Oz 4. Cover art by Hapshash and the Coloured Coat.
From a television series out of time to a magazine very much of its time. The Prisoner and Oz magazine are exact contemporaries: issue 4 of Oz (June 1967) would have been on sale when Patrick McGoohan and co. were busy turning Portmeirion into The Village. In the past anyone interested in Oz had to either scour eBay for expensive paper copies or content themselves with the incomplete scans made available several years ago. But no longer, thanks to the University of Wollongong and editor Richard Neville who have made the entire run available as downloadable PDFs. These are much better quality than the previously available copies, and they also have poster inserts available as separate downloads. The wonderful set of Tarot designs created by the late Martin Sharp for issue 4 were faded and torn in the old scans so it’s a real pleasure to see this and other artwork looking so good.
Tarot designs from Oz 4 by Martin Sharp.
Another benefit of decent quality copies is that some of the pages may be easier to read. Oz was notorious not only for its authority-baiting content but also for the layout of many of the later issues which frequently overlaid dense columns of type on tinted pictures or photographs. The approach was deliberately chaotic at times, befitting a magazine that seemed to go out of its way to upset everyone, regular readers included. It’s amusing—and also fitting— that the magazine pages at the University of Wollongong contain warnings to readers about the “confronting” content. There can’t be many magazines that remain confrontational to new generations after 50 years. (Big thanks to David for the tip!)
Tarot designs from Oz 4 by Martin Sharp.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Gay slang from the 1970s
• The Trials of Oz
• Martin Sharp, 1942–2013
• Oz magazine, 1967–73
John,thanks for this (and thanks to David as well!). Great to see this body of work in one place. Fantastic.
Wow!