Buster (comics)

''Buster'' was a British comic which began publication in 1960, originally published by IPC Magazines Ltd under the company's comics division Fleetway, then by Egmont UK Ltd under the same imprint until its closure in 2000. Despite missing issues due to industrial action during its run, the comic published 1,902 issues in total. The comic carried a mixture of humour and adventure strips, featuring the title character Buster and a host of other characters.

Description

The title character, whose strip usually appeared on the front cover, was Buster himself. He was originally billed as ''Buster: Son of Andy Capp''; Andy Capp is the lead character of the eponymous ''Daily Mirror'' newspaper strip, and Buster wore a similar flat cap to reinforce the connection. In early issues, Buster often referred to his father, and Andy was seen in the comic (attempting to find a gas leak in three frames of the 18 June 1960 issue; shown in two drawn photographs in the 2 July issue that same year, the first of which was displayed by Buster's mum with the pronouncement, "It's a photo of Buster taken with Andy! You can see he's got his dad's fine straight nose"). Buster's mum was often referred to by name, and was consistently drawn to resemble Andy's wife Flo.

The connection with Andy Capp was gradually forgotten over time, and Andy no longer appeared in the strip by the mid-1960s. From 1965 the strip instead featured Buster in two long-running series: as lead character in the extremely durable ''Buster's Diary'' (1960–68 and 1974–85) and in ''Buster's Dream World'' (1968–74).

A Swedish edition of ''Buster'' began in 1967. At first, most of the material was taken from the UK edition; but as time went on the magazine produced more and more original material. Versions of ''Buster'' also appeared in Norway and Finland.

In its final years, the comic mostly consisted of reprints from either ''Buster'' itself or from the twelve comics which had merged with it over its 40-year run. The final strip was written by the last cartoonist for ''Buster'', J. Edward Oliver. The last page of that final issue also revealed how every story in the comic ended, typically in a humorous reversal of the obvious, or expected, manner.

Special

In 2009, Egmont UK intended to publish four one-off specials, celebrating the comics ''Roy of the Rovers'', ''Battle'', ''Buster'' and ''Misty''. To mark this event, the website BusterComic.co.uk held a poll in which users could vote for their favourite ''Buster'' strip. The results were released in May 2009, with ''X-Ray Specs'' topping the poll. This was passed onto Egmont, and the special was due for release on 16 September. ''Misty'' and ''Buster'' then had their release-dates swapped, and the ''Buster'' special was finally released on 9 December.

On 19 March 2012, the Royal Mail launched a special stamp collection to celebrate Britain's rich comic book history. The collection featured ''The Beano'', ''The Dandy'', ''Eagle'', '' The Topper'', ''Roy of the Rovers'', ''Bunty'', ''Buster'', '' Valiant'', ''Twinkle'' and '' 2000 AD''.

In August 2016, Rebellion Developments purchased The IPC/Fleetway back-catalogue of British comics and characters, and in July 2017 published the ''Buster'' classic '' The Leopard from Lime Street'', with other Buster strips ''Marney the Fox'' to follow in October, and '' Faceache'' in December, with other comics characters from the pages of '' Scream!'' also going to be published.

Absorbed titles

As occurred with other British comics such as ''The Dandy'', many other comics merged with ''Buster'' over the years, in consequence of which ''Buster'' inherited some of their characters:

*'' Radio Fun'' (25 February 1961; which itself had merged with '' The Wonder'')
*''Film Fun'' (15 September 1962; which itself had merged with ''Picture Fun'', ''Kinema Comic'', ''Film Picture Stories'', ''Illustrated Chips'', and ''Top Spot'')
*''The Big One'' (27 February 1965)
*''Giggle'' (20 January 1968)"Buster,"
British Comics website (29 October 2018).
*''Jet'' (2 October 1971) – short-lived comic that ran for 22 issues in 1971. It contained a mixture of both humorous and adventure stories. The comic introduced the character of Faceache, one of Buster's most popular and long running characters.
*''Cor!!'' (22 June 1974)
*''Monster Fun'' (6 November 1976)
*'' Jackpot'' (30 January 1982)
*''School Fun'' (2 June 1984)
*''Nipper'' (1 September 1987)
*'' Oink!'' (22 October 1988)
*'' Whizzer and Chips'' (3 November 1990; which itself had previously absorbed ''Whoopee!'', '' Krazy'', ''Scouse Mouse'', and ''Knockout''; ''Whoopee!'' had previously absorbed '' Wow!'', '' Cheeky'', and '' Shiver and Shake'')

List of strips

Closed story-lines

Here is a list of how the strips came to an end in the final issue:

*Benny Bones of ''Lazy Bones'' tells the doctor that he is suffering from insomnia.
*'' Joker'' reveals that his real name is Jeremy Beadle.
*'' Chalky'' is arrested for vandalism.
*'' Captain Crucial'' has a bad hair day.
*'' Odd Ball'' bursts because he hides inside a thorn bush.
*'' Sweet Tooth'' suffers from tooth decay because of all the sweets he's eaten.
*''Tom Thug'' is horrified to discover that he has passed his exams with flying colours, meaning he is no longer a ''brainless'' bully.
*Bernie Banks of '' Memory Banks'' dies because he forgets to keep breathing.
*'' Junior Rotter'' becomes the Prime Minister.
*'' Tony Broke'' is happy because his parents have won 90 squillion pounds on the National Lottery, making Tony and his family mega-rich. '' Ivor Lott'' has broken down in tears because his father has lost all of his money investing in the ''Buster'' comic, making Ivor and his family very poor. Thus, ''Ivor Lott and Tony Broke'' have swapped places, with Tony being rich and Ivor being poor.
*Melvyn of '' Melvyn's Mirror'' breaks the mirror, resulting in seven years' bad luck, but in Mirrorland, it's the opposite (seven years' good luck), but unfortunately, it also means that Melvyn will never see his family again and will be stuck in Mirrorland forever.
*Bobby of '' Bobby's Ghoul'' has grown old, so his ghoul-friend (who never ages because she is a ghost) breaks up with him.
*'' Watford Gapp'' can't think of a word rhyming with "oblige", so he cannot finish his poem.
* '' Fuss Pot'' is too fussy to appear in the comic.
*Ray of ''X-Ray Specs'' has his specs taken back by I.Squint, the optician because he says that he only lent Ray the specs in 1975, and that he couldn't keep them.
*Jon and Suzy of '' Double Trouble'' have started to like each other. Also '' Sweeny Toddler'' says that he is going to like everyone from now on.
*Buster takes off his cap to reveal a '' Dennis the Menace''-style haircut.
*The Millennium Bug affects '' Vid Kid's'' remote, resulting in the entire universe being turned off.

References

Notes

Sources

*

External links

The Buster Fansite

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buster (Comics)
Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom
Defunct British comics
Fleetway and IPC Comics titles
British humour comics
1960 comics debuts
2000 comics endings
Magazines established in 1960
Magazines disestablished in 2000
Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom