Nurks, Nerds and Nurkettes

Nurk, although not an actual word (probably a word made up based upon 'burk'), is the name given to weird, spotty, strange little children by Tom Paterson. Nurks appeared in the background of School Belle over a period of time, and actually became quite popular. In issue dated 14th October 1989, a book entitled A - Z Of Nurks was given away free as a supplement in Buster. The first Nurk we ever saw, labeled 'A Little Nurk' appeared in the School Belle strip in Buster issue dated 11th January 1986.

The next-but-one issue, dated 25th January 1986, featured no Nurks, but instead lots of different species of Haggis and Haggi!

The next Nurk appeared in issue dated 8th March, but issue dated 22nd March reveled Nerds, not Nurks!

This was accompanied with a letter in the same issue. 

The following issue featured a follow-up letter, although 'Buster' has made the mistake of calling them 'nerks' instead of 'nerds', as they were actually called in the strip!

From there the Nurks took Buster by storm, appearing regularly week after week in School Belle, each one coming with a label! Here's one more strip, featuring a group of Nurkettes.

This is part four in the series of Buster posts, and another part will come next week!

Part 1:
http://www.wackycomics.com/2013/01/new-strips-for-buster.html

Part 2:
http://www.wackycomics.com/2013/01/sqworm.html

Part 3: 
http://www.wackycomics.com/2013/01/introducing-busters-new-friends.html

Part 5:
http://www.wackycomics.com/2013/02/buster-gets-revamp.html

Tom's Very First Buster

Before Tom Paterson took over Buster on the front cover of a comic of the same name, he drew (amongst other characters) a story about a lass named School Belle (Belle meaning beautiful in French). 

School Belle's very first comic strip.

School Belle started out on the back cover School Fun issue #1 in glorious full colour, and when the title merged with Buster comic Belle moved with it! Belle's very first strip can be seen above, click on the image, and then again to see in full size!

In her very first strip in Buster, the lad the comic is named after walks in after Kate Crapabble (the girl who has a crush on him, but not vice versa) forces him to tell Belle to, in short 'get lost', as the comic doesn't need another pin-up girl. Here is the strip for you to see...

Could this be Tom Paterson's very first published drawing of Buster? I've never seen one before this, so it could well be! The style is influenced by the great Buster artist of the time of course, who goes by the name of Reg Parlett! Really then, that second to last panel is pretty much a Parlett drawing!

  
Tom Paterson took over drawing Buster on the front cover with issue dated 25th May 1985, which I'm lucky enough to own a (sadly ripped) copy of. So, for all you lucky readers, here is Tom's very first official strip of a lad named Buster!