A cartoon counterpart to Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman”, “The Maggot” is an elegantly designed slice of anti-drug propaganda aimed at black youth in the inner cities of America. The symbolism is a tad heavy-handed - dealers are depicted as vultures, drugs as serpents that morph into the chains of a new slavery – but the message comes across loud and clear: the gangs supplying the ghetto with chemical oblivion form a counter-revolutionary element who should and will – it’s implied - be met with vigilante retribution. Oscillating smoothly between a hyper-real airbrushed look and stark silhouettes, “The Maggot” was a collaboration between director George Dunning and Topper Carew, a musician who came up with the concept and supplied the Last Poets-style percussive soundtrack. The involvement of Dunning is faintly ironic given that his most famous project – The Beatles-based movie-length animation Yellow Submarine – may well be the greatest advertisement for psychedelics to ever reach pre-teen eyes.