Discovering Scarfolk: a wonderfully witty and subversively dark parody of life growing up in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s

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Daniel Bush makes a dreadful mistake when he stops off at Scarfolk, and when his two sons are abducted he must overcome the town’s totalitarian leadership, the paranoia of its brainwashed inhabitants and the dark secrets at the town’s malevolent heart.

Review: ‘Discovering Scarfolk’ by Richard Littler - The Daily Review: ‘Discovering Scarfolk’ by Richard Littler - The Daily

It's not surprising to learn that author Richard Littler is a graphic designer; all the illustrations here (many of which are also featured on the blog) are beautifully executed to the very last detail. The story, though, leaves something to be desired. The silliness that made me laugh out loud at the beginning soon overstayed its welcome; the book is too focused on the graphics to allow the plot to develop into anything you'd care about or be scared by. This is reflected in the blog, which started out as just images but now includes a lot more description around them. It's obvious the popularity of the images has forced the creation of a narrative and not the other way around. I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the Ferguson situation. What I gather is that this was a case of police harassment/brutality that had festered for years or even decades and finally boiled over. Some people are coming in from other areas to get involved (or just cause trouble), but that’s about it.Enrolment in such organisations became mandatory when a government study revealed that parents were only putting forward their least favourite children. This was a serious issue for the government because it diverted workloads away from, and reduced target quotas of, state child recycling facilities, which had been set up at great cost to deal specifically with processing unwanted, less-valuable offspring. On the one hand the Scarfolk artwork is fantastic - a very original concept which really works for me. Taking sausage DNA, Hushson created the 'sausage orphan', which genetically substituted a child's face - something Hushson had long considered redundant - with a sausage or luncheon meat. a b c Simon Usborne (17 April 2013). "How to wash a child's brain: Designer Richard Littler creates fictional world based on terrifying public service films – Features – Films – The Independent". The Independent . Retrieved 14 October 2014.

Scarfolk, the Most Spectacular Dystopia of the 1970s Visiting Scarfolk, the Most Spectacular Dystopia of the 1970s

Paranormal subjects were treated as fact by the media,” he says. “There were unsettling reports of violent poltergeist haunts in suburban homes… as a child, there seemed to be—to me at least—scant difference between the natural and the supernatural.” A Scarfolk Council-issued card to remind you you’re always being followed. Brilliant graphics! I couldn’t help but think about Welcome to Nightvale, reading this. And of Stranger Things to a certain level. The vision of dystopian, time-distorted towns in the 70’s and 80’s does seem to be something that’s trapped in the collective consciousness of this generation… During the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 a ghostly figure was spotted by alarmed viewers in a BBC broadcast. The spectre appeared to be sitting beside the Queen in her carriage. The apparition's identity remains unknown, though some claim it is Scarfolk resident Herbert Empire. An ordinary town with electrified water and after-school activities for the kiddies like Thump-Chums. (The first rule of Thump-Chums is you can talk about Thump-Chums to whoever you like as long as you thump them.) I've always really enjoyed the Scarfolk Council blog ever since I've discovered it from some source or another,Jeff Johnson; David Roth; Drew Magary; Mark Byrne; Andrew Richdale; John Surico; Alex French; Jennifer Schwartz & Lu Fong (May 2013). "The 100 Funniest Things in the History of the Internet". GQ Magazine . Retrieved 14 October 2014. a b c Martin Schneider (23 April 2013). "Welcome to Scarfolk, the most twisted English village of the 1970s". Dangerous Minds . Retrieved 14 October 2014.

Discovering Scarfolk - Design Week Discovering Scarfolk - Design Week

While the illustrations achieve that Orwellian body with Kafkaesque aftertaste, it's the written accompaniment that brings the Monty Python flavor notes, and this is not nearly as successful. The tragic conspiracy/horror of Daniel Bush and his children is slathered Pythonesque absurdity, and this absurdity spreads to the narrator's asides as well, outside of Scarfolk. It mars the presentation and makes the work like those extra-rich desserts that you can never finish.One such memory was of children playing school sports on a railway line: As the children entered a dark tunnel, they’re injured or killed by speeding trains while a brass band played on the embankment. It almost sounds like the plot of a Bunuel film, and for many years I was convinced I had imagined it, especially because everyone I mentioned it to looked at me as if I were insane. The parodies are so accurate you'll never look at the real thing in the same way again....A 'Must Read'."

Discovering Scarfolk - Penguin Books UK Discovering Scarfolk - Penguin Books UK

Richard Littler had a frightening childhood, too, but as a designer and screenwriter, he turned his memories of life in suburban Britain during the 1970s into a haunting and hilarious blog and book about the fictional dystopian town of Scarfolk. Littler mined the dark side of his childhood to create pamphlets, posters, book covers, album art, audio clips, and television shorts—remnants of life in a paranoid, totalitarian 1970s community, where even babies are not to be trusted. Cory Doctorow (14 August 2014). "Scarfolk: creepy blog will be an amazing book - Boing Boing". Boing Boing . Retrieved 2 November 2014. On the other hand the actual text in the book is atrociously written. Daniel visits Scarfolk and his twin sons go missing blah blah blah. I don't know, i think it's supposed to be funny but it missed my funny bone by a significant margin. It's so bad, that you just look forward to examining the next poster or book cover. A shame really as the concept has huge potential. Discovering Scarfolk is a visitor's guide to a small town in the UK, a real tourist trap (entirely literally). Full of helpful advice, such as "Don't go with strange children", "Stop" and "Don't", this is an indispensable guide to getting out alive.What also seems clear is that an unidentified but enthusiastic council employee took it upon themselves to extend Plan C to almost every eventuality, in effect making the nuclear Plan C simply the only plan. The excessively tongue-in-cheek quality of the narrative cheapens the satire, especially given the dark nature of some of the themes, and the humour falls flat in many places.