Harry Potter influences and analogues Potter" involve an average eleven-year-old, better at sport than academic study, who is sent to boarding school. Upon arrival, the boy gains a best friend (in Tom's case, East, in Harry's case, Ron Weasley) who helps him adjust to the new environment. They are set upon by an arrogant bully – in Tom Brown's case, Harry Flashman, in Harry's case Draco Malfoy. Stephen Fry, who both narrates the British audio adaptations of the "Harry Potter" novels and has starred in a screen adaptation of "Tom Brown", has commented many times about the similarities between the two books. "Harry Potter –
Tom Thug Tom Thug Tom Thug was a long-running British comic strip, first published in "Oink!" in May 1986, then moved to "Buster". Created by cartoonist Lew Stringer, Tom was encouraged by his skinhead father to be a school bully like he used to be. However, Tom was so incompetent he couldn't even tie the laces of his boots. As the strip progressed, every issue would show Tom's attempts at bullying backfire often with slapstick consequences. The strip proved popular enough to transfer over to "Buster" when "Oink!" folded in 1988. Asked by the editor Allen Cummings to focus the stories on