5: Revenge of the Little Old Ladies
Miss Cassidy’s Cat
Misty: #50
Artist: Isidre Mones
Jilly Dukes persecutes Mrs Cassidy’s cat, Lucifer. When Mrs Cassidy finds out, she takes revenge by shrinking Jilly. Well, Jilly did get a hint when Mrs Cassidy told her how old women used to be persecuted as witches for keeping cats.
Mrs Rossiter’s Cats
Misty: #5
Artist: Carlos Guirado
Mary Baxter regularly visits old Mrs Rossiter, who has a lot of cats. Mary thinks it is strange how Mrs Baxter always seems to have new ones all the time. The school bullies call Mrs Rossiter a witch, and say she has a reputation for it around the town. They steal the cakes Mary was bringing to her and then they smash her windows. Mrs Rossiter tells Mary she really is a witch and turns the bullies into cats. So now we know where all those cats come from.
The Revenge of Granny Godber
Misty: #41
Artist: Blas Gallego
Four girls bully Granny Godber in the street and wreck her shopping. Granny Godber goes into her garden and picks four flowers. As she does so, the bullies feel excruciating pain in their legs. Later their faces wither like flowers in a vase – which is where the flowers are now. The bullies scream that Granny Godber is behind it and she’s a witch. Their accusations are not taken seriously. In the last panel Granny Godber breaks the fourth wall with the following warning:
Thoughts
Talk about Grey Power. Here we have three Misty stories where girls bully little old ladies, but they pick on the wrong little old ladies. These little old ladies have the power to strike back. These little old ladies are not evil or malicious, as superstitious witch-hunting types would believe. They only used their powers when bullies assaulted them. They may have the powers, but they, not their victims, are ones who have our sympathy, because the victims brought the trouble on themselves with bullying/cruel behaviour. If these little old ladies were left alone, they would leave you alone.
Nice list. For the bullying theme, there was also the story, where a girl invites class mates to her birthday, then all that bully her disappear as she blows out each candle. One candle is left and she gives that to the girl who was nice to her. Can’t remember is witch term was used, but clearly she had some powers!
I omitted that story, “Happy Birthday, Spooky Sue!”, from the discussion. I’ve added a note explaining why.
Oh my goodness, I remember buying a few issues of Misty back in the 1970’s / 80’s and was amazed by how different it was compared to other Girls Comics of the same Period. I recall a Character and I think her name was Salah The Fire Girl, or something similar to this and her eyes shone like Glowing Coals of Fire! She could have been Born of Fire or something but it’s now so long ago that I can’t remember!
There was also this other Story which was about the Sand taking on the shape of a Human Girl so that it could visit our World but later turned back into Sand once more! Although I have forgotten the name of the Story I’ve always remembered the Story itself. Many years later this was to inspire the setting for one of my Poems which was originally named WILLOW SPIRIT OF THE DUNES, however I was to later change it to SHE OF THE WHISPERING DUNES, Composed February, 6-7th 2016.
The sand girl story was “Looking for Something Special”. It was in Misty 073 (30 June 1979), if you fancied reading it again.
Thank you so much! Is this Story available to read here? If anyone is interested in my Poem which was inspired by “Looking For Something Special” my Poems may be seen on Quora.Comm which includes my Poem SHE OF THE WHISPERING DUNES. Within this website I have my own Personal Space:
LUCIE’S POEMS AND WRITINGS. Most of my work is centred around Witches, Dragons, Faerie and Fire!
Hopefully, you can access the story from the website that Mistyfan has linked below, but if not, I’m happy to try and do a scan of the story for you.
Thank you! I shall certainly bear that in mind should I become stuck or in need of some further help.
§ WitchyWomanWriter §
Salah is from the Misty serial “The Salamander Girl”.
Thanks so much! I’m truly amazed that I actually remembered her name correctly; it was after all a very long time ago and so much Water has passed under the Bridge. I was thinking about things during the early hours and one of those thoughts was “Why didn’t I keep my Misty Comics and the few Annuals which I was in possession of?” It wasn’t as if they were causing any form of clutter! I guess we often have regrets about some decisions we’ve made in our Lives. By the way, how can I get to read about “The Salamander Girl?” I would really love to read what I missed!
§ WitchyWomanWriter §
You can download copies of Misty at this link https://britishcomics.wordpress.com
Salamander Girl is issues 5-9.
Thanks so much for the info and I look forward to following this up in due course! It’s been quite a few years since but I’m certain I shall enjoy reading them again.
§ WitchyWomanWriter §