Alex Yarde mourns the passing of Voice Actor Edward L. “Buster” Jones.
Buster Jones, died on Sept. 16 in North Hollywood, Calif. He was 71.
Best known from his role as Black Vulcan in “Super Friends” (the 1980 version, which was the fifth incarnation of the series). Unlike most of the Super Friends, Black Vulcan was not a pre-existing DC Comic character. DC Comics’ roster did include an African American superhero with electricity-based powers, Black Lightning, who could not be used on the show due to disputes between DC and Black Lightning’s creator Tony Isabella
Admittedly, Black Vulcan was a bit of a token character along with Apache Chief, Samurai and El Dorado in Hanna Barberas ham-fisted push for diversity, yet my contemporaries, fans of Saturday Morning and after-school cartoon shows like myself share a soft spot for the “black voice” of our generation. Mr. Jones was the voice of Blaster in “The Transformers,” Who can forget the awesome fight in “Transformers the Movie” with Blaster vs. Soundwave and their minions? Doc in “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” and voice work for the Animated film “G.I. Joe: The Movie.”He was Winston Zeddemore in “The Real Ghostbusters” Animated series and in “Extreme Ghostbusters.” His distinctive voice was the one I remember growing up with.
Edward L. “Buster” Jones was born in Paris, Tennessee. Jones went to Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, then played in several bands and was a D.C. disk jockey before he broke into acting appearing in 1972 film “The Marshal of Windy Hollow,” a 1974 episode of “The Six Million Dollar Man,” the 1979 TV Movie “Captain America” and a 1987 episode of “Hill Street Blues.”
Cover~IMDB
Interior~Cartoon Network , Hasbro