Electric Soup was “Scotland’s Adult Humour Comic”, with 17 issues released between 1989 and 1992 followed by a 10th anniversary special a while later in 1999. Think Viz but with thick regional accents in every panel and plenty of jabs at local politicians, celebrities and even whole Scottish cities. There was quite the collection of these inside Davy Francis’ shoebox so I was looking forward to seeing plenty from the Cowpat County creator.
Unfortunately, as I began to flick through them I soon came to realise this was a case of Davy’s friends being inside rather than the man himself. Thankfully, eventually his unique art style popped up in #16, the penultimate issue of the run and the last of the regular issues in this box. He also returned for the 10th anniversary special. Altogether we’ve got three new strips from Davy and one spoof I’m sure fans of the blog will enjoy. First up, a rather more adult (and Scottish) spin on one of OiNK’s favourite spoof targets, Desperate Dan of The Dandy. Although fans of another OiNK Blog comic should get a kick out of this too.
As a pig pal it’s strange to see bad language in one of Davy’s strips but I’m not for one second saying it shouldn’t have been, this is an adult comic after all. There are less of the usual background gags than we were used to with his OiNK pages but I did laugh at the picture of mother. Davy’s Predator isn’t half bad though, right? (Obviously look beyond the glasses.) His Desperate Dan is how I imagine a 90s Hollywood live-action take on the character would be, so it feels perfect for the time of this comic.
Moving on to the anniversary special and I have to warn you about this next strip. It’s blurred until you click on it for a reason. It’s very adult and I didn’t want the images just sitting out there on the blog for all to see as you scroll on your morning commute. Originally drawn by Tommy Somme in the regular comic, for the 10th anniversary special Davy took over art duties for Helmetman. Now, you know this is an adult Viz-like comic, so just think about what that superhero name could mean for a second before deciding to click.
I’ll admit this is only here because it was drawn by Davy, who was creating a follow-up for an established strip, one that readers had an expectation of. I’ve never been a fan of this type of humour though. Maybe OiNK spoiled me. Yes, OiNK could be cheeky at times but it was done in a genuinely original, funny way and the comic was hilarious at all times whether it was one of those moments or not. Humour that relied solely on shocking the reader is a one-trick pony to me and grows tired very quickly. Unfortunately for me, the vast majority of Electric Soup is like this.
Frustratingly, it needn’t have been this way. In the few strips that don’t use overly adult themes as the sole gag (“Ooh, nude bits and extreme language in a comic! Hehehe, aren’t we hilarious”) there are some genuinely brilliant moments. Davy himself supplies one in The Y Front which, apart from the occasional rude joke, reminds me very much of his OiNK strips. By this I mean every panel has something to laugh at, with plenty of sight gags that take the narrative captions and turn them into something else entirely, leaning heavily into the ridiculously bizarre.
It’s just gloriously stupid. If Electric Soup had more of this kind of adult-enough humour I’d have loved these comics. Davy wasn’t the only contributor capable of realising there’s more to comedy for grown ups than boobs and genitalia. While Frank Quitely could be just as guilty as the rest, he also had the ability to see beyond the shallow schoolboy jokes and give us something properly funny. In fact, the final strip I want to show you is his but with the sheer amount of gags and silliness you’d swear Davy had written the script.
It’s a spoof of Alien³, so for the second time there’s something here that readers of the Aliens section of the blog should find funny. I really enjoyed this film as a teen and as an adult I think the Special Edition is fantastic, so much so I’d rank it right alongside the first two movies. Thankfully, I can still have a giggle at the things I love when their spoofs are done well, and this is done very well indeed. Much like Davy’s Y Front (oo-er!) every panel had me chortling; it’s just relentless, especially if you know the film well.
See? No need for the so-called “adult humour” that just ends up being adolescent and childish. This Alien³ strip and Davy’s non-blurred pages above show that at least some of the people behind Electric Soup were genuine comedic talents. It’s just a shame their work is hidden amongst such unfunny nonsense. Maybe if I was a teenager I’d have laughed at the rudeness here the first time I saw it, but after growing up with the quality of OiNK I doubt it.
You can thank me later for trawling through all of these for the few gems within. Looking at some of the magazines still inside the shoebox I’m a bit concerned about having to do so all over again with titles such as Sweet FA and UC. But then again, I knew this going in and having a quick flick through they seem more professional, genuinely aimed at adults with a proper sense of humour and include more OiNK contributors. So while the subject matter of football (or the Sunday Sport!) might not appeal to me I’m still looking forward to the gems I can locate for you in the next part of this series later in the summer.
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