Comics UK

I only had a bare few `Buster` comics in early to mid 1960s. One strip that really interested me was the `Maxwell Hawke` Ghost Hunter `series`

Can anyone here-please-tell me approx, what years the `Maxwell Hawke` strip ran in `Buster`? I should love to track a few down!

I think the same artist also drew the later (circa 1970) "Sexton Blake" strip! This had been a sucessful Childrens ITV series of 1970 featuring Lawrence Payne in tital role and Roger Foss as `Tinker`

alanultron5 wrote:I only had a bare few `Buster` comics in early to mid 1960s. One strip that really interested me was the `Maxwell Hawke` Ghost Hunter `series`

Can anyone here-please-tell me approx, what years the `Maxwell Hawke` strip ran in `Buster`? I should love to track a few down!

I think the same artist also drew the later (circa 1970) "Sexton Blake" strip! This had been a sucessful Childrens ITV series of 1970 featuring Lawrence Payne in tital role and Roger Foss as `Tinker`

According to Bustercomic.co.uk

http://www.bustercomic.co.uk/maxwell.html

Maxwell Hawke first appeared on 29th October 1960, and last appeared 3rd September 1966. The page above lists all 29 stories

Sorry Alan going a bit of topic,
Looking through my (Fairly rare) 'Buster Book of Spooky Stories' - 1975 I expected to see a Maxwell Hawke` strip but thier wasn't any, but this Annual is certainly one to look out for a long with the 'Buster Book of Spooky Stories' - 1976(Which I haven't got)
This is my type of Annual Great unexpected Spooky Adventure strips long before 'Misty'(Well not that Long)and some spooky Humour strips.
Here are 3 Strips.

jakob1978 wrote:According to Bustercomic.co.uk

http://www.bustercomic.co.uk/maxwell.html

Maxwell Hawke first appeared on 29th October 1960, and last appeared 3rd September 1966. The page above lists all 29 stories

I believe the list is reprinted from the excellent Buster Index 1960-1995 by Ray Moore and Steve Holland (couldn't find any reference or credit on the website though).

Maxwell Hawke also appeared in Buster books (= annuals) 1962-1967. The stories were:

The Black Monk - 1962
The Ghost of Glenghoul Castle - 1963
Maxwell Hawke and the Phantom Swordsman - 1964
Maxwell Hawke and the Ice Demons - 1965
Maxwell Hawke and the Ghosts of Blackstone - 1966
Maxwell Hawke in the haunted School - 1967

steelclaw wrote:Sorry Alan going a bit of topic,
Looking through my (Fairly rare) 'Buster Book of Spooky Stories' - 1975 I expected to see a Maxwell Hawke` strip but thier wasn't any, but this Annual is certainly one to look out for a long with the 'Buster Book of Spooky Stories' - 1976(Which I haven't got)
This is my type of Annual Great unexpected Spooky Adventure strips long before 'Misty'(Well not that Long)and some spooky Humour strips.
Here are 3 Strips.

This Phantom Zombie set in the 1975 Book of Spooky Stories is in fact a reprint of a Maxwell Hawke story that ran in Buster from 9th Jan. till 27th March, 1965.

Buster Book of Spooky Stories 1976 reprinted another Maxwell Hawke story - Maxwell Hawke and the Phantom Friar.

Ugh! The horrible thing is that in those pre-digital days some bod from the art department must have been employed to draw a wig and mustache on every frame of Eric bradbury's original art in order to convert 'Hawke' into 'Bronson' (though I'm pretty sure there was at least one new Bronson story as well).

- Phil Rushton

klakadak-ploobadoof wrote:I believe the list is reprinted from the excellent Buster Index 1960-1995 by Ray Moore and Steve Holland (couldn't find any reference or credit on the website though).

Maxwell Hawke also appeared in Buster books (= annuals) 1962-1967. The stories were:

The Black Monk - 1962
The Ghost of Glenghoul Castle - 1963
Maxwell Hawke and the Phantom Swordsman - 1964
Maxwell Hawke and the Ice Demons - 1965
Maxwell Hawke and the Ghosts of Blackstone - 1966
Maxwell Hawke in the haunted School - 1967

Well spotted Klakadak!

A bulk of the information in the A to Z does indeed stem from the Buster Index. However, in the years since that section was launched, we've updated it with accurate information from the comics themselves, including some end dates from strips that were still ongoing in 1995, and a couple of strips that were missed altogether. We've also tidied up a couple of dates that didn't quite marry up with actual issues.

In the meantime, thanks for the annual information.....I intend to start tying the annuals into the site later this year.

Blimey! A regular zombie is bad enough, but a phantom zombie?

Pleased to hear that you are going to factor in the Buster annuals at some point BC.
I've always liked my indexes to cover the whole nine yards and cover details of annuals/summer specials etc where possible but this wasn't the way the Buster Index was done. If you need any help with any of the Buster annual listings when the time comes just let me know. And all credit to you for carrying on from where the Buster Index left off and correcting a few errors along the way.

Many thanks for the info folks-especially Jacob for that link which I have printed out! One scene that really scared me from a `Hawke` story was someone opening a Wardrobe or cupboard door in a old mansion and an `atypical` spectre coming out (All long robes and skeletal hands!) it fired a burst of what looked like `lightning` from a skeletal finger instantly killing the poor fellow! Really gave me nightmares! Wonder which story that was!?

alanultron5 wrote:
I think the same artist also drew the later (circa 1970) "Sexton Blake" strip! This had been a sucessful Childrens ITV series of 1970 featuring Lawrence Payne in tital role and Roger Foss as `Tinker`

The artist on Sexton Blake was another Eric but Dadswell not Bradbury!

Those Sexton Blake strips were actually old Maxwell Hawke scripts with the names changed. I posted these a while back but you can do a comaprison of one installment with these links:

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogs ... uster.html

http://www.sextonblake.co.uk/PDFs/val_24_2_68.pdf

I had a look over on the Buster site but couldn't find any references to the Maxwell Hawke series! Are there any I missed?

alanultron5 wrote:I had a look over on the Buster site but couldn't find any references to the Maxwell Hawke series! Are there any I missed?

Didn't look hard enough...

In Alan's defence when searching under m in the Page by Page it doesn't exactly stand out.

I'll have to get a title box up there so it shows up better!

I have found the link. It lists each adventure with dates! Pity there are no story synopsis as I only have distant memories of the strip! Can I ask about `Buster` comic? Apart from the times it absorbed other comics, were there instances of `Free gift` promotions and strip turnover very often?