Buster (comics)

Buster

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Publication information
Publisher IPC Magazines Ltd
Fleetway
Schedule Weekly
Format Ongoing series
Publication date May 28 1960 – January 4 2000
Main character(s) Buster

Buster was a long-running British comic (28 May 1960 – 4 January 2000) which carried a mixture of humour and adventure strips, although the former increasingly replaced the latter. It was originally published by IPC Magazines Ltd; but in consequence of the sale of that company's comics division, Fleetway, in the 1980s, Buster passed into the ownership of Egmont UK Ltd, who thereafter published it under the Fleetway imprint.

The title character, whose strip usually appeared on the front cover, was Buster himself. He was originally billed as Buster: Son of Andy Capp, the lead character of the Daily Mirror newspaper strip, and wore a similar flat cap to reinforce the connection. In early issues Buster often referred to his father, who was seen in the comic, attempting to find a gas leak, in three frames of the 18 June 1960 issue. A fortnight later, he was shown in two drawn photographs in the 2 July issue, 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.

But the connection with Andy Capp was gradually forgotten over time, and Andy had entirely ceased to feature in the strip by the mid-1960s. From 1965 the lead 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).

In its final years, the comic mostly consisted of reprints from either Buster itself or from one of the many comics which had merged with it over its 40-year run, of which there were a staggering fourteen in total.

Throughout all the years, it was never revealed what Buster had under his cap, until the very last issue, when he took it off to reveal the same hairstyle that Dennis the Menace has. Although an interesting attempt to round off the strip, the joke didn't really work, since it didn't take into account the fact that for the first 25 years of the run the cap covered only part of Buster's hair.

The last page of that final issue also revealed how every story in the comic ended,[1] typically in a humorous reversal of the obvious, or expected, manner. Here is a list of how the strips came to an end;

This final strip was written by the last cartoonist for Buster, J. Edward Oliver.

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. See Buster (sport comic) for more information.

Contents

Special

In March 2009, Egmont UK announced they were intending 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, for users to 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 as they compiled the special, due for release on 16 September 2009. Misty and Buster then had their release dates swapped, and the Buster special was finally released on 9 December 2009.

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:

List of strips

This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

References

  1. ^ Back Page Of The Very Last Issue Of Buster - 4th January 2000 Comics UK

External links

Fleetway/IPC comics
Comic Strips
The 12½p Buytonic Boy · Ace Trucking Co. · Bessie Bunter · Billy Bunter · Billy's Boots · Birdman and Chicken · Bobby's Ghoul · Bookworm · The Bumpkin Billionaires · Buster Capp · Jet-Ace Logan · Cliff Hanger · Charley's War · Dan Dare · Doomlord · Faceache · Fishboy · Fuss Pot · Grimly Feendish · Harlem Heroes · The House of Dolmann · Ivor Lott and Tony Broke · Joe Soap · Joker · Judge Dredd · Junior Rotter · Lazy Bones · The Leopard from Lime Street · Master Mind · Memory Banks · Mustapha Million · Odd Ball · Robot Archie · Rogan Gosh · Roy of the Rovers · Sexton Blake · School Belle · Sid's Snake · Skid Kidd · Spider · Steel Claw · Store Wars · The Suicide Six · Sweeny Toddler · Sweet Tooth · Tharg the Mighty · Tomboy · Tom Thug · Tricky Dicky · Watch Out Beagle's About · Wonder Wellies · Vid Kid · X-Ray Specs
Pre-War Humour Comics
Comic Cuts · Film Fun · Film Picture Stories · Illustrated Chips · Kinema Comic · Knockout · Picture Fun · Radio Fun · Top Spot
Post-War Humour Comics
The Big One · Buster · Cheeky Weekly · Cor!! · Giggle · Jackpot · Jet · Knockout · Krazy · Monster Fun · Nipper · Oink · School Fun · Sonic the Comic · Shiver and Shake · Whizzer and Chips · Whoopee! · Wow!
Power Comics
Adventure Comics
Girls Comics
Girl · Jinty · Misty · Tammy
Pre-School Comics
Notable Artists
See Also