Drunken Bakers

Drunken Bakers is probably the most subtle and, in a way, philosophical Viz strip ever. Unlike the rest of the comic's more usual fare, it's not a satire on anything in particular and, despite the subject matter, is totally dissimilar to Eight Ace, the other regular Viz dipso. I've seen Drunken Bakers compared to Beckett in print before and think that's about right. The characters' drunkenness isn't funny, they're not comedy drunks - these are broken men, and men whose pain and suffering we only come to understand slowly through tiny snatches of information which occasionally bleed into the strip.

This edition of Drunken Bakers, taken from the October 2009 issue of Viz, is a probably the best yet published and one in which we learn a great deal more about the downfall of at least one of the titular dough-kneeders than ever before. Their presence in Viz might not elicit the same sort of broad, hearty belly-laughs as, say, Johnny Fartpants, but to my mind they lend Viz a literary air and hint that beneath the jokes about knobbing and farting, the people behind Viz are in touch with the same thoughtful, despairing view of human life which drove Beckett to create Vladimir and Estragon and Rik 'n' Ade to pen Bottom. Or at least, as this strip demonstrates, that they know how to draw a very funny depiction of a bloke wearing a dead man's glasses.Enjoy.