Randall Enos and the Sullen Teen

By Mark Kaufman

Back in my sullen teen days, way back in the early to mid 1970s, one thing which always brightened my day would be to curl up in some small, dark corner with a fresh copy of National Lampoon Magazine, an inspiration to a generation of layabouts, slackers and good for nothings. It’s filthy, blasphemous, yet sharply funny take on American Culture is one of the things that got me started on this career path, in fact I was lucky enough to appear in The Lampoon back in one of it’s dark, unprofitable, and unfunny days. Myself excluded, the contributors list reads like a who’s who of humorists, writers, editors, illustrators and cartoonists, many of whom are still going strong 30 years on. One of my favorites back then and now was Randall Enos, whose style stood out for me among the many fine artists that were featured in the magazine. Unlike the superhero comics I usually read, his lettering seemed sloppy, his characters were odd to say the least, defying the laws of physiology and logic, his line was heavy and scratchy, and rarely if ever did his comic strip which went by the name of Chicken Gutz, make any sense to me at all. And yet I loved it, after looking through the issue for naked bodies, I immediately turned to Chicken Gutz. It was unlike anything else I knew of at the time, or now for that matter, and that is high praise indeed. Mr. Enos has gone on to work for many of the most prestigious magazines and newspapers of our time, and his linocut style, craftsmaship, and his take on the subject matter still stands out for me, I stop dead in my tracks when I see his work, and I linger over it like some sort of stalker with a schoolboy crush. A true inspiration, both for the body of work, and the longevity of his career. Thanks Randy.