Tag Archives: Bunty Picture Story Library

My Brilliant Friend (1990)

Bunty, Picture Story Library, , , , , , , , ,

Published: Bunty Picture Story Library #324

Artist: Unknown

Writer: Unknown

Special thanks to Lorrsadmin for helping me find a copy.

Plot

Josie Manton is a brilliant girl who excels at everything. By contrast, Josie’s best friend Debrah King seems to be a born loser and never shines at anything. Debrah keeps hearing the remarks from other girls. Some say Josie must be jolly decent to hang about with such a loser, while others say she could do better than Debrah and hanging around with such a loser is holding her back. Even Debrah wonders why Josie bothers with a loser like her for a friend instead of girls more like herself.

Athletic Mary invites Josie to her athletic club and artistic Lisa to her art class, to sharpen her edge with more fitting competitors. Josie declines both times, saying she wants to stay with Debrah. Debrah assumes they’re just trying to split her and Josie up, but she still thinks these remarks must be so disparaging for Josie.

Debrah speaks to her gran, who recently came to live with the family, about it. Gran prompts Debrah to try harder, and instead of putting herself down and compare herself unfavourably with Josie, encourage herself with a positive attitude. So Debrah tells Josie that she has decided to make something of herself and be a friend Josie would be proud to have. Gran encourages Debrah in every way and helps her with her defeatist attitude. But not surprisingly, Debrah still has problems with confidence and breaking away from comparing herself to her brilliant friend.

Both Debrah and Josie go for an art contest, but Debrah throws her effort in the bin, thinking it’s not good enough compared to Josie’s. Unbeknown to her, gran rescues it and enters it in the contest.

The school craft fair comes up. Instead of helping Josie with her stall as she did before, Debrah decides to run one of her own. Gran helps Debrah makes lucky mascots out of pom poms to sell, but just as things are about to start, the mascots go missing. Debrah eventually finds them in a rubbish sack and accuses Lisa, the girl in charge of the sack and was always harshly comparing her artwork to Josie’s, of taking them. Lisa is upset at the accusation, but Debrah is impressed at how Josie smooths things over. She’s such a good friend. Then, at the fair, Debrah’s cash box is stolen and people think she stole the money for herself. Debrah finds herself an outcast, with only Josie sticking by her and more comments from the other girls at how Josie could be so loyal to a girl like Debrah, who doesn’t deserve it.

The maths teacher sets a homework test paper on decimals, but while Josie is a breeze on it, Debrah struggles with it, thinking she’s a duffer on the subject. At home, when gran explains decimals to Debrah, she suddenly finds it easy and gets the test done in no time flat. But at school, Debrah’s maths book with the test in it goes mysteriously missing after she hands it in. She is forced to do the paper again, but her new confidence falls to pieces and she struggles with the decimals once more.

School Sports Day is coming up, and there are more remarks from Mary about how Josie could do much better at the sports club instead of training beside a loser like Debrah. Josie sticks up for Debrah, saying she’s her friend. Gran determines that Debrah’s athletic skills lie in jumping, not running, so Debrah enters those events. However, on the day, she hears Josie calling for help from the gardener’s shed. When she goes there to help, someone locks her in. This causes her to miss her events and her explanations are not believed. Debrah surmises someone must have been mimicking Josie’s voice to play a dirty trick on her, but Mary has an alibi. Josie, however, does not. In fact, she went missing for a while after competing in her own event…

The following day, Debrah receives a letter that she made it to the final of the art show, and finds out what gran did for her. Josie made it too, but Debrah doesn’t tell her she is also in the final because she wants it to be a surprise. At the final, Debrah wins the landscape section. The judges say they liked the spontaneous impressionism of Debrah’s work over Josie’s “chocolate box” effort. Debrah is concerned at how Josie must be feeling about this, but Josie’s reaction is both a shock and surprise: she claims the picture is a preliminary sketch she did and Debrah stole it from her! As the girls were together when they painted the pictures, Josie must know that can’t be true, but when Debrah confronts her about it, her only response is “Just leave me alone.” The prize-giving is put on hold while Josie’s claim is investigated.

Appalled at Josie’s conduct, Debrah decides to go over to her house and speak to her about it, but she gets no answer. After determining Josie is out, Debrah hides in the shed to catch her by surprise when she returns. In the shed, she finds her missing money box and maths book. At this, she realises her so-called best friend was wrecking her attempts at success the whole time.

When Josie returns, Debrah confronts her over it and demands an explanation. Josie replies that she wanted her to stay the way she was, not be good at things. But if it’s no longer the case, she’s through with Debrah.

So, the brilliant Josie hung around loser Debrah because she was a loser? And now she isn’t, she’s dumping her? What gives?

When gran hears about this, she surmises that Josie can’t face competition or anyone going one better than her. She declined the invitations to the art class and athletics club because she was afraid of the competition. The real reason she hung around Debrah, a girl who never shone at anything, was to make herself look better by comparison. It’s probably due to a confidence problem (gran’s theory) or a jealous streak (my theory).

Gran also informs Debrah that the judges have cleared her of Josie’s accusation. She is free to collect her prize, which she does in the final panel. Success for Debrah at last!

Thoughts

Stories about girls who try to prove themselves because they are ridiculed for not being good at anything, only to be constantly sabotaged by a spiteful person to keep them in the shadows have been a long-standing staple in girls’ comics. “Shani Must Shine”, “Sheena So Shy” and “Make Headlines, Hannah!” from Tammy are some examples. In stories like these, the story shows who the saboteur is and the tricks they are pulling, so we know what’s going on. In many cases, but not all, the protagonist realises it too, so what she has to do is finally get one step ahead of her spiteful saboteur.

The story takes a different take on the formula. In this case the identity of the saboteur is unknown, creating a mystery to be unravelled. And girls just love mystery. Equally mysterious is the motive for it all. It is indeed a puzzler, as there seems to be no reason why anyone would want to sabotage Debrah. The two suspects, Lisa and Mary, don’t seem to have any real motives for doing it. In fact, they would rather Debrah succeeded more against Josie, to give her more worthwhile competition. As far as we can tell, Debrah has no real enemies or bullies picking on her, nor has she upset anyone. Did she put someone’s nose out of joint? Is there some spiteful minx at work, doing it all for kicks? Or is it linked to some past grudge?

Josie is crafty in how she manages to keep herself well-hidden when she pulls her tricks. Her false show of loyalty and friendship and sticking up for Debrah further serve to pull the wool over our eyes as well as Debrah’s. However, Josie’s false accusation at the art show because there is no other way to sabotage Debrah is her undoing. Little did Debrah know what she had done in not telling Josie she was in the final: she caught the dirty trickster on the hop, with no time in advance to pull another sneaky trick to stop her winning.

There is more psychology and realism to Josie and her motives in wrecking Debrah’s efforts at glory than most, who don’t seem to do it for much more than pure spite. The story does a fine job of developing Josie’s motives, and it’s believable. It stems from some form of insecurity or jealousy in being unable to handle competition and challenges, so Josie avoids it where possible.

In a way, it’s sad for Josie. If she carries on with avoiding serious competition she will never achieve her full potential, as competition to improve herself is precisely what she needs to achieve it. The girls are right in saying Josie holds herself back. We won’t be seeing Josie at the Olympics in pursuit of medals or making her name in the art world because she is too afraid of being outdone.

Josie’s friendships won’t reach their full potential either. Choosing friends who won’t be competition rather than people she really likes severely limits her friendships. She will never be true a true friend to anyone, and her despicable treatment of her best friend, without any remorse or apology, is the ultimate proof of that. She was never a real friend for Debrah, and Debrah is well rid of her.

Debrah is a classic example in girls’ comics of how poor esteem and not believing in yourself can hold you back, especially when you are being compared to a more achieving person. Josie using Debrah to make herself look good serves the additional purpose of holding Debrah back because it makes Debrah feel she’s a failure and a loser in comparison. It’s a very crafty move. But along comes gran, who encourages Debrah to take an entirely different attitude. Even without Josie’s sabotage there will still be bumps in the road for Debrah as she strives to find her feet and what her strengths are (jumping events, impressionism, crafts, mastering maths, and more just waiting to be discovered). She discovers she had these talents all along, but it took a supportive relative, a more positive attitude and confidence, and achieving something at long last to bring them all out. We are far more likely to see Debrah making her name than the brilliant all-rounder Josie who keeps holding herself back because she can’t face competition. Debrah won’t be afraid to try the athletics club or the art class now she believes she has talent to offer there.

Carole – the Clownmaker (1979)

Picture Story Library, , , , , ,

Published: Bunty PSL #199

Artist: Carlos Laffond

Writer: Unknown

Reprints: None known

There was a request for this one, so here we go.

Plot

Orphan Carole Patton has been brought up by her grandfather in Antello’s Circus, where he works as a clown. Now he’s getting too old for it and needs to retire, but Antello won’t hear of it because grandfather’s the star attraction of the circus. As the story develops, we learn Antello doesn’t like anything that costs him money, which can be at the cost of the safety and wellbeing of his performers.

Grandfather is saving hard to buy a cottage where he and Carole can retire together. Unfortunately, he keeps the money in a cashbox in the caravan because he does not trust banks, despite Carole’s warnings that it’s not safe to keep his money like that.

One day, while setting up the circus in a new location, Carole discovers they’ve picked up a stowaway, Tim Newall, who says he’s run away to join the circus. One gets the impression he’s hiding something, but Carole agrees to help him, and grandfather takes him on as a trainee clown. They are surprised when Antello, who can’t afford to pay Tim a wage and still won’t let grandfather go, agrees to this. Tim does well in performance, but Antello isn’t full of praises; his mind is set on keeping grandpa in the circus and he still isn’t friendly to Tim.

 

Antello overhears Carole talking to Tim about the money stashed in Grandad’s caravan for the retirement cottage and tells Carole to watch it, as he doesn’t trust Tim. Soon after, grandad’s cashbox is stolen from his caravan. Well, that was just waiting to happen, wasn’t it? Antello puts the blame on Tim, and Tim becomes an outcast at the circus. Carole refuses to believe Tim took the money, but she did notice he looked a bit strange when Antello suggested calling the police.

Then, one night Satan the lion gets loose and Tim bravely tackles him with nothing but a balloon (as shown on the cover). Satan is so taken by surprise that he is stunned, giving the circus hands their chance to recapture him. Following this, Tim is the hero of the circus and the circus folk forget their doubts about him.

Tim and Carole notice how worn and dangerous the trapeze equipment is getting, but Antello is apathetic about replacing it because it costs money. The trapeze artists know about the situation, but they are aging and therefore afraid they won’t find other work if they leave the circus. Tim successfully stands up to Antello over the dangerous equipment, but is warned this has put him on Antello’s bad side, which can make him really nasty.

In town, Carole discovers two men shadowing Tim and he tries to avoid them. Back at the circus, she tackles Tim over whether he’s in some kind of trouble and is scared someone will recognise him, but he doesn’t front up over anything. They don’t realise they have discussed this with Antello in earshot.

The two men arrive at the circus. Tim again tries to dodge them, and later Carole sees them talking with Antello. She overhears them trying to get Antello to help them, but Antello has qualms about it. There is also something about them getting in touch “with the old man”, but they get alerted to Carole eavesdropping, so she has to run. She heads after Tim about this, but he disappears.

Next day, Tim is still missing and one of the men shows up at Antello’s again. Carole overhears him telling the jittery Antello everything’s going to plan, they’ve been in touch with the old man – and there’s something about a ransom. She realises the men must have kidnapped Tim for ransom, but doesn’t understand the point as Tim does not seem to have any money or family.

Carole hides in the man’s car, which he drives to a cottage. The man tells his accomplice that Antello was scared and he had to spend a lot of time talking him around. Carole finds Tim tied up in the cottage, releases him, and they run for it. As they do so, Tim explains that his father is the reclusive millionaire J. B. Willows. After two attempts were made to kidnap Tim for ransom he decided to run away. The two men, Leigh and Martin, were his bodyguards, but they turned kidnapper after Dad threatened to sack them, and they recruited Antello to help them.

Leigh and Martin are catching up in the car, but Carole and Tim fall into an old pit shaft, which helps them to elude their pursuers. After climbing out they grab the kidnappers’ car and find their way back to the circus, calling the police along the way. Tim’s dad, who had hired a private detective to find him and traced him to the circus, arrives as well. When the police search Antello’s caravan they find grandad’s cashbox; it was another of Antello’s ploys to keep grandad at the circus. Antello and the kidnappers are soon dealt with. Dad owns a place in Devon with several empty cottages and tells Carole and grandad they can have any one they like as a reward. The cottage will be close to where Tim goes to school, so they can continue their friendship.

Thoughts 

In circus serials, it was a common setup to have a newcomer at the circus with a mystery about them that shapes the entire story, including whether the mystery makes them good news or bad. As we have an antagonist circus boss, we know it has to be good, but the villainy of the circus boss is going to help shape the mystery, including why Tim has run away. Was it just to join the circus, or is there more to it? We sense it is the latter and Tim is hiding something. Whatever he is hiding, girls love mystery, so the mystery is an instant hook for this story. So too are the plot threads of grandad’s cashbox (we know something bad is going to happen there) and what the mean circus boss is going to do about the newcomer he perceives as a threat to keeping his star attraction clown where he is. What is he going to do to get rid of Tim?

Having a boy as one of the main protagonists arouses the readers’ interest even further. We can just imagine what would develop between Carole and Tim if they were closer in age (and height), but these were still the days before Bunty allowed boyfriends in her stories.

There’s a lot in this story to keep things engaging: a strong plot with plenty of tantalising threads, circus theme, mystery, a mean circus boss who doesn’t consider his performers more, sinister men, an unsolved theft and kidnapping. Antello gets a strong moment to heighten the story when the kidnappers try to get him to help them. He is clearly tempted because he doesn’t like Tim, but is he evil enough to get involved in real crime, will he prove the weak link in the chain because he’s scared, or will he actually find his better half and do something to help the situation? As it is, he made himself complicit enough in the kidnapping plot to get arrested for it. Plus it unmasked him as the one who stole grandad’s cashbox.

One of the biggest selling points of the story is the character arc of Tim, which is perhaps developed even more than Carole. Tim really earns his place as a protagonist. He almost became a recluse like his father after the first two kidnap attempts, but has instead turned to using his wits more. His best moment has to be tackling the lion with nothing but a balloon. This astounding scene puts the rest of the drama in the shade and grabs the cover to boot.

As Tim settles into the circus he shows he really has what it takes to be a clown and a performer. So it is a shame Tim doesn’t stay at the circus at the end of the story. He’s back to school, but we never know how his circus experience will shape his choice of career once he leaves school.

Carole is pretty much what we expect her to be: loyal, courageous, does her best to help, acts fast when needed, and is the one to save the day. Some things could have been explained a bit more about Carole’s circus life and how she feels about the retirement. Carole begs grandad to train her up as a clown, but is it to take his place and give him a break, or is it because she wants a circus career as well? Grandad says he wants her to have a normal life and education as her mother wanted, and she seems okay with retiring from the circus with grandad to a cottage. After all, Carole doesn’t seem to do any performing and only came to the circus after she was orphaned. As it is, Carole regards everything as a happy ending and is so glad she can still see Tim, sparking readers’ imaginations as to what might ensue from that.

The Comp: Bunty PSL #348 (1992)

Bunty, Picture Story Library, , , , , , , , , ,

Published: Bunty PSL #348

Artist: Peter Wilkes

Writer: Anthea Skiffington

Special thanks to Goof for scans

Plot

Grim Gertie is hospitalised, bringing in a substitute teacher, Mrs Whitely. Laura Brady isn’t off to a good start with Whitely when she rushes to registration, which causes her to collide with Whitely and tread on her toes. “Trust me – I just crashed into Gertie’s stand-in!” But the real bad start comes when Whitely discovers Laura’s name during registration. All of a sudden she is looking daggers at Laura, seems to have a sudden thing about Laura being a problem pupil or something, and says, “I shall remember you, Laura Brady.”

From then on, it’s bully teacher time for Laura. Whitely constantly singles Laura out for unwarranted and unfair punishment, even for things that are totally untrue, and detentions are a particular punishment. It starts with her giving Laura detention for homework with four wrong answers, sloppiness and scribbles. Now that’s bizarre to say the least. Okay, so Laura did the homework while being engrossed with a Tom Cruise movie on television, but it looks like everyone else did too. Her mother, who checked her homework, can vouch it was tidy and scribble-free, so what’s Whitely talking about? Later, Laura finds out others did even worse than her on the homework assignment and didn’t get detention – so why did she get it?

At any rate, as Laura is soon to discover, it makes no difference to Whitely as to whether her schoolwork is the best or not.

At first Laura’s classmates think she is just imagining things about Whitely, but they change their minds as it grows more obvious. On one occasion Whitely pounces on Laura for trying to ping a paper pellet at Hodge; Hodge says it was his fault for pinging it first, but Mrs Whitely refuses to listen and punishes Laura with a stinging 500 lines. On another, she punishes Laura for talking in class; her friends admit they talking too, but Whitely doesn’t listen to them.

Whitely also refuses to hear Laura’s pleas that these constant detentions are causing her to miss out on vital hockey practice and matches, which incurs the displeasure of Miss Bliss (“The Blizzard”) against her. As a result, Laura eventually loses her place in the hockey team.

The class reckon it must be Whitely’s trodden toes. Their only advice to Laura is to ignore it, but that’s easier said than done. As Gertie will not be fit to return for a while yet, Laura fears her bully teacher ordeal looks set for the long haul. She has not spoken to her parents about it, not even when Mum asks at one point why she’s crying.

Meanwhile, the class visit Gertie in hospital and discover the maternity wing badly needs funds or face closure. They decide to pitch in, and settle on a Fun Day to raise funds. They need approval from their form teacher before approaching the Head. But when Laura suggests it to Whitely, she won’t listen: “Don’t bother me with your ridiculous notions, Laura Brady!” Then Laura discovers that a few minutes earlier, Whitely thought it was a great idea when Hayley and Roz suggested it, and told them to go straight to the Head for permission. This makes her even more convinced Whitely hates her.

The Head agrees to the Fun Day, sets the date for the last day of half term, and he must approve of the events being held. This could be problematic, as Hodge has scripted a parody of Redvale, “Riotvale Comp”, with parodies of the school staff. Laura is in the role of the Grim Gertie parody, “Miss Gruesome”.

Although Hodge tries to keep this school parody hidden from the Head, he inevitably finds out. Surprisingly, Hodge comes back with the news that the Head gave his approval to stage Riotvale, with “one or two tiny conditions”, such as a couple of small changes to the script. Hmm, is there a hint of something else here? Anyway, rehearsals for Riotvale continue. For Laura they are a welcome relief from her growing miseries with Whitely, and despite them, she is coming along well in the role.

But then Whitely goes too far. She forces Laura to do a homework assignment twice, saying the first was sloppy while Laura had taken care she would have no cause for complaint, plus having to do those 500 lines as well. Then she springs a surprise test on the class over the material. Laura is determined to score well, and ought to after running through the material twice. But when she does, Whitely hauls her before the Head with claims she saw Laura cheating in the test, but as there is no way these accusations can be true, Whitely can only be lying. The Head sends a letter to Laura’s parents, and there’s more detention for her. It’s getting too much for Laura, and she decides to drop out of Riotvale.

When the letter arrives, Laura reaches breaking point and finally tells her parents her teacher hates her. But they don’t believe it: “Now, that’s silly, dear. Why should she?” At this, Laura runs out of the house, still yelling that Whitely hates her and shouting at her parents for not listening to her. She then decides to run away, unable to take any more of Whitely. By now she has realised there has to be far more to this than trodden toes but can’t think what.

In class, Whitely notices Laura’s absence, but only says “perhaps we’ll have some peace and quiet for a change”, which further convinces the class that Whitely is gunning for her. She isn’t even asking questions about Laura’s absence.

Laura left the house in such a state that she forgot her schoolbag, which brings Mum up to the school. From there, she discovers discovers Laura is missing and reports it to the Head, who calls the police.

Mum asks to speak with Whitely. When she sees her, she now believes Laura, for she has recognised Whitely as Susan Stigmore, a nasty piece of work who used to be an old enemy of Laura’s aunt at school. When Mum confronts Whitely about this, her malice spills over and she expresses venomous comments about Laura and her aunt. She then realises her mistake in doing this right in front of the Head, but it’s too late – she’s been caught out. He sacks her and writes a report that will make sure she never finds another teaching job.

Laura is soon picked up, and everything is sorted out. When the other teachers hear about Whitely’s conduct, the Blizzard reinstates Laura on the hockey team. And Laura is back in Riotvale.

Two weeks later, it’s Fun Day, and Gertie is back. Riotvale is a thundering success. But then Hodge tells the gang what he had not told them before (aha!). The Head had granted permission to stage Riotvale on the condition that the school staff have their own sling-a-sponge event afterwards – with the Riotvale cast as targets. And boy, are the staff loving it! Revenge at last for all those things they put up with in class.

However, the Riotvale cast get revenge on Hodge with another fundraising idea: 10p to help throw him into the school fountain. And so he is, much to his chagrin. Ah well, it’s all in good fun and fundraising for Fun Day.

Thoughts

This is a PSL to be read over and over. There’s so much in it for readers to enjoy, and it is a well-constructed story that interweaves two contrasting elements with each other: the bully teacher and the Fun Day. Fun Day delivers the ever-popular charity cause theme, a brazen school parody that’s a welcome change from tired old fund-raising events, and heaps of fun on the big day that will finish half term with a bang. Providing contrast is the ever-popular bully teacher theme, with the drama, emotion, misery, and bullying that grows worse and worse until it becomes too unbearable. Added to it is the mystery element – what is Whitely’s problem with Laura?

There isn’t a DCT regular strip (The Four Marys, Penny’s Place, etc) that hasn’t had a bully teacher at some point, but it’s never a regular member of staff – it’s a new/substitute teacher. Whitely belongs to this long-standing tradition, as she does to the long-standing tradition of new/substitute teachers frequently spelling trouble of some sort in girls’ comics.

Bullying a pupil because of a long-standing grudge against a family member is a common theme. “Teacher’s Pet” (Judy) is another example of this. It also has the added tension of mystery to the story – why does the teacher hate the girl? And girls just love mystery in comics. And because the pupil doesn’t understand the teacher’s motives in bullying her, she may start wondering if she’s the one at fault.

The story was ingenious in throwing in the little mishap Laura had with Whitely right at the start, as misdirection for why Whitely hated Laura. If Laura (or reader) had looked more carefully at Whitely’s initial reactions to her, she might have realised it was something about her name that set Whitely off. Whitely changing her name through marriage was also a clever means in keeping her motives concealed and making them harder to figure out. If she’d come to the school as Miss Stigmore, it might have set off a few alarm bells with Laura’s family or laid some clues for Laura to pursue.

It’s no surprise to hear Whitely was a bully in her youth. It’s not clear if she was a bully teacher before Redvale or if Laura just brought out the worst in her because she was related to her old enemy. But, as it is obvious Whitely never learned her lesson about bullying, she was set to be a bully in adulthood. A teaching career would put her on course as a bully teacher who could bully other pupils, and ones who reminded her of Laura’s aunt would be particularly vulnerable. So we can all say thank goodness she was out of the teaching profession in the end. Her bully streak made her totally unfit for it.

But it’s not all depressing bully teacher time. The Fun Day thread is a total delight and a welcome light relief and contrast to the bully teacher situation. It’s all in a good cause, and Riotvale puts it above a whole new level. Without it, the Fun Day plot line would not have been nearly so much rollickin’ good fun for the reader. When the Head added the condition to performing it, we can just imagine his reasoning for it: “If you’re having your piece of fun with us, it’s only fair we have ours with you, eh?” Well, yes, he’s right – it’s fair exchange, and we have to laugh at the added twist it gives. Setting Fun Day at the end of the half term finishes off the half term in grand style, and the added punishment of Hodge gives Fun Day an even higher and more satisfactory note to end the story on.

They All Hate Hetty! (1975)

Bunty, Picture Story Library, , , , ,

Published: Bunty PSL #146

Artists: Cover – Jack Martin; story – Mario Capaldi

Writer: Unknown

Special thanks to Goof for making the entry possible with scans.

Plot

Hester “Hetty” Mellish and her parents have only just moved to the isolated village of Widdivale when Dad is hospitalised in a road accident and Mum has to go to lodgings to be near him. Hetty is left in charge of a neighbour, Mrs Jones.

Hetty is curious to track down her great-grandmother, a Mrs Turvy who lived in Cubby’s Cottage in Widdivale. When Hetty finds Cubby’s Cottage, it is a rundown, neglected place, and then a couple of children suddenly run away in terror when they see her there. Tracking them down to sort things out, Hetty finds their mother, Mrs Preston, acting equally hostile and scared at her poking around Cubby’s Cottage. Mrs Preston warns Hetty to stay away from there and then slams the door in her face.

Next stop is the churchyard, where Hetty hopes to find her great-grandmother’s grave. She eventually finds it behind an overgrown bush, and the headstone bears the name Hester Turvy, the same first name as hers. But Hetty is astonished that the headstone is so neglected and kept behind the overgrown bush while every other headstone is kept immaculate – as if someone wanted it out of sight and mind. She tries to clean up the grave.

While she does, Sam Wiles, the man in charge of the graves, turns up. When he hears Hester Turvy was her great-grandmother, shares the same first name, and even looks like her, he suddenly goes scared and crazy and goes off spreading wild tales that Hetty is descended from Hester Turvy the village witch, come back to plague the village. Witch beliefs still persist in the village, and great-grandmother Turvy was believed to be a witch. From what Hetty and Mrs Jones can gather, it was all rumour mongering that arose because she lived alone, looked rather formidable, and, as the story later reveals, had a recipe book, which must have sparked tales of “a spell book”.

The whole village turns against Hetty, now believed to be a witch like her great-grandmother. When Hetty comes, people flee in terror, jeer and throw stones, or slam their doors shut. Wiles is spearheading the campaign to drive her out. He takes to the soapbox on a tree stump in the village square rabble-rousing the villagers, fanning the flames against Hetty, and urging people to burn down Cubby’s Cottage, saying it must be the source of her power. He even pays off Freddy and his friend Tom to spy on Hetty for any “witch” activity.

Mrs Jones remains Hetty’s only friend and staunchly stands up for her against Wiles, the persecution, and the crazy stories that get going. She knows how those villagers are so easily infected by gossip as they don’t have much else to occupy their minds with.

As is usual with these types of stories, strange things seem to happen and attract themselves to Hetty. The villagers start to imagine things that started when Hetty arrived. Good deeds Hetty tries to do to prove she’s all right just go wrong and look like more witchcraft. All of them inflame hatred against Hetty. There are rational explanations, and Mrs Jones helps Hetty to scotch a number of them, but it can’t really stop the persecution or Sam Wiles and his hate mongering.

Among them, Hetty tries to clean up the cottage and makes a makeshift broom for the job, but when the villagers see the broom, it sparks rumours it’s a witch’s broomstick. She acquires a cat, Tinker, who got left behind when his previous owner moved. Although the villagers know Tinker, they scream he’s the witch’s cat as he’s black, and throw stones at him. The frightened cat takes refuge in Cubby’s Cottage. While looking for Tinker in the cottage, Hetty finds great-grandmother’s old recipe book and tries a recipe for cowslip tea. She does not realise Wiles and his spies are watching her, and Wiles orders them to watch Hetty and that “spell book” very closely. The boys steal the cowslip tea, and Tom dares Freddy to drink it. Soon after, Freddy grows ill and his mother accuses Hetty of poisoning him with her witch’s brew. However, when Mrs Jones and Hetty investigate, they find Freddy is merely sick from eating too many sweets, which he admits were bought with the money Wiles gave him for information received.

The village fete comes up, and Mrs Jones is sure it will distract the villagers from Hetty. Hetty decides to contribute a doll in the hopes it will help the villagers to see she’s okay. No such luck.

When Hetty tries to be friendly and smiling to the villagers, crazy old Wiles starts the rumour that the “witch-girl” will harm Mrs Jones, the way Hester Turvy used to harm “innocent folk”. Oh, no, we can guess what happens next…

Sure enough, Mrs Jones soon has an accident and is sent to hospital. Hetty is blamed when the villagers see the doll – the doll’s dress is made from the same material as Mrs Jones’ and a needle is stuck where Mrs Jones got injured. It looks like Wiles’ “prediction” that Hetty would harm Mrs Jones by witchcraft has come true. At any rate, Hetty has lost her only friend and now faces the villagers’ hostility alone. She decides to stick things out so as not to worry her parents.

When Hetty donates the doll to the fete, the villagers refuse to touch it. Then a violent storm strikes, and the villagers blame Hetty although the weather forecast had warned about sudden storms. Wiles renews the call to burn down Cubby’s Cottage. Back home, there’s a note on the gate: “Get Out, Witch!”

Next day, Hetty decides to do just that. She packs a suitcase and strikes out for her mother’s lodgings, to tell her what’s been going on. But then, something tells her to go back to Cubby’s Cottage.

At Cubby’s Cottage, Hetty finds Freddy and Tom have been at it again. They tried to burn down Cubby’s Cottage for a lark, but it backfired on them when the fire got out of control. The cottage is going up like a torch, and Freddy is trapped in there. Hetty braves the flames to rescue him, but is soon in danger of becoming trapped herself. Then great-grandmother’s ghost appears and helps them both to safety.

After this, the villagers decide the great-grandmother wasn’t a witch after all and stop their persecution of Hetty. Weeks later, after Dad has recovered, the villagers want to make it up to Hetty, and they start by cleaning up great-grandmother’s grave. As Hetty and her mother inspect their work, great-grandmother’s ghost is doing the same and smiling.

Thoughts

Lingering witch beliefs in British villages have inspired numerous girls’ serials with the “descended from the village witch” formula. Other stories to use it include “Bad-Luck Barbara” (Mandy) and “Witch!” (Bunty). The formula is used to make a statement about the stupidities of witch beliefs, superstition and mass hysteria, and that 20th century people ought to be living in the 20th century, not the 16th century. And of course, illustrate how idiotic gossip and rumour-mongering can get as rapidly and dangerously out of control as the fire in the story.

The story is a little different from the formula its counterparts usually take, which makes it more interesting and novel. Usually there is an ambivalence about the things that happen, leaving readers to wonder if there really is something weird going on and the girl really is developing strange powers, or if it’s all coincidence, rational explanations, law of attraction or whatever. Here, the strange things all have rational explanations. In the end, it turns out there really is a supernatural force after all (something these types of stories usually hint at but keep ambiguous) – great-grandmother’s ghost, but it turns out to be benign and had nothing to do with the goings on the villagers blamed on Hetty. Also, instead of being a pervasive influence throughout the story, which is the more usual pattern, it only appears at the climax. It doesn’t even manifest during Hetty’s earlier visits to Cubby’s Cottage.

The story is also different in having males as the main persecutors. More often, they are female and don’t seem to be in it for much more than bullying, though personal gain can be linked to it. But it is logical to have ringleader as an older man, perhaps old enough to remember great-grandmother when she was alive, and his occupation (sexton) ties in well with how the whole thing starts. Being a man, and a respected one as the village sexton, would give him a whole lot more authority and power as a rabble-rouser against Hetty. Having the two boys as the main antagonists in the persecution and Wiles’ flunkies also makes sense. By nature they are scamps, and it’s obvious they get into all sorts of mischief. Persecuting a “witch” is the perfect excuse to cause mischief and worse with impunity, plus there’s money in it. After nearly getting themselves killed by their own mischief, maybe they will think twice about pranks and dares in future.

There is always a single person in these types of stories who serves as the girl’s only friend and sticks up for her against the persecutors (the girl’s parents are always useless for one reason or other). Usually it’s another girl who’s new to the village and therefore does not think the way the superstitious village idiots do. But this case, the story takes the unusual step of making her an adult who’s lived there for a long time, knows those gossiping, small-minded villagers all too well, and has friends among them. An adult is much more effective as an ally than a mere girl. An adult, and certainly one like Mrs Jones, is much more capable of standing up to those village idiots and trying to talk sense into them, or at least try to make them shut up.

As is common with similar stories DCT has produced, the protagonist eventually loses her only supporter, making her position even more precarious. And no matter how she tries to ride the storm, the situation inevitably reaches crisis point. If not for the supernatural intervention, Hetty and her parents would have been forced to leave the village altogether, which happened in “Witch!”

The ending – the persecution ending with the girl proving her goodness by saving lives and being accepted as a heroine – has been seen before in these types of stories. It usually comes off as pat and unrealistic because in real life, once witch believers think someone’s a witch, the label sticks and cannot be unstuck. But here we have a supernatural element taking a hand, and when there is one, we know things will be all right, which makes the ending more acceptable. And, unlike similar stories, we get to see the original “witch” finally happy and able to rest in peace after being persecuted in both life and death, which makes it even more satisfying.

Ashamed of Her Mum (1986)

Picture Story Library, , , , , , , , , , ,

Published: Debbie PSL #100

Reprint: Bunty PSL #418 as “Trapped!”

Artists: Norman Lee (cover); Ron Lumsden (story)

Writer: Unknown

Plot

Thirteen-year-old Meg Ferns and her widowed mother have just moved to Redport. At her new school, Meg is impressed with the looks of Arlene Ainsley and her gang and wants to be friends with them. But they are snobs and don’t think she’s good enough for them.

Moira Samson does offer to be friends with Meg, but Meg declines as she still wants to get in with the Ainsley gang and they wouldn’t like Moira, whose background is not good enough for them either. When Meg sees Arlene’s glamorous mother she wishes her mother were like that instead of being in a factory job and doing nothing but housework when she comes home.

In town, Meg sees a glamorous model at a shoot and learns her name is Lillian Ferns – the same surname as hers. She thinks it would be so marvellous if Lillian were her mother. The snobs come along, talking about the same model. Before she knows what she is saying, Meg brags to them that the model is her mother. The snobs fall for it – except one, Priscilla. The other snobs are all over Meg now, but Priscilla means to investigate Meg’s claims.

So the double life of deception and its complications begin for Meg. And although she does not know it (yet) she has the added handicap of one girl being on to her from the start and determined to catch her out. Priscilla starts by checking out Lillian’s address (and Meg realises that’s more than she did) and having Meg invite them over to her “mum’s” house. At the house she convinces them that “Mum’s” not in, but she sees Priscilla hanging around to see if she does enter the house and realises Priscilla is suspicious. Seeing a key in the door, Meg takes advantage to enter the house, pretend she’s coming home, and hopefully throw Priscilla off the scent.

At this point Lillian catches Meg. Meg blurts out the whole story. Realising how desperate Meg is to keep those snobs from finding out, Lillian proceeds to take full advantage. She agrees to help with the pretence – on one condition. As Lillian has no housekeeper at the moment, Meg is to become her housekeeping slave, and without one penny in payment. It also means getting up extra early, dashing twelve miles to serve breakfast and back to school, back again at four for chores, back at any time Lillian wants her, do any catering she wants, etc, etc, … otherwise, she will tell those snobs the truth. And there is a verbal earbashing whenever Meg doesn’t do the job right. Er, what was that you said about it being so marvellous if Lillian were your Mum, Meg?

Of course this is soon causing difficulties, such as Meg getting lines for being late for school. But Meg is gaining in confidence because she is getting it so good for the Arlene gang and thinks she is real friends with them now. She throws a scare into Priscilla to hopefully throw her off, but Priscilla only pretends that it worked. Moira also warns Meg to be careful about getting on the wrong side of that snobby lot, but Meg doesn’t listen.

As Lillian has given Meg her house key for the chores, Meg has full access to the house to show it off to the snobs while Lillian is out. They lap up all the luxuries it offers. Priscilla takes advantage to do some snooping. As she suspected, she finds no photographs of Meg in the house or any bedroom that looks like hers. She also helps herself to the food Lillian laid out for the party she is going to hold that night. When Lillian finds out about the food, she is absolutely furious with Meg.

At the party Meg has to do all the waitressing. Ironically, one guest, Mr Tolman, comments that she looks photogenic and should consider modelling herself. Meg also spots Priscilla spying outside and rushes to close the curtains in an awful hurry. The trouble is, Lillian pulls them in the opposite direction, which causes the whole thing to come crashing down. Lillian really blows her top at Meg because she wanted to impress Mr Tolman as he owns the advertising company she wants to work for. Meg is also worried about what Priscilla will say the following day.

Next day at school, Priscilla laughs at Meg for dressing as a waitress and “curtain calls”. Meg manages to pass off the waitressing as a punishment for the food Priscilla scoffed, and kindly stop snooping. This makes Priscilla unpopular with the other snobs and Meg thinks she is now safe from her. Meg’s an even bigger hero than ever with them now, especially with Arlene. It now looks like all that slaving for Lillian is worthwhile. However, Priscilla is not only still suspicious but also upset that Meg has pushed her out and wants revenge.

Meg has another close call when Mum waves to her across the street and the Arlene gang comment on how common she looks. They buy Meg’s cover story that she’s the cleaning lady – except Priscilla, who notices that “the char” bears a strong resemblance to Meg and begins to put two and two together.

The same incident has Meg beginning to feel ashamed of the way she is treating her mother because of this deception. For the same reason she begins to get closer to Moira. But the gang warn Meg they will no longer be friends with her if she continues with “peasants” like Moira. At this, Meg realises how wrong she had been to bother with those snobs at all.

So Meg decides to end her deception, starting with revenge on Lillian. Meg tells Lillian she’s had enough of her and then heaves a bucket of dirty scrubbing water all over her. She hears with great satisfaction that she has ruined Lillian’s new Paris outfit, and then walks out.

Next day at school, Meg finds out she ended her deception at just the right time – the game is up anyway. Priscilla snooped into the school records, found Meg’s real address and her mother’s occupation, and has now informed the others. They are ready to confront her, but Meg stands up to them. Moira sees the commotion and rouses a prefect, who tells the snobs to clear off. Meg explains how it was really her fault to start with, but what makes her really ashamed over it all was how she let her mother down. The prefect tells Meg not to worry about that; she’s learned her lesson. Moira’s offer for friendship is still open, and this time Meg accepts.

Remembering how photogenic Meg looked, Mr Tolman tracks her down and gives her a job in TV adverts. Everyone is pleased for Meg – except for certain snobs who are green with envy.

Thoughts

There have been plenty of stories where protagonists run a double life, pretending their backgrounds are grander than they really are, all because of a bunch of snobs. Inevitably the deception gets complicated and there is no way they can keep it up indefinitely. The question is what will happen when the inevitable does happen. “Pop Starr” from Bunty is one example.

It’s unusual to have one girl suspicious of the deception from the start. Usually in these types of stories someone grows suspicious over time. That or the protagonist just gets caught right out. Perhaps it was the 62-page limit, which did not allow for one of the snobs to become suspicious over time. However, it does make the story even more exciting and different, having someone onto the protagonist from the very start. And Meg is quick to realise Priscilla suspects her, which sets a very exciting premise for keeping one step ahead. Meg soon proves she can do it very aptly, and is very deft at thinking quickly to get out things if those snobs get too close and foiling Priscilla’s attempts to catch her out. Unfortunately for Meg, she cannot get Priscilla off her back entirely, especially when Priscilla gets vengeful.

This deception story has the Cinderella and blackmail themes thrown into the mix as well, which makes it even more striking and interesting than a mere string of lies, close calls and complications as the deception snowballs and the protagonist falls deeper and deeper into a sticky web of deceit. The true real-life personality of the glamorous model Lillian Ferns is there to teach Meg to appreciate what she’s got in her own mother and being rich and famous does not necessarily mean an improvement. The lesson is slow in coming, though. It takes Meg’s treatment of her mother as part of her deception to make the lesson sink in.

There are always prices the protagonist has to pay while carrying out her deception. Meg’s biggest one is becoming an unpaid slave to Lillian Ferns. Lillian Ferns comes from another popular theme in girls’ comics: a famous celebrity who is in fact a nasty piece of work in real life. “Aunt Aggie” (Tammy) and “Everyone’s Perfect Mum” (Mandy) are other examples. Not to mention using blackmail to turn the protagonist into their slave, and there are countless examples of that in girls’ comics. It is obvious that Lillian’s treatment of Meg stems from her being tight-fisted, not to mention being a bully and bad employer. She can well afford a housekeeper instead of using Meg as unpaid help, and pay Meg well for what she’s doing. But she does neither. We bet the reason Lillian doesn’t have a housekeeper is that the last one quit because Lillian was just as horrible to her. It would not be surprising if quite a few housekeepers had quit Lillian’s employment already and she’s now on a number of blacklists at employment agencies. With any luck the real-life Lillian will be found out and it won’t just be her new outfit that gets ruined. Lillian’s treatment of Meg has already ruined her chances with Mr Tolman and even got the job in Lillian’s place. Lillian will be absolutely fuming when she finds out. And the irony is, it’s all her own fault because of the way she treated Meg.

There are a few ironies too, in the way Meg develops through her deception. For example, Meg becomes accepted by the snob gang she finds her confidence growing, but in the wrong way. Her true confidence comes when she decides she’s had enough of Lillian and stands up to her. And heaving that bucket of water in Lillian’s face is absolutely priceless! We don’t often see protagonists in blackmail stories turning around and getting their own back on their blackmailers, so we just love seeing it here. Meg also develops quick wits and thinking on her feet in the way she can pull herself out of those sticky situations she get herself into.

We reckon that if the snobs had not found Meg out she would have told them anyway, and tell them to sod their stuck-up ways too. Which is of course what she should have done in the first place when the Arlene gang turned her down because they were so stuck up. But instead she wants to continue pursuing them despite their snobby rudeness to her. Even then she can see there is a good friend waiting in Moira, but keeps throwing it away because she is wasting time and energy trying to get in good with those snobs.

Silver linings do come out of the clouds in this story. As well as becoming more mature, confident and learning what true friends are made of, Meg also gets a glamorous job and possible future career out of it all. So life will become a lot better for Meg and her mother. And we can just see Lillian’s face when she finds out about Meg’s job.

The Traitor’s Daughter (1978)

Bunty, , , ,

Published: Bunty Picture Story Library #185

Artist: Unknown

Writer: John McNamara

The recent “Force of Evil” entry raised the theme of a girl battling to clear her father when he is accused of treason. However, it did so in a manner that was totally atypical from the way the theme was usually used in girls’ comics. This story is an example of one way in which the theme was more commonly followed.

Plot

Fifteen-year-old Trixie Collins is the most popular girl at St Anne’s School (we have a horrible feeling this is about to change). Trixie’s best friends are Hazel Begby and Molly Teal. Of course Trixie does have enemies, and they take the form of the jealous, stuck-up Monica Dalby and Freda Morgan. They wish they could take Trixie down a peg. (And is it our imaginations, or do Freda and Monica bear a striking resemblance to Mabel and Veronica from “The Four Marys”?)

After sports day, Trixie is surprised to find a note in her shoe from Dad, Professor James Collins, a British scientist. He says to meet him at the tennis courts that night, and it’s urgent. This has Trixie very worried and she wonders if something is wrong, seeing as how Dad phoned to say he could not make it to her sports day.

At the tennis courts, Dad says that things are going to happen that are going to make Trixie very unhappy. But she must be brave, trust him, and not be ashamed, whatever happens. Then he departs, without really explaining what is going on.

Next day, the newspapers give Trixie her answer: Dad has been arrested for selling government secrets to a foreign power. Now Trixie is branded “a traitor’s daughter”, and becomes shunned and bullied. Girls are saying she should be expelled. The headmistress Miss Henderson says she will let Anne stay, though she says she will be surprised if Trixie has any friends left. And of course the jealous Monica and Freda finally have their chance to take Trixie down a peg, and set out to milk Trixie’s downfall for all its worth.

Even Molly and Hazel have gone against Trixie – or so it seems. They are just pretending they are in order to protect her from any nasty schemes Monica cooks up. Trixie begins to suspect they are secretly friendly when Molly deliberately hurts herself so Trixie, reduced to reserve on the swimming team, can swim for the school. The school does not cheer for Trixie when she wins, and the rival school can’t understand why.

The bullying gets worse when Dad is found guilty of treason; Trixie finds her room vandalised (as shown on the cover). Then, when there is a television report that Dad has escaped from prison, Trixie can’t take anymore and tries to run away. Molly and Hazel stop her, revealing that they are indeed secretly friendly and feeling guilty about not being more courageous earlier. Trixie pledges to keep their secret and has more strength to endure her ordeal now she knows she has friends.

The police speak to Trixie about her father. She declares that she will do what he says if he contacts her, even if he was guilty, and will not report him. After she goes, the police tell Miss Henderson they can now make their plans accordingly. Soon after, Trixie receives a sealed envelope from Dad saying it is top secret and not to open it. She is to keep it in a safe place, but someone steals it, and Monica was around at the time. Meanwhile, a new porter named Jobling starts work at the school.

That night the thief (kept in shadows) hands over the envelope to her father. When he opens it he finds it is just blank paper: “You silly, little fool, you’ve been tricked.” He tells the thief to try again for the real papers, so the thief searches Trixie’s study again. But the thief gets surprised by Miss Henderson, and has to knock her out with a hockey stick in order to escape. When the police investigate, they find the incriminating hockey stick on Trixie.

In private, Miss Henderson tells Trixie that she does believe Trixie’s protests of innocence. For the moment, though, they have to let the school think otherwise. Miss Henderson tells Trixie that next time she wants something looked after, she is to hand it over for safekeeping in the school safe, and make sure the whole school sees her do it. Trixie ponders as to how Miss Henderson knew about the envelope when she didn’t tell anyone. (Hmm, could Miss Henderson be another secret friend?)

At a hockey match with a rival school (and no cheers for Trixie, even when they win the match), Monica tries to whack the hockey ball at Trixie’s head. However, a quick catch from Jobling saves Trixie from injury. The sports mistress is suspicious of Monica but has no proof, so she can only give Monica a warning. Afterwards, Trixie finds another sealed envelope from Dad, with instructions to hand it over to Miss Henderson and let people know what she has done. To make sure of this, Trixie hands it to Miss Henderson during assembly.

A few days later it is school prize-giving time. Monica and Freda are furious to see that Trixie is being awarded the prize for best scholar. When Monica’s father visits, he asks her about the envelope Trixie was sent, and is infuriated to learn that it was handed over to Miss Henderson for safekeeping, which means it is in her safe. Mr Dalby works in the same department as Trixie’s father and thinks the letter may be a clue as to his whereabouts. They do not realise Jobling is in earshot.

Dalby and Freda’s parents make their way into Miss Henderson’s study, saying they are very displeased that Trixie has been allowed to remain at the school and even threaten to withdraw Freda because of it. Miss Henderson stands her ground on letting Trixie stay. After the prize giving (where nobody applauds except Hazel, Molly and their parents) Dalby tells Monica to get Trixie expelled, for he just has to get his hands on that letter. So Monica sets about planting her medal on Trixie to get her expelled for stealing. She does not realise Jobling is watching her do it while cleaning the windows. But when Jobling reports to Miss Henderson, he says it was Trixie that did it!

Trixie is expelled and Jobling escorts her to the train. As she leaves the school, Miss Henderson hands her the envelope. Monica sees this and reports to her father. Trixie does not realise Jobling has also boarded the train.

On the train, two thugs confront Trixie, claiming to be police officers. That doesn’t work of course, so they try to make a grab for the envelope. But real police officers burst in and arrest them. Dalby, who is also on the train, discovers his men have been captured. He tries a getaway by jumping off the train, but Jobling stops him and soon Dalby is under arrest as well.

Jobling is now revealed to be…yes, Dad in disguise! Dad explains it was all a plan to trap Dalby. Dalby was the real traitor selling government secrets to the enemy. Dad managed to recover some of the documents but nothing could be proven. So he ended up taking the rap. Those envelopes were bait to catch Dalby, and Miss Henderson was part of the plan to catch him (though just how or why she came to be in on it is not explained).

Now Dad has been cleared, Trixie is no longer under a cloud at St Anne’s. A humbled Monica is “banished the school” (they could have phrased that better!).

Thoughts

All right, for this story to make sense, either of two things had to be going on: 1) the whole thing had been a sting operation from start to finish to flush out Dalby. Dad agreed to be falsely convicted and then sprung from prison so he could go undercover to help flush out Dalby, and he had been working with the police and Miss Henderson the whole time. Or 2) Dad’s conviction was genuine. But by the time he escaped (assuming that was not done with connivance), the police had realised they had the wrong man and begun to suspect Dalby. They caught up with Dad and then concocted the sting operation, with help from Miss Henderson.

Either way, Dad was more fortunate to have so many people to help him when he was falsely accused of treason. Usually such Dads have little more than their family to stand by them. If they are forced to go into hiding they pretty much have to rely on themselves and secret contact with their families, as in “That’s My Girl!” from Mandy. We really applaud Miss Henderson, the headmistress who is more helpful than most in girls’ serials, particularly in stories that deal with bullying. There are not many headmistresses in girls’ comics who are willing to take a crack on the head for their pains, so Miss Henderson is definitely one of the best ever in girls’ comics. We also praise Hazel and Molly, who showed that they really were Trixie’s best friends. Though they don’t get the chance to help unmask Dalby or Monica, they help give Trixie the strength to get through her ordeal and not give in, which helps the undercover operation to continue its course.

From the moment we see the cover, we know what the poor girl on the cover will go through in the course of this story. We bleed inside for her already because it looks so horribly ugly and disturbing. The bullying and ostracism that Trixie undergoes is a very sad but realistic reaction to the charges against her father. In real life, when someone is accused of a crime, their whole family can become ostracised and harassed, just because they are related to him/her and have committed no crime themselves. We all cry for Trixie and we agree with her that it is so unfair to be treated so badly as the ‘sins’ of the father fall upon his child, who had nothing to do with the treason. The demands that Trixie be expelled for what her father is accused of are totally unfair as well, as they are not crimes she committed.

It is no surprise that Monica, the girl who hates Trixie the most, turns out to be linked to the man who did the dirty on Trixie and her father. This is a common thing in girls’ serials that deal with false accusations. We can certainly see where Monica got her nasty nature from. She does not seem to be aware that her father is the real traitor; he has led her to believe that the envelopes contain clues to Collins’ whereabouts, not that they contain secret documents. However, the lengths she goes to in order to get the envelopes (kayoing Miss Henderson, framing Trixie for theft) show just what she is capable of. If she had known her father’s true motives, she might have helped him anyway. Hopefully her humbling and the shame of her father going down for treason will deter her from going down any dark paths in future.

The Secret of the Gipsy Doll (Dolwyn’s Dolls) (1984)

Bunty, , , , , ,

Published: as ‘The Secret of the Gipsy Doll and Two Other Stories about “Dolwyn’s Dolls”’. Bunty PSL #259, 1984.

Reprinted: as ‘3 Great Stories about Dolwyn’s Dolls’. Bunty PSL #378, 1994.

Artist: Norman Lee

Writer: Unknown

This Bunty PSL presents three stories from “Dolwyn’s Dolls”. On three occasions a visitor walks into Meg Dolwyn’s doll shop while she is mending a doll. She tells them the story of the respective doll she is mending.

Story 1: The Gipsy Doll

In Victorian times a maidservant named Mary, who works at Lancing Manor, tries to run away. But she is caught by the eldest son of her employers, Vernon Vardon, and he looks a very nasty type. Mary’s sweetheart, a gipsy named Romany Smith, goes to Mary’s defence when Vardon threatens to attack her, and he lays quite a punch into Vardon. Vengeful Vardon makes insinuations that he is going to have Smith arrested on trumped-up charges of stealing silverware from Lancing Manor. Worse, Mary seems to believe the accusations against Smith and he pleads his innocence to her in vain.

That night Mary regrets not sticking up for Smith more. But she is shattered to see Smith burning his gipsy caravan, which is the gipsy way of saying he has gone forever. Mary dies of a broken heart over her sweetheart a year later.

On the day Mary dies, a package arrives for her. It is a gipsy doll with the words “look into my heart” embroidered on it. The doll is placed in Mary’s room in case her family come to collect her belongings. Nobody does, and no servant will sleep in there, so the room is left to gather dust.

In the next century Mary’s room is converted into a bedroom for Jenny Vardon. Jenny has strange dreams of the burning gipsy wagon and the gipsy doll, which is crying. Jenny still hears crying when she wakes up and finds it is coming from the cupboard. Inside, she finds the gipsy doll.

Jenny looks into its heart and finds money and a letter for Mary. It is from Smith, who went to Boston, bettered himself, and sent money for Mary to join him. He also heard that Vardon was taking the silverware and selling it to pay his debts. So the truth is out at last, but it’s come too late for Mary.

Thoughts

Many of the Dolwyn stories had supernatural elements. Some were kept ambiguous while others, such as this one, were more overt. It is not surprising that this story contains supernatural overtones. The room Jenny sleeps in would have a reason for being haunted as a girl died in it from a broken heart, and there are also the Romany elements, which hint at gypsy spells and curses.

This is the saddest, and spookiest, of the three Dolwyn stories in this PSL. The revelations come too late to reunite Mary and Romany Smith in life. Still, the fact that the gipsy doll seemed to lead Jenny to it and look into its heart suggests that it was to help the two lovers rest in peace, and they are now.

Story 2: For the Love of Lindy

Carole’s mother has remarried and they move to a better house. Stepfather says it’s time for Carole to throw out her old doll, Lindy. Carole won’t hear of it, but stepfather does not respect this. As a result Carole runs away with Lindy and goes back to where she lived before. Her old friends can’t put her up, so they help her camp out in an old building and bring her supplies. They also lock the door at her request, but this proves to be a near-fatal mistake.

While Carole is asleep an old tramp accidentally sets the building on fire. By the time Carole is awake, the room is ablaze and she can’t get out because the door is locked. The firemen have arrived but don’t know she is up there. Carole throws Lindy from the window to alert them to her presence. Her dolly SOS works, and she is rescued. After this, stepfather has a new respect for Lindy and arranges a new dress and repairs at Meg’s shop for her.

Thoughts

This “love me, love my doll” story shows you should never underestimate the love for a doll or tell a child that it’s time for them to say goodbye to their dolls. They should be allowed to decide for themselves.

Story 3: The Young, Old Doll

Another visitor, Millie, comments on how the doll Meg is repairing looks so old and ragged. Meg replies that the doll, Daisy, was in fact bought only recently. It sounds like Daisy really has been through the wars then. Sure enough, that’s what her story is about.

Daisy was a birthday present for June, but then June’s dog Rex snatches Daisy and runs off with her. And that’s just the start of really rough adventures that have Daisy ending up at Meg’s shop for repair.

Rex loses interest in Daisy and leaves her to lie on waste ground. Billy Watson and his gang find her and, being a rough lot, use her as target practice for kicks. Billy’s sister Josie comes along and tells him to desist, but what really draws off the boys is that there has just been a road accident. Josie hides Daisy in a makeshift shelter. But she does not come back for some reason, and rain starts.

Another girl, Moira, comes along and finds Daisy. Moira’s home is dysfunctional, with her parents always arguing, and she is particularly anxious to stay out of Dad’s way. When she gets home he is in a really foul mood because he was involved in the road accident. He insists the accident was not his fault: the accident girl just came out in front of him and he had no time to stop. But he is terrified that he will lose his new van driver’s job because of it. When he sees Daisy he gets into such a rage that he throws her out in the street.

Another gang of yobs find Daisy and set about using her as a goal for footy practice. But the female member of the gang proves more kindly. She stops the boys cold and takes Daisy to the hospital for the children’s ward.

As luck would have it, Daisy ends up in the accident girl’s ward, and she is none other than June. June and Daisy are reunited and the sight of Daisy jogs June’s memory about the accident. She makes a statement that clears Moira’s father: the accident happened because she couldn’t find the brakes on her new birthday bike.

Meg finishes the repairs on Daisy. As she does so, she tells Millie that you can’t always tell by appearances, whether it’s dolls or people.

Thoughts

As Meg states, this story is a lesson in how you can’t always judge by appearances. This is best shown with the yobs who find Daisy in the street. The male punks are as rough as they look when they try to use Daisy for footy practice. But the girl, although she has a punk look, shows she has a kind heart. And as with Lindy, this is a “doll saves the day” story, in this case helping to clear the very driver who threw her out into the street.

We do have to wonder how Meg was able to relate all of Daisy’s misadventures from the moment she is snatched from the dog to ending up in June’s ward. How could anyone have been able to find all the people who encountered Daisy in the interim and piece the whole story together?

Dolwyn’s Dolls (1983)

Bunty, , , , ,

Published: Bunty Picture Story Library #246

Artist: Norman Lee

Writer: Unknown

Plot

Meg Dolwyn runs a doll shop and many of her dolls have tales to tell.

One day a man calls in and asks about a doll, which he notes has been repaired. Meg says the doll’s name is Tina and she belonged to a girl named Trudy Talbot. Trudy had moved to a South American country with her parents because of her father’s job. They live in a very luxurious house and servants tend to their every need.

There has never been any need for Trudy to be unhappy or cry. So she is a bit surprised when Dad presents her with Tina, who is a crying doll. He tells her to leave all the crying to Tina, because she’s a big girl now. Trudy takes this a bit too literally and from then on does not cry; she has Tina do all the crying. Trudy is reserving this for when there is a real need to cry, but does not think there will ever be one.

But all that changes the day after Dad gives Tina to Trudy. Revolution sweeps across the country and it is taken over by revolutionaries who rule by terror and the gun. Those who stand against them are arrested as “enemies of the revolution” (political prisoners), and among them is Mr Talbot. As a result, Castro-type soldiers tear the Talbot home apart while they search it, and Trudy and her mother become prisoners in their own home, with their servants for jailors. The Talbots’ food worsens too because Cook is taken into the army and the replacement is the gardener’s boy. The Talbots have no idea exactly why all this is happening because they are only being told the vaguest of details. Trudy comments on how her mother is crying while she does not because she promised Dad. Instead, she has Tina do the crying.

The servants agree to help Mum and Trudy escape – in exchange for all of Mum’s jewellery, mind you. The servants drive them as close to the border as they can. Mum and Trudy have to make the rest of the way on foot through dire, dangerous jungle conditions. Fortunately they bump into some kindly tourists, who help them to get to Britain.

Mrs Talbot comes to rent the flat above Meg’s shop. Meg deplores that it’s bit pokey for two, but Mrs Talbot says it is all she can afford. Trudy is a bit surprised to see Tina looking like she is crying of her own accord, but accepts it. Then Mrs Talbot is taken ill and dies. Trudy still has Tina do all the crying for her and says Tina is all she has left.

Then one evening the revolutionaries catch up. They burst into the flat, rip Tina open (hence the mending she had), and find what they have been looking for all this time: a cassette that Dad had hidden inside Tina. As the men leave with the cassette, they tell Trudy to blame her father for everything that has happened to her because he is “an enemy of the revolution”.

Trudy does not accept that. Instead, she blames Tina and turns against her. As she does so, she starts crying for the very first time. And now that Trudy’s tears have started, there is no stopping them. Eventually Trudy follows her mother to the grave, from a broken heart.

It turns out the man Meg is telling the story to is none other than Mr Talbot. He had escaped prison and the despotic regime, made his way to Britain and was trying to find his family. The cassette was evidence against the terror regime. Dad had been hoping to spread the word with it. He leaves, heartbroken that he has come too late and that his cassette destroyed his family instead of helping bring justice to the downtrodden country. As he goes, a strange thing happens: Tina starts crying.

A few days later, Jill the girl from next door, makes one of her frequent visits to Meg’s shop. Meg is mending a doll and Jill remarks that a broken doll must be the saddest thing there is. This has Meg spinning another doll yarn, and we get a hint of a moral that Jill needs to put what she just said into perspective. Meg heard the story from a customer named Sally, who dropped in the other day.

Sally accidentally broke her grandmother’s “lucky doll” when she got startled by a thunderstorm. She panics about this, because her grandmother told her stories about how much the doll meant to her, that it is her lucky doll, and great-grandmother made it, “every stitch” (Sally thought this meant the doll, not the doll clothes).

So Sally runs away, in the violent stormy weather, to find a way to get the doll mended, but has no luck. She sees an ambulance outside her house and assumes the grandmother has been taken to hospital because she was heartbroken about the doll, and bad luck has started because she broke grandmother’s lucky doll. Sally runs away in panic, thinking people are searching for her because they blame her for what happened to grandmother.

Her panic drives her into the countryside, where she has scary encounters with a tramp, a farmer and cows. Then Sally comes across Meg’s shop and sees an identical doll the window, at a price she can afford. Sally sneaks home to get the money, but grandmother catches her. They have noticed she was missing and have been worried sick about her.

When the story comes out, Sally finds she had been worried over nothing and misunderstood a lot of things. Among them was finding out that the doll was a recent one, bought to replace an older one that got worn out. This doll in turn can be replaced. Grandmother hadn’t even noticed the doll was gone and the ambulance had been for Jimmy next door. What does upset grandmother is that Sally would think she would love an old doll even more than she would love her. And so Sally learns that there are much sadder (and more important) things than a broken doll.

Thoughts

Dolwyn’s Dolls appeared as a Bunty serial in 1982. Dolwyn proved popular and she spawned two appearances in Bunty annuals and two picture story libraries. Dolwyn belonged in the tradition of the storyteller who had collected an assortment of items that all had tales to tell and each week she would tell the story of one such items. Other stories in this tradition included The Button Box (Tammy) and Jade Jenkins Stall (M&J).

The Dolwyn stories would entertain, a number of them would teach morals, and there were spooky, creepy ones – not surprising as the strip is dealing with dolls and toys, which have often been associated with hauntings and the supernatural. One story, “Major’s Revenge”, was about a cruel boy named Toby and his rocking horse, Major. Toby has a strange accident that breaks his leg. Toby claims Major came to life and took him on a wild, nightmare ride as a punishment for his cruelty. Perhaps it was just a hallucination brought on by the accident as Toby father says. All the same, nobody is willing to ride Major anymore and Meg does not put him in display in her shop although he is in much better condition than the one in the shop. At least the accident makes Toby more considerate although he limps for the rest of his life.

Unlike the regular strip or the other Dolwyn picture story library, the two doll stories in this picture story library are not individually titled. They are told to customers as Meg goes abut her business in the shop.

Both stories are tear-jerkers with sympathetic heroines who, one way or other, are plunged into turmoil, terror, tears and confusion. The second story ends on a happier note than the first one. We are so relieved when everything is sorted out for Sally after all the horrors her imagination puts her through when she runs away. We are even relieved that grandmother wasn’t even angry over the broken doll. The first story, on the other hand, is nothing but tragedy and tears, and ends on a note that is creepy as well as sad.

Trudy’s story is by far the more powerful of the two stories because it has far greater emotional wallop. It’s even more heart-breaking to see Trudy bottling up her emotions and having Tina as the only outlet for the tears she keeps inside her while she has so much to cry about as the revolution tightens its noose and destroys her happiness, her home, and her family. Trudy has to stop depending on Tina if she is to express her emotions properly. Eventually she does so, but the way in which she does it is even more heartrending because it is so unfair. Tina is no more to blame for Trudy’s unhappiness than Trudy herself is. The blame rests with the political events that overtook the country.

Trudy’s story also has the hints of the supernatural that permeated many Dolwyn stories. Twice it is insinuated that Tina is taking on a life of her own and crying of her own accord. There was some buildup of a supernatural element in the second story too, when Sally’s imagination runs riot at the bad luck she must have brought on her family by breaking the lucky doll. But it turns out it was just a replacement doll and Sally was freaking out over nothing. The supernatural had nothing to do with it.

The Secret Servant: A Four Marys Story [1993]

Bunty, , , , ,

Published: Bunty Picture Library #365

Artist: Jim Eldridge

Writer: Unknown

Plot

Simpy’s father opens a supermarket, Simco’s Supermarket, and its business is soon booming to soaring levels. But he only took a lease on the building. The freehold has been taken over by Lentham Holdings, which is run by – yes, Mabel Lentham’s father. Now Lentham is applying for planning permission to turn the building into flats. If this goes ahead Mr Simpson will be forced to close. This would bankrupt him as he has sunk everything into the supermarket.

Foolishly, Simpy hopes that if she sucks up to Mabel, such as buying her the birthday present she wanted and allowing her and Veronica on the gymnastics team although they aren’t much good at gymnastics but not yelling at Mabel when she makes a mess of things, Mabel will save her father. But once Mabel finds out the reason why Simpy is suddenly crawling to her (by prying into Simpy’s mail), she sets out to take full advantage of Simpy. She and Veronica have Simpy wait on them hand and foot and do all their dirty work, including prep. They waste no opportunities in bullying Simpy, such as making her do chores twice, in revenge for all the times the Four Marys have scored over them. Of course Mabel has no intention of saving Mr Simpson and is stringing Simpy along with false promises that she will speak to her father about it, but always seems to forget. Although Simpy does not trust Mabel, she still continues to slave for the snobs and hope Mabel will keep her end of the deal.

Of course the other Marys soon notice what’s going on between Simpy and the snobs. They get suspicious and start to investigate. Fieldy spies on the snobs’ study and sees how Simpy is waiting on the snobs while they bully her. They realise the snobs must have some kind of hold on Simpy. But they hit a dead end as to what it could be, and they decide against tackling Simpy outright.

Then, during a parents’ visiting day, Cotty accidentally overhears Simpy’s parents talking about their supermarket being in trouble. The Marys wonder if there is some connection with Simpy slaving for the snobs. On a free afternoon they head down to Simco’s Supermarket to investigate this angle.

Simco’s Supermarket is located in an arcade, which the Marys discover has been recently taken over by Mabel’s father. They soon learn that Lentham is forcing all the shops in the arcade out of business with exorbitant rents while terminating their leases. He is applying for planning permission to turn the arcade into flats so as to make a profit. It is later revealed that the flats project is intended to pay off loans. Lentham also plans to use the money for a world cruise family holiday, which Mabel is really looking forward to. The Marys draw all the right conclusions, including the one that Mabel will not really help Simpy save her father.

Then, a remark from Cotty about it being “such a lovely old arcade” gives Raddy an idea on how to solve the problem. She contacts her father, who works on a heritage committee that saves old buildings with historical value. The committee manages to get Lentham’s application for planning permission blocked. Now the flats plan is stymied, Lentham cannot afford to hold on to the arcade and is forced to sell at a rock bottom price. Mr Simpson is doing so well from the supermarket, he can afford to buy the freehold, become his own landlord, and save his business.

The Four Marys inform the snobs of this and punish them by tipping rubbish all over their study for them to clean up. Mabel is punished even more when she receives a call from her father that the world cruise holiday is off because the flats plan has failed. The Marys are delighted to hear this and treat Simpy to a celebratory tea.

Thoughts

Using false promises to help a loved one in order to blackmail a mug into doing what you want has been used in many DCT stories, such as “Meg and the Magic Robot” (Tracy) and “April Fool” (Mandy). However, it’s unusual in that it is the victim, Simpy who instigated her very own blackmail by sucking up to the snobs in the first place in the foolish hope they would save her father. Blackmailing Simpy wasn’t the snobs’ idea; they just take advantage once they realise why Simpy is being ‘nice’ to them all of a sudden. If it had been the snobs who had concocted the blackmail we would have been more sympathetic to Simpy. But really, Simpy brought the whole thing on herself. Honestly, she should have known better after the long time she had known those snobs, and how much they despise her for being a scholarship girl. Even when Simpy finds she doesn’t trust Mabel because Mabel is ‘forgetting’ her promises, she still doesn’t suspect the snobs are just taking advantage of her. She carries on regardless, hoping it will be worth it if it saves her father. Perhaps Simpy wasn’t thinking clearly because she was so worried about her parents and desperation overrode her rationality.

Ironically, slaving to the snobs does help save Simpy’s father, but not in the way she expected. It’s because it prompted the other Marys to make their inquiry at the arcade itself and, once they saw it personally, realise the heritage value that could save it. It is less likely this would have occurred if Simpy had just confided in the Marys.

The Four Marys in Four Great Stories! [1994]

Bunty, , , ,

Published: Bunty Picture Library #372

Artist: Jim Eldridge

Writer: Unknown

Story 1: The Sad Schoolgirl

It looks like the resident snobs, Mabel and Veronica, are bullying a new first year, Abigail. Fieldy finds it a bit hard to believe Mabel and Veronica would bully first years while Simpy says the snobs have been behaving worse than usual. The snobs themselves deny it, but the evidence mounts against them and they get detention.

Then Abigail’s music box is stolen and found in the snobs’ study, so they going to be expelled. The snobs protest their innocence, and Raddy can’t quite believe the snobs would steal, even if they are not very nice. The Four Marys find it a bit odd that Abigail’s parents are being sent for as well as the snobs’.

Fieldy forms a theory. She tells Abigail there’s been a change of plan: her parents are not coming and the snobs are getting another chance. She then has the Four Marys keep watch that night, and they catch Abigail planting her purse in the snobs’ study. Abigail admits she faked everything because she did not like the school and was trying to get her parents to remove her. The Four Marys have Abigail confess to Mrs Mitchell. Soon after, the Four Marys watch Abigail leave and comment that Abigail got what she wanted in leaving the school, but she is leaving in disgrace. The snobs don’t thank the Four Marys for saving them, but the Four Marys were expecting that.

Thoughts

A similar Four Marys story (a flashback set in Victorian times) ran in one of the Bunty annuals. Unlike this story it ended happily, with the girl deciding to give St Elmo’s a chance and finding she liked it after all. The girl also had the grace not to frame any girl in particular for the ‘bullying’, as Abigail tried to do with the snobs. Getting someone expelled for something they didn’t do is despicable, even if it is someone who isn’t particularly nice. And all just to get what you want is pathetic. Abigail must have walked away with deep regrets as to what she did.

It is stretching things a bit as to how Fieldy managed to figure out Abigail was faking things. Maybe it was due to seeing it before – such as in the aforementioned flashback, perhaps?

Story 2: Boys at St Elmo’s!

St Bartoph boys are temporarily housed at St Elmo’s when their teachers come down with food poisoning (much to Miss Creef’s annoyance). The Four Marys find the boys are becoming a distraction because their presence is turning girls’ heads. Simpy complains nobody is turning up for hockey practice because of it. The other Marys are surprised to find Simpy later talking to James, the junior football captain, and suspect she has a fancy for him. It turns out Simpy was making arrangements with James to have a boy team play the girls in hockey practice to get their minds back on the game. But afterwards the Four Marys find they were not far wrong in assuming Simpy did have a fancy for James…

Thoughts

Aww, you just have to love the sight of boys in a Four Marys story! The Four Marys don’t often get the chance to meet boys, so it’s nice to see Simpy get it.

Story 3: Teacher Trouble

Miss Creef goes away on a course. The substitute teacher, Miss Wilson, is popular because her lessons are more fun than Miss Creef’s, and she even uses drama to help teach the girls the Industrial Revolution. Too bad Miss Wilson also takes an inexplicable dislike to one girl, Jenny Martin, and starts bullying her. Miss Wilson always gives Jenny failed marks on homework although Jenny did not shirk on it, and Jenny scores A’s and B’s with Miss Creef. Miss Wilson does not give proper explanations for the marks; she just says the homework was so awful she felt like ripping it up – and she actually does so at one point. In class she puts questions to Jenny in a harsh manner that makes Jenny too scared to think. Jenny becomes depressed and miserable and wonders if she has the problem.

Miss Wilson scowls when a girl mentions what a brilliant actress Jenny’s mother is. Realising it is a clue, the Four Marys check through entertainment pages in old newspapers and discover that years ago, Miss Wilson was passed over in a starring role for a stage production in favour of Jenny’s mother and was deeply disappointed about it. The Four Marys realise Miss Wilson is taking her old hurt out on Jenny and decide the only thing to do is report the matter to Mrs Mitchell.

After Mrs Mitchell speaks to both Miss Wilson and Jenny, Jenny thanks the Four Marys for their help while Miss Wilson, um, leaves St Elmo’s early. Miss Wilson’s bullying gives the girls a whole new appreciation for the strict, stuffy Miss Creef, which surprises her when she returns.

Thoughts

This is not a particularly new idea. One of “The Comp” Picture Story Libraries had a similar storyline, with a substitute teacher picking on Laura Brady in a far more spiteful manner than Miss Wilson because she had a long-standing grudge against Laura’s aunt. But a story about a bully teacher is always guaranteed to attract the readers because it’s so rooted in realism. The story’s got well thought-out dashes of realism, such as Jenny’s doubts about herself and wondering if it’s her fault.

It is a crying shame that Miss Wilson did turn bully teacher towards Jenny, as she is such a splendid teacher otherwise. Now she will have a blot on her record that will make it difficult to get another teaching job. If only she remembered that missing out on the role had nothing to do with Jenny and she should put the past aside.

Story 4: Mystery Girl

A new girl, Tara Brook, does not seem to be taking to St Elmo’s. She keeps quiet, shows little interest in the school, and is not setting out to make friends. The Four Marys invite her to their study to listen to tapes in the hope she will open up. She does for a while, but she closes up again when a Jez tape is suggested.

Then the Four Marys discover Jez’s real name is Gerard Brook, and they make the connection. Tara admits Jez is her brother, and he paid big money to send her to St Elmo’s. The trouble is, she misses her old school and friends and wants to return there. The Four Marys suggest Tara speak to her brother, but she says he’d be too upset. The Four Marys do it for Tara. Jez understands and allows Tara to transfer back to her old school. Jez gives the Four Marys some of his posters, tapes and records in gratitude for how good they were to Tara.

Thoughts

This picture story library begins and ends with new girls who can’t take to St Elmo’s and want to leave. At least Tara had more sense than Abigail and ended up leaving the right way – but telling someone how she felt – than by trying to do it by subterfuge. The Four Marys do well out of it too, meeting a pop star in person and getting presents from him!