| Buster | |
|---|---|
 Buster and Jet (1972) | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | IPC Magazines Ltd Fleetway |
| Schedule | Weekly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Publication date | 28 May 1960 – 4 January 2000 |
| No. of issues | 1,902 |
| Main character | Buster |
Buster was aBritish comic which began publication in 1960, originally published byIPC Magazines Ltd under the company's comics divisionFleetway, then by Egmont UK Ltd under the same imprint until its closure in 2000. Despite missing issues due to industrial action during its run, the comic published 1,902 issues in total. The comic carried a mixture of humour and adventure strips, featuring the title characterBuster and a host of other characters.
The title character, whose strip usually appeared on the front cover, wasBuster himself. He was originally billed asBuster: Son ofAndy Capp; Andy Capp is the lead character of the eponymousDaily Mirror newspaper strip, and Buster wore a similar flat cap to reinforce the connection. In early issues, Buster often referred to his father, and Andy was seen in the comic (attempting to find a gas leak in three frames of the 18 June 1960 issue; shown in two drawn photographs in the 2 July issue that same year, 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.
The connection with Andy Capp was gradually forgotten over time, and Andy no longer appeared in the strip by the mid-1960s. From 1965 the strip instead featured Buster in two long-running series: as lead character in the extremely durableBuster's Diary (1960–68 and 1974–85) and inBuster's Dream World (1968–74).
ASwedish edition ofBuster 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. Versions ofBuster also appeared in Norway and Finland.
In its final years, the comic mostly consisted of reprints from eitherBuster itself or from the twelve comics which had merged with it over its 40-year run. The final strip was written by the last cartoonist forBuster,J. Edward Oliver. 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.
In 2009, Egmont UK intended to publish four one-off specials, celebrating the comicsRoy of the Rovers,Battle,Buster andMisty. To mark this event, the website BusterComic.co.uk held a poll in which users could vote for their favouriteBuster strip. The results were released in May 2009, withX-Ray Specs topping the poll. This was passed onto Egmont, and the special was due for release on 16 September.Misty andBuster then had their release-dates swapped, and theBuster special was finally released on 9 December.
On 19 March 2012, theRoyal Mail launched a special stamp collection to celebrate Britain's rich comic book history.[2] The collection featuredThe Beano,The Dandy,Eagle,The Topper,Roy of the Rovers,Bunty,Buster,Valiant,Twinkle and2000 AD.
In August 2016,Rebellion Developments purchased The IPC/Fleetway back-catalogue of British comics and characters, and in July 2017 published theBuster classicThe Leopard from Lime Street, with other Buster stripsMarney the Fox to follow in October, andFaceache in December, with other comics characters from the pages ofScream! also going to be published.
As occurred with other British comics such asThe Dandy, many other comics merged withBuster over the years, in consequence of whichBuster inherited some of their characters:
Here is a list of how the strips came to an end in the final issue: