Bad Taste: over-population

The scan: sc-no270.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 11, 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: over-population. Note: unnumbered.

page 11 of the scan

Four-panel cartoon strip: hearing about population figures in China, the cartoonist thought of a strip on "over-population" — a feeble joke drowned in drawings of masses of people — but forgot the neo-Malthusians, and the token women; three women think "Patronising asshole!!!" — Cormac, "Bad Taste" (unnumbered), Socialist Challenge no. 270, 20 November 1982, page 11. From the Marxists Internet Archive scan.

The strip, panel by panel

1. BAD TASTE — Cormac. Caption: "I heard something about population figures in China and I thought about doing a strip on 'over population'"

2. Caption: "A joke whose feebleness would be drowned by drawings of masses of people"

3. Caption: "But halfway through the third panel I forgot about the neo-Malthusians .... ... my subconscious had betrayed me ..."

4. Caption: "I forgot the token women!" (Three women think:) "Patronising asshole!!!"