Viz is not so naughty any more. (Viz)

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Product:	Viz
Date:	18/12/01 (1664 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Mildly funny, Glossy

Disadvantages: Not so funny anymore, Nt so risky, Im too old for it!

Viz magazine ten years ago when it first came out was a revelation to adults that really should no better. If ever there was a comic made for students and immature parents, let alone kids then this was surely it. But this years Christmas edition is a shadow of it self at three times the price.
In those days it was a hybrid of the American Mad magazine that bought toilet humor on to the top shelf to replace drab political satire.

Many publications of the type have tried to copy the original Chris Donald gem in its early days but to no avail. There really were some poor imitations that sold about three copies to the Newcastle boys that peaked at a million.
But now with the original writers and friends long gone the mag has evolved into one of those tacky unfunny hybrids that litter Tombolas around Britain.

Some of the old unfunny favorites are still knocking around from Johnny Fartpants and The Modern Parents, to Buster Gonads and Tinribs just for Christmas.
Some of the much more significant creations like Roger Melly, the man on the telly and the Fat Slag’s have been indignantly reduced to half page strips from their original impressive three pages.
Roger is the fowl mouthed TV presenter who will turn his hand to any job and any swear word with the C word being his very favourite.
But Christmas 2001 The man on the telly has come along way as he has Prince Edward as his tea boy!.

The big earners like Sid the Sexist that made the boys a lot of money through separate merchandising are still treated with the respect they deserve with a double spread. These characters are at the heart of the mag and the writers as they take a big one at Geordie culture the lads grew up in.
One of the new characters is an example of how the new writers are looking for the same laughs by pure retred. Tasha Slappas mum is clearly the slag’s aunt or friends of the brilliant Biffa Bacon looking for the same gags.

Mrs Brad
y old Lady hasn’t been included and only the funnier Spoilt Brat makes the cut from the good old days. The Kewl Chicks are grafted in to take over from the gobby pretentious Student Grant strip as most college kids clothes are louder than they are these days.
8 Ace is a newer entry about a Scotsman that’s homeless and always gets drunk. That’s not funny, that’s reality.
Harry Rotter is a seasonal short to take the p**s out of the film phenomenon is deathbed chortle of Bob Hope who really should be dead by now.

The rest of the magazine between the comic strips is put over to old favs and predictable advertising from sex lines to those mobile phone tones and fascias. You can obviously by seasonal merchandise based on the Viz name or novelty student stuff like naught T-shirt’s and hash seeds.
Letterbocks which is a series of spoof letters from people with silly names is always mirthful with obtuse musings like these.”Dear Sir, who says doing Christmas shopping early avoids the crush?.Lasy year I did mine a full 12 months in advance, and the shops were just as bust as ever”.

This one is particularly naughty and certainly bought a chuckle.”How do lesbian couples put up with each other if every two weeks one of them is a rag hag. What about the one in four couples that this statistic demands who are synchronized”. Yuck!.
Or from Mike Woodandtrees from London.”How do we know that Steven Hawking is clever?,someone could have just programmed him”.

Then theres the war column with the latest from the war on terrorism, TWAT for short. A letter from Les Thackery reads “I don’t know why the Americans are trying to achieve by carpet bombing Afghanistan.After all, the Afghans already have the finest rugs in the world”.
Top Tips, which used to have a whole page to its self, has been reduced to a mere sad paragraph. They actually ran some adverts on TV fr
om this idea about five years back. Do you remember the carpet slippers with carpet on the soles to a wooden floor!.

The mag has its usual dig at celebrity although they used to be much crueler in the old days. This weeks offering are the 2001 “nearly boilers” referring to female celebs that are almost dogs.
Helen from Big Brother is rightfully number one just a head of that hound Lisa Tarbuck (helps to have a famous dad when your ugly). I’m shocked that they have put the stunning Nigella Lawson in at three. The vacuous socialite and pain Lady Victoria Harvey makes seven of the hundred listed with Anne Robinson at eight.

The hole 100 are listed next to crude comments like at 13,cock riddled it Girl for Tara Tompkinson to her friend Tamara Beckwith one above her as the “pointless slapper” and Maccas runmpy stumpy for free loader Heather Mills (Mcarteny one legged girl). And the list goes on…..Ok one more, Mel and Sue at 57,”don’t fancy yours much”.
Theres a funny TV listing for Christmas predominately having a pop at Robson Green and Ross Kemp who do seem to make endless crap on the endless crap station.

Readers an send in photos of rude and silly road and shop signs that read rather rude in plain English.Most of these are of course foreign and very amusing. The center spread has one of those cut outs you used to have on the back of the Cornflakes all those years back when life were easy lass.
It’s a very glossy edition because its funny although the pages are thicker and you pay a quid more for very little extra content.

But its lots its rebellion and cutting humor that its no longer funny or worth the read if you are over fourteen. Or maybe it’s just as naughty as ever and I’m an old bastard.
If you have never read it then don’t as it’s one of those annoying magazines you feel you have to read every little bit in case you miss the
funniest bit. Try it and see what you think.

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