Bad Taste: the babbling geriatric

The scan: sc-no221.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

This text was corrected by hand against the scan: the strip at the foot of page 4, which the machine reading did not see; image taken from the scan and its lettering transcribed (18 Oct 2026). One of Cormac's Bad Taste strips: the babbling geriatric. Note: numbered by year: "#5" (1981).

page 4 of the scan

Five-panel cartoon strip: a young man says Reagan may be a babbling geriatric, but Europe as the theatre of war is accepted American policy; an elderly man objects to the term — you may be one yourself one day — and the young man thinks Reagan intends to spare him that fate. — Cormac, "Bad Taste" (numbered 81/5), Socialist Challenge no. 221, 12 November 1981, page 4. From the Marxists Internet Archive scan.

The strip, panel by panel

1. BAD TASTE — Cormac "#5".

2. "Reagan may be a babbling geriatric but let's be fair ..."

3. "What he said is accepted American policy! Europe is to be the theatre of war!"

4. "This is certainly true, young man, but the term 'babbling geriatric' is offensive .." "... After all, you may be a 'babbling geriatric' yourself one day!"

5. "I think it is Reagan's intention to spare me that fate!!"