Buster adventure stories

[Lew Stringer]

Robin's been portrayed as quite cool for some years, though - especially the Tim Drake version. And at the end of the Sixties, Dick was off at college mingling with all the hippies and youth culture, maaaaan. I suppose the appeal is that they have these powers but they're young and have no adult responsibilities, so they're a bit more carefree.

Robin has a different audience than he did 40 years ago. It's adults who are buying those comics now. God knows why.

The much younger sidekicks in days of yore (presumably most readers were probably around ten or under?) were presumably to appeal to the very young readers, though, to whom the likes of Bats would seem like a father figure.

That was the theory but it didn't work. I was seven in 1966 when the Batman tv show first aired and my friends and I all thought Robin was a prize chump. Which is why DC Comics gradually aged him from "Boy Wonder" to "Teen Wonder" and then out of the main strip I guess.

Lew

[Raven]

Robin has a different audience than he did 40 years ago. It's adults who are buying those comics now. God knows why.

Maybe because those teen hero titles seem more fun to them - like superhero comics used to be - than the increasingly grim, nihilistic adult superhero titles? You may just as reasonably ask why adults would buy any superhero titles at all.

That was the theory but it didn't work. I was seven in 1966 when the Batman tv show first aired and my friends and I all thought Robin was a prize chump. Which is why DC Comics gradually aged him from "Boy Wonder" to "Teen Wonder" and then out of the main strip I guess.

Lew

Holy disagreements! It may not have worked for you and your chums, Lew, but in general, Robin was hugely popular in the TV series (I think Burt Ward was extremely funny, myself, with great comic timing) and never really left the comic's main strip for long. He was also popular enough to often take the cover spotlight in the Teen Titans title around that time.

At the end of the '60s there was an attempt to take Batman back to his simplified late '30s roots, and to reinvent Robin for the new period (hence college, hippies, youth issues), but he was soon back fighting alongside Batman where he remains today in many of the titles. (Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's new Batman and Robin title starts soon.)

Mid-Sixties Buster seems a decent mix of the adult and youth-led adventure strip to me. Champion mainly focuses on the kid, and Galaxus has the alien's two young friends, and these strips sit alongside the likes of Charlie Peace. It was similar in the 70s Buster when you'd have your Pete's Pocket Army alongside ... erm, Charlie Peace, again. There mostly seemed to be a decent balance in Buster to me (and Valiant, too) - but kids always had their kid heroes, like Just William, Billy Bunter and the Famous Five, alongside the Tarzans and Zorros.

Maybe D C Thomson perceived a change, though, as Buddy was an adventure title with all young protagonists in the early 80s; not typical for them.

[philcom55]

I think a lot of 1960s kids overdosed on the whole, ultra-camp 'to the Batcave' approach so that when they grew up to become comics writers themselves they made a concerted attempt to return Batman to his 'grim and gritty' roots. Unfortunately this culminated in Jim Starlin's truly awful 'Death of Robin' storyline (where a fan on a speed-dial with unlimited funds effectively sealed the Boy Wonder's fate! ) - after which it suddenly dawned on everybody that Batman simply wasn't Batman anymore without his junior understudy!

- Phil Rushton

[Lew Stringer]

Holy disagreements! It may not have worked for you and your chums, Lew, but in general, Robin was hugely popular in the TV series (I think Burt Ward was extremely funny, myself, with great comic timing) and never really left the comic's main strip for long. He was also popular enough to often take the cover spotlight in the Teen Titans title around that time.

Teen Titans was never a top seller in the Sixties though. It folded after 43 issues. By the time it was revived comics were being targeted to the fan audience who were buying it for Marv Wolfman's storylines and George Perez' artwork, rather than to "relate" to Robin. (Besides, by that time Robin had been aged to about 18 or 19.)

The television Robin (Burt Ward) was popular with teenage girls. I don't know of any bloke who looked up to the character, although I'm sure there were some!

Lew

[Raven]

Unfortunately this culminated in Jim Starlin's truly awful 'Death of Robin' storyline (where a fan on a speed-dial with unlimited funds effectively sealed the Boy Wonder's fate! ) - after which it suddenly dawned on everybody that Batman simply wasn't Batman anymore without his junior understudy!

- Phil Rushton

And now Jason Todd, the Robin of then, has been revealed not to be dead at all, should this not be treated as one of them there phone-in scandals, with everyone who voted entitled to their money back?!

[Raven]

Isn't that 43 mostly bi-monthly issues, though, so it's longer than it sounds?! I think the success of Legion of Super Heroes and Superboy showed that kids did like the younger caped crusaders as well as the adult ones, anyway.

The television Robin (Burt Ward) was popular with teenage girls. I don't know of any bloke who looked up to the character, although I'm sure there were some!

Lew

TV Batman was a comedy series, though, so I think it's more a case of how funny was he, rather than would you look up to him. Adam West was a hoot, too, of course. Though I'm sure there were plenty of kids at the time who actually took the series completely straight, not even realising it was supposed to be a campy comedy.

I believe a lot of the comic's longtime fans were rather annoyed by this less than reverent take on Batman, though.

[Lew Stringer]

Isn't that 43 mostly bi-monthly issues, though, so it's longer than it sounds?! I think the success of Legion of Super Heroes and Superboy showed that kids did like the younger caped crusaders as well as the adult ones, anyway. .

Fair point. I must say the Legion never appealed to me, but then I was a Marvel fan as a kid. Wouldn't touch DC Comics with a bargepole in the sixties.

TV Batman was a comedy series, though, so I think it's more a case of how funny was he, rather than would you look up to him. Adam West was a hoot, too, of course. Though I'm sure there were plenty of kids at the time who actually took the series completely straight, not even realising it was supposed to be a campy comedy.

We didn't know what "camp" was but we knew the Batman tv show was a spoof. Thing is though, in the context of the show Batman was a respected "take charge" figure and that's what I meant by him being an aspirational character. But getting back to basics, Robin was still second fiddle to Batman and not a choice for play acting. At least that's how it was at our school in the Sixties.

I can only speak from experience. I'm sure there were kids who may have chosen to play Robin but not from what I saw personally. (No one played "Joe 90" either, despite Gerry Anderson thinking kids would relate to him. Being called "Joe 90" was an insult for kids with glasses. We played at being Captain Scarlet instead.)

Anyway, the original point was that by the 1960s playing "cowboys and indians" was rather old hat, replaced by playing Batman, or Daleks, or spacemen, or other more fantastic inspirations. One only need look at the toys and comics that were available in that period to see what the mood of the times was. Yes you could still buy bow and arrow sets and cowboy hats, but Batman, Daleks, and space-related merchandise dominated the shops just as it dominated our imaginations.

Lew

[Muffy]

In the mid 1970s at primary school aged 6 or 7, we did play at Batman and Robin (I was Catwoman), some of the boys did get their mums to make special capes for them, you could also buy masks from 'Harrisons' the newsagent in North Harrow.

We also played at being Dr Who (from TV comic) and Charlie's Angels (also TV comic) some of the boys were even Angels too.

[Peter Gray]

[Peter Gray]

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogs ... nture.html

[philcom55]

In the mid 1970s at primary school aged 6 or 7, we did play at Batman and Robin (I was Catwoman)

...Ah, but were you the Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt or Lee Meriweather version?

- Phil Rushton

[grumpy old man]

The hooded anoraks of the sixties made excellent bat capes as I remember

[Muffy]

Phil,

at the time I didn't realise there different actress' for Catwoman. Rather than a catsuit though I was in school uniform (which was grey).

Puuurrrrr

[steelclaw]

Thanks for showing the difference.
I think you should collect every Buster with Galaxus in now.

[philcom55]

Rather than a catsuit though I was in school uniform (which was grey).

Puuurrrrr

Awww - Bless!

Going by your current avatar I think I can detect a bit of a theme developing there Muffy. Of course, in the 1970s you could have equally chosen to be Billy the Cat's cousin Katie, or else Sally's own feline superhero the Cat Girl!

- Phil Rushton