Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020: canard capers & fowl deeds with Duck Turpin!

Time once again to show you more from the new Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020, full of those classic comic characters to raise a smile and a laugh from the golden age of British humour comics! This time, it’s that fearsome feathered crook – Duck Turpin!

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Cover by Neil Googe

The Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020 goes on sale Wednesday 8th April 2020 from all good newsagents, whatever comic shops may still be open (please support them however you can!), and through the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics web shops.

Last year, the team of Robin Etherington and David Follett brought back Hit Kid, the mysterious mini made man from Krazy comic, originally drawn by Sid Burgon. This year, for the Cor!! Buster Easter Special 2020, they’re turning their attention to another dubious character… Duck Turpin, originally drawn by Mike Lacey in the pages of Krazy.

Robin, Dave, again you’re bringing back a lesser-known character from Krazy for the Cor!! Buster Special. Is he someone you remember well? What’s the story about here?

Robin Etherington: I remember Duck Turpin as a pretty oddball story, even for Krazy. A thief who’s a duck, who chooses to dress up in Dick Turpin styled regalia and commit audacious acts of thievery in a (then) modern-day England in which there are no other talking animals. As a child, I didn’t question a single part of this. I still don’t – ha! It’s the sort of mad non-logic that makes children’s comics so vibrant.

David Follett: I remember Duck Turpin for sure- the iconic character design and rapscallion personality isn’t one you can forget in a hurry. I grew up watching Dick Turpin on TV so knowing the source material made it feel like I was part of a secret club for inside jokes.

As for what it’s about… Crackpot evil-doer travels in time and meets his hero. Moral of the story: never meet your heroes.

Not knowing the strip myself, I was surprised by the time-travelling aspect of it – was this something that was in the original or something you’ve added in?

RE: This was my addition. I liked the idea of bringing this strange character face to face with his supposed hero, just to see what happened. Ego-collisions always make for amusing stories, especially where villains are concerned.

DF: We added that knowing it would give the strip a heightened sense of nostalgic fun. Plus, who doesn’t want to read about time-travelling ducks with delusions of grandeur?!?

But the core idea of the strip, time travel or not, is that classic Brit comics trope, taking a character from history and twisting it, you can almost see the thought process of Lacey in creating Duck Turpin… who’s a famous character I could do something with? … Dick Turpin. Now, what’s a comedy spin on it… Dick, sounds like Duck… Aha!

RE: Absolutely. That single twist, often a play on words, conjured many a daft and memorable character. I love playing with history as well, so this one really was a great fit!

Dave, the look of Duck Turpin is really special, a subtly updated version of Mike Lacey’s style if I’m right in how I’m seeing it. Was this your intent, or simply that Lacey’s style is one that’s influenced your own?

DF: I wanted to keep the style as closely as possible for this strip because really, it works so well. The design of Duck Turpin himself is pretty classic, and I for one would LOVE to see the character re-imagined for modern kids as a cartoon series along the lines of Danger Mouse, Mickey Mouse and the Harvey Street Gang. I doubt his character design would actually change that much it’s so good!! 

What classic Brit characters would you like to see brought back, either for future Cor!! Buster Specials or as Treasury of British Comics things?

RE: Ah, well, I can’t say much about that as I don’t know what Rebellion have in store! A lot of the most popular characters have certainly been earmarked for future appearances. I enjoy plucking from the fringes. Personally, I’d be happy writing more for either Hit Kid or Duck Turpin – they’re both superb!

Skid Kidd would be great fun. A boy who accidentally gets his hands on a secret weapon disguised as a bike, who spends his days fleeing from (and thwarting) nefarious villains with ridiculous gadgets? What’s not to like?

DF: Bewitched Belinda could be good fun – light heartened magic.

It’s a great thing to see the Cor!! Buster Special out there, bringing these classics to (hopefully) new readers as well as those readers picking it up with nostalgic memories, but what do you think is the way forward for kids comics? Something along the lines of the Cor!! Buster Specials publishing a few issues per year and then delivering a bigger collection, or is it some type of original graphic novel format such as we see with the works of Raina Telgemeier and Dav Pilkey?

RE: It’s both. We need the regular weeklies, the monthlies, and the book-length tales. It’s vital that we avoid tunnel vision. Right now, Dog Man is a success story for young kids and the medium and Telgemeier’s books are superb. Parents and teachers are engaging with both series, but they need to be viewed responsibly. We’re talking about two creators, and for many children they might be the ONLY comic stories they read all year (certainly where Dog Man is concerned).

I want those books on the shelf (I absolutely love them) but I still believe that if we are to retain diversity for our children, longevity for the material and quality, we need more writers and artists finding regular employment within the industry – an industry which continues to shrink. We also need more accessible outlets to allow them to produce great material for a wider demographic.

DF: Good question but difficult to answer. I think bringing the characters to young modern readers, then what you’ve done so far is good.

Going forward, it could be really interesting to try for a longer format like a graphic novel. The trick is to make sure you choose characters whose world actually supports a longer narrative, because nearly all of the characters in your catalogue were created and structured around simple one/two-page gag formats. And to keep the appeal you’d need to perhaps modernise them a bit. Tough call!