Wacky Comics!: Buster

Showing posts with label Buster. Show all posts

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Scrunge or Scrunch? The Many Sounds Of Faceache

Following on from the Ken Reid post the other day, here's an interesting piece of comic history that Fleetway editor Dez Skinn shared to Facebook recently. It's a letter from Ken to Buster editor Len Wenn, in which he complains that somebody has been changing Faceache's sound effect from 'scrunch' to 'scrunge' when he changes his face.

Here's what Dez wrote about it online:

"Here's something for anybody who read British comics in the 1970s... specifically Faceache in Buster. I've just unearthed a letter from writer/artist Ken Reid to editor Len Wenn complaining that somebody in the office changed his sound effect "scrunch" to "scrunge" every week. Now I can confess, 'twas I, as Len's number two - being responsible for everything beyond the scripts, which he was in charge of.

"And I must admit, while I still think scrunge sounds better, scrunch was the more appropriate term. Sorry, Ken."

Interestingly though, 'scrunch' wasn't even the original term! When Faceache first appeared in Jet comic in May 1971, the first strip had him 'twang' and 'boyn-ng'.

Incidentally, 'scrunch' did appear later on, from issue #21, but for much of Jet's run it was actually the word 'squoylp' that appeared to be the sound effect of choice.

The very first
'scrunch', from Jet #21.

From the one and only Jet annual, 1973.

I don't have my 70's Buster's to hand, but based on this and Ken's letter, 'scrunge' must have taken over after Jet merged into Buster in October 1971, after just 31 issues. This would of course be when Dez got his hands on the strip, and although Ken is of course a comic genius I think that just for once he may be wrong here - in my opinion 'scrunge' is the funnier word!

For those interested, I actually shared all of Faceache's appearances in Jet on this blog a few years ago, spread over three posts. Part one can be found here.

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Buster Crosses The Channel

Here's a little piece of comic history that shows there's always more to learn - well for me at least anyway! Buster comic, it seems, was not confined to the English language, but Norway, Finland and Sweden also had their own version. The first issue (seen on the left of the image above) came out in Sweden on 5th January 1967. Norway got its own edition in 1972 and Finland in 1978.

Buster UK (left) and the first Swedish Buster,
both from the first week of 1967.

Here I've put the first issue of Buster next to the British edition from that same week (dated 7th January 1967), and to me the difference is shocking. The Swedish version looks brighter and more modern than its British counterpart. I think it also has a slight feel of an American comic book about it too, with that big block of text at the bottom.

The first issue contained reprints from the British Buster, as well as some original Swedish material. Alongside Mighty McGinty on the front cover (illustrated by Carlos Cruz and here renamed to Dynamit Charlie), it included Buster's Dairy (as Buster's Dagbok) printed on the back cover in red ink, and Our Great Grandpa, illustrated by Trevor Metcalfe. In the UK, Our Great Grandpa only ran for a few months from 5th June to 25th September 1965, but as well as being reprinted here it also had a run in Valiant.

I'm also told that at some point a few D.C. Thomson characters were printed in it as well, including Kid Cox and Kamikaze Kid. That's probably because this Swedish version wasn't actually published by Fleetway, but first by Centerförlaget (1967-1970), then Semic Press (1970 - 1997), and finally by Egmont (1997 - 2005).

The comic was already looking different just a year in.

It started out as a weekly, 32-page comic, but by 1968 the comic became a fortnightly affair and gradually became more focused on sports strips, with even Buster himself becoming a more sporty looking kid. So when the comic launched in Finland in 1978, it was essentially a sports comic entirely with many reprints now coming from Tiger. The cover of the first issue showed Billy's Boots, Nipper, Hot Shot Hamish and Typhoon Tracy. In this version they were known as Eki Eskelinen from Harjumäen sisu, Edward Engmark, Benny Kultajalka and Hot-Shot Hamish was rebranded as Super-Mac. Also here you can see just how much sportier they made Buster, looking more like the son of Roy Race than of Andy Capp!

Like the British edition, there was also a pocket library and a special, this being a yearly 'Sports Special'. I'm not yet sure how long the specials ran for, but the earliest I've seen is 1974, and the latest is 1985.

A few of the earlier Sport Special
magazines.

In Finland, Buster continued until the 1980s, and in Norway the initial run was from 1972 - 1977, followed by a second run from 1984 - 1994. What is most interesting though, is that the Swedish edition actually outlived its British counterpart, carrying on until 2005!

The last issue of Buster, from 2005.

I should just add at this point I don't actually own any copies of Buster not printed in English, so my thanks to those in The Mighty World of British Comics group on Facebook for help with this post. All other information came from me scouring countless auctions past and present, none of which were written in english, of course.

I'm also working on a number of other posts for this blog. I've graduated uni now so life is (supposedly) a little less chaotic, so I'm hoping to be able to post a bit more regularly. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

The Last Ever Buster (2000)

I can't believe I've never made a post about surely one of the most significant issues of a British comic - the final issue of Buster. Buster was the last survivor of a Fleetway comic, and for me this final issue is a sad marker for the end of an era.

For 32 pages for £1.10, it was probably the price that killed it to be honest. It was more than twice the price of The Beano (which cost 52p) at this point, and the quality simply wasn't as good.

Credit where credit is due, I do like this front cover. The main Buster strip is a reprint by Jimmy Hansen, but that bar on the left showing Buster's different styles through the years is by Jack Edward Oliver. Oliver was the sole artist held on at Buster after the comic went full reprint. Mostly, he was responsible for lettering and adding drawings to things that couldn't be done with reprints. I think it would be fair to say that he was largely influential for Buster's unique feel over those final years.

As mentioned, the contents was full of reprints but out of interest and the fact that they're still fun comic strips, I'll show some of it anyway. Perhaps of most interest would be this Specky Hector Comics Collector page, illustrated by Lew Stringer. This was obviously chosen for this last issue as it discusses the launch of Buster back in 1960.

Here's an oddly interesting page - a competition with a whole range of Meccano sets were up for grabs. I say this is odd because it seems strange to me that you would have a competition in the final issue, especially so when there's no other comic they were trying to drive readers to. Perhaps there was simply a pile of Meccano sitting around the office that they needed to get rid of.

Moving on to this Sweeny Toddler strip, illustrated by Tom Paterson. I wanted to share this page to highlight the colouring style that was so prevalent in Buster throughout the 1990s. This strange block colouring was far from the prettiest colouring ever done, but it did give the comic a unique feel and allowed them to brand it as full colour.

Here's an example of a perhaps more well-coloured spread. Bobby's Ghoul is illustrated by Anthony Hutchings, and Watford Gapp by Tom Paterson in a completely different style. I interviewed Tom for issue three of Atomic Comic a few years ago and asked him about this style, this is what he said:

"Bob Paynter, the managing editor at Fleetway, asked me to come up with a few ideas for some strange, slightly weird strips, one of which was Watford Gapp, and I just thought that it needed an alternative style to give it a different, darker look from my other strips which were running at the same time. I've worked in a number of styles over the years, but I enjoyed the Sweeny Toddler/ Calamity James style, which was of course inspired by the legendary comic genius Leo Baxendale - and the Watford Gapp one, which was influenced by the amazing Robert Crumb."

And finally, it is of course the back cover that everybody remembers from this issue. Illustrated by Jack Edward Oliver, it's a wonderfully unique piece that wraps up all the remaining characters in a comedic fashion. Sad as it may be, it was a fantastic way to wrap up the comic.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Every Whizzer and Chips Free Gift (Part 1 of 3)

For those of you who were following my blog in the early days, you may remember me saying more than once that Whizzer and Chips is my favourite comic. This may come as a surprise to many, but the reason is simple: although my first comic was a copy of the Beano, my first "old" comic (i.e. not from the newsagents) was Whizzer and Chips, purchased probably from a junk shop or a car boot sale.

I should note that the contents of this post are not new, but in fact make up part of my Whizzer and Chips blog, a clunky old website that can be found here, if you are so inclined.

But to begin, the very first Whizzer and Chips free gift came with, surprise surprise, the very first issue, and was advertised on the cover as 'Twelve Super Stickers'. They included phrases such as "Keep Teacher off the Moon" and "England for the World Cup" - all very topical for the late 1960s.

Issue #2 came with a "super cartoon flick book", a double sided card for the viewer to turn into a flick book for two short cartoons of Sid's Snake. The first cartoon was called Sid the Charmer, and the second Slippy's Solo. I'm not sure they will win any storytelling awards, but the are fun enough.

The third issue coincided with bonfire night and thus came with a free "super full-colour Guy Fawkes mask". It was the third gift in a row to be described as "super" - I think someone at Fleetway needed a thesaurus.

The next free gift came along with issue dated 21st February 1970. The colourful Lunar Launcher and Splashdown Capsule capitalised on the hype of the moon landings and was accompanied by a fun front cover Sid's Snake story.

The following issue (28th February) came with a free disguise kit that I must say looks very familiar. Both of these gifts were promoted with front cover stories, but at risk of clogging up this blog post too much I'll let you hunt those down for yourself.

The next free gift came with the merger of Knockout on 30th June 1971. Alongside the introduction of a number of new characters, the comic came with two joke books - one for the Whizz Kids and one for the Chip-ites.

A rubber bat came with the 5th birthday issue. Spooky!

Next up - the Superjet Joke Camera came with issue dated 8th March 1975. To be honest I'm not sure how many people would be fooled by this but I love the optimism of the illustration on its paper bag, also used as the front cover image.

This post will get quite lengthy if I include all the gifts that came with Whizzer and Chips over its 21 years run, so I've decided to break it down into three posts. Part 2 tomorrow!

Part 2: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/07/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part.html

Part 3: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/07/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part_3.html

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Meet The Winners

Launched on 5th May 1979, Jackpot was another addition in the long line of IPC comics and, although not well-remembered as a title that particularly stood out, it certainly had its moments. One such moment came about a year and a half into its run, when The Winners arrived in issue #75. As the first panel makes clear, "the Winner family decided to enter every competition going", and the lengths they would go to and the prizes they would win were the winning formula (pardon the pun) for this long running strip. In fact, The Winners proved very popular, surviving Jackpot's merger with Buster in February 1982 and continued, admittedly in reprint form, up until the last issue in 2000. Although The Winners later came to be drawn by Mike Lacey and Jimmy Hansen, this first strip is actually the work of Jimmy Glen.

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The Return of Monster Fun

After an absence of almost half a century, the much-loved British comic Monster Fun is making a comeback under its new owners Rebellion. Admittedly, the nostalgia for the title is probably stronger than the love for comic itself during its initial run, only 73 issues of the weekly edition were printed until it merged with the far more successful Buster comic on 6th November 1976. I certainly find it interesting that not a more popular title was chosen for the first Fleetway comic to make a comeback, but I am nonetheless very excited for it.

No longer a weekly, the revived Monster Fun will begin publishing in April next year with promises of a new issue every two months. The comic will be 32 pages and will feature many of the original favourite characters such as Frankie Stein, Kid Kong and Sweeny Toddler - not all Monster Fun originals but certainly characters who became popular in the comic's original run.

To pass the time until April, the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular will be going on sale next month. 48 pages thick, it is crammed full of classic stories from well-known artists, including that spectacular front cover illustrated by none other than Tom Paterson.

As I understand it, Monster Fun will be available in the stores but online subscribers will receive special free gifts. No word on what those gifts are just yet, but I wonder if they'll be reminiscent of plate wobbler, freaky spider ring or super shaking skeleton that each came with the first three issues of its 70s predecessor. I also wonder if this new version will feature the 'Badtime Bedtime Storybooks' - centre pages encouraged to be pulled out and compiled into mini-comics, much to the bane of collectors today who seek out complete copies.

Do check out the website and subscribe to make sure you don't miss an issue.

https://monsterfun.co.uk/

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Buster Comic - 25 Years Young!

Well, before I start this post I thought I'd quickly explain what brought it about. Here in New Zealand our country went into a total lockdown about a week ago as a result of the COVID-19 virus, meaning pretty much everything except supermarkets and pharmacies have shut and we are all confined to our homes unless visiting essential services. As a result of this lockdown, I have returned home to Auckland to be with my family and was reading the very comic this post is about when I thought hey, why not use this time to do some blogging.

This issue of Buster, dated 25th May 1985, is the celebratory quarter century birthday number for the comic, the first issue of which hit the shops in May 1960. This issue also brought about a new artist for Buster replacing Reg Parlett, who had drawn the strip since taking over from Angel Nadal Quirch in 1974, with Tom Paterson. Many, including IPC group editor Bob Paynter, later thought this change was far too sudden and dramatic and I am possibly inclined to agree - as much as I absolutely adore Tom's style he is so far from Reg Parlett that I bet many readers would have found the sudden change quite a shock. Here is Tom's full strip, printed in full-colour on the back page.

Not having the free gift attached to the front does look a little sad when the whole cover is almost devoted to promoting it. "Incredible... Amazing... Unbelievable!" boasts the big yellow arrow, pointing at an empty blue space. Still, a half page instruction from inside shows those of us reading now just what it was we are missing. The previous issue had hyped them us as 'Deadly Death-Rattler Eggs', but they are certainly not what I would have imagined.

Other than the back-page Buster strip, no other stories made mention of the occasion. The only other indication that this issue held any kind of significance was this mildly interesting comparison of kids 'then and now', comparing interests of children in 1960 and 1985. Personally, I feel dedicating the entire centre page spread to this is a waste of space and the pages could have been better used with something such as a history of Buster, a poster, or a celebratory strip, but each to their own I suppose. It almost seems like they forgot the anniversary was coming up and had to prepare the issue at the last minute.

Since so little of this issue actually celebrates the anniversary I thought I'd show a few pages from the previous week as well, which is also the final combined Buster and School Fun. Although School Fun isn't even mentioned on the cover, this issue still has the School Fun section inside, featuring characters from the now defunct title. A wonderful Reg Parlett front cover hints at exciting things to come next week - quite the build up for what was eventually a bit of a let down.

Of course, this being Reg's last time drawing Buster I have to show the full strip - printed in full colour on the back page.

Inside, a full page advert previewed the front cover of next weeks issue, including a picture of the rather exciting looking free gift! The thrilling death-rattler artwork would probably have gotten me to buy it, I'm not going to lie.

This issue also contains the final episode of The Leopard from Lime Street, a popular character that had been in the comic for almost a decade having first appeared on 27th March 1976. A sad loss to see this one go, it was the final adventure strip Buster ever featured, although it would return in the form of reprints in the 1990's. Artwork by the legendary Mike Western, I believe.

I hope this brought about a bit of happiness wherever you are in the world. Please stay safe everyone! I'll try keep blogging while I'm quarantined in Auckland with all my comics, so stay tuned.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

The Big New Year

I've blogged about The Big One before, quite a long time ago when this blog was just starting up, when I shared some pages from the last issue. A short-lived experimental comic published by Fleetway, The Big One lasted only 19 issues from 17th October 1964 - 20th February 1965 and, as the name suggests, is the biggest comic ever published in Britain (and maybe even the entire world). With the exception of the front cover of the last issue, the entire contents consisted of reprinted material from earlier Amalgamated Press comics. The front cover features Smiler illustrated by Eric Roberts. Smiler has originally appeared under the strip's original name 'Mike' in both Knockout from 1945 - 1957 and then in Sun from 1957 - 1959.

Besides Shiner only a handful of strips had a new year's theme. Two of those appeared on the back page in full colour. Handy Andy at the top is an ex-Knockout strip illustrated by Hugh McNeill, and at the bottom Georgie the Jolly Geegee is from the pages of Radio Fun, illustrated by John Jukes. The layout of this back cover reminds me very much of the back of early Buster comics. It's bright appealing colours would be gone by the last issue though, replaced with nothing more than black and red ink.

The Big One Birthday Club is the only editorial feature inside and it offered readers the chance to win big prizes. The letter claims that "week after week hundreds of parcels leave the Club store on their way to members of the Big One Club", but I wonder how much of an exaggeration this is seeing as the comic lasted less than five months. The section also says members will receive a special red and gold club badge. I wonder if any still exist.

The idea behind the comic was that it's size would make it more noticeable than anything else on the newsstands, driving up sales. Of course no newsagent in their right mind would stock it as it is, and they were all folded in half then half again, making them the same size if not slightly smaller than other comics at the time. To get an idea of just how big an unfolded copy is, here's a photo of this issue next to a random issue of Buster (the closest comic I had). Now imagine having that open and trying to read it anywhere with even a slight breeze - it's next to impossible! It's big size was ultimately its downfall, it merged into Buster on 27th February 1965.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Reg Parlett - 110 Years

Today is Reg Parlett's would-be 110th birthday. Reg is one of the all time greats and has illustrated thousands of pages in a career that lasted for over 60 years. I suspect he has drawn more pages than any other British comic artist ever. His first artwork appeared in Merry and Bright when he was 19 and he would go on to draw many well-loved and long running characters such as Billy Bunter, Buster and Ivor Lott and Tony Broke.

Sadly, Reg passed away on 18th November 1991 but I'm sure the love and appreciation for his artistic talent will live on for a long time yet.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Faceache in Jet - Part 1 of 3

Jet, launched on 1st May 1971 (the cover date for issue one, it was most likely released a week earlier), is a short-lived comic best remembered, when remembered at all, for the introduction of Ricky Rubberneck, or Faceache, as he is best known. Faceache first appeared on page 29 of issue one of the "great new picture-story paper for boys". Illustrated by the great Ken Reid, Faceache would survive Jet's amalgamation into Buster and continue on until 1988, illustrated for the last few years by Frank McDiarmid after Reid passed away in 1987.

Jet lasted just twenty-two issues and I will be showing all of Faceache's appearances in the comic, broken down into three parts so that each post doesn't become too lengthy. Here are the first seven episodes, and as always click on the images to view them in full size.