DUCKWORK No. 5 came out in November of 1981, and I think this was the last issue of the year. Mid-terms were coming up and everybody was going to be way too busy to squeeze out another issue before winter break.
It was the 16 page Sex Issue complete with centerfold which was a ducky spoof of Botticelli.
Star Duck latched on to the orbs he was admiring in the previous installment; Punk Duck got a shovel and made like Ed Gein, and the movie poster plumbed the esophageal depths. There was also Spineless Wonder, Peter the Prick, After the Fact Comics, and my first contribution to the pages of DUCKWORK, the first installment of The Brady’s Last Vacation.
In the story, America’s favorite television family, the Brady’s, crash land in the Andes and are forced to eat Alice. The brief description is a lot funnier than the atrocity I committed with my brand new set of Rapidographs. Oh, well. You had to start some where, and it was my entry into the pseudo-fraternity that was DUCKWORK! There was no hazing or alcohol poisoning involved and nobody whacked my butt with a paddle. All I had to do was turn in a crappy cartoon!
We were having fun and that’s what counted. They were heady times in the DUCKWORK office. Comics and movie magazines like Prevue, Fangoria, Starlog and Cinefantastique littered every surface. Frank Miller was in the midst of making a name for himself with his run on Daredevil and the sword and sorcery genre was poised to conquer the cinema as Conan the Barbarian was soon to be released. I was looking forward to the big screen barbarian, but I was really charged up about the teaming of Stephen King and George Romero for the horror film to end all horror films, Creepshow! It was an exciting time for a comic nerd, and it was an exciting time being a Duck! There was an “Our Gang “ feel to the whole escapade, and Gerry Giovinco was Spanky McFarland inviting us kids to put on a show!
I’m not sure who Alfalfa was.
God! I could do with never, ever seeing that cover again.
Joe always crying “There was no hazing or alcohol poisoning and nobody whacked his butt with a paddle”.
The Brady’s Last Vacation was my absolute favorite thing to come out of DUCKWORK.
I don’t know – I like the cover.
DUCKWORK didn’t have the budget for alcohol poisoning and somebody was always stealing the paddles for a 3-d project.
The Brady’s was your favorite?! Sheesh! Well, it was a funny idea.
Well, if we are comparing to Our Gang, Danny Lange was the only crooner so I guess he would be Alfalfa by default though we generally equated him with Hank Williams which led to him being called Hank most of the time.
I told Cooch that I always saw us more as an artsy version of Animal House. God knows that we spent a lot of time pranking the school campus and the local community, all in good fun of course. I can find many parallel characters but will keep them to myself so nobody gets offended.
Was there a Darla?
Yeah, there were a few Darlas, Nickie, Magoo, Linda, Kathy to name a few.
Whatever became of Magoo?
I remember Nickie, but not Linda and Kathy. Refresh my memory.
i wanted SO badly to be part of that rag… I just didn’t have the comic book history to hang with you all… I couldn’t rattle off Superman’s first-grade teacher’s name or Prof. Xavier’s hometown. No chops.
Being that they accepted “The Brady’s Last Vacation,” I can’t imagine them turning anyone away.
There were a few non-comicbook nerds on the “staff.” Bill Bryan and Nickie Boston both had strips and, fortunately for them, they had been spared the comic collecting affliction.