Viz (comics)

1950

The latter type often follows the style of Enid Blyton and other popular children's adventure stories of the 1950s.

1958

They also carried the slogan 'Fueling middle England's persecution complex since 1958'. A long-running joke has been small adverts for bizarre sheds ("TV Sheds", "Shed Bikes", "Shed Snakes", etc.).

1960

It features parody competitions and advertisements for overpriced 'limited edition' tat, as well as obsessions with half-forgotten kitsch celebrities from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as Shakin' Stevens and Rodney Bewes.

1970

The strips always end with Elton being beaten at his own game by one or more of his musical contemporaries from the 1970s and 1980s.

T and a 1970s playground toy, 'BA Baracus in Macca's clackers knackers fracas'. Photos in Viz news stories are often crudely edited and altered, much to the detriment of the subjects involved (teeth blacked out, facial features shrunken/enlarged, and so on).

These parody the format of supernatural and true-love British comics which were popular with young girl readers in the 1970s and 1980s, such as "Chiller" and "Jackie", as well as the "real life dilemma" photo strips often found in the advice columns of tabloid newspapers. For example, a young woman is convinced that the spirit of her dead husband has possessed the family dog, and after some soul-searching, begins a sexual relationship with the dog.

1979

Viz is a popular British adult comic magazine founded in 1979 by Chris Donald.

The 300th issue was published in October 2020. ==History== The comic was started in Newcastle upon Tyne in December 1979 by Chris Donald, who produced the comic from his bedroom in his parents' Jesmond home with help from his brother Simon and friend Jim Brownlow.

1980

It features parody competitions and advertisements for overpriced 'limited edition' tat, as well as obsessions with half-forgotten kitsch celebrities from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as Shakin' Stevens and Rodney Bewes.

The strips always end with Elton being beaten at his own game by one or more of his musical contemporaries from the 1970s and 1980s.

These parody the format of supernatural and true-love British comics which were popular with young girl readers in the 1970s and 1980s, such as "Chiller" and "Jackie", as well as the "real life dilemma" photo strips often found in the advice columns of tabloid newspapers. For example, a young woman is convinced that the spirit of her dead husband has possessed the family dog, and after some soul-searching, begins a sexual relationship with the dog.

1985

In 1985, a deal was signed with Virgin Books to publish the comic nationally every two months.

1987

In 1987, the Virgin director responsible for Viz, John Brown, set up his own publishing company, John Brown Publishing, to handle Viz.

Roger's Profanisaurus has become a popular downloadable app for Apple's iPhone. In November 1987, a free mini-issue of Viz was given away with issue 23 of computer magazine Your Sinclair.

These ads included a mixture of cartoon characters (the slags) and live actors (the men who drink Lucozade). A film based on The Fat Slags was produced in 2004, but was disowned by the magazine's editors who threatened to stop running the strip in response. A novelty single was released in 1987 for Viz, featuring its Buster Gonad character, by the band XTC, with John Otway, as "Johnny Japes and His Jesticles".

1989

Sales exceeded a million by the end of 1989, making Viz for a time one of the biggest-selling magazines in the country.

– Viz Top Tip (published May 1989) Save a fortune on laundry bills.

1990

Occasionally, it satirises current affairs and politicians, but it has no particular political standpoint. Its success in the early 1990s led to the appearance of numerous rivals crudely copying the format Viz pioneered; none of them managed to challenge its popularity.

Circulation peaked at 1.2 million in the early 1990s, making it the third-most popular magazine in the UK, but ABC-audited sales have since dropped, to an average of 48,588 per issue in 2018.

1991

The A-side was "Bags of Fun With Buster" b/w "Scrotal Scratch Mix". During the Gulf War of 1991, SEPECAT Jaguar GR1A bombers of the Royal Air Force featured such Viz characters as Johnny Fartpants, the Fat Slags and Buster Gonad as nose art. ==Controversy== The comic was reprimanded by the United Nations after featuring a strip called "The Thieving Gypsy Bastards".

1996

In a similar vein, one reader suggested "Old people – are you worried that people in a hurry might be able to get past you on the pavement? Why not try stumbling aimlessly from side to side? That should stop them". ====McDonald's==== McDonald's was accused of plagiarising a number of Viz Top Tips in an advertising campaign they ran in 1996.

2000

If I was George Michael right about now, I'd be shitting myself") or current events (a 2000 issue remarked "The Government spent £850 million on the Millennium Bug, and the only thing that crashes is Q [Desmond Llewelyn] out of the Bond films"). Most employ deliberate misunderstandings for comic effect (e.g.

of Essex. Adverts for loan companies have been parodied frequently since approximately 2000, usually with an absurd twist, such as ones aimed at vagrants, offering loans of between 5 and 10 pence for a cup of tea.

2001

Inevitably, a number of imitations of Viz were launched, but these never matched the original in popularity, and rarely in quality. Sales steadily declined from the mid-1990s to around 200,000 in 2001, by which time Chris Donald had resigned as editor and passed control to an "editorial cabinet" comprising his brother Simon, Dury, Thorp and new recruits Davey Jones and Alex Collier.

In June 2001, the comic was acquired as part of a £6.4 million deal by I Feel Good (IFG), a company belonging to ex-Loaded editor James Brown, and increased in frequency to ten times a year.

2002

It has been published as several books, the 2002 print of which has a foreword by Terry Jones.

2003

In 2003, it changed hands again when IFG were bought out by Dennis Publishing.

2004

These ads included a mixture of cartoon characters (the slags) and live actors (the men who drink Lucozade). A film based on The Fat Slags was produced in 2004, but was disowned by the magazine's editors who threatened to stop running the strip in response. A novelty single was released in 1987 for Viz, featuring its Buster Gonad character, by the band XTC, with John Otway, as "Johnny Japes and His Jesticles".

2006

In December 2006, he appeared in a seasonal broadcast to rival the Queen's Christmas message. ====Lame to Fame==== A semi-regular feature in Letterbocks is the "Lame to Fame" column, where writers can send in "claims to fame" where they explain their connection to well-known celebrities.

2018

Circulation peaked at 1.2 million in the early 1990s, making it the third-most popular magazine in the UK, but ABC-audited sales have since dropped, to an average of 48,588 per issue in 2018.

2020

The 300th issue was published in October 2020. ==History== The comic was started in Newcastle upon Tyne in December 1979 by Chris Donald, who produced the comic from his bedroom in his parents' Jesmond home with help from his brother Simon and friend Jim Brownlow.




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