The book was by Ray Moore and Steve Holland, although I didn't realize the extent that Ray was involved at the time or I'd have credited him on the cover too. As well as providing the artwork I designed the whole cover. The word 'Index' is based on the Giggle comic logo (which merged into Buster in 1968). In retrospect the 'x' is too small and out of synch with the other letters, but other than that I was quite pleased with the cover. I enjoyed 'ghosting' the various art styles of the characters I chose to illustrate it. If you're not familiar with who they are, clockwise from the top they're Chalky, Charlie Peace, Faceache, Tom Thug, Master Mind, The Big One, Tin Teacher, Galaxus, and of course the lad himself, Buster (as he looked in the late 1960s) in the centre.
The background effect was done by using an old toothbrush dipped in blue ink and gently pulling a small piece of stiff card over the bristles to splatter the ink onto the board. (Masking off the areas not to be covered of course.) These days Photoshop makes such tasks far easier and less messy!
As the book was photocopied rather than printed, the colours turned out a bit harsh in places but overall it looked okay I think and I felt honoured to illustrate it. Had we known that Buster would be axed at the very end of 1999 it might have been better for the publisher to wait a few years to do the book, but even by 1995 the comic's best years were behind it and this index still served as an excellent record of 35 years of great material.
Sounds good, one I'll be looking out for (fat chance, but I've been lucky in the past). ALMOST as unfortunately timed as that big Dandy celebration history book.
ReplyDeleteThere was one on eBay recently because I think the publisher ran off another one or two copies but it is very rare. A companion book on Valiant went for about £36 the other day.
DeleteInteresting choice of Buster characters chosen...
ReplyDeleteI chose Chalky because he'd proven almost as popular as Buster over the years, Galaxus and Charlie Peace because I felt adventure strips should be represented (and they had long runs), Faceache because it was a great strip, Master-Mind because it was an influence on my work, The Big One because he represented one of the many mergers into Buster, and Tom Thug because I thought I'd put one of my characters on there and because he was popular.
DeleteI can't recall exactly why I included Tin Teacher. Perhaps because I wanted something to represent a school strip, or perhaps just to add variety. It was never a favourite of mine but it was one of the earliest Buster strips I remember.
I'd put Tin Teacher in my top five Buster characters, easily.
Delete