Raffles, Gentleman Thug

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Raffles, Gentleman Thug is a comic strip featured in adult comic Viz featuring a nineteenth-century nobleman given to 'immense erudition and wanton violence'. The basic premise is a nod/ripoff of E. W. Hornung's Raffles the Thief character, the main difference being that this Raffles is very much a 21st century hooligan despite his use of Victorian language. The strip parodies British yob culture, placing modern day situations in a Victorian/Edwardian setting, and Raffles himself uses antiquated or formal words in very informal or modern situations.

For example:

• 'Bollocks to this' becomes 'Testicles to this'

• 'Fuck this shit' becomes 'Fornicate this ordure'

• 'Kick the little bastard' becomes 'Lapidate the little illegitimate'

• 'Tits oot for the lads' (tag line of Viz character Sid the Sexist ) becomes 'Remove your decollétage from its corsetry for the delectation of the gentlemen present'

• 'Fanny magnet' (when describing his new automobile) becomes 'Vaginal lodestone'

Raffles has found himself in many situations featuring famous characters and events from the 19th century and early 20th century:

• Playing cricket against the world famous W. G. Grace , cheating him and then beating him up in the toilets

• travelling on the RMS Titanic and then disguising himself as a woman so he can board a lifeboat

• Fighting in WW1, bullying war poet Rupert Brooke and acting like a football hooligan during the 1914 Christmas Truce

• Attending a party at Clarence house in which he gets into an argument with King Edward VII , resulting in the King being slashed across the face with a cut throat razor

• Pushing in the front of a Taxi queue after a night out only to be beaten to a pulp by 'Lords Ronnie and Reggie of Kray'

Raffles often uses modern-day techniques during his daily escapades - in a recent episode, he broke a wine bottle and stabbed someone with it (today known as "glassing") and used a Stanley knife to threaten someone into giving him their wallet.

Raffles is always accompanied by his loyal friend Bunny and has other acquaintances such as Dave, Lord of Bermondsey (a notorious section of South East London) and the 3rd Earl of Burberry (a reference to Burberry, often stereotyped as the fashion brand of choice for Britain's 'chavs').

Quotes: Is sir perchance passing by the infirmary on his way home? If so perhaps he'd like to stitch this fucker

Is sir addressing me or is he masticating on a house brick? Because either way sir loses his fucking teeth.

(While assaulting the ambassador to Moldavia) Have you had enough? Have you had enough you fucking Moldavian bastard, your Excellency.