“Humour is a rubber sword – it allows you to make a point without drawing blood.”

Comedy has long been used as a foil for canny artists - a way to camouflage the blade of social commentary. The reason for doing so is simple: it's easier to hold a mirror to society when you're playing for laughs. And the reason it works is equally basic: we're less suspicious when amused and hence less likely to take offence when the rubber sword is pointed our way. From Homer Simpson to George Carlin the effect is the same.

Cartoonists take it to another level. For many people comic strips remain the province of children and simple humour, therefore when they're injected with venom the result is exaggerated. The defences are dropped so the message is more effective.

In the early 90s Mark Sutherland used all these tools to effect when sketching his anti-hero, Gonad Man, for Waves magazine. The initial brief came from the mags' editor, Andrew Kidman, who wanted something with the irreverence of Captain Goodvibes yet relevant to the spotty groms of the day. Thus Gonad Man - born of a famous surf lineage and with an enormous knob to boot - was created and made monthly appearances.

Each episode of Gonad Man was another sly blast at the issues of the day: Aussie conformity; the encroaching surf industrial complex; vacuous surf professionals, and many more topics were addressed via Gonad Man's bumbling, everyman schtick. Well, 'everyman' save for his surf skills and stuffed duds. Those two matters aside, the targeted audience could relate to Goney's human frailties.

At its peak Waves magazine was selling 44,000 copies per month giving 'Nads enviable reach and influence. School teachers could only hope for that level of clout. And Gonad Man used his authority wisely; in 1993 a condom manufacturing company paid Sutho $25,000 for an official Gonad Man condom.

Then production company Southern Star weighed in with an offer for a television series. An accomplished animator, Sutho took the project on with gusto and yet it all came to nought. “I had a whole production team and everything,” Sutho told cartoonist Pat Grant. “The problem was none of them really surfed.”

Soon afterwards Kidman left Waves for a year long global jaunt with cameraman Jon Frank in tow. The result was the film Litmus, co-produced by Kidman, Frank, and Sutho, and featuring a six minute animation called Dream that dealt with heroin addiction. The animated noir of Dream contrasted heavily against the high-spirited satire of Gonad Man, and it seemed Sutho's creation had vanished forever.

Yet late last year Gonad Man appeared again, replete with his purple bondage suit, buck teeth, and red singley under arm. His resurrection came in the form of an 80 page soft cover book, The Return of Gonad Man. He'd aged little in the intervening twenty years and was certainly none the wiser. Yet with the help of Sutho he'd adapted to the changing times.

“Unlike the original series,” says Sutho in the intro, “this story - so long in the gestation – necessarily draws a longer bow.” Which is to say The Return of Gonad Man sidesteps the trivial to tackle surfing's Big Issues and even has a stab at the State Of The Nation. It sounds awfully serious but Sutho is a samurai with the rubber sword.

Over 80 pages, Gonad Man gets mistaken for an immigrant, released into the care of Derek Blynd, and then gradually uncovers the plot hatched by Bongwater International CEO Bill Silverberg to fund a chain of eco surf resorts and wave pools using Smelly Skater as his mouthpiece. Though the book is many years in the making – betrayed by the dates Sutho signs off each page – his timing is remarkable. Yet in this alternative universe, Greg Webber isn't a competitor but saboteur, with the aide of brothers Monty and Will they launch a dolphin shit sculpture into “Quick Bill's' rooftop pool. The toilet humour is thick and the cameos are many.

When the story heats up Sutho starts swinging the rubber sword in all directions. Though the serious blows are reserved for those who deserve them, no-one is spared, not even joe average who's reading the book. In a reflective moment, admittedly rare for Gonad Man, he turns the blade upon us suggesting we're all a little bit complicit in the state of modern surfing. It's not a point that would've been made twenty years ago proving that not even cartoon heroes remain in stasis.

Whether The Return of Gonad Man will win any new fans remains to be seen. I simply couldn't tell. The 2016 version is as irreverent as the original brief intended but being on the cemetery side of forty I no longer know what the spotty groms are into. However, those who read it the first time around will appreciate what's changed and what's stayed the same - and then enjoy a fucken good laugh in the process.

The Return of Gonad Man is self-published and available to buy online