Horseshit, the Offensive Review: A Collection of Four Magazines

Hermosa Beach, CA: Scum Publishing Company, 1969. Age toning. Minor foxing on the cover of No. 4.. The collection consists of four magazines entitled "Horseshit, the Offensive Review", Numbers 1-4, that were published over the course of several years. It was an independent magazine published by two ex-military brothers, Robert and Thomas Dunker. One the inside cover of the first magazine, the brothers state their reasoning for starting this magazine. They "decided that there was a real need for a magazine that would combine strong, fearless, humorous drawings with witty, intelligent, outspoken writing..." and continue on to state that in order to put out the magazine "they have to be unmarried so they can do what they want without asking permission, they have to have a passionate belief in their own ideas and they also have to be skeptical bout their own ideas, they have to be nuts." A large portion of the content, either written or drawn is surreal,sexual explicit or political in nature. The magazines features short stories, articles, poems, and illustrations that are meant to provoke a response from the reader as they often tread the line between humor and offensiveness. For example there is an illustration of a mural of a cop getting pissed on by a little boy, several short verses like "Working is like making love to an ugly woman, not so bad after starting, but ugh, what a chore to start," and an article called "The Angled Banana." This article first tells the reader that the artists who drew the sexual illustrations found in the Karma Sutra were imprisoned for it, and their cell's walls were full of more illustrations which the have re-created for you. The description of these positions then humorous describe them, such as "If it should happen that the woman has not been able to bathe, as when her lover approaches her at an unexpected time; or if she has been eating garlic or onions, then the position known as 'aclospin' or the 'head cold' is used." The accompanying illustration depicts a couple 'in congress' with the woman holding his nose closed. Each magazine is around 50 pages long and has black and white illustrations, though the covers are sometimes in color. The majority of the artwork was done by Robert, and the writing by Thomas. Staple binding. Measures 11" x 8 1/2