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| Copyright REBELLION |
If you're of a certain age, it's hard to think of Buster comic without strips like Charlie Peace, Galaxus, Fishboy, Leopard From Lime Street, etc., but none of them appeared in the first issue, consisting of a mere 16 pages for 4d. However, it was around the size of a tabloid newspaper and slightly larger than TV Century 21, and managed to survive for just short of 40 years, changing size, page count, and frequency of publication over the decades. The final issue came out at the end of 1999, but as the comic was a fortnightly by then, it was dated into 2000 - and had it lasted until May, it would've celebrated its 40th Anniversary.
Anyway, I recently acquired the very first collectors' item issue and thought it only right and proper to share its comic strip contents with you adoring and adorable Crivvies (don't worry, CJ, you're included too), so without any further ado ('cos all my ado is done), here are all 16 pages for your palpitating perusal and pleasure. Don't ever say I'm not good to you all 'cos it would be a danged lie, though there's no need to feel guilty as you can thank me for my ginormous generosity in the comments section. Before that, however, enjoy the pulsating pages laid before you. And remember to click on them to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.
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And below, for completists, is the first issue's free gift.
10 comments:
Amazing purchase Kid, you've got to love those classic free gifts, from a time when you didn't expect much. 'Hope you're feeling perkier?'
Thanks for the kind sentiment, AAW, but I'm almost constantly knackered. Living in hope though, and my acquisitions cheer me up for a bit and take my mind off things.
Buster was one of my favourites comics as a kid around 1967 to 1970, I even picked up a few issues in its last year. I always thought the mix of humour and adventure was a great idea. I think I saw a couple of the characters in the above issue reprinted in AA few annuals ( Milkiway and Lazy Sprockett look familiar) . An excellent purchase love the free gift.
Milkiway was reprinted as Monty Muddle in the revamped Smash!, McS, and maybe popped up in other places as well. Funnily enough, the Buster cover date is the official tenancy date of when we first moved into our new house in a new town.
Interesting that Buster came to an end along with the 20th Century - deliberate timing I assume?
Well, it was a deliberate decision to end it, but nothing to do with a new century dawning, CJ. It would simply have been because it wasn't making any money, if not actually losing money. A sad end.
Yes, but having decided to bring Buster to an end did they deliberately time the final issue to come out in the final week of 1999? Seems likely to me.
I think you credit publishers with too much intelligence, CJ. If they lost money by delaying its cancellation until the end of 1999, they wouldn't have done it. If they weren't losing money but saw the writing on the wall, then it's always possible, but unlikely. I think Buster was the only comedy comic that IPC had at the time. And remember - it was dated into 2000.
A truly magnificent acquisition, Kid and I doff my cap to you, Sir. My Buster era is early 70s to early 80s so the Reg Parlett era is my favourite. I didn't like the way it went in the 90s. I put the demise of British comics down to using more expensive paper and printing in colour hence higher prices. Newspapers are still relatively cheap compared to comics and all the staff have to be paid so why not do that with comics like years ago. I reckon they'd sell more but what do I know.
I suppose it was a Catch-22 situation, M. When circulation declined, they tried different ways to increase it - like colour, more pages, etc., but they had to increase the price to pay for it, which probably saw some readers off. I think another mistake they made was to remove the continued action/adventure strips in a cost-cutting exercise (those pages paid a higher rate), and with nothing to draw the readers back the next week, circulation again declined. Hence a price rise to compensate for fewer readers, which likely put other readers off. I think Buster was at its best in the mid/late '60s to sometime in the '70s. And much as I like Tom Paterson's impersonation of Baxendale's style, his Buster wasn't as good as Parlett's. Bob Paynter (Editor of the Humour Group) later admitted it was a mistake.
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