124: Bruce Cochran

in “National Lampoon” November 1974

This was a regular strip in “National Lampoon” for the first few years in which absurd tips were offered as essential for the novice cartoonist.

As though a commercial artist might need to draw gay birds for the laughably banal strips that litter the American newspapers is joke enough. American comics have always terribly uncontroversial and conservative. So pressing the need for instruction in this particular socio-sexual matter is twist enough. A queer quail was never going to appear in anyone’s comics page. The specificity of the type of bird is pointlessly silly too. However, in one way it’s accurate since the signs it offers are ubiquitous: one knee cocked, hands on hip, curly lashes, and drama-queen effeteness of speech.