Plot:
Penny Farrell is a rising tennis star as the result of her partnership with T Jones. But there is something strange about T Jones, who seems to have powers of precognition.
Notes:
- This story is influenced by the football-based 1948 text serial “The Goal Maker”, from The Wizard.
Appeared:
- Penny’s Partner – Tracy: #38 (21 June 1980) – #44 (02 August 1980)
The tennis serial Penny’s Partner ran in Tracy 38 (Jun. 21 1980) – 44 (Aug. 2 1980). The story is influenced by the football-based text serial The Goal Maker, which ran in The Wizard 1191 (Nov. 6 1948) – 1210 (Apr. 23 1949), and dealt with Redstoke United’s ace inside-right, Pickford, who was of the people of the Phoenix, and who seemed to have had three previous existences, all twenty years apart. Penny’s Partner is the third, in sequence, of four serials in Thomsons’ story papers for girls, all of which lean heavily on The Goal Maker for their theme and their story lines. It is also the most inconsequential, and gives the impression that it is little more than a filler. The other three, in order of appearance, are the outstanding serial The Dux From The Dead in Judy in 1970, The Face Of Romany Fortune in Spellbound in 1977, a wonderful fashion-based story that integrates most aspects of the plot and mystery of The Goal Maker, and Partner From The Past in Mandy in 1982, a tennis serial as was Penny’s Partner, but which reuses the three previous existences which were ignored in the latter, almost certainly because the story wasn’t long enough to encompass them and their ramifications.
That Thomsons thought highly of The Goal Maker is evidenced by their constant reuse of its theme. It was repeated in 1956, chosen as one of only four titles to appear in their Red Lion Library paperback series in 1962, repeated in pictures in The Victor in 1962 and 1969, his season as Capper appeared in Scoop in 1978, and his rebirth as Pengro came in 1981. Add the four girls’ titles to the mix and you have a legend!!