Monkeys Might Puke presents The Crap Your Pants Anthology, eighteen tales of self-defacating wit

There is a scene in one of the stories in this comic, which shows a girl defacating on stage to an audience of masturbating fans- a scene which is intended to be a source of much amusement to the reader. Unfortunately, for me at least, the joke falls flat- as it seems that the readers of this comic are
similarly encouraged to garner titillation (albeit humorous rather than sexual) from tediously repetitive stories of people crapping their pants.

The actual contributors are a talented bunch when left to themselves,
and some of them do make an effort to do something different (I'm thinking of Douglas Noble's cabaret piece here), but the restrictive nature of the theme seems to have robbed them of inspiration, and the low production values, and frankly lazy presentation don't aid the artwork either.

I find 'dead babies' jokes disgusting and sick, but when David Brent tells one I am in stitches. Unfortunately there is no such irony or self-deprecation in this comic (ironic considering the title), and so I am left feeling disappointed that I have spent half an hour of my time reading the kind of stories 10 year-old boys draw in their school-books, with none of the subtle wit and laughing at the viewer an episode of South Park can bring, when I could have been reading an ambitious and artfully told tale by creators who have a real grasp for portraying comedy in this medium (Track down the Tales from the Flat Promo leaflet for that). If you would like to enjoy humour in exactly the same vein, without spending £3, snigger at the next dog turd you see. For half an hour. Shouldn't we all be a little more sophisticated than that?

For an example of how to make a genuinely hilarious comic with similar themes as this, read David Bailey's 'Mindy', which makes someone pissing in a swimming pool into an insightful black comedy.

The Crap Your Pants Anthology is intended for mature readers (and as such seems to alienate those people that might actually find it funny) and is

available for £3 from www.monkeysmightpuke.com