel that really captures the hypocrisy of Nixon's presidency, and echoes rather nicely the state of the U.S. at the present time. Though higher and higher prices are really what keep me from reading magazines on a regular basis, I kind of wish we had something similar to National Lampoon now. I suppose The Onion is very similar. Do they do comics?

One more issue of National Lampoon tomorrow, and then on to something else. More to come...