Buster was a British comic which began publication in 1960, originally published by IPC Magazines Ltd under the company's comics division Fleetway, 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 character Buster and a host of other characters.
Whizzer and Chips was a British comics magazine that ran from 18 October 1969 to 27 October 1990, when it merged with the comic Buster. As with most comics of the time, Whizzer and Chips was dated one week ahead of the day it actually appeared on newsstands in Great Britain. It had no relation to the earlier British comic Illustrated Chips.
Krazy was a British comic book magazine published every Monday by IPC Magazines Ltd. It ran from 16 October 1976 to 15 April 1978, when it merged with stable-mate Whizzer and Chips. In 1977, one of the characters in the comic, Cheeky, proved popular enough to get his own comic, Cheeky, which was later merged into Whoopee!. The comic included a "disguise" back-cover, such as the cover of a diary or brochure, which allowed readers to hide the comic from parents or teachers.
Reginald Edward Parlett was an artist from England who had a career of drawing for comic books that lasted for 66 years.
Sweeny Toddler was a British comic strip by Leo Baxendale, which originally appeared in the British magazines Shiver and Shake, Whoopee!, Whizzer and Chips and finally Buster between 1973 and 2000. It was a gag-a-day about a little mischievous toddler. The name is a play on Sweeney Todd.
The Bumpkin Billionaires was a British humoristic comic strip which ran from 1974 until 2000. It was drawn by Mike Lacey throughout except for the last years in Whizzer and Chips by Jim Hanson.
Tiger was a weekly British comics periodical published by Amalgamated Press, Fleetway Publications and IPC Magazines from 11 September 1954 to 30 March 1985. The title was initially launched in a large tabloid size to mimic newspapers; while it featured some action-adventure stories Tiger contained a large number of sport strips. The most famous of these was "Roy of the Rovers", which debuted in the first issue and was the comic's most popular feature, eventually transferring to its own comic in 1975. Tiger would go on to become one of the company's longest-running titles, notching 1573 issues before being merged with Eagle in 1985. Over the course of its run, Tiger featured columns by numerous famous sports figures, including Ian Botham, Geoff Boycott, Tony Greig, Trevor Francis, and Charlie Nicholas.
The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the largest publishing company in the world, AP employed writers such as Arthur Mee, John Alexander Hammerton, Edwy Searles Brooks, and Charles Hamilton. Its subsidiary, the Educational Book Company, published The Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopædia, and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia. The company's newspapers included the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, The Evening News, The Observer, and The Times. At its height, AP published over 70 magazines and operated three large printing works and paper mills in South London.
Tom Paterson is a Scottish comic artist who drew characters for Fleetway in 1973–1990, and D.C Thomson from 1986 to 2012. As of 2013, he currently draws strips for Viz. He lives in Leith, with three children, and is a Hearts supporter.
Valiant was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications and later IPC Magazines from 4 October 1962 to 16 October 1976. A boys' adventure comic, it debuted numerous memorable characters, including Captain Hurricane, The Steel Claw and Mytek the Mighty. Valiant lasted for 712 issues before being merged with stablemate Battle Picture Weekly.
Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merged into the IPC group in 1963, and the Fleetway banner continued to be used until 1968 when all IPC's publications were reorganised into the unitary IPC Magazines.
Bobby's Ghoul was a comic strip originally appearing in the British comic Whizzer and Chips, and later Buster after the two comics merged.
Playhour was a British children's comics magazine published by Amalgamated Press/Fleetway/IPC between 16 October 1954 and 15 August 1987, a run of approximately 1,700 weekly issues. Playhour contained a mixture of original tales for young children and adaptations of well-known fairy tales.
Wham! was a weekly British comics magazine published by Odhams Press. It ran for 187 issues from 20 June 1964 to 13 January 1968, when it merged into its sister title Pow!
Smash! was a weekly British comic book, published initially by Odhams Press and subsequently by IPC Magazines, from 5 February 1966 to 3 April 1971. After 257 issues it merged into Valiant.
Illustrated Chips was a British comic magazine published between 26 July 1890 and 12 September 1953. Its publisher was the Amalgamated Press, run by Alfred Harmsworth. Priced at a half-penny, Illustrated Chips was among a number of Harmsworth publications that challenged the dominance in popularity of the "penny dreadfuls" among British children.
Joker was a British comic strip. It first appeared in Knockout issue 1 on 12 June 1971. Knockout merged with Whizzer and Chips in 1973. Joker stayed in Whizzer and Chips as a Whizz-kid until the end, when he continued in Buster until the close of the comic on 4 January 2000. On the "last page" of Buster, Joker reveals that he was Jeremy Beadle all along. The strip was written by Malcolm Morrison, and illustrated by Sid Burgon.
Battler Britton is a British comics character created by Mike Butterworth and Geoff Campion. He first appeared in Amalgamated Press' Sun in 1956, and later was featured in Knockout, and the long-running digest titles Thriller Picture Library, Air Ace Picture Library, and War Picture Library.
Sun was a weekly British comics periodical published by J. B. Allen, Amalgamated Press and Fleetway Publications between 11 November 1947 and 17 October 1959. During this time it was also known as Sun Comic, Sun Adventure Weekly, The Cowboy Sun Weekly, The Cowboy Sun, The Sun and Sun Weekly at various points, and ran for 551 issues before merging with Lion.
Thunder was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications from 17 October 1970 to 13 March 1971. A boys' adventure comic, the title only lasted for 22 editions before being merged with another Fleetway title, the long-established Lion.
