As previously established I am more of a mere rank, yank enthusiast than an actual expert on British comics so slack must be cut for me. For instance, I’ve frequently said that the British comic industry was pretty much dead and done by the 1980′s and that’s not entirely true. Both of the major of publishers, Fleetway and DC Thomson, made some valiant efforts to try to turn things around during this period by making their comics more contemporary and more violent. I speak specifically of the notorious ‘comic nasty’ Action but you could lump Warlord, Bullet as well as the revival of Eagle and the launch of 2000AD. A much milder attempt at doing a new story paper for slightly younger boys was DC Thomson’s Buddy.

It ran from 1980 to 1983 and was aimed at “boys who like action, adventure and sport” and serving as a combination mascot and host was generic regular kid named Buddy. As is often the case the first issue included a free gift in this case a “Pop Pistol with Two Free Bullets”. And is often the case it wasn’t canceled, but ‘merged’ with Victor, another DC Thomson comic.

To my admittedly American eyes DC Thomson comics of this era were drawn in a rougher, darker style (which could have been an honest attempt to connect to contemporary kids or just cheaper to produce, one or the other) and each strip featured a striking, eye catching logo.

First up is Limp-Along Leslie (which was originally a text feature in the comic Wizard from 1922 to 1963). It featured the adventures of an orphan kid who walked with a limp due to a car accident, making him an early example of a comic featuring a differentially abled protagonist.

Another strip that began like as a text feature was The Wolf of Kabul, about a British agent named Bill Sampson who was disguised as a native, Lawrence of Arabia style.

Deep-Sea Danny’s Iron Fish was another long-running feature that began life as a text feature about a kid named (naturally) Danny and his one-boy super submarine that was shaped like a fish. Originally it was boyed by a Danny Gray but in the Buddy version it was (for some reaosn) Danny Boyle.

Tuffy, A Boy All Alone, about a homeless kid and his faithful dog.

Each issue featured a biography of a current sports hero or TV personality. I have to take them at their word that this was and is an actual person.

There’s the nicely drawn, highly detailed historical strip Hammer.

Buddy was short on humor features but it did have the brilliant Jonah by the great Ken Reid.

I had no idea there was an 80′s revival of one of my all time favorite British characters, Billy the Cat.

And finally there was the nightmarish Boy On The Run. Sure, it was a standard ‘kid in trouble on his own’ strip but rarely has the word ‘nightmarish’ been more accurate. By keeping the details maddeningly vague as to who the kid actually is and who’s pursuing him makes things seriously shuddersome.

According to the internet future issues included adventures of such classic characters as General Jumbo and Q-Bikes so I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series.