Alistair McGown remembers the boys’ action adventure comic that took DC Thomson into the 1980s by going back to the future with a collection of past heroes plucked from the archives...

“Have Gun - Have Fun!” The first issue of Buddy included a free ‘Pop Pistol with Two Bullets.’ Buddy issue two came with a free ‘Banshee wailer, while issue three included a free ‘Super Zoomer’ - a balloon that “soars and swoops and loops the loop!”

With a total shelf life of two and a half years,Buddymight not have been the longest-running weekly comic title from the famed Dundee-based publishing stable DC Thomson but is still fondly-recalled by those who read its exciting comic strip adventures in the early 1980s. Alongside more staid stablemates likeVictor, still largely rooted in WWII,Buddyfelt like a breath of contemporary fresh air. Ironic, since almost all of its roster of strip heroes were revived and rebooted from the DC Thomson archives.Buddyfollowed a line of action-packed 1970s DC Thomson boys’ comics; Warlord (1974-86), Bullet (197678), Scoop (1978-81) and The Crunch (197980), although notably with their more violent edges held in check. Gone were the hardbitten anti-heroes of Crunch or Warlord; boys were now giving up reading comics at an earlier age, and so Buddy was aimed at a slightly younger readership, with softer edges and soap opera storylines.

In many ways Buddy directly replaced (The New) Hotspur, reviving several heroes from that long-standing title. Launched way back in 1959 (itself revamping a 1930s title), it finally closed by merging into Victor in January 1981. Just a few weeks later its replacement hit the newsstands, devised by long-standing DC Thomson staffer Bill Graham, recently editor on Warlord and The Crunch.

Buddy felt fresh but was definitely in the DC Thomson tradition: in essence a greatest hits package, it revived old DCT legends for a new generation, many of whom were blissfully unaware of the characters’ history – even if their dads weren’t, leading to much swiping of their sons’ copies.

Trailed via pink four-page advertising pull-outs in titles like Victor, Buddy’s debut issue was cover dated Valentine’s Day 1981 (a Saturday), but in shops from Friday 6 February. Priced 12 pence, supposed editor, the freckle-faced cheeky blonde Buddy himself cheerily beamed out from the front cover brandishing the launch free gift, a plastic ‘pop pistol’, under a friendly and decidedly Beano/D andy-like red and yellow logo. It was all far more welcoming than the hard-bitten likes of Warlord and Victor, with the only bullets being in the free gift’s unthreatening soft plastic.

DYNAMIC ART

The first issue opened with footballing ace Limp-Along Leslie, with dynamic art by Neville Wilson (ex-Warlord), the story of 14-year-old orphan Leslie Thomson (no guesses where the surname came from), living on his Aunt and Uncle’s sheep farm. Ten years before, his parents had been killed in a car accident; his father was Darbury Rangers star John Thomson.

Leslie himself was injured in the accident, making one leg shorter than the other, leaving him with a limp. But what he lacked in speed he made up for in deft ball control and a wicked swerving shot.