• The Amazing Valda – Mandy:  #91 (12 October 1968) – #110 (22 February 1969)
• Reprinted – Mandy: #367 (26 January 1974) – #386 (08 June 1974)
• Reprinted as Valda Champion Diver and Girl of Mystery – Lucky Charm: #1 (1979)
• Art: Dudley Wynne
• Full list of Valda stories

Plot

This was the second Valda story published after the The Truth About Valda. Having tested her ice-skating skills in the previous story, Valda now turns her attention to diving competitions. The story begins with Valda awakening in her cave looking like an old woman. She restores her youth and strength by bathing in the Fire of Life, a process that would be fatal to anyone else. Soon after, she rescues a boy who falls into the sea when part of a cliff collapses. Impressed by her diving, local fishermen encourage her to enter a swimming gala happening in a nearby village that day.

Although she performs a perfect dive, the day’s exertions leave her exhausted and apparently dead. A doctor declares her deceased, only to be shocked when she awakes in the ambulance. Realising she cannot compete in further competitions without access to the Fire of Life, she takes a rock with a gem inside and lets it bathe in the fire of life so it passes some of its properties to the gem. Placing it inside a locket will allow her to use it to restore her when she needs it.

As Valda travels the coast entering diving competitions, she attracts both friends and enemies. One such person is arrogant swimmer Luigi Grandi, whom she humiliates after he recklessly endangers a child, Valda gives him the same treatment, surprising him by picking him up and dropping him from a ship also. He tries to stop her from competing and sabotages a boat she is on, she doesn’t make it back in time for competition but proves her skill anyway by diving from a helicopter. A greater threat comes from reporter Mr Marler, who becomes obsessed with uncovering the secret of the mysterious Valda. Throughout the story, Marler gathers clues suggesting that Valda has been alive for centuries, yet he repeatedly loses proof through Valda’s intervention. He takes one opportunity to take Valda’s gem, after she loses it while swimming with some children. The gem’s powers is activated in the sunlight and Valda has to knock it from his hand in to a dark swimming pool before it does him too much damage, though he does end up with a burn on his hand. Several people from Valda’s past recognise her or find out part of her history. Count Bassani becomes an ally after learning that she helped his ancestors generations earlier, and vouches for her being a representative of his island’s country when a competition needs each competitor to represent a country. Bassani dismisses any questions from Marler. At another competition Valda needs her birth certificate, she gets it from her grotto and gets the town clerk to sign a statement that he has seen it but to forget everything else about the encounter. Marler sees the note which says she is born in ’48 making her 26 (at time of publishing) but he notices it doesn’t state 1948 so it could have been 1848 or even 1748.

In town of Malermo, Valda meets another man from her past, a traitor to resistance fighters, now going under a new name. He gets nervous about Valda, and when Marler begins questioning him, he decides he must get rid of them both. He tries to push Marler off a bridge but they both go over. Valda dives in and pulls Marler to safety she goes back for the other man but he has drowned. Next Marler meets with 2 women who both skated against a mysterious Valda, though 40 years apart. Madame Beck says the Valda she knew was left with a scar after a clumsy skater knocked into her. Marler sees a scar when Valda is depleted but after using the gem the scar disappears. Another time, he takes an old document from a museum with Valda’s signature refuting the accusation of her being a witch and wants to compare it to a present day autograph, but Valda uses the gem to fade the signature on the document and burn the autograph. He thinks he finally gets evidence he needs after, one competition where Valda has to withdraw, she gets the winning diver, Maria, to come with her to her grotto, so they can compete with Marler as judge. Marler sees her bathe in the flames of life, and Valda wins against Maria, but afterwards she gives them a drink that will make them both forget the events.

Next Valda meets an arrogant diver Carmen Rova, she does not take losing to Valda well even though it was close competition. She challenges Valda to dive off cliff called Ceaser’s Leap,  but Valda refuses, even though there is a legend of a girl that did it before, Valda says in the years conditions have changed and the water is no longer as deep. But Carmen will not listen and dives anyway. Valda has to take a running dive to land further out in the sea and rescues her. Not all the girls she competes against are so antagonistic. When Valda enters to win the Silver Dolphin trophy, she meets a girl Nina Valli, and learns because of a health condition which means Nina will only be able to compete for the trophy this one time and then retire from diving. She wants to win as her mother Fran had years before. Fran had also hidden the trophy in the war to stop it getting into enemy hands she had joined the resistance and died not long after Nina was born. Valda had dived against Fran losing narrowly. It’s close competition between Valda and Nina too, on the last dive Nina is weakened but Valda helps revive her so she can give her best dive. Valda knowing she has other years she can win the trophy, holds back a little on her last dive so Nina wins. Only Marler suspects what she as done.

Marler’s hunt for Valda’s secret becomes more troublesome as he tries to investigate a statue under repair that looks like Valda, but was built 50 years ago. Marler nearly falls from the crumbling stone but Valda rescues him the statue gets smashed in the process. At the next town, Valda is presented a medal a presumed ancestor of her help with rescue after an earthquake but disappeared before they could give thanks. A local diver Sophie does not like the fuss over Valda. After losing to Valda, she challenges her to dive at waterfall known as the Devil’s Cauldron, Valda refuses to take such a foolish risk. Sophie does the dive and after snatches the medal from Valda calling her a coward, she goes to throw medal in water but slips, and Valda dives in after her, proving she is not a coward and will do the dive if necessary, such as to save someone. She does not care about the medal being lost.

Valda’s next competitor gets arrested for smuggling before the competition, but Valda finds out a man she knew Henri Dupont under a false name is the real culprit, she breaks Rosa out of jail and forces Henri to confess. Next she meets an old diver Maria Franchesci, she knows of Valda’s secrets and because of financial difficulties she has written a book about her life and Valda is included. Marler overhearing want to pay Maria for her book, but Valda has discovered Maria’s long disappeared husband had fallen down a hole leading to the sea and with him a valuable necklace that Maria can use for financial security. When Valda returns the necklace Maria throws her manuscript away, keeping Valda’s secrets.

While following Valda yet again, Marler drives off a cliff and Valda rescues him missing her last competition against a champion, Trudi. She brings him to the Fire of Life to restore him. Afterwards Marler hurries away but Valda plans burys her grotto in a cave in. Marler tells his editor of the story but with the cave gone, there is no proof, it’s just a wild story. Valda faces and wins against Trudi, who takes the loss graciously. Marler follows Valda, despite her saving his life, he and his two friends plan to get information from her by any means. He grabs her gem and it starts burning him, and he throws it away. Valda dives into the sea to get it but does not reappear. Marler believes he has witnessed the end of Valda, although his editor who arrived on the scene, suspects the mysterious diver’s story may not be over.

Thoughts

Another classic Valda story, which also had the honour of being the first reprinted story in the Lucky Charm series, a good choice to entice readers, it must have been popular as Lucky Charm reprinted 2 other Valda stories in it’s short run. In this story again Valda is taking part in sporting competitions, diving instead of ice skating, sequels after this would have less emphasis on sporting events and more interest in her long life and her using her knowledge to help people. As I mentioned in previous story I think Valda has an unfair advantage over her competitors even if she is not interested in collecting the prizes and trophies. Still she does compete against some arrogant people that you don’t mind seeing her taking them down a peg or two! And when it matters such as in her competition with Nina, she doesn’t take away her one chance to win.

This is also the first story that we are introduced to the gem that she can use to temporarily restore her youth. Though there are inconsistencies, as we see her form the gem, but later it is referenced of Valda having it in the past as well (unless she regularly makes gems!). Marler also seems to forget the last time he held the gem it burnt his hand yet is surprised when it starts burning him at the end when he grabs it. After all his investigation and seeing supernatural qualities of Valda, he is also quick to believe at the end of the story that she has died!

Despite some inconsistencies, it is good to see in this story there are references to her recent ice-skating escapades, so that has not been forgotten. There are some repetitive storylines with 2 arrogant girls challenging Valda to do more dangerous dives after losing in a standard pool. There are also a lot of older people who are shocked to seeing a young Valda then immediately think she is a young relative. I do think Valda is funny and coy, never lying outright, just agreeing in a non committal way, like when someone says she must be ancestor she says “That might account for the resemblance”. She does show she wants to abide by rules in her own way, when she has to represent a country she lived in, she chooses the island Ancola, because she technically lived there for 12 months 150 years ago during a siege, or when she has to produce her birth certificate she does, but makes sure the information more widely shared is abbreviated.