The Leopard from Lime Street

The Leopard from Lime Street was a comic strip appearing in the British comic Buster from 1976 to 1985 (whereupon it was reprinted in colour). Written by Tom Tully,[1] it was drawn in a 'realistic' comic style by Mike Western and Eric Bradbury,[2] much like Marvel Comics's Spider-Man comic (to which it bears numerous similarities), in direct contrast to the stylized cartoony style of the rest of Buster.

Publishing history

The strip appeared regularly in Buster from 27 March 1976 to 18 May 1985, whereupon it was reprinted in color.

The strips were translated and published in French, in the comic Sunny Sun[3] and in Greek in the Blek comics series (where it was translated as "Panther Kid"),[4] mostly during the 80s. The origin of The Leopard from Lime Street was reprinted in the independent comic Starscape, along with the final published adventure from the Buster Annual 1987.[5]

Rebellion Developments republished the series as part of The Treasury of British Comics.[6][7]

A new story Totem (written by Simon Furman and illustrated by Laurent Lefeuvre) was published in Rebellion's "Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular" in October 2021,[8] and will be in the re-launched Monster Fun in April 2022 (and every two months thereafter),[9] although it has not been confirmed whether The Leopard from Lime Street will feature in every issue.

In the first issue of the revived Monster Fun (Easter Special 2022), the first part of a new story Birthright was included, again written by Simon Furman and illustrated/coloured by Laurent Lefeuvre.[10]

Fictional character biography

Billy Farmer lived with his Aunt Joan and Uncle Charlie in the fictional town of Selbridge. He was scratched by a radioactive leopard called 'Sheba' while taking photos at the local zoo for the school magazine, and thereafter gained leopard-like strength, speed, reflexes, and tree-climbing abilities. As with Spider-Man, while he's often fighting crime, he often sells photographs of himself to the local paper, using the money to support his frail aunt. Like Spider-Man, the Leopardman is forever trying to convince the people of Selbridge that he is a hero, not a villain — not easy when you name yourself after a dangerous animal. Unlike Spider-Man, he has to contend with his violent, greedy, and lazy uncle.

Legacy

An alternate version of the Leopardman was one of the superheroes assembled to fight the Lloigor in the 2000 AD strip Zenith.

Collected editions

The Leopard From Lime Street has been collected in the following trade paperbacks by Rebellion Publishing.

Limited hardback editions were available exclusively from the 2000 AD / Treasury of British Comics webstores (for Volume 1, this included a numbered bookplate and art print[11]) - the hardback editions used the same ISBN number as the TP versions:

TitleISBNHardbacks
Issued		Release dateOriginally Serialised
The Leopard From Lime Street Book 1 978-1781085974 200[11] 12 Jul 2017[11] Buster from 27th March 1976 - 11th June 1977
The Leopard From Lime Street Book 2 978-1781086780 250[12] 12 Jun 2019[12] Buster from 18th June 1977 - 15th July 1978

References
  1. Tully author page, Simon and Schuster website. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  2. Ian Wheeler, Mike Western remembered Archived 2011-10-15 at the Wayback Machine, Down The Tubes, 21 May 2008
  3. Mon Journal : Le Léopard de Lime Street, Un félin appelé à régner
  4. Blek - The best comics (article in Greek)
  5. Starscape Comic
  6. Faceache, Marney, Leopardboy, One-Eyed Jack... coming back!
  7. 2000 AD to revive children's comics from the '70s and '80s | The Bookseller
  8. Furman, Simon (w), Lefeuvre, Laurent (a). "The Leopard from Lime Street: Totem" Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular 2021: 36–41 (October 6, 2021), Oxford, UK: Rebellion Publishing, ISBN 9781786184764
  9. "Monster Fun Comics Shop". Inside Britain's kookiest anthology you'll find the hilarious antics of characters such as Frankie Stein, Kid Kong, Draculass, Sweeny Toddler, Gums, Teddy Scare, and The Leopard from Lime Street![...]The new ongoing Monster Fun launches in April 2022, and will appear every two months thereafter.
  10. Furman, Simon (w), Lefeuvre, Laurent (a). "The Leopard from Lime Street: Birthright (Part 1)" Monster Fun Easter Special Easter 2022: 26–31 (April 6, 2022), Oxford, UK: Rebellion Publishing, ISBN 9781786184764
  11. "THE LEOPARD FROM LIME STREET - BOOK 1 [LIMITED EDITION HARDBACK]". Rebellion Publishing. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  12. "THE LEOPARD FROM LIME STREET BOOK 2 - LIMITED HARDBACK EDITION". Rebellion Publishing. Retrieved 4 April 2022.


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