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Post by Steve on Jul 29, 2009 18:50:40 GMT
Buster Book of Spooky Stories 1975, IPC/Fleetway, 1974. Humour Buster's Dream-World Rent-A-Ghost Ltd. Horace the Hopeless Haunter The Mummy's Curse Angelface and Daredevil Whacky Waxworks The Scareys of St. Mary's Davy Jones' Locker The Creepy Crawleys Adventure The Ghost Pilot [featuring Curtis Bronson] The Pillater Peril Curtis Bronson and the Phantom Zombie The Spectre of Stafford Grange The Knight from Nowhere The House in the Haunted Swamp The Spirit of Nathan Sparr Features The Haunted Tower [Do You Believe in Ghosts?] Puzzle Pages Spooky Scrapbook Chilling Chuckles [with Rent-A-Ghost Ltd.] The Phantom of the Oak [Do You Believe in Ghosts?] Cauldron Cackles The Ghostly Express [Do You Believe in Ghosts?] Haunting Howlers Battle of the Phantoms [Do You Believe in Ghosts?] Captain Patch-Eye's Hidden Treasure There were actually two of these (there was another one the following year), the second one describes itself as "128 pages of chills and chuckles" which pretty much covers this one as well. Back then my personal tastes ran more to the likes of Valiant and Vulcan or Battle than the funny stuff - though I still have very fond memories of Shiver & Shake, and especially those 'Badtime Bedtime Storybook' mini-comics in I think it was Monster Fun. Buster was never really a favourite but these specials are rather interesting and, as far as I know, don't actually contain any Buster regulars apart from Buster himself. What they do contain apparently is material that had previously been gathered by Dez Skinn, before he left IPC, for a proposed weekly horror comic named Chiller. I don't know if this came up in conversation with Dez the other week, did it Ade? Not sure how much of the stuff in these was original and what was reprints? It's interesting to try and see how some of this material would've worked in a weekly comic. Curtis Bronson, Ghost Hunter was presumably earmarked as a continuing series. Over on the Back from the Depths British horror comic site they've identified the Curtis Bronson strip that appeared in the 1976 Book of Spooky Stories as actually being a doctored Cursitor Doom Strip from IPC's earlier Smash! comic. Of the two Bronson strips here, one (a straightforward ghost story about a phantom pilot) looks as though it might be original but the second, a far more exciting adventure involving zombies and giant eels and islands of doom, seems more like something from the late 60s or thereabouts. Either way there's some nice material on offer here, with 'The Pillater Peril' particularly being a great old-fashioned adventure yarn with back-from-the-dead pirates, piranhas, secret passageways and what have you - which would have made a cracking serial if Chiller had ever appeared.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 30, 2009 9:17:55 GMT
Can't help you Chiller, Steve, but i've just dug out a Shiver & Shake annual - maybe more of which later - and here's some good news about Battle, Misty, Buster and Roy Of The Rovers .... provided you live near a large-ish branch of W. H. Smiths. Press Release Classic Comics ROY OF THE ROVERS, BATTLE, MISTY and BUSTER return to the shelves of W H Smith! Readers who grew up with the classic characters of Roy of the Rovers, Battle, Misty and Buster are in for a nostalgic treat. Egmont UK and W H Smith have teamed up to bring the adventures back to the newsstand in four special collections, costing £3.99 each, that are sure to bring those childhood memories flooding back. Today’s grown-ups can relive the time when they waited eagerly for each new issue of these comics to go on sale, as all the archive original comic strips are brought together for the first time in these special editions. Readers can enjoy these classic slices of childhood all over again with the 64 page specials featuring all the best-loved characters and stories, launching exclusively in W. H. Smith. Roy of the Rovers will be the first on sale on 1st April 2009, followed by Battle on 24th June, Buster on 16th September and Misty on 9th December. Egmont acquired the Fleetway stable of comics in 1991 which included Roy of the Rovers, Battle, Misty and Buster. About Roy of the Rovers Roy Race, star player of Melchester Rovers and idol to millions, first appeared in 1954. His trademark “Racey’s Rocket” and knack for scoring match –wining goals made him a superstar long before today’s pampered Premiership stars. His footballing career lasted for many years, eventually ending in tragedy when a helicopter accident let to the amputation of his foot. Roy eventually graduated to his own comic which also featured such memorable stories as “Billy’s Boots”, “Hot Shot Hamish” and “Goalkeeper”. About Battle Battle began life in 1975 and ran for 13 years. Filled with action-packed, thrilling stories mainly set during the Second World War, Battle fired the imaginations of countless boys, many of whom had a surviving relative from the war. From the exploits of the unconventional soldier Major Eazy to the realistic portrayal of WW1 life in Charley’s War, Battle was was the first of a new wave of British Comics that featured rugged realism from cover to cover. About Misty Misty was a girl’s horror comic that ran from 1978 until 1984. Full of moody and sophisticated stories such as Moonchild and The Sentinels, it had a dedicated following and is fondly remembered by fans. About Buster Buster ran for an astonishing 40 years between 1960 and 2000. A comic primarily aimed at boys, it was an anthology format with its own brand of anarchic and satirical humour. |
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Post by glodfinger on Jul 30, 2009 23:33:47 GMT
I've still got both of those Buster spooky stories books. As a kid the Haunted Swamp story really unnerved me. Or rather, the final panel of the story. The blank eyed ghost terrified me so much that I used to have to make sure to not look at it whenever I read the book!
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Post by killercrab on Aug 1, 2009 14:58:46 GMT
I looked through a copy of the Battle Souvenir Special today . I was never a huge war comics fan so left it on the shelf for a bigger fan one hopes. There were a couple of strips that were of interest primarily because of the art.
KC
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Post by glodfinger on Aug 2, 2009 11:24:59 GMT
I was never a particular fan of war comics either, although just about all of the German that I know came from comic book war stories (Got in Himmel--Was is das?--Achtung--Verdamant Englisher Schweinhund--AIIIIIEEEEE!) none of which are likely to be of much use in a holiday in Germany.
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Post by Steve on Aug 4, 2009 19:14:22 GMT
I was a regular reader of Battle at one point in the '70s - I suppose I was interested in the Second World War because I'd heard a lot about it from my dad and Battle was definitely the best war comic around at the time as far as I was concerned (my dad was more a fan of 'Captain Hurricane'). Battle Picture Weekly may sound fairly 'old school' but it was actually pretty cutting edge back in the proverbial day and was probably the comic that most helped define my tastes, setting me up nicely for stuff like Action, Starlord and 2000AD. Still have fond memories of many of the strips, particularly 'Major Eazy' which had a great laconic, sort of 'spaghetti western' feel (the short-lived 'El Mestizo' strip even more so) and which you also got later elsewere in strips like 'Strontium Dog'. Carlos Ezquerra remains one of my favourite artists from that time.
That said, it's a funny thing but of these four 'souvenir specials' the one that looks most interesting to me now is Misty!
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Post by Steve on Aug 5, 2009 8:45:11 GMT
As a kid the Haunted Swamp story really unnerved me. Or rather, the final panel of the story. The blank eyed ghost terrified me so much that I used to have to make sure to not look at it whenever I read the book! Anyone who doesn't want to know the result of 'The House in the Haunted Swamp', look away from your screens now... |
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Post by glodfinger on Aug 5, 2009 22:25:58 GMT
As a kid the Haunted Swamp story really unnerved me. Or rather, the final panel of the story. The blank eyed ghost terrified me so much that I used to have to make sure to not look at it whenever I read the book! Anyone who doesn't want to know the result of 'The House in the Haunted Swamp', look away from your screens now... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHH!  |
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