I haven’t dived into humour comics on this site, but now is a good opportunity, with the release of the recent Cor!!Buster Special. While for girls comics DC Thomson publications was what I grew up on, for humour comics I tended to read Fleetway/IPC books; Buster and Whizzer & Chips (and though it was before my time I have a memory of reading Monster Fun special, either I had got it from an older relative or I am mis-remembering details!). Of course I did have the occasional DCT stuff like Beano and Beezer and Topper too. For the most part as humour comics were filled with self contained strips (with maybe the one ongoing serial, like “The Leopard from Lime Street” in Buster), there was less of need to follow every issue and easier to dip in and out of other comics.
Still there were favourite characters to follow and focusing just on Fleetway/IPC, I have fond memories of many of the characters that appeared in the comics such as; Ivor Lott and Tony Broke with Milly O’Naire and Penny Less, X-Ray Specs, Bewitched Belinda, Gums, Faceache, Top of the Class, Good Guy, Rodney & Dez, Beastenders and Bobby’s Ghoul. Some of which appear in the recent special. Of course with so many characters to choose from not all could make it to the special, but they have fit a lot into the comic, with 15 strips, puzzles and star-signs. For the nostalgic, people should enjoy seeing these old characters again, while some may not be keen on their new looks, I enjoyed the fresh take, and most importantly for the young people that this comic is really aimed at, there is lots to appeal to them. Lots of fun characters, different art styles and interesting stories.
Personal highlights for me:
Gums which managed to capture the old strips and modernise it perfectly, with Gums and Bluey (the surfer) joined by new character Sophie Justice, marine biologist. The art by Abigail Bulmer is kept pretty simple, with some great character expressions and Simon Bowland’s letters compliment it perfectly. It is a humorous story which still manages to touch on environmental and privacy issues. It was scripted by Lizzie Boyle, who is editor for the Tammy & Jinty special due out in June (2019), so I feel that special is in good hands.
Talking of editors, Who’s in Charge? is a fun strip where the editors of the old comics (such as Buster, Shiner from Chips, Frankie Stein from Monster Fun, and others) try to decide who should be in charge of the special. This strip follows on from a short feature about the characters. With script by John Freeman and art by Lew Stringer, this is a fun mash of characters, with some surprise appearances!
Of course with so many characters to choose from, having several appear in one strip, not only gives the opportunity to fit more characters in, but also allows some interesting interactions with characters, ones I wouldn’t have thought would go together. Such as I certainly wouldn’t have thought Captain Crucial Vs Fuss Pott would be an obvious choice, but the story works great, thanks to Lee Langford’s writing and Edward Whatley’s art.
Sure to be a favorite will be Tom Paterson’s Sweeney Toddler, where every panel is crammed with gags. Although confession time, while it is a good strip, Sweeney Toddler is a character I can take or leave, shocking I know! So I was more captivated by his other strip in the book;Grimly Feendish (with script by Ned Hartley), which only one page long but fits everything it need into just ten panels.
That’s the way of these comics is everyone will have their favourites and not all strips will work for everyone. As I mentioned I was a fan of the original Ivor Lott and Tony Broke with Milly O’Naire and Penny Less (though the title is a bit wordy!) and it was great to see these characters again, although this story lacked something for me. I would have liked to see all four characters interact with each other more, but I really liked the redesign, so I’d still be interested to see more. Which is the big takeaway from this special, that it would be great to see more of this. I’ve barely touched on all the stories, art work and such that is in this book, and the great work people have put into this book, so there is bond to be something that appeals to readers. Also an advantage with this revival (compared to old days) is getting to know some of the creators behind it, I’d recommend checking out 2000AD Thrill-Cast episode on this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKmGNHBKeVs)or reading some of the interviews on the 2000ad site (https://2000ad.com/tag/corandbusterspecial).
You can pick up the special from the shelves or through the 2000AD online shop (I opted for the bundle which includes 6 Rebellion specials out this year, and delivery has been very quick). I think any boy or girl would get a lot of fun out of this, so I hope it does well and I’m looking forward to the other specials that will be out this year too.
Susan Roberts decided she must be more like her sister, Jenny, who had been killed in an accident. But it was proving quite difficult for Sue a harum-scarum tomboy – to become hardworking, kind and gentle.
Notes
Artist: Carlos Freixas
Appeared
Saint Susan – Tracy: #173 (22 January 1983) – #188 (7 May 1983)
Only child Roberta Brown, known as Bobbie, mistakenly believed her father would rather have a son. So she was determined to be as much like a boy as possible.
Notes
Appeared
I’ll Be a Boy! – Tracy: #171 (08 January 1983) – #177 (19 February 1983)
Jill Johnson found a strange old bottle and in it lived two genies, Moona and Fatima. They promised to serve Jill, but the problem was they could never agree on anything.
Notes
Appeared
Jill’s Two Genies– Tracy: #165 (27 November 1982) – #176 (12 February 1983)
Thirteen-year-old Meg Ferns and her widowed mother have just moved to Redport. At her new school, Meg is impressed with the looks of Arlene Ainsley and her gang and wants to be friends with them. But they are snobs and don’t think she’s good enough for them.
Moira Samson does offer to be friends with Meg, but Meg declines as she still wants to get in with the Ainsley gang and they wouldn’t like Moira, whose background is not good enough for them either. When Meg sees Arlene’s glamorous mother she wishes her mother were like that instead of being in a factory job and doing nothing but housework when she comes home.
In town, Meg sees a glamorous model at a shoot and learns her name is Lillian Ferns – the same surname as hers. She thinks it would be so marvellous if Lillian were her mother. The snobs come along, talking about the same model. Before she knows what she is saying, Meg brags to them that the model is her mother. The snobs fall for it – except one, Priscilla. The other snobs are all over Meg now, but Priscilla means to investigate Meg’s claims.
So the double life of deception and its complications begin for Meg. And although she does not know it (yet) she has the added handicap of one girl being on to her from the start and determined to catch her out. Priscilla starts by checking out Lillian’s address (and Meg realises that’s more than she did) and having Meg invite them over to her “mum’s” house. At the house she convinces them that “Mum’s” not in, but she sees Priscilla hanging around to see if she does enter the house and realises Priscilla is suspicious. Seeing a key in the door, Meg takes advantage to enter the house, pretend she’s coming home, and hopefully throw Priscilla off the scent.
At this point Lillian catches Meg. Meg blurts out the whole story. Realising how desperate Meg is to keep those snobs from finding out, Lillian proceeds to take full advantage. She agrees to help with the pretence – on one condition. As Lillian has no housekeeper at the moment, Meg is to become her housekeeping slave, and without one penny in payment. It also means getting up extra early, dashing twelve miles to serve breakfast and back to school, back again at four for chores, back at any time Lillian wants her, do any catering she wants, etc, etc, … otherwise, she will tell those snobs the truth. And there is a verbal earbashing whenever Meg doesn’t do the job right. Er, what was that you said about it being so marvellous if Lillian were your Mum, Meg?
Of course this is soon causing difficulties, such as Meg getting lines for being late for school. But Meg is gaining in confidence because she is getting it so good for the Arlene gang and thinks she is real friends with them now. She throws a scare into Priscilla to hopefully throw her off, but Priscilla only pretends that it worked. Moira also warns Meg to be careful about getting on the wrong side of that snobby lot, but Meg doesn’t listen.
As Lillian has given Meg her house key for the chores, Meg has full access to the house to show it off to the snobs while Lillian is out. They lap up all the luxuries it offers. Priscilla takes advantage to do some snooping. As she suspected, she finds no photographs of Meg in the house or any bedroom that looks like hers. She also helps herself to the food Lillian laid out for the party she is going to hold that night. When Lillian finds out about the food, she is absolutely furious with Meg.
At the party Meg has to do all the waitressing. Ironically, one guest, Mr Tolman, comments that she looks photogenic and should consider modelling herself. Meg also spots Priscilla spying outside and rushes to close the curtains in an awful hurry. The trouble is, Lillian pulls them in the opposite direction, which causes the whole thing to come crashing down. Lillian really blows her top at Meg because she wanted to impress Mr Tolman as he owns the advertising company she wants to work for. Meg is also worried about what Priscilla will say the following day.
Next day at school, Priscilla laughs at Meg for dressing as a waitress and “curtain calls”. Meg manages to pass off the waitressing as a punishment for the food Priscilla scoffed, and kindly stop snooping. This makes Priscilla unpopular with the other snobs and Meg thinks she is now safe from her. Meg’s an even bigger hero than ever with them now, especially with Arlene. It now looks like all that slaving for Lillian is worthwhile. However, Priscilla is not only still suspicious but also upset that Meg has pushed her out and wants revenge.
Meg has another close call when Mum waves to her across the street and the Arlene gang comment on how common she looks. They buy Meg’s cover story that she’s the cleaning lady – except Priscilla, who notices that “the char” bears a strong resemblance to Meg and begins to put two and two together.
The same incident has Meg beginning to feel ashamed of the way she is treating her mother because of this deception. For the same reason she begins to get closer to Moira. But the gang warn Meg they will no longer be friends with her if she continues with “peasants” like Moira. At this, Meg realises how wrong she had been to bother with those snobs at all.
So Meg decides to end her deception, starting with revenge on Lillian. Meg tells Lillian she’s had enough of her and then heaves a bucket of dirty scrubbing water all over her. She hears with great satisfaction that she has ruined Lillian’s new Paris outfit, and then walks out.
Next day at school, Meg finds out she ended her deception at just the right time – the game is up anyway. Priscilla snooped into the school records, found Meg’s real address and her mother’s occupation, and has now informed the others. They are ready to confront her, but Meg stands up to them. Moira sees the commotion and rouses a prefect, who tells the snobs to clear off. Meg explains how it was really her fault to start with, but what makes her really ashamed over it all was how she let her mother down. The prefect tells Meg not to worry about that; she’s learned her lesson. Moira’s offer for friendship is still open, and this time Meg accepts.
Remembering how photogenic Meg looked, Mr Tolman tracks her down and gives her a job in TV adverts. Everyone is pleased for Meg – except for certain snobs who are green with envy.
Thoughts
There have been plenty of stories where protagonists run a double life, pretending their backgrounds are grander than they really are, all because of a bunch of snobs. Inevitably the deception gets complicated and there is no way they can keep it up indefinitely. The question is what will happen when the inevitable does happen. “Pop Starr” from Bunty is one example.
It’s unusual to have one girl suspicious of the deception from the start. Usually in these types of stories someone grows suspicious over time. That or the protagonist just gets caught right out. Perhaps it was the 62-page limit, which did not allow for one of the snobs to become suspicious over time. However, it does make the story even more exciting and different, having someone onto the protagonist from the very start. And Meg is quick to realise Priscilla suspects her, which sets a very exciting premise for keeping one step ahead. Meg soon proves she can do it very aptly, and is very deft at thinking quickly to get out things if those snobs get too close and foiling Priscilla’s attempts to catch her out. Unfortunately for Meg, she cannot get Priscilla off her back entirely, especially when Priscilla gets vengeful.
This deception story has the Cinderella and blackmail themes thrown into the mix as well, which makes it even more striking and interesting than a mere string of lies, close calls and complications as the deception snowballs and the protagonist falls deeper and deeper into a sticky web of deceit. The true real-life personality of the glamorous model Lillian Ferns is there to teach Meg to appreciate what she’s got in her own mother and being rich and famous does not necessarily mean an improvement. The lesson is slow in coming, though. It takes Meg’s treatment of her mother as part of her deception to make the lesson sink in.
There are always prices the protagonist has to pay while carrying out her deception. Meg’s biggest one is becoming an unpaid slave to Lillian Ferns. Lillian Ferns comes from another popular theme in girls’ comics: a famous celebrity who is in fact a nasty piece of work in real life. “Aunt Aggie” (Tammy) and “Everyone’s Perfect Mum” (Mandy) are other examples. Not to mention using blackmail to turn the protagonist into their slave, and there are countless examples of that in girls’ comics. It is obvious that Lillian’s treatment of Meg stems from her being tight-fisted, not to mention being a bully and bad employer. She can well afford a housekeeper instead of using Meg as unpaid help, and pay Meg well for what she’s doing. But she does neither. We bet the reason Lillian doesn’t have a housekeeper is that the last one quit because Lillian was just as horrible to her. It would not be surprising if quite a few housekeepers had quit Lillian’s employment already and she’s now on a number of blacklists at employment agencies. With any luck the real-life Lillian will be found out and it won’t just be her new outfit that gets ruined. Lillian’s treatment of Meg has already ruined her chances with Mr Tolman and even got the job in Lillian’s place. Lillian will be absolutely fuming when she finds out. And the irony is, it’s all her own fault because of the way she treated Meg.
There are a few ironies too, in the way Meg develops through her deception. For example, Meg becomes accepted by the snob gang she finds her confidence growing, but in the wrong way. Her true confidence comes when she decides she’s had enough of Lillian and stands up to her. And heaving that bucket of water in Lillian’s face is absolutely priceless! We don’t often see protagonists in blackmail stories turning around and getting their own back on their blackmailers, so we just love seeing it here. Meg also develops quick wits and thinking on her feet in the way she can pull herself out of those sticky situations she get herself into.
We reckon that if the snobs had not found Meg out she would have told them anyway, and tell them to sod their stuck-up ways too. Which is of course what she should have done in the first place when the Arlene gang turned her down because they were so stuck up. But instead she wants to continue pursuing them despite their snobby rudeness to her. Even then she can see there is a good friend waiting in Moira, but keeps throwing it away because she is wasting time and energy trying to get in good with those snobs.
Silver linings do come out of the clouds in this story. As well as becoming more mature, confident and learning what true friends are made of, Meg also gets a glamorous job and possible future career out of it all. So life will become a lot better for Meg and her mother. And we can just see Lillian’s face when she finds out about Meg’s job.
The Blind Ballerina – Judy: #187 (10 August 1963) – #202 (23 November 1963)
Reprinted – Judy: #786 (01 February 1975) – #801 (17 May 1975)
Reprinted – Judy: #1064 (31 May 1981) – #1079 (13 September 1981)
Reprinted (as Judy classic) – M&J: #103 (1 May 1993) – #118 (14 August 1993)
Artist: Paddy Brennan
Plot:
Carol Scott, a promising young dancer, gets a prominent role in a ballet “The Enchanted King” produced by the Del Solta Ballet Company. Her friend Alison Taylor, has a smaller part in the production. On opening night, tragedy strikes when a chandelier breaks loose and injures Carol. She is heartbroken when the accident leaves her blind but Alison, is determined to help Carol dance again — even if it means giving up her own chance in ballet. When the Del Solta Ballet Company are to go on tour, Alison chooses to leave the company, so she can stay with Carol. She gets a job in a coffee shop and finds herself and Carol lodgings. Carol is still despondent after the accident, so Alison knows she must soon put her plan in action, to get Carol dancing again. By volunteering to give ballet lessons at a youth club she is given permission to use the hall when it is free. After a first failed attempt of blocking out the stage in boxes and trying to get Carol to memorize the steps, Alison get the better idea to make the markings in tape and have Carol dance barefoot so she can feel the stage, this is more successful.
Carol soon gains confidence and can can dance without the tape aids. When a chance arises with a small ballet company, the Beaumont Ballet Company, the girls plan for Carol to audition before revealing her sight loss. As the stage will be a different size to what they have practiced on, they have to sneak in to practice before the audition.Unknown to them, a reporter, Peter Gough, sees them practicing and wants to investigate further and find out what their secret is. At the audition Carol succeeds in getting the soloist part, with no one suspecting her disability. Another ballerina, Freda Winters, is not happy as she wanted her friend, Gladys Payne, to get the part. There is more trouble brewing, as Peter is reporting on the audition and he notices Carol doesn’t blink at bright flash of a camera and he figures out she is blind. This is a big story for him and Carol’s secret makes the front page of the newspaper the next day. Simon Sands, the company manager, calls Carol in and tells her he will have to let her go as the company can’t afford a flop. But his mind is quickly changed when a large queue forms to see the show with the blind ballerina. Everyone helps out with Carol and the show is a great success, but not everything is rosy as now Carol has a secret enemy in Freda.
At a very important show, Freda sets out to make a fool of Carol by standing out of place. Luckily Carol hears her new position, due to a creak on the floor and is able to adjust accordingly. Freda gets a talking to by Madame Richter, but nobody suspects it was anything other than an accident. Next, Mr Sands has big news about their next production “The Peasant Prince”, an American film maker will be coming to watch and may include the ballet in his film about British life, which would be great publicity for the small company. He tells only Carol and Alison about this and he wants to keep it quiet, so he is not happy with the news is leaked. He blames, Carol and Alison, when in fact Freda is at fault as she had overheard their conversation and made an anonymous call to reporter. Alison find out when the call was made and luckily her and Carol are cleared as they have an alibi for that time. The leak turns out to be in their favour when Olga Merrova, a prima ballerina that had danced Carol’s part in “The Peasant Prince”, is touched by the story of the blind ballerina and comes to help.
After this, Jack Weston, the American film maker wants to film the company and takes them to big house in the country where he is staying. In one room all his film is left hanging, where nobody is allowed enter.. Freda tricks Carol taking down the sign, so she can’t feel it but once inside Carol notices her mistake and knows she’ll have to move very carefully to avoid damaging the film. Then she notices a leak and ends up saving the film from more damage. Freda knows that Gladys caused the leak by leaving the taps on and while Gladys has not stopped Freda’s tricks before this, now Freda uses this to blackmail her into being more active in getting rid of Carol. Freda tries to change tactics and become friendly with Carol, so she can spot opportunities to get rid of her. On a warm day she suggests they have lunch on the roof and then has Gladys call Alison away. She then leaves the fire escape gate open and pretends to tie her shoe lace, with the intention that Carol will fall down the steps, which she would have done if not for Alison returning just in time. Her next trick can’t be passed off as an accident, as pretending to be Alison she does Carol’s makeup for a serious production, making her a clown. Again luckily Alison finds her and fixes her makeup in time, but now they both know, Carol has a secret enemy and they have a clue as Freda was wearing a strong perfume. After tracking down the perfume brand, they cleverly figure out it is Freda. Carol thinks back on the other incidents and realises what she thought were accidents, were actually planned.
They need evidence to bring to Mr Sands, in the meantime Carol’s confidence is shaken as she can’t trust Freda and still has to work with her. Soon after Freda ends up outing herself, after another trick she plays. After locking Carol in her dressing room, Carol accidentally brushes against electric fire, setting her costume on fire. Everyone rushes to help, after hearing her shouts for help and Mr Sands finds a flower from Freda’s costume in the room. Confronted Freda admits locking but denies having anything to do with the fire. She is of course dismissed from the production but that is not the end, as now she’s even more determined to get back at Carol. Gladys is still friendly with Freda and let’s her know what is going on in the production, including Carol taking over Freda’s part. Freda wants Gladys to give her access to backstage but she is reluctant to be involved in the vendetta she only agrees after Freda blackmails her. Freda loosens a platform that Carol has to leap from, causing her to fall on opening night, but it has an unexpected side affect of bringing back her sight. While this is wonderful news for Carol, it does leave Alison wondering what her place is, she was never as good a dancer as Carol and without practice all her work is lost. Meanwhile Mr Sands has been investigating what happened to the platform and Gladys confesses and apologies to Carol for her part in it. After this Carol finally gets Alison to confess her unhappiness, but it turns out Mr Sands does still have a part for her in company. All her work with Carol has led her to become a good choreographer and arranger, so they both can stay with the company and embark on their new ballet careers.
Thoughts
The Blind Ballerina‘s popularity probably led to the many stories with girls facing similar obstacles. It is a set -up that is ripe for drama, as an underdog story, a girl pursuing what she loves and not letting her disability stop her from succeeding, not to mention other obstacles such as jealous rivals or prejudiced people. Jinty had it’s own “Blind Ballerina” story, but there were also blind girls wanting to compete in ice-skating, running and tennis such as in “The Courage of Wendy Evans” (Diana), “Running Blind” (Tracy), and “Becky Never Saw the Ball” (Tammy) and there were many other similar stories with other disabilities. While the premise might seem unbelievable, The Blind Ballerina is well plotted and the inventive ways Carol learns to dance in this new situation is inspiring, as are those who support her. We want to see Carol succeed and are happy when she does, so it’s pity the positivity of that message is a bit undermined when Carol gets her sight back (after a convenient bump to the head, cure of all illnesses in these comics!). It seems the only way she could be truly successful, is for her to get her sight back and yes, realistically her dancing would be limited if she stayed blind but as the story had already showed, she could still have success and happiness, with the support of those around her. Still the reader would be glad that Carol (and Alison) got a happy ending.
While Carol is the” blind ballerina” of the title, there are really two protagonists in this story and Alison is actually the more active character at times, particularly at the start of the story. She is the one to take the initiative to get Carol dancing again and coming up with solutions to make it work. There is sort of parallel between there stories, as Carol believes after the accident she will never dance again until Alison helps her, then when Carol gets her sight back it seems Alison won’t be able to have a dancing career. It is quite devastating blow for Alison as she has sacrificed so much for Carol, and she is realistically upset that it has left her with no future. Luckily she finds another satisfying career path in ballet, thanks to her work with Carol (and arguably a more suited career for her).
Both Carol and Alison are smart characters, but even they take some time to figure out someone is against Carol, but that is more due to being Freda being very crafty, at least in the start. By deliberately messing up Carol’s make up, Freda slips up as now it is obvious that Carol has an enemy, which leads to her downfall, whereas the first tricks could have been dismissed as accidents. It’s funny that initially Freda’s vendetta against Carol is on behalf of her friend Gladys. It is later that her own jealousy grows and she starts feeling threatened by Carol and of course after Freda is dismissed, Carol does get her part. Gladys doesn’t seem as upset about Carol getting her part in the first audition, though she has no interest in being friendly with her, she is not plotting revenge. She does nothing to stop Freda’s tricks, but she does have to be blackmailed into participating in them. It’s a wonder how she stays friends with Freda, though she seems to be a more easily led and doesn’t have a lot of sense. While she has to be coerced into confessing at the end she is genuinely remorseful for her part, unlike Freda.
This is an enjoyable read, the story is well plotted and paced, it doesn’t rush the ending and the main characters are all pretty well developed. The art is also gorgeous (I think it’s Paddy Brennan? if anyone can confirm) and I particularly like the title boxes that depict the main characters and hints at events in the story. It’s unsurprising that it had several reprints, one of which was as a Judy classic in M&J, the only ballet story to appear in that comic.
Esther Blake is having a hike out on Storm Peak with her father and brother Tom. Suddenly, a storm comes in without warning and lightning strikes Esther. Her condition almost kills her several times in hospital, and she has to be revived by artificial respiration, hovering between life and death.
When Esther returns home she starts having nightmares of her family being cruel towards her. They force her to do all the work while mocking, bullying and beating her. They sneer at how she has to do everything by hand, with no modern labour-saving devices to help her. She is dressed in rags and the house is shabby and run down.
Then Esther’s cousin Astra arrives to stay. Everyone marvels at how she could be Esther’s twin, except for the colour of her hair. Esther notices how she and Astra are virtual mirror image opposites. Astra even has the same scar on her left arm that Esther has on her right. Hmm, doppelganger alert here?
What the story pays less attention to verbally, but can be seen in most of the panels, is that Astra is wearing a star-shaped necklace. Meanwhile, Astra is making odd remarks about things she should not know about that have Esther becoming suspicious of her – in a worried sort of way.
In true doppelganger fashion, Astra is soon causing big trouble for Esther. She plays sly tricks to get Esther into trouble with the family and then sweetly telling them, oh please, please, don’t blame Esther. What makes it so easy is that the family always seem to instantly believe the worst of Esther despite Astra’s sugary sweet attempts to convince them otherwise – as if they were being poisoned or under a spell of some sort. And while they are harsh with Esther, they make a big fuss over Astra and what a sweet girl she is.
It’s exactly the same thing at school once Astra starts there with Esther. Astra’s tricks and everyone oddly assuming the worst of Esther all the time soon get Esther into big trouble with the teachers and losing her friends. Esther’s performance begins to suffer, both academically and athletically, and it’s not just because of Astra. Esther feels oddly tired and unwell and can’t understand why. Esther is soon pushed out of the sports teams while Astra takes her place. Everyone comments on Astra’s sporting performance being just like what Esther’s used to be (another clue?).
By now Esther has realised that Astra is pushing her out of everything and deliberately turning everyone against her. But she soon finds trying to speak out does no good with everyone just assuming the worst of her all the time.
Meanwhile the nightmares continue, but now they seem to be more than just nightmares. In one dream, the evil family chase Esther into brambles and thorns. When Esther wakes up she finds scratches on her arms and legs that were not there before. In another dream the abusers force her to scrub the floor until her hands are raw, and she still has to scrub. Next morning, Esther finds her hands look and feel exactly that way. She also suspects that Astra knows the contents of the dreams.
Then Esther dreams she is back on Storm Peak, and being hit by lightning. Astra and the evil parents come up behind her. Astra jeers that they have come for her, and eggs them on to carry Esther off. Esther breaks free of them but gets hit by lightning. When Esther wakes up, she is surprised to see Astra looking white and scared for a change. She realises Astra is scared because she knows about the dream.
Realising the dream means something, Esther heads straight to Storm Peak first thing in the morning. As she climbs up the peak, she sees Astra has followed.
Astra explains that she is the evil side of Esther. The lightning accident caused her to come in from a parallel universe where everything is the opposite of what it is in this one. Her plan is to take Esther’s place in this universe and drive Esther into the other universe, where the abusive versions of Esther’s family are waiting. Sure enough, they start appearing and Astra urges them to take Esther.
But Esther doesn’t think so because there is something different about Astra this time. Next second she realises what it is – Astra does not have her necklace. When Astra sees this, she screams that she’s lost her protector – “He-elp!” (Oh dear, Astra, left the house in too much of a hurry, did you?) Then lightning strikes both girls. Esther falls unconscious. Presumably because the protector is missing, the evil parents grab Astra and ignore her pleas for them to take Esther instead.
When Esther regains consciousness she finds everything is back to normal. All trace of Astra has disappeared and nobody but Esther knows anything about her. It’s as if Astra never existed at all. Esther concludes it must have been a dream or something. But later, Esther gets a nasty shock when Mum turns up Astra’s necklace while spring-cleaning. Dream – or what?
Thoughts
Evil doubles that are created to cause trouble for the protagonist until the protagonist finds the way to destroy them are not new in girls’ comics. But this one goes way above the usual doppelganger format because it’s got so many other well-established, popular formats thrown into the mix as well: the Cinderella theme, abusive guardians, the scheming troublemaker, the evil influence theme, and the regrettably less-used theme of the alternate reality. What’s not to like about this story? It brings together so many of the DCT themes that are always so popular on their own. Together they make for a really intense, exciting and crackling story where the protagonist is attacked on all sides from the threats posed not only by the evil double but also by the other themes listed above.
The scheming troublemaker who pushes the protagonist out with nasty tricks was one of the most frequent themes at DCT, but this version really catches the eye because it has supernatural elements attached. There are hints that Astra is exerting some evil influence on everyone to make them act so negatively towards Esther. We suspect this even more so once it is revealed that Astra’s necklace has powers of some sort. And it’s not because the antagonist is just spiteful or jealous as most troublemakers usually are. It has a far more sinister purpose – to weaken Esther and soften her up for transportation to the alternate reality while Astra takes Esther’s place.
However sinister the undertones of the scheming troublemaker scenes, they don’t hold a candle to the night terror dreams. These are truly the best moments of the story and what make it truly frightening. It’s even more terrifying when we find out that this is actually the fate that lies in store for Esther if Astra succeeds. This makes the climactic scene of Esther struggling against the evil guardians all the more electrifying – and it’s not just the lightning.
Ironically, the nightmares of the evil guardians also add a sympathetic element to the evil Astra. When we see what life is like at home for Astra through Esther’s nightmares we can certainly understand why Astra wants to escape that universe. But we are not going to have her throw Esther into that hellish universe in her place.
Here the Cinderella theme of girls’ comics gets turned on its head. Instead of some talent helping her escape her misery and getting a happy ending, the Cinderella gets thrown back into that life of abuse and drudgery. We may feel a pang of pity for Astra there. Yet we still want her gone and are relieved she is back where she belongs – because unlike the protagonists of the Cinderella stories, she is evil.
I focus mainly on “girls comics” for this site, so I have not covered the more teen offerings such as Blue Jeans, Jackie, Romeo etc. While I haven’t touched on them here, I did read such books when I was a teen and I still have some of my Blue Jeans Photo Novels and annuals. Photo stories were more limited in what they could depict compared to drawn art, so often they were used for soap stories and romance and they were quite popular. It must have been appealing for readers to see people like themselves depicted in real life settings. The Blue Jeans Photo Novels were a companion to the Blue Jeans magazine, they were complete photo stories in small digest form, similar to the Bunty Picture Story Library. Stories that I read and stuck in my memory were “A Likely Story” where a girl finds her life mirroring the book she is reading, “All Together Now” where a group of people meet at a Madonna concert ticket line and “Car Trouble” where a girl buys a second hand car that turns out to be haunted! The Blue Jeans Photo Novels lasted for 12 years (1980-1992) for over 500 issues. One of the writers for Blue Jeans and these photo novels, Geoffrey West, has kindly answered some questions about his work at this time.
Geoffrey’s mother was familiar with the magazine business as she worked for IPC, and it was her that advised him that DC Thomson would take work from unknown writers, if they could do what was needed. Geoffrey made attempts to write for Beano which he had loved as a child and Bunty which he thought had interesting stories, but he was deemed not the right fit for them. He was more successful with writing for Blue Jeans and Jackie.
“On buying Blue Jeans and Jackie, I thought I might be able to try, because they produced a leaflet with their requirements, and were nice and encouraging to new people I followed the advice and had a go. I probably had a few turned down to start with, but once I had one accepted, I got to know the friendly editors (Maria and Val and others). Then I tried for BJ photo novels and found it really rewarding to do these longer stories, and Val Carr was so nice and pleasant to work with.”
As Geoff lived in London and DCT was based in Dundee, everything was done by post. That meant he did not get to work with other creators, but he had good relationship with his editors, though he only ever met one editor (Yvonne) in person, when she came to London on business.
“Working for DC Thomson magazines was my first experience in journalism, and was thoroughly enjoyable. Maybe I was especially lucky, but all the editors I worked with at Thomson (Maria, Val, Rhia, Yvonne and others) couldn’t have been nicer or more encouraging. Though they were ‘telephone friends’ I felt as if I really knew them, and influenced me greatly in having a liking for Scottish people. “
Geoff worked only on the scripts for the photo novels and didn’t get involved in other parts of the process. When writing the scripts he thought of the story in frames. It was later in life that he also took up photography, this wasn’t influenced by his time writing for photo novels, but when he needed photos for a book he was writing Dolls’ Houses that’s what got him interested.
“It was the first journalistic work I had ever done. I just thought of the ‘frames’, did the dialogue and it seemed fairly straightforward.”
While he didn’t keep a list of the books he wrote, he does remember most of them, and when asked if he had any particular favourites, a couple sprung to mind.
“I did like the one (think called ‘Can’t buy me love’), where the heroine wins the lottery (or similar) and then falls out with the boyfriend, because he can’t take her patronising him, buying him presents, then she takes up with a swine who is after her money, and ends up with nothing at all, and the original boyfriend and old best friend rally round to save he from bankruptcy. And I also like ‘All the way from America’, where the glamorous American boyfriend is not all he seems.”
As always it is interesting to get an insight from the people who worked on these books, so thanks to Geoff for taking the time to talk about it. Geoff has gone on to write a number of fiction and non fiction books, as well as working as a proof reader. More information on his other works can be found on his website: http://www.geoffreydavidwest.com/
Appeared: Debbie: #273 (6 May 1978) – #284 (22 July 1978) (Spellbound section)
Episodes: 12
Artist: George Martin
Special thanks to “Phoenix” for help with episodes
Plot
Patti Parker is a promising tennis player but doesn’t have killer instinct. She can’t bear the thought of people losing to her, so she deliberately lets them win. Everyone at her club knows this, and they tell her it’s annoying.
Isadora Glenn sees this, and immediately decides Patti as the one she is looking for. She is the half-sister of Sylvia Radford, the most famous British tennis player who died in strange circumstances. She tricks Patti into her house and then gives her Sylvia’s racquet to replace the one she “accidentally” broke. As Patti takes the racquet, a strange spell comes over her. She comes over all dizzy and passes out. A woman’s voice tells Patti that when she feels the strength of Sylvia’s will upon her she will surrender herself…Sylvia’s hand will be on that racquet, giving Patti strength and determination…and through her Sylvia will play again…
So the power of the racquet is going to teach Patti to stop being so lenient and cultivate a competitive streak if she is to be the best she can be, and deliberately letting people win really is not really doing them good? Not on your life.
From the outset it is obvious that the power is evil, though its full power is not apparent at first. Its true power takes over gradually and intensifies over time, as does the manipulation and control of Isadora Glenn. It’s almost hypnotic, the way Isadora talks Patti into doing whatever she wants when Patti is having qualms of conscience at being obsessed with tennis to the point of hurting everything and everyone else, or being put off tennis because of it. When Patti neglects her grandmother’s funeral (and the Glenn influence was responsible for the grandmother’s death) her relatives are furious. Isadora seizes her chance to have Patti move in with her altogether, where Patti will be totally under her power.
The end result is, whenever Patti plays with the racquet, she does turn into a world-class champion, playing the way Sylvia played. But she’s also behaving the way Sylvia did on the tennis court, which would make John McEnroe look like a mild-mannered gentleman: a bullying, bad-tempered, vicious tennis player who is capable of anything against those who interfere with her on the tennis court.
This makes Patti a lot of enemies, and a very bad reputation. People say she is acting just like Sylvia Radford. Patti is very frightened and confused; she can’t understand what’s going on, especially as she’s not like that all the time. This is, of course, because when she’s not holding the racquet she is her normal kind self, but once she picks it up again she is back to the abusive Radford conduct. It’s hard convincing others that it’s something she doesn’t mean or understand, and she comes across like Jekyll and Hyde to them. It’s something the English selectors are very nervous about, and they decline to choose Patti to represent England.
Meanwhile Patti’s coach, Jane Marsh, has spotted a sly, evil look in Isadora’s eyes after Patti’s Radford conduct ruins a famous tennis player and she runs off in tears. Jean now realises she must investigate Isadora to find out what’s going on.
Another player, Rita Evans, asks Patti to be her doubles player in Bermuda. Isadora allows it, hoping it will change the selectors’ minds, as Rita is ranked number two. But Isadora still wants Patti to be chosen as a singles player, so she has Patti damage Rita’s hand so she will go to the finals as a singles player.
At the same match Jane learns something from a reporter. Isadora had dabbled in voodoo, which caused a scandal for her respectable family. She and Sylvia had to leave the district in disgrace and they set out for England. As we see more of Isadora’s thought bubbles we learn this was why Sylvia behaved so badly too, and Isadora is using both Sylvia and Patti as extensions of herself on the tennis court. She, not them, is the true badass tennis player.
Jane consults a voodooist, who knew Isadora from childhood. The voodooist says Isadora has possessed Patti and will eventually drive her to destruction. Patti will lose all will of her own until she resorts to self-destruction (we presume that means suicide) to escape from Isadora’s power. Jane realises this must be the way Sylvia went.
Jane became separated from Patti when her car went mysteriously out of control. Only Patti’s action saved her from death, but Jane was hospitalised while Patti went to play eliminating matches in Rome. By the time Jane catches up with Patti she sees things are worse than ever. She tries to pull Patti away, tell her what’s going on, and says she’s taking Patti back to England. Isadora has tried to poison Patti against Jane, saying Jane is just jealous. But as that didn’t work, at customs Isadora pulls another trick – framing Jane for smuggling undeclared goods. Jane is arrested while Isadora conveys Patti to Wimbledon for the finals.
Patti is now deeply frightened at her inexplicable conduct and hurting people without understanding why, and thinks there is some dark side taking over, but doesn’t realise what. As usual, it doesn’t take much for Isadora to smooth over those fears and drive her on relentlessly, but Jane realises that Patti could crack under it all.
Back in jail, Jane gets a reporter friend, Ruth, interested in her story, and Ruth helps her make bail. Isadora finds this out and spirits Patti away into hiding, and Jane can’t find her. She has little choice but to jump bail in order to get to Patti at Wimbledon. When the bail jump is discovered the police head out to Wimbledon in pursuit of Jane.
At Wimbledon, the evil racquet is having Patti put on her worst unsporting performance yet; it’s almost hysterical, and the commentator is having a ball describing the antics of the “vicious-tempered killer of the courts”. However, Patti’s rival is unimpressed and says she won’t be intimidated.
Jane finally clicks about the racquet. During the match she switches it with another while Patti isn’t looking and destroys it. Isadora sees the switch but can’t do anything about it. Her urging at Patti to win the match in Sylvia’s name is useless too. Without the racquet, Patti no longer behaves like Sylvia. The trouble is, she can’t play like Sylvia either. She is back to her own tennis level, which is nowhere near Wimbledon standard. She is soundly beaten and loses the championship Isadora wanted her to win in Sylvia’s name.
In the changing room Isadora rages at Jane about foiling her, and how Patti will be “nothing” instead of a world champion. Jane confronts her over how she drove Sylvia to her death, the way she almost did Patti. Isadora admits to framing Jane at customs but now wishes she had killed her instead. She also says she was behind the car crash in Bermuda, and will now use even more voodoo to have her revenge on both Jane and Patti. However, Isadora does not realise that she has walked into a trap set by Jane. As planned, the police and Ruth overhear everything. The police take Isadora in, setting the stage for clearing Jane. Ruth is delighted at the scoop.
Not surprisingly, Patti wants to quit tennis after this. However, Jane persuades her otherwise, saying she has what it takes to become a champion in her own right. And she will help Patti to get there.
Thoughts
A number of tennis stories about bad-tempered/ badly behaved tennis players have appeared in girls’ comics, and it looks like John McEnroe was an influence. Among them were “Pat the Brat” (Bunty), and “Cross on Court”, “Backhand Billie” and “Double – Or Nothing!”, all from Tammy. But this one turns it into an evil influence story, which was unusual for a sports serial.
Unlike other protagonists in the stories mentioned above the bad behaviour is no fault of the girl’s own. She can’t understand it, is increasingly frightened of it, and as it intensifies she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Unlike many protagonists under an evil influence she does not catch on, try to get help, or try to break away from it, despite Jane’s efforts. But from what the voodooist said, Patti really can’t escape from the power on her own. The power will just intensify until suicide is the only escape. She remains under the dominance of Isadora. It takes another person to make all the proactive moves to break her free. For this reason Patti does not grow all that much and the story does not develop her character that much. Other heroines grow in courage, strength and whole new ways of life by breaking free of the evil influence controlling them, but not Patti. We also expect Patti to be less of a softie and have more steel in playing tennis by the end of the story, but we don’t see that either. Instead, she’s all set to quit and it takes Jane’s coaxing to get her to carry on.
It’s Jane the coach who does the growing and the character development, and all makes all the proactive moves to bring the story to its resolution. She is the one who catches on to what is going on, but she isn’t really able to break Patti free of it despite her efforts. So we have to ask: who is the true heroine of this story? Patti is the titular heroine and none of the action would take place without her. But it’s Jane who does everything in the heroine role, and she is a far stronger and more developed character than Patti. She is the active heroine while Patti is a passive one, who takes little action to help herself out of her predicament, but that’s because she hasn’t got the power to do so.
Isadora Glenn is one of the most creepy, sinister, and terrifying villains ever to appear in Debbie. Her appearance and the way the inking conveys it has her giving the reader a feeling she’s a witch. As it turns out, that’s not wrong, because she’s a voodooist, and she’s using voodoo to turn Patti and Sylvia into vicious extensions of herself on the tennis court. She has no regard whatsoever as to what this will do to Patti in the end though she must be aware of it. She has no remorse about what it did to her own half-sister. Instead, she wants her sister and her champion tennis playing to rise again through Patti. Ironically, in a perverse way Isadora does intend it to be for Patti’s own good and make her a champion from “nothing”. Isadora is also extremely clever in the way she lures Patti into her power and gradually builds it until Patti is completely under her control, with only flashes of terror, conscience and desire to break free, which Isadora is very slick at stifling. Isadora is also capable of murder, and doing it through voodoo makes her even more terrifying. We have to wonder if even a police cell will keep our heroines safe from this woman and her black magic.
It is a very clever story setup in having the power over Patti gradually build up over time until she’s acting like a raving loony on the tennis court instead of having her change all at once. It makes the story even more creepy and frightening, having us not see all at once exactly what Patti is turning into with that evil racquet. Clearly, Isadora’s power needs to build strength and the victim’s will to gradually weaken for Patti (or Sylvia) to completely turn into the tennis court terror. And when the voodoo elements are introduced, the story becomes even more exciting and intense. Oooh…voodoo!
This story was in the Spellbound section of the Debbie & Spellbound merger. It may have originally been written for Spellbound. If so, it would have been one of Spellbound’s very best.
Paula and the Wasps of Terror – Diana: #187 (17 September 1966) – #196 (19 November 1966)
Reprinted as Paula – Spellbound: #22 (19 February 1977) – #31 (23 April 1977)
Reprinted and translated to Dutch as“Paula” – Debbie Groot Mysterieboek #7 (1978)
Plot
Paula Spencer is a brilliant young violinist, whose career is derailed after an accident. After her first big concert, while driving home, the car suddenly starts to fill with wasps. Her father, Sir William Spencer, a high court judge, loses control of the car and they crash. Paula’s music instructor is killed in the crash and her father is left badly injured. Paula injures her hand, and her father worries he has ruined her career. In order to help her father, she is determined to play violin again, but the injury to her hand isn’t the biggest obstacle she has to overcome, it’s her new fear of wasps (spheksophobia). What she doesn’t know is her new teacher Mahsud Krishnan is using this fear against her as he has a vendetta against Sir William.
Krishnan sprays flowers near Paula with a powder that attracts wasps, and places a wasp in her violin case. When Paula can’t go on playing for her father because of the wasp, he relapses due to worry of her ruined career. Paula’s fear gets so great, she does not want to leave her house, she practices her violin in a boarded room, which does seem to help with her progress. This does not make Krishnan happy though, he suggests she makes a recording for her father, only for a wasp to appear in the middle of the recording. He plays an edited version to Sir William making it sound like Paula hates the violin and can’t have it near her. This causes Sir William to have another relapse. Paula does find an ally when she is assigned a young physiotherapist, Hilary Dewar, to help with her recovery. Not only does Hilary help with Paula’s hand, she also wants to help her overcome her fear of wasps and is the first to suspect someone is working against Paula.
Hilary finds out Paula’s violin has golden acacia scent on it which attracts wasps, and she also listens to the tampered recording, so now they know someone is out to get Sir William. For first time Paula is able to play for her father without problems and Sir William shows signs of improvement. Paula’s confidence grows especially after Hilary gives her a wasp repellent spray, but again it is tampered with and ends up attracting wasps while she plays for her father and she ends up with several stings on her hand. Later at home, Hilary convinces Paula the spray is safe, but when she uses it to kill a wasp, she accidentally gets spray in Krishnan’s eyes. He is angry thinking he is blinded, and his motivation for being against the Spencers is first hinted at, as he says “first my brother and now me – thanks, to the Spencers!” (Really at this stage, Hilary who overhears this remark should be able to figure out who is behind these attacks!). There is no permanent damage to his eyes and so he is able to play his next trick, sneaking a queen wasp into Paula’s violin case. Hilary drives them into a lake to escape the wasps.
The hospital is to have a concert, and not only is Paula going to play violin at it, she also gets Krishnan to teach her to play the sitar after hearing him play. The Indian music is not the pleasant surprise for Sir William that Paula had planned and then wasps attack and Paula does not want to play her violin piece. Krishnan convinces Sir William that Hilary is at fault for letting Paula play tennis, interrupting her studies, so he tells Hilary she must leave. This leaves Paula alone and vulnerable, to Krishnan’s schemes. Luckily Hilary still wants to look out for Paula, so she stays close by, keeping a watch on the house. This is very fortunate when Paula’s is chased from the house by a swarm of wasps, Hilary rescues her and takes her to stay in a yacht. She is going to keep her safe until they find out who is trying to harm her. Hilary asks Paula, why her father would be sad when hearing Indian music, she guesses it may have reminded him of her mother who was killed in Delhi. Meanwhile Krishnan is still working against the Spencers, telling Sir William, that Paula is missing feared drowned! This causes him to collapse and doctor’s fear he won’t recover.
Paula is contacted and is able to play the violin over the phone, rousing Sir William from unconsciousness. A week later, Paula is asked to appear on a televised concert with Krishnan conducting. Things start off well until she is attacked by a wasp again and runs off stage. Hilary talks to her and points out someone is using her to harm her father. Paula covers herself in wasp repellent and returns, concentrating only on making her father well again. As the camera’s were able to cover up Paula running off stage, Sir William is indeed happy to see Paula do so well. Meanwhile Hilary has continued with her investigation. She has found out that Mahsud Krishnan’s brother, Akbar, tried to assassinate Sir William but shot Mrs Spencer instead and was sentenced to life in prison. Krishnan’s tries one last attempt to get at Paula, by handing her flowers with 3 queen wasps. Hilary knocks the flowers out of his hands and also knocks the vial containing the wasp attraction liquid that Krishnan had been using. It splashes over him and he is attacked by a swarm of wasps. He makes it to water, but is taken to hospital to be treated for bad stings and shock. With their enemy now revealed, even more good news follows, as Sir William is well enough to return home. Paula also has overcome her fear of wasps with the defeat of Krishnan, and they can all enjoy her playing “The Wasps” by Vaughn Williams.
Thoughts
As I’ve mentioned in other posts, Spellbound gained a lot from the Diana comic, including some reprints and I can see how this would be a choice for a reprint. Krishnan is quite devious, and while the reader knows he is behind the attacks, his motivations are still a mystery that needs to be solved. What makes this story stick in my mind more, is the wasps, as who wouldn’t be unsettled by the thought of being attacked by a swarm of wasps! I find it little odd that Spellbound shortened the title of this story to the plainer “Paula” considering “the Wasps of Terror” would be fitting with the comic’s themes and would evoke a certain image in readers mind. The art itself does portray the wasps as terrifying, as Paula so desperately tries to escape them.
The art, the wasps as a threat, Paula’s fear, Sir William’s life in jeopardy, Krishnan’s schemes and mystery of why he is doing this, all work well for the story. What doesn’t work so well, is that the characters can be quite frustrating at times! Firstly, Sir William being so devastated by possibly ruining his daughter’s career, while understandable to a degree, it seems like an over reaction that any falter by Paula and he’s convinced her violin days are over. Also though he is in a weak state, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s explained she has developed fear of wasps that is what is stopping her playing, not her hand (or if they have explained, he hasn’t listened). Secondly, is how slow people are to suspect Krishnan! Quite early on (in episode 4) Hilary suspects someone is out to get Sir William through Paula, while she eventually figures out who’s responsible and why, it seems to take a long time to get there. You would think it would have to be someone close to Paula to be able to spray her items with the scent that attracts wasps and with the tampered recording that Krishnan gave to Sir William, he should be a suspect. But even after Krishnan’s mention of his brother and implication of Spencers wronging him, he is continually allowed to teach Paula and play at concerts with her. Possibly as we don’t know all of Hilary’s thoughts, she may have been doing more secret investigations into him but couldn’t do anything against him until she had solid evidence, but if this is the case it doesn’t come across well in the story.
Another observation I had was the Spencers are a wealthy white family and to have an Indian as a villain, at a time when colonization of India hadn’t long ended, stands out to me. As these comics in general had a majority of white protagonists, it’s a shame that when other people were represented it was often in the role of a villain. There is an Indian doctor that appears in one episode, that lends Paula a sitar, but has no role other than that. Aside from that I am curious about Krishnan’s brother, while we know that he is what motivates Krishnan’s act of vengeance, we don’t know why he tried to shoot Sir William in the first place. While that may be a question that would have been too much to get into for a short story aimed at young girls, it is still interesting to muse about such things when reading it today.
I think the strongest part of the story is Paula’s fear of wasps, which comes from a traumatic experience, and while Krishnan had nothing to do with that, he does use it to his advantage greatly afterwards. He does get a taste of his own medicine as he is attacked by wasps and left in shock. We don’t learn what happens to him after that, but I do wonder if he develops a fear of wasps as a suitable punishment! Paula’s fear is perhaps a bit quickly overcome in the end, but knowing that most of the wasp attacks were because of another person’s actions, it would make sense that when that person is gone, to feel less threatened.
I haven’t dived into humour comics on this site, but now is a good opportunity, with the release of the recent Cor!!Buster Special. While for girls comics DC Thomson publications was what I grew up on, for humour comics I tended to read Fleetway/IPC books; Buster and Whizzer & Chips (and though it was before my time I have a memory of reading Monster Fun special, either I had got it from an older relative or I am mis-remembering details!). Of course I did have the occasional DCT stuff like Beano and Beezer and Topper too. For the most part as humour comics were filled with self contained strips (with maybe the one ongoing serial, like “The Leopard from Lime Street” in Buster), there was less of need to follow every issue and easier to dip in and out of other comics.
Of course with so many characters to choose from, having several appear in one strip, not only gives the opportunity to fit more characters in, but also allows some interesting interactions with characters, ones I wouldn’t have thought would go together. Such as I certainly wouldn’t have thought Captain Crucial Vs Fuss Pott would be an obvious choice, but the story works great, thanks to Lee Langford’s writing and Edward Whatley’s art.
Geoff worked only on the scripts for the photo novels and didn’t get involved in other parts of the process. When writing the scripts he thought of the story in frames. It was later in life that he also took up photography, this wasn’t influenced by his time writing for photo novels, but when he needed photos for a book he was writing Dolls’ Houses that’s what got him interested.
