Not for all, definitely for me (Viz)

Member Name: CTVicky

Product:	Viz
Date:	09/09/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious and intelligent

Disadvantages: Very offensive

I get the impression I'm in a minority, because I am a female who enjoys reading Viz. Every time I read it I laugh so hard I find it hard to breathe and I have to dry my eyes.

Viz is like The Beano except it's strictly for adults only. It's full of comic strips, and each one of them is profane and offensive. You'll find one called "Modern Parents" which completely takes the mickey out of hippies who only use modern parenting methods and fail miserably, and there was once a comic strip called "Harold and Fred - they make ladies dead" about the serial killers living on either side of an old woman and trying to ruin the other's plans and murder her.

It may sound quite silly and pointless, but behind the rude humour, you'll find quite astute observations of modern society. It's like a social commentary.

The format is usually the same. The first section is comic strips, in the middle you have the "letters page", which is not all it seems. If you read them closely you'll find that the letters are not real letters, or from real people. The contributors usually have names like "Mike Hunt" and are writing about random nonsense. These letters mirror the articles found near the beginning and end of the comic, which are equally random. One article was about trying to solve the mystery of Roy Hudd's death.

Interspersed within Viz are suitably ridiculous "adverts" which look a lot like the sort you find in newspapers but are of course completely fictional.

And then you have Roger's Profanisaurus, the jewel in the Viz crown. It's a "dictionary" that can be found right at the end of Viz, except it's not a dictionary; not a normal one anyway. It's actually a list of rude slang terms and their explanations. Expect to see items such as "chocolate chimney sweep", and cockney rhyming slang such as "Ballroom Blitz", the explanations of which are described with excellent English and include examples to illustrate how they might be used.

Viz has been running since 1979 and it has spawned the publication of a variety of books, including a concise book of Roger's Profanisaurus.

It seems to me that not many people know about this comic, and I think that's partly what makes it so good. It's like a hidden gem.

I always enjoy reading this and I'd recommend it to anyone except for children, the faint-hearted and easily offended.

I don't know the exact price offhand but I believe it's about £3.

Summary: Great to read if you're feeling down