When following my snout for this month’s feature, ‘Searching for Goodvibes’, I asked former Tracks editor Phil Jarratt if he’d given Tony Edwards free reign with his comic strip about a hedonistic, surf-mad, super-hero pig with a penchant for profanities and snorting chemicals. Jarratt, a revered writer and highly respected figure in surfing circles insisted he didn’t get in the way of The Captain’s audacious antics. “It was pretty much anything goes.” However, accord- ing to Jarratt, Edwards tended to ensure Goodvibes was a good boy in the end. “He (Tony) would always kind of have a bit of a get out for his conscience. No matter how awful Goodvibes was behaving, there was always something in the cartoon that kind of redeemed him a little bit.”

Determined to preserve the tradition of a free-range pig we gave Tony Edwards cart blanche with this issue’s cover, which celebrates Goodvibes turning 50. As usual Edwards didn’t disappoint, reimagining Sydney Harbour in a tumbling riot of colour with an obscenely large wave that’s been home-delivered to The Captain. It brings The Captain into the now while perhaps having a subtle dig at our culture of convenience.

Many still pine for the days when The Pig of Steel ripped and snorted his way through the banal bits of Australian society, but this might be the last chance you get to see him reincarnated for a modern audience. The collectible cover will also be made available as a t-shirt (click here to purchase) and a print via our Tracks online store. Captain Goodvibes is a hard act to follow but the rest of the issue is also stacked with good content. Peripatetic photographer Al MacKinnon and offsider Pete Geall go for a wander around the Algarve coast of Portugal. As Geall reminisces about the …