That is what I loved this time around, Fungus did not know why he scares people, why he puts boils on them and why he does this day after day. Over a period of decades, a number of attempts were made to make a film from the book, which was difficult given its lack of an actual plot. And although I do believe that especially boys will likely and perhaps even definitely enjoy much of the presented text and be especially captivated with and by the at times rather disgusting, overtly ribald potty-type humour, I do not necessarily think that they will all that easily understand all or even most of the more sophisticated allusions, parodies and such (and I equally do warn parents who are considering reading Fungus the Bogeyman with or to their children to actually consider at least skimming the entire book before using it for their little ones just to make certain that they themselves do not end up with both narrative and illustrative surprises they might personally consider inappropriate). But Fungus is having an existential crisis “I am, yet what I am who knows … I am the self-consumer of my woes” and this philosophical turn gives the Bogeyman, despite everything, a likeable character. Bogeymen like: silence, tasting books, losing or drawing games, wetness, rotten smells and slowness.

Yes, ultimately the joke is one-note (everything in bogeydom is more or less the reverse of things in the human world, so bogeymen prefer dirt to cleanliness, cold to warmth, wet to dry, and so on, though there are occasional inconsistencies), but Briggs pulls off so many brilliant variations on it, and paces them out so carefully as he narrates Fungus's typical "day" (read night) of frightening and irritating people, all the while wondering what purpose his job serves, that the joke somehow never gets tired. This book was turned into a two-handed radio play with Peter Sallis in the male lead role, and subsequently an animated film, featuring John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft. This adaption also starred Marc Warren, Keeley Hawes, Joanna Scanlan, Jimmy Akingbola, Paul Kaye, and also Victoria Wood in her final television role before her death in April 2016. As a children’s book today, I would not recommend it: there are many references to British culture in the 70s that simply would not be understood; the vocabulary used is quite advanced (at times fantastical) and thus I would not even be sure at what age group this book should be aimed; and as the book is so dated, it feels sexist and racist by today’s standards. I actually couldn't bear to read past the sixth page or so, once I realized that it was just a way-too-wordy Bizzaro Superman-style reversal of everything in polite society.Best known for his more conventional children's books such as The Snowman, Briggs, like Roald Dahl, has an uncanny sense of what really appeals to children -- gross stuff and toilet humor. The topic was inspired after Briggs watched a Panorama documentary on nuclear contingency planning, and the dense format of the page was inspired by a Swiss publisher's miniature version of Father Christmas.

We have more or less straight comics, but also sections of pages treated as if they were notice boards, with text boxes pinned to them, "censored" text, charts, etc. Briggs' use of language and play on words is masterful, although I did have to look up quaquaversal - "dipping from a centre toward all points of the compass". It tells of how Jessica, a human teenager, finds her way into Bogeydom and meets Fungus and his family.There isn’t really a storyline; the content instead strikes me as more of a lengthy encyclopaedia entry rendered in the most perfectly bilious green. But that all being said, the constant and continuously recurring anally, body fluid and excretions based humour does tend to feel and become rather overly exaggerated and overused (even to the point of wearing more than a bit thin and thus no longer even being all that humorous to and for me, and mostly like a buzzing mosquito, somewhat annoying and recurringly tedious). For a picture book (and even for a short comic book style graphic novel obviously and primarily meant for children), Raymond Briggs' Fungus the Bogeyman is actually in many ways rather sophisticated and involved humour and narrative-wise.

Fungus lives an ordinary life, he gets up, gets prepared for work, makes the commute, does his job and wonders what is it all about? The book is also wonderfully illustrated, it helps convey to the reader the life of the bogeyman, his habits, family life, house, garden and social life. But even with me being a bit disappointed with and by Raymond Briggs' Fungus the Bogeyman as a story, I would probably be giving it a high three star ranking (and not the two stars I am at present considering) if the textual presentation of the book were even somewhat easier on my aging eyes. I mean, it’s a complete classic, although I do prefer Ug, Boy Genius of the Stone Age, for its philosophical musings, although the quotations from Southey, Clare, et al in this book do make me smile. Andrew Male, appearing on the Backlisted Podcast, described Fungus the Bogeyman as "the children's [version of Burton's] Anatomy of Melancholy" and this the most apt and accurate description I have ever come across.

But, what makes the book so strange is not just the weird censorship jokes, but the fact that throughout the novel, Fungus is having something of an existential crisis. I love Briggs's dense, complex page design and his masterful use of an array of layout and design features. Amongst the information given about their lifestyle there is also a more typical storyline where Fungus wakes up, washes (in slime) and cycles to work where he ponders his role in society and the purpose of his existence!

Deep down underground, in the dark, dripping tunnels of bogeydom, live the bogeys, a vile collection of slimy, smelly creatures who revel in everything revolting. Combine that rudimentary appeal with a very adult level of punning and an endearing melancholy and you have Fungus. A strong stomach is occasionally required to accompany a reading of this exploration of a typical day in the life of Fungus the Bogeyman. He would start his journey and that page was full of paragraphs about the history of every place he passed and the function of every item mentioned. The story, such as it is, follows a day in the life of the eponymous Fungus, a hard-working Bogeyman who is going through an existential midlife crisis, questioning both his purpose and the system in which he works.A three-part adaptation, featuring Timothy Spall as the title character, aired on Sky1 in December 2015 [4] and was partly shot at West London Film Studios. Fungus goes to work up where the ‘drycleaners’ live, traelling very slowly on his flat wheeled bike. When it came out the general public were shocked at the scatological humour, which is now standard in children's literature, but it no longer has that impact. Skip forward [mumble mumble] years -- yes, that many -- and I've just found the very same book hiding in a forgotten, dusty stack at my parent's house.