Tuesday 9 October 2012

Tom Paterson's Spooky Buster Covers

During the late 1980s, Tom Paterson did some amazing covers for Buster, often depicting chaotic, ridiculous or downright strange things befalling the poor lad. As it's October and I'm feeling slightly restricted in that sense (but not in a bad way!), here's some of the "ghost/monster"-themed covers that were done over the issues...


"Win a Christmas Treat From Sellotape" - scary stuff!





Oh look - the date on this one's the same as my 2nd birthday. This one might not be Paterson's, but it's good all the same.


Unfortunately I don't have the "whole thing" - never even seen it!


But I do have the mask that was inside this one!


See?


My absolute favourite - probably one of the greatest comic covers of all time. Playing on the comic's title too, nice trick! Actually, this one's SO good, that I'm posting the story that goes with it too. It's a good'un:



10 comments:

  1. I've got that issue Ghost Busters..
    Sweeny Toddler was also great on Whizzer and Chips covers by Tom in the same period..

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  2. Yeah, I've only got a couple of Whizzer & Chips from that period, but the covers are still great - the ones I have feature a whole bunch of characters getting up to something strange.

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  3. The "SAVE ME!" cover is one of my all time favourties.

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    1. When Tom Paterson and Frank Frazetta combine!

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    2. Some people didn't like Paterson's style. The Beano said Calamity James was one of their most divisive characters - readers either loved or hated him. Similarly a lot of readers thought Paterson's version of Buster was too grotesque. They must have been a barrel of laughs.

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    3. Too grotesque? Honestly, some people etc. What's not to like about something that's obviously had so much care taken about it? Beyond Mr. Reid, I can't think of any others who packed that much detail into their drawings.

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    4. I loved Paterson's Buster. It wasn't grotesque. It was quirky and fun. But I also loved Jimmy Hansen's modern style in the 90s as that was my era. Such a shame Buster went bust and lesser comics have stayed on to this day. Would have at least been nice to have seen him absorbed by Beano or Dandy and continue on.

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    5. The real tragedy is it was still in good health when it was shut down - the new owners of Fleetway just decided they didn't want anything to do with comics anymore!

      An absorption would've been nice, but unlikely, as Buster's publishers were considered the "rivals" of the Beano/Dandy's publishers. Besides which, Buster had already swallowed up pretty much every other IPC/Fleetway title by that point, it was fit to burst!

      90's era Buster was my era too, I didn't get it as often as the Beano or Dandy, but it was always a nice refreshing change when I DID get it. Looking back at issues from the era today, I love how much of a sense of "belonging" it gave its readers...

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  4. I used to have boxes full of Buster comics. My mum threw them out when I moved out at 18. She couldn't just put them in the bloody attic!

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    1. Mums seem to have an unearthly delight in throwing things out - should've seen my mum's face the other day when she found out she could get rid of a bottle of lemonade she thought was mine!

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