Another DC Thomson writer identified – Anne Bulcraig started to write for M&J before unfortunately the comic was merged in Bunty. She wrote some Mandy Picture Story Library Books and at least one of the stories she wrote initially for M&J was later published in Bunty.
Anne loved Bunty and Mandy comics when she was younger, so when she was 23 she sent in a short story to DCT. The Mandy editor at the time, Bill Moodie, liked it and published it as a text story in an annual. Anne can’t remember the name of the story but it was about a girl who’s dad booked her family a surprise holiday (Update – thanks to April commenting this may be story Something in the Air from Mandy Annual 1998). Bill then asked her to write some scripts for M&J/ Mandy PSL.
“I earned around £40 per script so not much, even then, but it was a lovely feeling to write for my childhood mag.”
The scripts were then sent to artists, most of which were in Spain. We know a couple of the artists that drew for Anne’s short spooky stories in Scream! , one of which was indeed Spanish, Carlos Freixas drew “Green Fingers” (which was later republished as “Selfish Sarah” in a Bunty Annual). Another Picture Story Library Anne wrote was Model Sister about a girl who tries to uncover her sister’s secret enemy and help her succeed at being a model. The Picture Story Library Books stopped being published in 1997, at the same time Anne had wrote serials for M&J, but the comic also folded in 1997 and was merged into Bunty.
(Green Fingers – Mandy Picture Story Library #272)
List of Stories written by Anne Bulcraig
- Something in the Air – Mandy Annual 1998 (unconfirmed but fits with author’s description)
- Model Sister – Mandy Picture Story Library #264
- Scream! – Mandy Picture Story Library #272
- Green Fingers reprinted as Selfish Sarah – Bunty Annual 2001
- Miss Fortune – Bunty unkown publication date
John Armstrong drew Miss Fortune.
Thanks for information, Do you know when it was published?
No, I don’t remember and I have no issues with the story. Somewhere in the 1990s.
Going by the annual text story’s description, I’m pretty sure it’s Something in the Air in the Mandy 1998 annual.
I recently won a bid of the Mandy Scream! picture story library on eBay. I made a bid for it because I was intrigued to see what the Green Fingers story looked like before it was reprinted as Selfish Sarah in the Bunty 2001 annual.
Thanks for the suggestion April, I’ve now read the story and agree it sounds like it could be that, and timeline works out considering that 1998 Annual, was probably being put together in early 1997.