Fear and Laughter (1977) edited by Scott Shaw

This anthology has (if I count correctly) twenty three (23) contributors, and the concept seems to be… er… to… be inspired by Hunter S. Thompson’s work? (It’s “hosted” by “Hunter S. Toxin”; very clever.)

So the first story (by William Stout) seems to uphold that premise…

… but Bob Foster … doesn’t? I mean, I’ve somehow managed to never ever read anything by Thompson, so perhaps this is an adaptation of something for all I know?

And then a sudden Rick Geary true crime strip! In his rare, early spindly style. It’s the sort of story he’d do a lot later, but it’s so compressed here that it doesn’t precisely zing. And I don’t know what the connection to Thompson is.

Scott Shaw writes and/or artwork for a few of the pieces himself, and they’re even less coherent than the rest.

Huh! Early Dave Stevens artwork.

And then… some pages from It’s A Dog’s Life by Larry Todd? What?

This book is basically migraine on paper. Even Carol Lay can’t get any traction here.

Hm:

Fear and Laughter is a parody of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s book Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. In 14 short stories, we follow Dr. Hunter S. Toxin through a variety of drug-induced, profanity-laced adventures written and illustrated by an army of comic book pros. Funny stuff and well worth tracking down.

Perhaps it’s funnier if you’ve read the book, but… it’s kinda bad.

This is the forty-third post in the Entire Kitchen Sink blog series.