Patel’s 24 Hour Nano-Mart

F-f-f-fuckin’ b-b-b-b-bitch! I treated her like a Queen!

In a research sense, Viz is a little bit like the soap opera. There’s really too much of it to feasibly go through and be 100% on. And so in that sense, I don’t really know how visible Patel’s 24 Hour Nano-Mart is. I’ve seen it in strips just saying ‘PATEL’S’ (usually cropped off before the end), but can’t give you a definitive report.

For this, then, we’re sticking with the block capitals out of common courtesy (kind of). The rest of it follows the colour palette and font of a shit cornershop from the 1980s. I say that, I just remember it from the 80s. It was founded in 1971 but done got killed in 1996, only to rise, phoenix-like from the ashes to become ‘Jack’s‘, which is apparently part of Tescos. Who are basically taking over the whole world at this point. The bottom writing is modelled on another budget, supermarket-style shitehouse.

You might be wondering what I’m going on about here, but Mr. Patel (I’m presuming the proprietor. He crops up in strips wearing a turban) owns a shop that our hero 8 Ace frequents, to purchase his namesake lager. If you’re not familiar with the story, 8 Ace is a washed up, obese, not-so-functioning alcoholic who claims his wife and umpteen children are his life but frequently neglects and abuses them. You know, usual Geordie stuff. That’s a joke. I love Newcastle. Well, I love Geordies. Only been there once but it was great.

So yeah, 8 Ace spends all his money on lager and it’s still only £1.49 for eight cans. Which I personally see as a perfectly understandable thing to do. In a climate where the price of a packet of Space Raiders has rocketed from 20p to 50p (after being frozen at 10p for at least three decades), I see it as nothing but sound business in a hostile marketplace.