Buster, cover date 25 August 1984

It’s a bank holiday weekend at the end of a British summer. Buster – in time-honoured British comics tradition – is off to the beach.

Reg Parlett was the Buster’s Diary artist.

Here’s how the story continued for Buster on the back page.

School Belle (Tom Paterson) and Wonder Wellies (Dave Follows) also hit the sea front in this issue. The beach-set humour strip is one of many tropes unique to British comics.

Every summer saw all our favourite characters having sandy, sunny japes at the seaside, with deckchairs and ice creams, donkeys and crabs. Most titles had a Summer Special, packed with beach fun. It's just one of the ways comics told us who we are, and how we are supposed to be.