Buster is back on the OiNK Blog. It makes a change seeing this comic’s characters guest star in something OiNK-related rather than the other way around. Just like last year this is another hardback volume of 112 pages, made up of a mix between regular matte and higher quality stock, this time alternating between the two. It means we’ve a bit more colour but only a bit, a lot of these pages are still black and white or two-tone and there’s no change to the length of the strips.
It still feels like several issues bound together but at least more of them have been printed on better paper. Our first OiNK star (of which we’re now down to two) is Lew Stringer’s Pete Throb in the shorter-titled Pete’s Pimple. Pete had already said goodbye to regular Buster readers by the time this annual was released so it’s strange to see it’s more of an introductory strip than anything. In fact some elements are very similar to his first Buster strip.
These annuals could be brought by Santa for kids who weren’t regular readers so it wasn’t unusual for some strips to read this way. There’s a nice little cameo from Tom too but I can’t help feel a little underwhelmed by him in the last panel. I’m so used to these characters in OiNK, Tom should be covered in pus and discombobulated on the floor, not mildly upset in the corner of the panel. Regular blog readers will be familiar with the reasons behind this though when I covered the initial merge. Lew also informs me the colouring job was done in-house by someone at Fleetway, hence the somewhat subdued colours in comparison to his previous OiNK work.
Weedy Willy is no longer with us. He just didn’t click with the readers of Buster and so Mark Rodgers’ and Mike Green’s strip didn’t last long. However, the stand out star was back. A huge hit with Buster fans, Lew’s Tom Thug would sometimes even get a colour page in the weekly, which was at a premium in Buster as opposed to OiNK. However, while his Skooldayz strip may be on one of the higher quality pages like Pete’s, he remains in black and white here.
Did you ever play conkers as a child? I could never get on with it. For someone who loves their videogames today I must’ve had rubbish hand-eye coordination back then and I could never hit anything… apart from the occasional friend’s hand. Kids in comics always seemed crazy for them and those in Tom’s class were no exception. Maybe if this had been an OiNK strip we’d have seen Tom inflict the cricket ball on himself after trying to harm someone else, but the strip still raises a smile.
These aren’t all from Lew in this annual. In fact, OiNK’s co-editor Mark Rodgers created and initially wrote the following characters. Unfortunately, by this stage his illness precluded him from doing so anymore. Lew then took over sole responsibility for The Vampire Brats. First appearing in June 1989 they enjoyed nearly two-and-a-half years in Buster and from comments on social media and Lew’s blog they’re very fondly remembered. I’ve read the occasional strip on Lew’s blog before now but this is the first time I’ve owned anything with them in it.
They were Vampires of the same age as the readers, so despite being undead they still had to learn. In their own unique way, of course. While they may not have a strip in the annual, they do get pride of place with their version of a school’s ‘ABC’ wall chart as the double-page spread that rounds off the entire book. It’s a fun and imaginative entry and in particular I laughed at U, V and W and really any that follow on from the previous letter. With this little sampling I do hope I can get to read some of their actual strips next year.
Next up is another character who (much like Gums) continued on in the pages of the Buster Books long after they’d disappeared from the weekly. Despite winning a Cartoonist Club of Great Britain award, Wonder Wellies only lasted two years in the long-running comic, ending in 1985. According to Lew and John Freeman, these Fleetway annuals could sometimes use reprints to fill out their pages so there’s always the possibility that’s the case here but I can’t confirm. Written by Roy Davis this stood out to me because it was drawn by OiNK cartoonist Dave Follows.
Accidentally created by Professor Krankpot, the wellies belong to Willie (of course) and they’ve called themselves Lefty and Righty, names which could probably mean something rather different today. They were stubborn and had the power to walk by themselves, morph and fly, sometimes taking Willie along with them without his say-so, with enough autonomy that they’d not always do as he wanted or come to his rescue.
Young Arfur is back and seeing as he’s drawn by fellow OiNK cartoonist Pete Dredge I had to include him again. UPDATE: Not only that but OiNK co-editor Patrick Gallagher helpfully left a comment (below) on this post to let us know he wrote it! It was a hard choice between his strips but this one just pips the others with its neat twist on the usual formula; instead of talking his way out of something he gets his teacher to do it for him. Arfur disappeared from the pages of Buster in 1987 so either he continued with new yearly strips for fans or this could be another reprint. My money is on the former because he has pride of place on the higher quality pages in the book.
He’s a lovable rogue, a phrase which could be used to describe certain brothers in a BBC sitcom that starred David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst, characters that were definitely not inspiration for the next strip. Nope, not at all. Actually, I think the word “inspiration” is being rather kind and that’s why it stood out. A Buster original drawn by Gordon Hill, Rodney and Dez lasted only one year in the comic around the time of this annual’s release.
Perhaps it was too on-the-nose even for the young ‘uns!
They bring this year’s look at the Buster Book 1991 to a close. Chances are there’ll be no Pete and his Pimple… sorry, Pete’s Pimple next year so fingers crossed Tom Thug’s superstardom has kicked in with the readers and he’s afforded more space next time. Until then, this annual can sit proudly on my shelf with last year’s while I await the Buster Book 1992 and continue to stretch out the OiNK love just that little bit more.
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