World Of The News [Review & Counter-Review]

from Blackguard

16 pages, digest size, $2.00, or trade or friendly letter, David Puckeridge, PO Box 491, Freshwater NSW 2096, AUSTRALIA One for the Aussies here. There's a 4-page strip dealing with Aussie politics, so if you don't know who Wayne Swan, Tony Abbott, or Julia Gillard are, the humour will probably be lost on you. I'll admit I'm out of my depth when the conversation turns to politics (I walk away, man), so the funniest part of this strip for me was the news ticker at the bottom of each panel. Example: '"Bombings" the best way to disperse protestors says President Sacha Baron Cohen.' Another long strip is based on Channel 7's Sunrise breakfast program, which I don't watch, so that went over my head too. Then a 2-page strip telling the story of David and his girlfriend May seeing Tim Minchin at the Opera House, followed two nights later with a trip to Katoomba to see singer Gareth Liddiard (from Melbourne band The Drones). Is it coming across that I didn't really connect with this comic? It's true, I didn't. I think comix should be written/drawn for everybody, no matter where they are. Most of this is really only gonna appeal to a small Aussie audience. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Two weeks later... I felt kinda bad about this review - I was pretty sure there would be others who would really appreciate this comic, so when I mentioned this to Chris Mikul last week he offered to write a 'counter-review', so here it is. Thanks Chris! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Stratu is a man of generally impeccable taste, but I fear he sells World of the News short. Political satire is not something zine makers tackle often, and certainly rarely as well as here. Obviously created in a fit of drawing frenzy in May 2012, this zine is full of the events of that never-to-be-forgotten month – the Federal budget and the surplus (make that the ‘budgie’ and the ‘slurpus’), Murdoch and phone hacking, Slippergate... Ah, memories. Puckeridge is spot on capturing the speech patterns of our pathetic excuses for politicians (GILLARD: “..the achievements of this government spoik for themselves…”, ABBOTT: “…this is just another TOXIC TAX…’) and manages to take a swipe at TV current affairs programs at the same time. The other strips in this zine are good but it’s the political stuff that made me laugh out loud.