Buster Monthly was late to the shelves, and was the final of IPC's 'Big Three' to get a monthly collection in its name. Whizzer and Chips was the first, with issue one appearing in November 1984. I'm yet to investigate Whoopee's Best Of Monthly comics, but the earliest I have is October 1985 - well before Buster. In fact, despite being IPC's most popular and longest running title Buster didn't get it's first 'Best Of Monthly' comic until May 1987. Here are a few adverts promoting the launch. The last one is just an edited version of the first.
As with all the monthlies, it went on sale about half a month ahead of the cover date, this one hitting the stores on 11th April. Here's the finished product that kids would have seen on the shelves.
As with the Whoopee and Whizzer and Chips monthlies, Buster continued until January 1995 (dated February), when they were merged together to produce the short-lived BVC. Ninety one issues of The Best Of Buster Monthly were produced.
4 comments:
The earliest Best of Whoopee that I'm aware of has the date of June 1985.
It's a shame they're not still around. They were great publications and good value.
I remember buying that issue...
always like the best of whoopee!!
I believe they weren't actually that popular however, peaking with sales around 1990 before plummeting and merging together to create the hopeful BVC, which quickly failed. I suppose the Whizzer and Chips monthly did last ten years though, which isn't too bad.
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