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The CriticsA cartoon strip by John Fardell that appears in Viz (comic), about two high brow art critics, Natasha and Crispin Critic. They work for The Sunday Chronicle, though they have done freelance work with the BBC and Chanel 4, writing elitist and sometimes sycophantic articles on contemporary art. However they're very damming of pop culture and popular art as "tat", Natasha even dismissing in one strip (issue 142) that "no-one of any cultural significance has come out of Liverpool". Their editor retorts: "You mean, apart from John Lennon,Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Roger McGough, Brian Patten, Adrian Henri, Willy Russell, Alan Bleasdale, Alexei Sayle, Beryll Bainbridge, Ken Dodd, Billy Fury, George Mellie, Tommy Handley, Elvis Costello, Ricky Tomlinson... Shall I go on?" Given that their careers are centred on the metropolitan clique centred around London, this view is hardly suprising. Largely because their arrogance makes them unable to see beyond the end of their shark-like noses. Their shark like profiles could be an allusion to the predatory nature of journalism and arts criticism, as some sharks (like tabloid hacks) are predatory themselves. Despite this, they can be very snobbish, in refusing to report what's happening in Liverpool's arts scene and just rattle off cliches about the city in decline, including scallies. The strip itself is, like the rest of Fardell's work, a satire on the middle classes and their attitudes. He depicts Natasha and Crispin as shallow, sycophantic, elitist, snobbish and hypocritical people who live in a cliquish social circle that borders on incestuous. In one episode, Fardell shows them having sex and then analysing it as if a theatrical performance. He then uses this as a subtle commentary on the incestuous nature of these cliques as they both resemble each other to the point of looking like siblings.
The Viz Website
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