Eight Ace
Encyclopedia
Eight Ace is a comic strip
in Viz magazine that charts the exploits of the eponymous protagonist Octavius Tinsworth Federidge Ace,or Eight Ace for short. He is a miserable, foul-mouthed, unclean alcoholic, named after the quantity and brand of lager which rules his life and prevents his battle-axe wife from ever letting him into their ramshackle home, in which she brings up their huge number of children on the poverty line.
Eight cans of Ace Lager cost £
1.49 from Mr Patel's local 24-hour nano-mart, where the friendly shopkeeper often makes a futile attempt to invite Mr Ace to purchase non-alcoholic items, such as a comb
or a bin liner, but to no avail. Each story sees Eight Ace given £1.49, or just enough money to bring his funds to that sum, by his estranged wife to buy something vital for his 'bairns' (a regional dialect
word for children and used across north Britain) like medicine, or something needed for school or just food for their evening meal. The story sees Eight Ace telling himself, in a mildly inebriated manner, that this time he won't buy his favourite lager but will get the item his wife has demanded. Ironically, his wife is not very good with money herself and just as selfish. In Viz 166 (June 2007), she uses the money for adapting the family home to cater for the needs of one of her children (who has a disability) on a new plasma screen television which Eight drunkenly damages. This same strip establishes that one of Ace's young sons is named "Half" and another is named "Four".
Eight Ace maintains his self-instruction right up to arriving at the store - and then orders Eight Ace instead. He drinks each can one by one at great speed while loudly chastising himself for weakening again, and usually comes to a sticky end when he returns to his wife; often this is another night in a leaking shed, sleeping off the alcohol in a puddle of his own urine. He is frequently drawn in the act of urination, his (very small) penis quite visible.
Eight Ace is often threatening to 'bray' (Geordie for 'beat', but a fairly common word in Yorkshire too) his wife or bairns or both. Ace's wife has been shown hitting or even stabbing him, but he has never to date actually been shown hitting anyone. He lives in a shed in his family's front garden, as his wife refuses to let him into the house. He wears the trousers of a jogging suit but never exercises. He also wears carpet slippers, apparently not owning a pair of proper shoes.
Eight Ace has been critically compared to the Greek god Prometheus
, who like Eight Ace is doomed to repeat the same tortures every day for eternity. Indeed he makes this comparison himself at one point, though this moment of lucidity ironically manifests itself as a slurred monologue during a drunken sleep.
Curiously - as has been brought up by a number of readers of Viz in the letter's page - £1.49 is extremely cheap for eight cans of lager. This is because Federation Ace is an extremely cheap, low quality lager, 3% ABV, although the price may be under-exaggerated slightly for comic effect. Part of this apparent discrepancy also results from the fact that the amount for the Ace has never been changed since the strip's introduction in 1988, when £1.49 would have been a more reasonable (albeit still very cheap) amount for eight cans.
Often Eight has actually succeeded in giving up the Ace, only to revert back to drinking it at the end of the strip. In one episode he turns to the local vicar
for help, and soon he has overcome his urges. At the end of the strip, the vicar gives Eight £1.49 from the collection plate, which he goes and spends on the Ace, instantly transforming into his old inebriated self.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
in Viz magazine that charts the exploits of the eponymous protagonist Octavius Tinsworth Federidge Ace,or Eight Ace for short. He is a miserable, foul-mouthed, unclean alcoholic, named after the quantity and brand of lager which rules his life and prevents his battle-axe wife from ever letting him into their ramshackle home, in which she brings up their huge number of children on the poverty line.
Eight cans of Ace Lager cost £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
1.49 from Mr Patel's local 24-hour nano-mart, where the friendly shopkeeper often makes a futile attempt to invite Mr Ace to purchase non-alcoholic items, such as a comb
Comb
A comb is a toothed device used in hair care for straightening and cleaning hair or other fibres. Combs are among the oldest tools found by archaeologists...
or a bin liner, but to no avail. Each story sees Eight Ace given £1.49, or just enough money to bring his funds to that sum, by his estranged wife to buy something vital for his 'bairns' (a regional dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
word for children and used across north Britain) like medicine, or something needed for school or just food for their evening meal. The story sees Eight Ace telling himself, in a mildly inebriated manner, that this time he won't buy his favourite lager but will get the item his wife has demanded. Ironically, his wife is not very good with money herself and just as selfish. In Viz 166 (June 2007), she uses the money for adapting the family home to cater for the needs of one of her children (who has a disability) on a new plasma screen television which Eight drunkenly damages. This same strip establishes that one of Ace's young sons is named "Half" and another is named "Four".
Eight Ace maintains his self-instruction right up to arriving at the store - and then orders Eight Ace instead. He drinks each can one by one at great speed while loudly chastising himself for weakening again, and usually comes to a sticky end when he returns to his wife; often this is another night in a leaking shed, sleeping off the alcohol in a puddle of his own urine. He is frequently drawn in the act of urination, his (very small) penis quite visible.
Eight Ace is often threatening to 'bray' (Geordie for 'beat', but a fairly common word in Yorkshire too) his wife or bairns or both. Ace's wife has been shown hitting or even stabbing him, but he has never to date actually been shown hitting anyone. He lives in a shed in his family's front garden, as his wife refuses to let him into the house. He wears the trousers of a jogging suit but never exercises. He also wears carpet slippers, apparently not owning a pair of proper shoes.
Eight Ace has been critically compared to the Greek god Prometheus
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals...
, who like Eight Ace is doomed to repeat the same tortures every day for eternity. Indeed he makes this comparison himself at one point, though this moment of lucidity ironically manifests itself as a slurred monologue during a drunken sleep.
Curiously - as has been brought up by a number of readers of Viz in the letter's page - £1.49 is extremely cheap for eight cans of lager. This is because Federation Ace is an extremely cheap, low quality lager, 3% ABV, although the price may be under-exaggerated slightly for comic effect. Part of this apparent discrepancy also results from the fact that the amount for the Ace has never been changed since the strip's introduction in 1988, when £1.49 would have been a more reasonable (albeit still very cheap) amount for eight cans.
Often Eight has actually succeeded in giving up the Ace, only to revert back to drinking it at the end of the strip. In one episode he turns to the local vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
for help, and soon he has overcome his urges. At the end of the strip, the vicar gives Eight £1.49 from the collection plate, which he goes and spends on the Ace, instantly transforming into his old inebriated self.
See also
- Rab C. NesbittRab C. NesbittRab C. Nesbitt is a Scottish sitcom which began in 1988. Produced by BBC Scotland, it stars Gregor Fisher as an alcoholic Glaswegian who believed unemployment was the life for him...
was a character in a BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom of the same name who had many similarities to Eight Ace, including the eternally despairing wife.
- Viz (comic)Viz (comic)Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...