Bad Taste no. 71: Jimmy Kelly

The scan: sc-n144-apr-24-1980.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

This text was corrected by hand against the scan: the strip at the head of page 14, which the machine reading did not see; image taken from the scan and its lettering transcribed (18 Oct 2026). Number 71 of Cormac's weekly Bad Taste strip: Jimmy Kelly.

page 14 of the scan

Five-panel cartoon strip: a man reads that Jimmy Kelly's death in police custody was "death by misadventure" — an unlucky accident — and wonders whether one could say the same to the six million; a placard concedes the comparison, "...well...". — Cormac, "Bad Taste" no. 71, Socialist Challenge no. 144, 24 April 1980, page 14. From the Marxists Internet Archive scan.

The strip, panel by panel

1. BAD TASTE by Cormac #71.

2. (Reading the Daily Mail:) "How did Jimmy Kelly die? 'Death by misadventure'"

3. (With a dictionary:) "'Misadventure'?? What's that? Mm-m — ah, yes 'an unlucky accident'"

4. Thinks: "Could one say to the six million 'It's an unlucky accident that you were European Jews ----"

5. "--- during the rise of the Third Reich'?" (A sign:) "You're right! I agree! To compare the death of one man in police custody to the barbarism of the Nazis ... well ..."