National Lampoon January 1979

National Lampoon

January, 1979

January, 1979, and atop the Top 40 singles chart is 'Le Freak,' by Chic. Disco (represented here not just by Chic, but by the Village People and Rod Stewart) was doing well as the year began, but by the summer's end, it would begin to go into decline.

The latest issue of the National Lampoon is out, and while the company is riding high on the blockbuster success of National Lampoon's Animal House........

......the page count is quite a bit reduced from the glory days of the advertising of the early- and mid-70s. 

 

Although, we do get notice of Elton John's latest album, A Single Man. The single from the LP, 'Part Time Love,' is a nice little pop song.

And let's not forget the 1978 remake of the 1956 sci-fi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.....

This is a good issue of the Lampoon, with some solid content; all revolving around the theme of 'depression.' The short story in this issue, 'Life in the Big City Goes On,' by Gerald Sussman, is about a hapless New Yorker named Gregory K, whose life is even worse than that of the protagonist of the M. John Harrison story 'Running Down,' in terms of Affliction by Entropy. 'Life in the Big city' mixes dark humor with the late 70s cityscape in a very effective way.
 

The comic book parody in this issue takes aim at the venerable Classics Illustrated imprint with a tale of alcoholism and despair.

Knowing their readership likes a little female nudity, the editorial staff have a 'centerfold' of sorts:

Comics veteran Russ Heath gets in on the action with a half-page comic, written by Lampoon editor P. J. O'Rourke, titled 'Naked Girls Telling Old Jokes.'

The 'Foto Funnies' eschew their usual female nudity for some comic observations about funerals, and the use of the commode.

 

Lampoon stalwart Shary Flenniken contributes both an installment of 'Trots and Bonnie,' and 'A Friend in Need,' a color comic about malaise and anomie in the Big City.

 

One of the more unsettling pieces in this January issue is a contribution from Arthur Suydam, who at the time was emerging as one of the more innovative and gifted contributors to the Lampoon's sister publication Heavy Metal. Also written by O'Rourke, thanks to Suydam's unique art style 'Women' provides a creepy, even disturbing, look at gender relations. Is it relevant to our time and age, nearly fifty years later ? Perhaps..........!!

And that's what you got for your $1.50, folks, long ago and far away in that opening month of 1979.......