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| Copyright REBELLION |
Remember, remember - er, wait just a second, I've forgotten. No, hang on - I've remembered again. November 5th, GUY FAWKES' NIGHT - BONFIRE NIGHT - GIVE PENSIONERS AND PETS A HEART ATTACK NIGHT - whatever you want to call it. For all those participating in the firework festivities, here's a cut-out Guy Fawkes mask from a 1997 issue of BUSTER. I think this was printed in the insides of the comic just about every year, and may even hark back to my own childhood - it certainly looks familiar. (Although, back then, it would've been a cardboard free gift - with its own elastic - tucked inside the comic.)
Anyway, take care if you're having a firework display or attending a local bonfire - fingers and skin are handy things to have, so take appropriate steps to ensure that you or your kids aren't parted from them. REMEMBER THE FIREWORKS CODE!
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BUSTER had several good artists in his time, but possibly the best remembered (to those of a certain age) is the late ANGEL NADAL, who drew the strip from 1962 to '74. (REG PARLETT took over when COR!! was merged into the comic.) This particular page is from an issue dated October 29th 1966, and is relevant because it's all about 'Firework Night'. (Or 'Bonfire Night' or 'Guy Fawkes Night', or whatever it's called these days.) This is scanned, panel-by-panel, from the original art, which I own - and very glad am I to have it to be sure. (And it's not for sale.)
Thanks to PHILIP CRAWLEY for alerting me to where I could find an image of the published page (www.bustercomic.co.uk), but I've now replaced it with a scan from my very own, newly-acquired copy.
Those bullies look about 30 years old and I'm sure that ten shilling note is a forgery. Great strip though brings back memories of happier times.
ReplyDeleteHappier times indeed, AL. I wish Buster comic was still around.
ReplyDeleteBuster was a brilliant comic, I always liked the mix of adventure and humour and still think it would be successful today. I think I have this issue in my collection will need to check it out.
ReplyDeleteYou can imagine what a thrill it was for me, McS, to actually work on Buster and Whizzer & Chips, two comics from my childhood. Seems like a dream sometimes. Buster's now been gone for more than 20 years.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the weather will be good so I'll be out in my back garden watching the fireworks. This year I've got some special food for the occasion too - a pack of Cadbury's Bonfire Logs (chocolate rolls with a caramel filling) and a Ginsters "Smoky Bonfire" pasty which I bought from Tesco. Today is also the 12th anniversary of my mother's death so obviously I'm thinking about her too and today also sees the release of the new ABBA album - will you be buying it, Kid? Back in September you said you might. I'll buy it if it's on sale in Tesco but my local Tesco's CD section is rather meagre nowadays so perhaps they won't even stock the ABBA album.
ReplyDeleteI may buy it, CJ, but I still haven't heard any of the songs yet. Send up a rocket in memory of your mother and watch it light up the sky. I'll probably be kipping - or trying to at least.
ReplyDeleteAll I can remember was that it was a larger sized comic and the the two strips..Nutty Slack the Gentle Grappler. And Charlie Peace . Correct me if I am wrong.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was slightly larger and the two strips appeared in the comic, though without checking, I'm unsure whether they were both in this ish, LH. Too lazy to dig it out to see.
ReplyDeleteKid, ABBA's 'Voyage' album will be their final one according to Benny and Bjorn so you should buy it for your collection as an object of cultural historical importance!
ReplyDeleteOkay - I will if you will, CJ. Get your wallet out!
ReplyDeleteHard to believe the Buster stopped publication over 20 years ago. I obviously wasn't buying Buster then but I remember seeing the last issue and felt sad it had ended.
ReplyDeleteI WAS buying Buster then, McS, and was equally as sad, though by then it was mostly reprint. It had also gone fortnightly some years before, and though the last ish was dated from whatever day it came out in Dec 1999, it also bore the date of Jan 2000 when the next issue would've come out - had there been one. (Comics of today tend to do that too - bear the date of release until the off-sale date.)
ReplyDeleteI used to look through the Buster etc in the newsagents and on the very rare occasion I would pick it up. I seem to recall it was all humour at the end. A great comic , I still pick the odd old issue from my collection and read it
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was all humour, which I think was a mistake. I think a couple of 'continued' adventure strips would've helped sales. However, the budget was slashed in later years, so it was being produced on a shoestring.
ReplyDeleteThat first image gives me a bit of a chuckle. What's the scariest monster you can put on a mask? A mummy? A werewolf? Or... a catholic?
ReplyDeleteSure, he was a terrorist who tried to blow up parliament. I'm not overlooking that. It just reminds me about why we loose our fireworks at Halloween instead, in Northern Ireland. (And fewer of those, in recent years) Holidays about burning effigies of RCs just wouldn't catch on over here.
(And if we're being really honest, who among us hasn't fantasised about doing that to parliament?)
I wasn't a regular reader of Buster, or any comic that wasn't the 'big two' - the Dandy and Beano. (And even then...) But I got my hands on occasional issues, and I think this story is one I recognise. Years of hindsight also let me recognise a distinct kind of 'European' style that Angel brought over, which I like very much. I think, at the time, Asterix albums were my only other experience of it.
I suppose because it's 'penny for the guy' they use a Guy Fawkes mask, WJB. I don't think I ever knew what denomination he was, just that he tried to burn down parliament - not even sure why. If I ever did know, I've long forgotten. Angel drew Minnie's Mixer for Whizzer & Chips - great cartoonist. Talking of fireworks, I was down in London back around the mid-'80s on November 5th, and actually saw a fireworks display going on around and above Big Ben and the House of Commons. Strange to see it happen where the tradition originated.
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