J M Wetherington Sr

For the past few weeks, as I’ve noted here and here,  I’ve been reading old copies of comic books from my youth. But in addition to that I’ve been revisiting one of the best satirical magazines of all time, National Lampoon.

In late 1971 I was a junior in high school and had just turned 16 a few months earlier. I had my drivers license, but still rode the bus to school and back because we did not have an available vehicle for me to drive to school. I was smart enough to breeze through most of my classes (with the exception of the damnable math courses!) without a lot of effort and without a lot of close scrutiny by my teachers.

The school allowed juniors and seniors to leave the campus during their lunch hour and within easy walking distance of the school was a shopping center with a great bookstore/newsstand that carried a variety of books, newspapers, magazines, and comic books. Knowing me, you would understand that I was there practically every day that I was at school. I had a job as a busboy/dishwasher at a Jewish delicatessen (oh, the irony!) and most of my disposable income was spent on the above literary items (I read almost anything I could) and putting gas in the family car when I wanted to drive somewhere.

I had been buying National Lampoon for a while when the January 1972 issue landed on the magazine rack at this establishment (I wish I could remember the name of it!) and I always loved the irreverent sense of humor that was always on display in the magazine. If you’ve ever read any of them you know what I mean. This issue contained an extra-special feature; the first story/issue of Son-O’-God comics with art by one of my favorite contemporary comic book artists, the legendary Neal Adams.

When I started writing this post I was going to cover the Son-O’-God comics/stories contained within this and future issues of the magazine, but I found that someone over at the Dial “B” for Blogs website had already written up an even more in-depth story about them (complete with all the artwork) and so I gratefully provide the link for your enjoyment. Be sure to read all three of the chapters so you can learn the entire background about how they came to be and how they came to an end.

“JEE-ZUZ!!”