Buster Special 2009

[Raven]

Well, I've had a partial success with this today, I managed to pick up a copy at the Waterloo Station branch (many thanks to bustercomic for the heads up!) only to find the first and last few pages are duplicated, aarrgh!, I'm not gonna spend any more time on trying to source a decent copy, I'll probably just wait till Egmont are selling it and order another one from them.

You could get a refund from the shop in the meantime.

And Smiths will then fine Egmont for the trouble, - but I can understand the situation.

Lew

Surely Egmont should have had some kind of quality control in place?

[steelclaw]

Oh dear I should have read it propably, those 8 pages of course would have made it 16 dublicate pages which it has.

My 'Buster' Page by Page red dublicate pages.

1.Busters Diary
2.Busters Diary

3.Bluebottle & Basher
4.Vals Vanishing Cream
5.Football Madd
6.The Spectre Inspector
7.Royal Marines Ad
8.Kid Gloves
9.Plane Jane
10.Sammy Brewster's Ski-Board Squad
11.Bluebottle & Basher
12.Vals Vanishing Cream
13.Football Madd
14.The Spectre Inspector
15.Royal Marines Ad
16.Kid Gloves
17.Plane Jane
18.Sammy Brewster's Ski-Board Squad

19.Sammy Brewster's Ski-Board
20.The Leopard From Limes St
21.The Leopard From Limes St
22.Crowjak
23 to 31.Pete's Pocket Army
32.Clever Dick
33.Snooper
34.Buster's Diary

35.Mummy's Boy
36.Kid Kong
37.Kid Kong & Hales Racing Car Ad
38.Draculass - Daughter Of Dracula
39.Martha's Monster Make-up
40.X-Ray Spcecs
41.Gums
42.Kid Kong
43.Mummy's Boy
44.Kid Kong
45.Kid Kong & Hales Racing Car Ad
46.Draculass - Daughter Of Dracula
47.Martha's Monster Make-up
48.X-Ray Spcecs
49.Gums
50.Kid Kong

51.Half of page don't know what it is & Egmont Ad
52.Back Page

The pages listed in red are correct, it's the other copies of those pages which are wrong. The half page on 51 is a continuation of the Kid Kong story.

If your page 51 is a continuation of Kid Kong, then yours is wrong.

As Lew and I pointed out my pages in red are dupicates.

Well I have my collectors item issue.
I'm on the look out for a correct issue now.

Not a very good screen shot from my ipod nano not bright enough.

[Lew Stringer]

Surely Egmont should have had some kind of quality control in place?

It's the printers who should have the quality control. The original files would have been checked at Egmont before sending to the printer. Egmont can't really afford to send editors up to the West Midlands to hang about monitoring printing, and the printers wouldn't be too happy about such lack of trust either I'd imagine.

Unfortunately these things happen. In 1973 I had a copy of the first Shiver & Shake Annual which had 16 pages duplicated in place of what should have been there. So it's nothing new.

Lew

[Raven]

Unfortunately these things happen. In 1973 I had a copy of the first Shiver & Shake Annual which had 16 pages duplicated in place of what should have been there. So it's nothing new.

Lew

It's extremely rare, though, and we've already identified three different types of wrong copies out there: 20 missing pages, reversed covers and missing pages, and 16 duplicated pages, and it sounds like these could be widespread. As I said earlier, two or three out of the ten I found were wrong copies.

It is indeed the printers' fault, of course.

[Phoenix]

I bought a copy of the Buster Souvenir Special this afternoon in Truro. They had 9 copies left when I walked out. The contents don't seem to match the list previously posted. The contents of my copy are as follows.

1. Buster's Diary
2. Buster's Diary
3. Snooper
4. Ivor Lott and Tony Broke
5. Rent-a-Ghost
6. Chalky
7. Fiends and Neighbours
8. Clever Dick
9. Faceache
10. Tomboy
11. Bluebottle and Basher
12. Val's Vanishing Cream
13. Football Madd
14. The Spectre Inspector
15. Call In The Commandos! (ad)
16. Kid Gloves
17. Plane Jane
18. Sammy Brewster's Secret Ski-Board Squad
19. Sammy Brewster's Secret Ski-Board Squad
20. The Leopard From Lime Street
21. The Leopard From Lime Street
22. Crowjak
23-31. Pete's Pocket Army
32. Clever Dick
33. Snooper [a different episode from that on page 3]
34. Buster's Diary
35. Mummy's Boy
36. Kid Kong
37. Kid Kong [half a page] / Hales Polistil (ad) [half a page]
38. Draculass
39. Martha's Monster Make-Up
40. X-Ray Specs
41. Gums
42. Kid Kong
43. Kid Gloves
44. Mummy's Boy
45. Teddy Scare
46. Terror TV
47. Martha's Monster Make-Up
48. Marney the Fox
49. Marney the Fox
50. Barney Bluffer
51. Barney Bluffer [half a page] / Egmont Classic Comics (ad)
52. Special Souvenir Issue : Buster 1960-2000 (ad for contents of this issue)

I have no idea how correct this order is, but I don't think any page is repeated.

[Lew Stringer]

Your copy is 100% correct phoenix.

Lew

[steelclaw]

I bought a copy of the Buster Souvenir Special this afternoon in Truro. They had 9 copies left when I walked out. The contents don't seem to match the list previously posted. The contents of my copy are as follows.

1. Buster's Diary
2. Buster's Diary
3. Snooper
4. Ivor Lott and Tony Broke
5. Rent-a-Ghost
6. Chalky
7. Fiends and Neighbours
8. Clever Dick
9. Faceache
10. Tomboy
11. Bluebottle and Basher
12. Val's Vanishing Cream
13. Football Madd
14. The Spectre Inspector
15. Call In The Commandos! (ad)
16. Kid Gloves
17. Plane Jane
18. Sammy Brewster's Secret Ski-Board Squad
19. Sammy Brewster's Secret Ski-Board Squad
20. The Leopard From Lime Street
21. The Leopard From Lime Street
22. Crowjak
23-31. Pete's Pocket Army
32. Clever Dick
33. Snooper [a different episode from that on page 3]
34. Buster's Diary
35. Mummy's Boy
36. Kid Kong
37. Kid Kong [half a page] / Hales Polistil (ad) [half a page]
38. Draculass
39. Martha's Monster Make-Up
40. X-Ray Specs
41. Gums
42. Kid Kong
43. Kid Gloves
44. Mummy's Boy
45. Teddy Scare
46. Terror TV
47. Martha's Monster Make-Up
48. Marney the Fox
49. Marney the Fox
50. Barney Bluffer
51. Barney Bluffer [half a page] / Egmont Classic Comics (ad)
52. Special Souvenir Issue : Buster 1960-2000 (ad for contents of this issue)

I have no idea how correct this order is, but I don't think any page is repeated.

Arhh so that's what I'm missing.

[Peter Gray]

Still none in Woking or Guildford..checked Guildford this morning..

[bustercomic]

Latest update for Essex Fans - Lakeside WHSmiths are stocking them, around all of the cult comics like Spiderman and the like....bottom shelf at the very back, to the point you'll have to be willing to get on your hands and knees to get your copy!

I was tempted to swap it with Poker Weekly or whatever it was in the WHSmiths recommends box hanging off the shelf above!

[Lew Stringer]

Latest update for Essex Fans - Lakeside WHSmiths are stocking them, around all of the cult comics like Spiderman and the like....bottom shelf at the very back, to the point you'll have to be willing to get on your hands and knees to get your copy!

That's how the ones I found were positioned, but at the back of the kids' comics, well hidden. Looks like either Egmont haven't gone for the expensive option of paying for better display space or Smiths have ignored any such instructions. I moved a copy to the front but the next day Smiths had put it back in the shadows on the back shelf. Yet they're quite happy to put Simpsons comics in the Beano display box even though Thomsons have paid for a prominent Beano display. Go figure.

Lew

[philcom55]

For what it's worth the Newcastle-under-Lyme branch have got a single copy on display now - so maybe there's still hope for the other 'Busterless' parts of the country as well!

- Phil R.

[Brendan McGuire]

Got my copy today in Stevenage. Four of them tucked behind Viz.

[Lew Stringer]

Got my copy today in Stevenage. Four of them tucked behind Viz.

Gah. So now we have staff too young to know what traditional comics were so they think a black and white humour title must be an adult comic.

Thing is, publishers always give guidelines to retailers on where to position comics. Either it's a breakdown in communication amongst staff or, more likely, they simply don't care. The Great British attitude to comics is "So what? s'only a comic innit?"

I really do think retailers have played a large part in the declining sales of comics. The more crammed or out of reach the comics are, the more sales plummet. If a kid can't see the comics it's impossible to pick up new readers to replace the ones who leave as they grow older. (And if regular readers can't find their comics they'll drop them too, as they lose the momentum of buying it regularly.)

Compare that to the displays of the Panini reprints, which are usually easier to see, and their sales are stable. Admittedly they do have an older and more loyal fan-base but I still think display has a lot to do with it.

Lew

[Digifiend]

I know! A knitting magazine was in front of all the Beanos in WHSmith today! Ridiculous! Especially since it was in one of those special display boxes DCT will have paid extra for.

[nottinghamian]

Still Busterless in the three Nottingham WH Smith stores.