Trivia / Viz

• Approval of God:
  • Chris Donald stated that the animted special Fat Slags: Blue Honeymoon was the closest any adaptation got to capturing the humour of Viz.
  • Danny Dyer was thrilled to parodied in a strip.
• Creator's Pest: According to cartoonist Graham Dury, "half the readers thought Billy the Fish was shit, and the other half thought it was really shit." Undaunted, Viz cheerfully called one installment "Billy the Shit".
• Follow the Leader: The comic's 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.
• Inspiration for the Work:
  • Biffa Bacon was allegedly inspired by a real family observed by Chris Donald in Newcastle upon Tyne city centre, where the son began an unprovoked assault on another boy; the parents, rather than intervening, began shouting encouragement to their child. As soon as it appeared the victim of the assault was able to defend himself, the father joined in the attack that only ceased when police officers intervened.
  • The Bottom Inspectors were influenced by a single editorial comment made by John Brown, the original publisher of the comic:
  The only editorial comment I ever made was in the early days when I told Chris that I thought one issue was particularly 'bottomy'. He didn't say much at the time, but The Bottom Inspectors appeared for the first time in the next issue.
  • Davey Jones said that The Real Ale Twats was partially inspired by the Half Man Half Biscuit song "CAMRA Man".
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to Chris Donald in his book Rude Kids - The Unfeasibly True Story of Viz, Student Grant almost got an Animated Adaptation, but this never came to fruition. He went on to say that he was pleased that the project did not go ahead as he felt the quality of the previous releases was disappointing.
  • Donald also claimed that Geordie actor Jimmy Nail wanted to adapt Sid the Sexist as a live-action sitcom. However, the idea went no further than a lunch meeting at Nail's home where it become clear that the plan was a non-starter because it was unlikely that they'd find a TV station willing to broadcast the show if it were written in the same style as the comic.
• Write Who You Know:
  • Chris Donald has said that, among others, Brown Bottle is based on his musician friend Davey Graham.
  • Simon Donald based Sid the Sexist on a friend who had a lot of bravado around women but was completely clueless when it came to chatting them up
  • Mr. Logic was based on Simon and Chris' elder brother Steve, who was diagnosed with autism, but nonetheless took his parodying well and subsequently made his own contributions to the comic and its website.
  • The Real Ale Twats are composites of people Davey Jones encountered in pubs:
  There was a bloke who used to come into my local in Newcastle who had a big beard and a beret and always seemed to be carrying several shoulder bags. He may not even have been a real ale enthusiast – I don’t think I ever heard him speak – but he had the right look, so I drew him. Probably very unfairly.

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