Viz - toast of the literary world   
The Northern Echo - Thursday 12th August 2010

THE SCHOOLYARD humour of Viz magazine has completed its journey to respectability with the opening of an exhibition in the one of the North-East's most esteemed literary establishments.

Viz has opened a display of original artwork from 30 years of the Newcastle "grown-ups" comic at the Literary & Philosophical Library in the city.

From its beginnings being sold in the pubs of Gosforth, Viz has grown to become a cult classic, selling a million copies an issue at its peak and is now a firmly established, fearlessly irreverent part of British culture - and still produced in Newcastle.

The Viz 30 exhibition features over 70 pieces of original artwork with classic characters including Roger Mellie (The Man on the Telly), Sid the Sexist and Biffa Bacon.

In the late Eighties and Nineties Viz was outsold only by the Radio Times and TV Times.
A Viz spokesman said: "We are delighted that the Lit & Phil is going to stage the exhibition of Viz artwork that was first shown at the London Cartoon Museum.

"It's a great privilege for us to have our decidedly un-literary (and not-particularly-philosophical) cartoons on show in such beautiful and historic surroundings as the Lit & Phil."
More here.