VIZ Comic - The Big Hard One

Viz Annuals #1

by Chris Donald (Editor), Simon Donald (Editor), Jim Biz (Editor)

Genres: Humor, Comics, Comedy, Fiction, Graphic Novels

Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Chris Donald is the founder of, and one of the principal contributors to, the British comic magazine Viz. He attended West Jesmond Primary School, and then Heaton Comprehensive School, where he did not complete his A-levels, and in 1978 he began work as a clerical officer at the DHSS central office in Longbenton, Newcastle.

Chris, together with his brother Simon and a schoolfriend Jim Brownlow, set-up Viz in December 1979 from a bedroom in Newcastle. He was editor (or head of the "editorial cabinet") for many years but retired from day-to-day duties in 1999, and now only contributes occasional cartoons. He has since written a personal history of Viz magazine entitled Rude Kids.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not as funny as it used to be, but at the start it was much less funny than it eventually became. Some truly dire material from the Donald brothers and friends, tempered by the knowledge that they would soon achieve greatness, and by the "FREE BALLOON FOR EVERY READER" that arrived stapled into each copy of an early issue.

[Jim Hemmingfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Big Hard One is a collection of the British humour magazine/comic Viz. The material collected in it comes from the first 12 issues, originally released between December 1979 and November 1984, when Viz was little more than a self published humour zine produced by Chris Donald, his brother Simon, and a few other core contributors. It is therefore no surprise that this collection seems rather raw and amateurish. The illustrations are especially crude, although one can notice a steady improvement as the book progresses. The earliest strips generally run for no longer than half a page and generally revolve around a crude or stupid gag. Also noticeable is the conspicuous absence of many of the famous cast of Viz such as The Fat Slags and Spoilt Bastard although there are early appearances of other well known characters such as Roger Mellie and Billy the Fish. Although there are several strips that fit with the tone one would expect from Viz, such as Skinheed, which tackles issues of a dispossessed youth who turns to a life of casual violence and aggression brought about by a lack of options due to living in Thatchers Britain in typical Viz fashion, there are many more strips that parody and poke fun at more traditional comic book genres such as sci-fi and superheros. These comics are far less entertaining and it is no surprise that as Viz progressed it moved away from this and gave more room to strips that focused on suburban British characters.

Overall this book is little more than an interesting artifact for Viz fans. That said, it does contain a few laughs and fans of primitive or ugly comic art may find a fair bit to enjoy. However, casual fans would do best picking up a later collection and leaving this one for aficionados who want to delve into the beginnings of a cherished UK humour comic.