Buster Gonad is a cartoon character in the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

'' Viz''. The strip involves the surreal adventures of "the boy with unfeasibly large

testicles A testicle or testis ( testes) is the gonad in all male bilaterians, including humans, and is homologous to the ovary in females. Its primary functions are the production of sperm and the secretion of androgens, primarily testosterone. The ...

". During a storm, Buster's

gonad A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a Heterocrine gland, mixed gland and sex organ that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism. Female reproductive cells are egg cells, and male reproductive cells are sperm. The male gon ...

s were zapped by

cosmic ray Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the ...

s which enlarged them to an enormous size, so that he needs a

wheelbarrow A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled load-bearing vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles at the rear. The term "wheelbarrow" is made of two words: "wheel" and "barrow." " Ba ...

to carry them around. As a result, they are impossible to conceal and are therefore out on open display for everyone to see and marvel at.

Background

The plot-lines vary, but are always bizarre, revolving around Buster's outstanding physical attributes being a blessing or a curse. For example, in one episode Buster climbs a tree whereupon some children standing below mistake his hairy

scrotum In most terrestrial mammals, the scrotum (: scrotums or scrota; possibly from Latin ''scortum'', meaning "hide" or "skin") or scrotal sac is a part of the external male genitalia located at the base of the penis. It consists of a sac of skin ...

for giant horse chestnuts, deciding to pelt it with sticks and stones in order to knock it down so they can play

conkers Conkers is a List of traditional children's games, traditional children's game in Great Britain and Ireland played using the seeds of Aesculus hippocastanum, horse chestnut trees—the name 'conker' is also applied to the seed and to the tree i ...

. Moments later, a passing farmer attempts to help the children by blasting the "horse chestnuts" with his double-barrelled

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

. Finally, an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

of bird decides to build a nest on Buster's scrotum and lays eggs in it. It is illegal to disturb the rare bird's nest, so poor Buster is forced to stay up the tree for the next few weeks until the eggs hatch and the fledglings have left the nest. In December 1987, ''Viz'' released a 7-inch single entitled "Bags of Fun With Buster" (

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

"Scrotal Scratch Mix") by Johnny Japes and His Jesticles (in reality

Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer best known for co-founding the band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writing a ...

and Dave Gregory of

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (vocals, guitars) and Colin Moulding (vocals, bass), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing ...

, journalist, record producer and sometime vocalist Neville Farmer, with John Otway on vocals released on Fulchester Records). Buster also featured in the 1991 '' Viz'' computer game. During the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

of 1991, a

SEPECAT Jaguar The SEPECAT Jaguar is a British-French supersonic jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. As of 2025, the Jaguar remains in service with the ...

GR1A (number XZ118 Y) bomber of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

featured Buster Gonad

nose art Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of an aircraft, usually on the front fuselage. While begun for practical reasons of identifying friendly units, the practice evolved to express the individuality often constrained by ...

. Vintage framed copies of Buster Gonad cartoon from the 1980s are now collectable items.

References in other media

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' called him one of Viz's "classic inventions". The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

says he's a "star" and a "household name". Buster is mentioned in the

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a fortnightly peer-reviewed medical journal, published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, which in turn is wholly-owned by the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world ...

References

External links

Buster Gonad at viz.co.uk (see 'Archive')

Image #1 of Buster Gonad

Image #2 of Buster Gonad

Detail of Jaguar GR1

from the 1991

'Bags Of Fun With Buster' Record (complete with image and lyrics)
{{Viz (comics) Comics characters introduced in 1986 Viz characters