Jeff Craig Detective

Art by Ian Kennedy. In semi-retirement now, but still providing covers for Commando comics. From Buster, dated 2nd May 1964.

Check here, for a feature about the man.

Marney the Fox

John Stokes provides gorgeous art for the 18th January, 1975 edition of Buster. I've included some larger frames for you to look at. I love the way JS uses various textures in his art from splattered ink to finger prints. I'd love to own one of these original pages.

Fishboy

Art by John Stokes from Buster, dated 1st November 1975.

Zarga-Man of Mystery

The great Joe Colquhoun provides art for this weeks Buster, dated 20th May 1972.

Marney the Fox

Art by John Stokes. I think it's plain to see that this one was a labour of love. Such beautiful line-work. I'd love to have seen the originals of this one. As they say where I came from: bostin'!
Oh yeah, from Buster dated 1st November 1975.

I was in contact with JS a while back and have an interview (of sorts) with him that I'll publish at some point. Here's a little taste:

I found some Buster comics out the other day. You put an insane amount of work into those Marney the Fox pages. They look beautiful! I only wish they'd been printed on a better grade of paper. I see you used a lot of splatter techniques? Did you use an old toothbrush for that? Also I see a pattern that looks like fingerprints too? Your pages are quite textural. It'd be interesting to see an original Marley, to look at the surface of the art. What kind of pens/brushes/materials did you use?


It was the first time I had used spatter. If  I wanted it to be random sizes and quite irregular, I used a toothbrush loaded with Indian Ink, and for a more overall effect I used a diffuser spray, which is a pair of metal tubes, joined together at a right angle. You put one end in a bottle of Ink, the other end in your mouth, and blew until you felt as if your eyeballs were about to pop out! It gave a fair approxamation of an airbrush, which were very rare at the time. Then I went to work with the process white to bring out the highlights, snow effects, etc. And, Yes, I used fingerprints too, anything to give the pages the textures that were everywhere in nature.
   Who knows what happened to the pages. None were ever returned to me, so they probably ended up in bin-bags on a dump somewhere. At that time I was using a Gillot nib with a very flexible tip which was heaven to draw with, but after a few years  the quality dropped off so much that out of a box of a hundred nibs, less than fifty were useable. I only used brushes to fill in black areas by that time, although in my early years I used a sable brush a lot, for figure drawing, but became dissatisfied with the amount of detail I was able to get with them.

Fishboy-Denizen of the Deep

John Stokes illustrates this tale from the 28th December 1974 edition of Buster.

Dome of Doom

Dome of Doom. Love that title! Art by Mike Western for Buster dated 20th July 1963.

The Boy Who Knew Too Much

Art by Mike Western. Buster, dated 13th July 1963.

Johnny Samson

A bit of a contrast, Ian Kennedy art from the Buster, dated 15th August 1964.

Marney the Fox

More texture-tastic work from John Stokes. Buster & Cor!!, 28th December 1974.

Maxwell Hawke

Eric Bradbury, 12th May 1962 edition of Buster.

Charlie Peace

Art by Tom Kerr. Buster,  11th December 1965. I love the grin on Charlie's fizzog on frame four of page one. Very Albert Steptoe. 'Aaaarold!'

Frozen Summer

Mike Western art. Inspired by Quatermass I wonder? Buster, 12th May 1962.

Charlie Peace

Some nice art by Tom Kerr. I love the smug look on the private detective's face on the last frame of page two. Buster, 4th December 1965.

Jeff Craig Detective

Ian Kennedy. Buster, dated 15th August 1964. There are a couple of IK interviews over on my old site: here and here.

Sammy Brewster's Ski-Board Squad

Down to earth superheroics by Joe Colquhoun, from the 20th April 1974 edition of Buster.

The Leopard from Lime Street

It's an interesting mix of Stan Lee and Charles Dickens: "Lorks oh lordy, bless 'ee young hero me lad. With great power, comes great responsibility. Cor blimey..." Or something along those lines...
I was never much of a fan of Buster, but I do like Mike Western's work. This is from Buster dated 27th March 1976.

Marney the Fox

Greetings! I've been a little busy of late: what with work and moving house.

Having given the kids an audio book version of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mister Fox for Christmas and having to listen to it several times a day since. I thought it'd be appropriate to start the New Year with Marney the Fox from Buster dated 27th March 1976. Beautiful work by John Stokes. I'm assuming he enjoyed drawing it because he puts an insane amount of detail into this strip.

Fishboy-Denizen of the Deep

From Buster 15th May 1971 art by John Stokes. Like Denis Mc Loughlin, John Stokes put a lot of detail and texture into his pages. Go here for more information.