Bunty – A Girl Like You

  • Bunty –  Bunty: #03 (01 Feb 1958) – #1550 (26 Sep 1987)
  • Life With Bunty –  Bunty:  #1551 (03 Oct 1987) – #1657 (14 Oct 1989)
  • Bunty – A Girl Like You–  Bunty:  #1658 (21 Oct  1989) – ?
  • Art: Doris Kinnear (1958-1987), Andy Tew (1988-2000)

Plot/Thoughts

While a few girl comics had generalised names like School Friend or Spellbound, the most common thing for the titles was  to be named after girls, i.e. Bunty, Judy, Tracy, Emma etc. Bunty isn’t the most common girls name, particularly these days,  so I think the name is more likely to bring up memories of the comic than a person. Bunty was represented  by a girl of the same name in the comic. For the majority of the Bunty publication she was the first thing you saw on the covers, but even after revamps, she still  survived  by moving inside the issue.

The first issue of Bunty had two girls featured on the cover a blonde and a curly black haired girl (the cover art for issue 1 by Doris Kinnear). The emphasis was more on the fact that this was a brand new comic with free gift rather than any cover character. The second issue again emphasized the free gift more than the Bunty character but it was now clear that the blonde girl was the comic’s namesake.

By Issue 3 the cover was dedicated to a Bunty comic strip. It was usually laid out with three small panels and one big panel for the pay off. There was no word balloons instead the story was told in short rhymes.  Sometimes competitions or advertised free gifts would take over the front cover but otherwise this format stayed for over 1500 issues, after which the cover had pictures depicting stories inside the comic instead.

Bunty started off as young girl with long blonde hair in plaits, later her image was updated, she seemed to look older and has a new shorter haircut. The other regular characters were her two parents, who would often be exasperated with her. Sometimes friends would pop up but mostly just as when it was convenient to the plot.

When the covers started to portray stories from inside the book. Bunty was moved to the back cover, although sometimes if an advertisement or Design a Fashion was on the back cover the strip was inside. The strip was named Life With Bunty. Her hair was short and curly and now it was a longer strip more of a story and more dialogue with word balloons, no more ryhming captions. It was still wrote as a humour strip.

This only lasted a 100 or so issues, then Bunty got revamped again. With issue 1658, the comic was now being printed  on glossy paper and inside a lot more fully coloured strips appeared. The Bunty strip was renamed again; as Bunty-A Girl Like You. I believe a regular artist for this was Andy Tew. Again Bunty got a new hairstyle to depict the change, this is even commented on on the first strip.

Her parents were still there and still recognizable as their earlier counterparts. Two more regulars were added; friends Lisa and Jo and they became a permanent trio. Jo was a black curly haired girl (I wonder if she was a nod to that black curly haired girl that appeared on the first issue!) and Lisa a red head. Often these strips concentrated on Bunty’s crush of the week, or fashion, so it was a lot more teen aimed than earlier strips. Bunty as a humour strip of a teenage girl also seemed to replace the younger Toots model.

Its good to see the comics namesake survived throughout the years and the character of Bunty was a memorable one.

14 thoughts on “Bunty – A Girl Like You

  1. Bunty shows how girls – or perhaps, the perception of girls has changed in UK comics. But one thing always stayed the same – Bunty was a humour strip, with Bunty ending up in some scrape or other, whether she was in rhyme or speech balloons.

    Are you going to do something similar for Mandy? It would be interesting to see how she has changed since 1967. Probably not as much as Bunty – her hair always stayed the same. Her humour was different. There would be an activity, a word, or play on a word on that appeared on the front cover. On the back it was used as a running gag that got Mandy into all sorts of scrapes, that either ended happily or otherwise. For example, a visit to the observatory would lead to a running gag centred on ‘stars’ – no stars for falling asleep in class, seeing stars when she banged her head – but ending happily in seeing her favourite stars at a pop concert. Another running gags I remember included ‘ups and downs’, ‘guessing’, ‘knots’, ‘losing time’ and ‘notes’.

  2. I for one have no idea who drew the first Bunty. Girls comics didn’t have credits – except for when Tammy ran some 1982-1984. Other comics, such as 2000AD and Battle, always had credits, so we know some artists’ names there. Other names are known from comic book researchers and experts, interviews, artists’s signatures, or general networks. But a lot of artists and writers are still unknown. There’s still a lot of research being done in that area, mind you!

  3. This is an interesting article to show how the Bunty character has changed over the years.

    I remember my mum buying me Bunty when I was 11(in earlt 1999) and one of the most memorable strips was ‘Bunty – A Girl Like You.’ The storylines I remember the most are the ones where Bunty is getting ready for when her dad’s new boss comes to visit, but by the time she’s finished, the boss had already left; and Bunty having a cold, leading her friends to say that it’ll be gone by summer but that’s when Bunty’s hayfever starts!

  4. I found on anothercomics forum that the artist for ‘Bunty – A Girl Like You’ could be named Andy Tew. This isn’t definite, though. The entry said ‘Andy Tew, I think’.

  5. I used to love Bunty! When my Nana would visit me here in Canada she’d bring a bag full of sweeties and an annual for me. Miss you Nana! When God comes a knockin’ I can’t wait to be with you again

  6. Hi fan alike, I’m a part fan, but I have been wondering, if any of you fans out there in BUNTY world have any knowledge on what these comics are worth now, it just I’m looking at selling, I have, Bunty, the Beano & the Dandy comics. the Dandy comic number 65 is going for AU $646, so if you could help with pricing it would benefit us all. Go Bunty fans go, power to su all.

    1. If you haven’t already seen it, it’s worth looking at the website for 30th Century Comics. They are the biggest UK retailer in vintage comics, and carry a big online catalogue, priced according to a fairly detailed grading system. It should help to give you an idea of how the market value of comics varies according to age and condition.

      https://30thcenturycomics.co.uk/catalogue-index/

      By the way, Lorradmin, it might be worth noting on this post that the Bunty Girl Cover artist is now known to be Doris Kinnear.

  7. Goof is correct when he states that 30th Century Comics have an on-line catalogue, but Rob, Will, and Sandy’s stock is still in their shop at 18, Lower Richmond Road, PUTNEY, SW15 1JP, on which they will still be paying the rent. Where else could they possibly store their massive stock of comics, books, and other merchandise? Presumably they have fully-functioning burglar alarms! My last purchase from them was from their on-line catalogue, and their service was just as efficient as it always had been.

  8. I used to read these annuals when Iived in the countryside in West Yorkshire. I used to share Bunty, Twinkle, Mandy and Tammy with my friends then Jackie.

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