Buddy - the rained in edition

It's been another cold and as when this was typed, wet, week so playground is out and we're in the hall having our playtime.

One of the biggest names in British publishing and for a long time comic publishing was D C Thomson, anyone my generation had at least access to one if not more of theirs and maybe an IPC title.

They devoted quite a bit of time into researching the at times shifting interests of boys and girls tweaking existing comics and sometimes launching a new title to grab a slice of an emergent market.

Buddy was their attempt at going for an all boys action comic, a bit more modern for boys who liked sport, action and adventure, in other words this blogs writer which started up on February 14th 1981.

The main character was a freckled boy in sporty modern attire, no formal suits and no school uniform, just a a boy chilling out (except in 1981 we didn't use that expression).

Billy the Cat starred in it although if you are a Beano fan you might have a sense of deja vu here because Billy the Cat had starred in that comic from April 1st 1967 to September 7th 1974 with his sister Katie.

Billy (and in the Beano Katie) donned cat suits acquired cat like powers  using them to aid the police as a crimefighting boy, in some ways a like a neko-boy for fans of manga and anime.

It was a cartoon strip I loved.

Here's a front cover with the start of February 27th 1982 Billy the Cat adventure.

Sport was covered  and Tuffy, the story of the hopeless boy fighting against the odds to play soccer was a re-imagined form of Scrappy, a Boy all alone from The Wizzard with Tuffy being the boy who was homeless with just a dog for company.

There were also war and adventure series too although it borrowed sometimes literally as reprints from older Beano and Wizzard series.

Buddy run until 1983 when it was folded into The Victor.

There was something in the air and another short lived comic of the same ilk came about by combining Battle and Action which as the name would suggest stories about war, mainly WW2 based and features on equipment such as aircraft.

Boys could write in about war related things such as  grandparents adventures and win a prize

It originated as battle on March 8th 1975 and ended in January 23rd 1988

Needless to say popular boys toy manufactures used the advertising space to sell related toys although boys like me already had bought in to Action Man.

These sorts of comics were sort I loved and to which are difficult to see a replacement for todays as it tends to be graphic books that tend to tackle these themes that are often at least monthly.