Now, I've noticed that my previous few posts have been focused mainly on the 70's, and I know that you like this blog because I cover lots of different era's. So this time it's about the 1997 Buster Holiday Special, which we have seen very briefly before on this site here. Since this was published towards the end of Buster's life, the entire comic was reprints from previous issues - even the cover! But first of all I thought I'd give you a bit of a history lesson about the Buster Holiday Specials - The first one came out in 1969, six years after D.C Thomson released their first Beano and Dandy Summer Special. The final one came out in 1998, and the first (and only) Winter Special was published at the end of that year. All Buster Special's that came out for summer were called Holiday Special's, not Summer Special's.
As if to prove that this is a full reprint comic, here's a Faceache strip by the ledgendary Ken Reid, who had died just over ten years earlier than this publication was released!
Despite this been a Holiday Special, very few strips had anything to do with the summer holiday's. However, this Blub the Sub strip showed that our pathetic pal really didn't get along with animals, especially this donkey at the seaside! Illustrated by Meryvn Johnson.
Of course, the main character would have to have a seasonal strip, and that's exactly what Buster gets on this two page centre spread!
A nice little summer feature was this Summer Smiles jokes page by Paddywack artist Jack Clayton. The final summer strip appears on the back cover in full colour, probably to make readers think theres lots of stories inside based at the beach. Well, that is what summer is all about isn't it?! The character in question is Chalky, by his final artist Gordon Hill. Sadly there weren't "52 Pages Full Of Summer Fun" as promised on the cover, but a great comic none-the-less!
