Comics UK

Peter Gray wrote:Just recieved my Buster annual 1962...which has some Busters drawn by Hugh McN..

Maxwell Hawke is inside in a good story the Black Monk..just read that.

Found a Odd Job Bob by Reg Parlett in the book..
Elmer how stupid can he get?isn't drawn by Roy...must be Juan Rafart

Anyway glad I got the book..

Peter are their many Adventure stories in it? What would you say the ratio is for Humour to Adventure out of interest.

I bought Dr Who adventures No.101

Well apart from 2000AD (i really hope the next 'reset' brings better stories. Apart from Strontium Dog it's pretty limp. Greysuit is like something i would have written when i was 15) i won a couple of Boys' Friend's on Ebay. One is from 1908 that i got "because", and one is from 1909 and contains an instalment of a story called "The Peril to Come", about Germany invading Britain by Zeppelin. This seems to have been a common worry at the time, a 1910 Sexton Blake story called "Tracked by Aeroplane!" that i read recently features plot devices along similar lines (though the Zeppelin turns out to be a kite with a light on it, used to distract householders whilst burglars went to work).

I loved Captain Hurricane, one of the few strips that made me laugh out loud. Always looked forward to his large tirade on the final page when he got relly angry. Luckily i'm a right winger (the good guys) so can enjoy life more. Look how the po-faced left have treated Carol Thatcher.

As a matter of interest there was also a 'Buster Book of Thrills' for 1962 which, as the title implies, contained nothing but adventure strips (mostly taken from old 'Picture Library' stories if I remember correctly).

- Phil R.

Lots of adventure stories..

A long story of Dick Brando the secret of the ocean planet..
The three musketteers and the spy from Spain
Robin Hood and the magic medicine
Buffalo Bill the Prince of Plainsmen
Black Axe the Saxon avenger
Phantom force 5
The black Monk -Maxwell Hawke..not a reprint..

Black Axe and Phantom Force Five aren't reprints either.

Took delivery of 1959's worth of The Wizard today, minus 11 random issues (argh! - luckily the DCT papers are good at making serial instalments stand on thier own).

It includes a very long V for Vengeance story that seems to (from a flick) have run for more than half the year! There's also some boarding school stories, car racing stories, a series of westerns based on real "characters" of the west, and even a story set in a post-apocalyptic future that ought to be good (i recently read a similar one in Adventure from 1958, though in that it was set in 1996 and immediatley after the apocalypse, this one is set in 24-something and is centuries after)

I bought 'WATCHMEN' been promising it to myself for an age! Brill purchase looking forward to the film, although its not really a comic is it, its a 'graphic novel' depending on who you ask!

Today I mostly bought 5 Misty Best of monthlys,(Their was only 8 of them) and a 1980 Misty Summer Special.

IPC Annuals are my thing at the moment, especially hunting for adventure strips in them.

I've just got the KNOCKOUT ANNUAL 1975 (Fuss Pott creating a snowman with a carrot nose not unlike her own on the cover.) There's always something a bit special about Knockout, erm, specials, and though there are quite a few strips drawn by the wrong artists in this one, there are some lovely Haunted Wood, Pete's Pockets, Boney, The Super 7, and Hot Dog and Cool Cat strips in there. The only adventure strip is the 9 page Jim Smiley v. the Brothers Grimm. Looks like Ron Turner art. I'm not sure if this was a reprint or specially done.

Also: COR!! ANNUAL 1977 (with a nice Ivor Lott and Tony Broke mountain climbing cover by Robert Nixon.) This is okay but no major highlights. A fair few strips by the wrong artists and a few reprints in there. The adventure strip is the 8 page "Young" McDonald and his Farm, about a mechanics-genius boy running a Highlands farm with his mechanics-hating granddad. A mechanical dinosaur is involved.

Speaking of looking for good adventure strips inside the humour annuals, does anyone know if there were regular Leopard From Lime Street special strips in the Buster books from, presumably, 1978 editions onwards? I used to get the Buster comic and its specials but don't recall getting the annuals. I think the 1983 and 1984 ones have Leopard strips in, but any before?

The 1986 Buster Annual featured Leopard from Lime street.

Ooh, thanks, Steely. That's nice. I like that splash panel. Is the Leopardman facing kids with snowballs rather than some terrible villain in this one? That would be very British Comics-esque!

I wonder how many Leopard strips are hiding away in those Buster Books, and if there are any really stand out pieces. Colour ones, even.

I had a week off last week so went to Deptford market on Friday rather than Saturday. After a nice portion of double pie, mash and liquor (sloo!) I went to the flea market and, boy, am I glad I did. Picked up - for 50p apiece - the following annuals: Girl 1963 (with dust jacket), School Friend 1961, Girl's Crystal 1961, Girl's Crystal 1962, Diana 1965 (with DJ) Princess Tina 1969, Princess 1970 and June 1963. Three of them have no spines but the insides are really nice. Also picked up (from a different stall) the Smash! Pow! It's Fantastic Summer Special. Also for 50p. Its a bit battered but apart from half a page misshing is complete. I have never owned this item before so was astonished to come acros it in the flea market. Have effected a few repairs with magic tape and bagged it so looks better now. Here is a scan of my copy. Worth 50p i think. Also from that stall i got two Starburst mags from 1979 and the Dr Who Monster Book from 1975.



Those tape marks aren't my work. Somebody had previously sellotaped it but it all fell off at a touch - thank god.

After identifying an Ebay seller as a fellow collector, we did a mutually profitable deal where I have now filled in another 80 gaps in my Victor collection and he has received Danegeld and a smaller pile of comics to fill gaps in his collection. Which now means that I have less than 200 issues to go before I complete my Victor weekly issue run! Still got those specials to go! Grr!

I got me mitts on Buster Book 1983 today, purchased mainly to see the Leopard From Lime Street strip. It's a twelve page black-and-whiter concerning some escaped leopards, and looks like it's drawn by Ron Turner rather than Mike Western. Ron Turner certainly seemed to be the IPC annual adventure strip man.

Martin Baxendale's take on his dad's Clever Dick features in there too, in colour, plus some Deadley Headley, Vampire Detective strips, also by him.