''The 12½p Buytonic Boy'' was a British comic strip, created by Robert Nixon, although Brian Walker frequently deputised when Bob was on leave. It debuted as "Half a Dollar Boy" in issue 37 of Monster Fun comic, before becoming a regular feature in the first issue of the magazine '' Krazy'', dated 16 October 1976.

Concept

The strip was about a boy called Steve Ford, who, after buying a special tonic from Professor Nutz for 12½ pence, gained special powers. He would later be hired by the Everso Secret Service (pronounced ''ever-so-secret service''), using his powers to interfere with the plans of the villainous spies from rival organisation the "NME" (pronounced ''enemy''). This being the period of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the names of the agents of the NME included Boris and Ivan, and they would occasionally dress as

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

ns. Part of the joke involved the audience being aware that there was a contemporary British pop-music magazine, the ''New Musical Express'', which was known in the teenage subculture by the nickname ''the NME''. The character's name, and the title of the strip, spoofed ''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is re ...

'' television series, whose main character was called Steve Austin, and was known as the "bionic man". Part of the joke was that

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and Austin were both names of popular car manufacturers in Britain. Prior to getting his powers, Steve Ford crashes his

Go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance racing ...

, much as Steve Austin gets his after crashing an aircraft.

Later years

After ''Krazy'' finished in 1978, he became a ''

Whizzer and Chips ''Whizzer and Chips'' was a British comics magazine that ran from 18 October 1969 to 27 October 1990, when it merged with the comic '' Buster''. As with most comics of the time, ''Whizzer and Chips'' was dated one week ahead of the day it actu ...

'' Whizz-Kid, and stayed in that comic until early 1986. Around the time the half penny ceased being legal tender, in 1981, the strip was retitled ''The Buytonic Boy'', variously attributing to ''BB: Buytonic Boy'' and ''The Buytonic Boy starring Steve Ford''. It would later be retitled, more permanently, to ''Super Steve'', and, after that, ''Super Steve vs NME Nasties'', in which readers were invited to write to the NME, care of the comic's Editor, and suggest ways of defeating Steve (which always failed).This type of reader-participation harked back at least to the days of the

Power Comics Power Comics was an imprint of the British comics publisher Odhams Press (itself a division of IPC Magazines) that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics. Appearing chiefly during the years 1967 ...

of the 1960s, in particular to the Ken Reid strip ''Dare-A-Day Davey'' in which readers could win £1 by suggesting a dare as a challenge for the title character. He was also known for three weeks in 1984 as ''W4'' during a short-lived spell when ''Whizzer and Chips'' code-number titled its characters in an attempt to attract a teenage audience.

References

British comic strips British comics characters Child characters in comics Male characters in comics Comics characters with superhuman strength Fictional secret agents and spies in comics 1976 comics debuts 1986 comics endings Gag-a-day comics Parody comics Parodies of television shows Comics characters introduced in 1976 {{comics-char-stub