The Depth Test Captain Goodvibes - My Life as a Pork Chop 1973-1981

In: The Depth Test by Stu Nettle 42 Comments Wed 14th Dec '11

Tags: captain goodvibes , my life as a pork chop , tony edwards , sean doherty

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Here it is: a time capsule of Aussie surfing in the 70's wrapped in hot pink covers bearing the image of an overweight pig.

My surfing life began after Captain Goodvibes had retired from the pages of Tracks and yet his great shadow fell across every issue I bought. There in the letters pages was, without fail, an exasperated reader imploring the editor to 'bring back Goodvibes' or an infrequent buyer wondering where the hell their bovine hero had gone. They spoke of him in reverence and on the above evidence alone Captain Goodvibes was an integral part of Tracks in its 70's golden era.

He popped up in the odd 'Best of Tracks' issues and other assorted places but I was a fluoro cord adorned child of the 80's and didn't get the jokes or references. 'Overrated' was my reaction to him. That or the old blokes had a dull sense of humour.

Which makes me feel a bit silly reading through Captain Goodvibes - My Life as a Pork Chop 1973-1981. A collection of Goodvibes' strips during his Tracks tenure, it's a sharp shot of surfing during the post-hippy, Whitlam era when the anti-authority streak still ran deep in Australian surfing. Goodvibes captured the zeitgeist and it's no surprise that surfers from a different generation scratched their head at his carry on.

I never raged against the wallopers, lined up at the CES for my dole cheque, or ate macrobiotic muesli. Even buddah sticks were out of fashion by the time I turned ripe. Age has a levelling effect however, and this collection can be seen for the time capsule it is. I mean, could any contemporary cartoonist get away with this title: 'Captain Goodvibes meets the North Coast Abo Hippy Ratbag Commo Unwashed Surfing Poofters'? Even iron clad irony won't keep you off the covers of tomorrow's tabloids.

So, as much as anything, Captain Goodvibes - My Life as a Pork Chop 1973-1981, is a nod to how things have changed and half the laughs are from what he managed to get away with.

Goodvibes creator, Tony Edwards, intersperses the strips with written interludes and in the course of them shows himself to be an A-grade humourist. They're the highlights of the book. Growing up in Manly, early work forays, the genesis of Goodvibes, working at Tracks, each passage is written in wicked self-deprecating style not unlike Bill Bryson in comic mode. The two, in fact, look similar: overweight, bespectacled and impish, yet irrepressibly cheeky. Edwards had longer hair though and no doubt took many more drugs. And he has a very soft side, does old Tony, which shows in his endearing description of Goodvibes as 'my little mate'.

The layout of the book is worth commenting upon too. At 400 pages with cartoon strips, written passages and also old Tracks covers and layouts it's not unlike a surprise art book you'd stumble across under a dusty pile in Gould's Book Store. Open the book at any page and begin to read. It'll be months before you finish it all.

Captain Goodvibes - My Life as a Pork Chop 1973-1981 is written by Tony Edwards, edited by Sean Doherty and published by Flying Pineapple Media. Visit their site to order your copy.

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