Time to head back to 11th October 1986, and take a look at the X-Ray Specs strip that appeared on the back of the Buster comic with the same date. This particular episode, as well as being special for appearing on the back cover and in full colour, stands out for a very different reason - it stars Mike Lacey. To view it in maximum size click on the image, and then click it again!
Of course, it doesn't actually say anywhere that the artist is Mike Lacey, but Mike did draw X-Ray Specs, and the artist does look like a more cartooned version of his self-portrait that appeared in Buster in 1990:
Plus, if you look closely at his drawing board in the panel below, you can just about make out X-Ray Specs written on it!
Although it wasn't too common, artists did sometimes draw themselves in strips. Over on Kazoop Irmantas did cover a good selection of these, but one of my favourites in Tom Paterson in Buster. One panel shows the editor of Buster knocking Tom's wage off the table - about three or four coins, followed by showing him in a tiny, messy house. If I can find it I'll post it.
In the meantime, if you haven't already checked out the self-portraits over at Kazoop, do so now! All you have to do is search 'portrait' in the search bar and you're away! Here is the web address:
http://kazoop.blogspot.com
And if you're going to try and hunt down this issue, here's the front cover you should be looking for!
6 comments:
Thanks for the plug, George! I like artists’ self-portraits. Do you remember the year of the Buster that had Tom Patterson in it?
I have collected quite a few more of those portraits, enough for another post or two that I plan to do sometime soon. But first I would like to figure out what is happening to my blog – I update it regularly but people who have Kazoop! in their blog lists see that the last update was a month ago. Very strange…
I'm afraid I can't remember the year - some time in 1985 I think, in Tom's early days drawing Buster. I'll look for it later today.
As for what is happening to your blog - I'm afraid I have no idea. I just checked my reading list and it says that you last posted 1 hour ago (at the time of writing), and it says the same at the side of my blog. Maybe try contacting Blogger or look through their frequently asked questions. I hope you can sort it out!
What a brilliant find!!
Jack Edward Oliver also appeared in quite a lot of his strips. I think he appeared in every episode of Vid Kid, sometimes even pivotal to the story.
Jack Edward Oliver did a lot fo fun stuff in his strips! He always signed his Vid Kid strips Sue Denim, which is a pun of the word pseudonym - which means using a different name to your own.
He always did stuff like that - he was a very fun artist!
Mike Lacey drew himself into a 'Riddle Me Ray' story in Shiver & Shake and drew himself again on the cover of the 6th issue of Krazy. The 'Circus' issue.
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