Jodie had won a place at a stage and screen school. She wanted to keep her friends from her old school as well as make friends at the new one, but she was finding it difficult being pulled in two directions.
The romance comic Roxy ran for 5 years, from 1958 to 1963 before being merged into Valentine (which lasted until 1974). There were other longer running romance comics such as Marilyn and Mirabelle, but it is the Roxy name that has been chosen for the revival. Like other new comics that Rebellion has released, the name does not necessarily mean that they are restricting themselves to just what appeared in that publication, rather it’s just been taken to represent the romance comics. This anthology collection features 1 reprint from the original Roxy comic, a new updated version of The Getaway Girls,which first appeared in the Mirabelle comic, and three other new stories made specially for this book.
My favourite story was Flowers for Agatha, by writer and artist Sarah Gordon, a magical tale where Agatha finds out what happened to her lost love, who she has not seen in 10 years. The story is beautifully told with a great use of colouring and panels. Yellows, oranges and reds and slim panels showing the past in contrast to the blues, greens and wider panels used in the present.
Close second was the re-imagined Getaway Girls by Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson. I read the original story when it was reprinted in the excellent A Very British Affair book, two years ago. This updated version is still set in the fashion world and we are introduced to the girls through the viewpoint of newcomer, Melanie. We can see why she would want to join these very cool girls, she gets caught up in adventure with them and finds out they have other priorities outside of fashion. It’s a fun story and Henderson (whom I’m familiar with from her run on Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) does great work and captures the comedic expressions perfectly.
There is room for reprint and the chosen classic story Change of Heart, still has its appeal as protagonist Moira, who has had two major romances, realizes you can’t always go back. With art by Jesús Blasco, it is of course very nice to look at too.
A sci-fi story What I was Made For by Nadia Shammas and Jaws Stone, is set in a future were soldiers are synced with their Mech units (big robot type things), which leads to an unusual romance. It has some very pretty panels,with only black, grey, pink and white used throughout.
Lastly Banmoor by Mags Visaggio and Sterric, was my least favourite story, I can’t decide if I like the art or not, on first glance it did not appeal to me particularly the eyes, seem weird and ugly, but I will say on a second read the art is quite effective for the more horror parts. The story was intriguing, as Becky finds a doorway in an inherited house, leading her to embody the maid Miss Prim, the parts in the past were quite effective, but felt some of the present stuff particularly her relationship with Vic could have been developed more.
Overall this had lots of appeal, a nice entry into the romance comic genre which still had a variety of themes touched on in just 5 stories. Additional features such as horoscope and a making of the book, nicely expand the book. As I backed the original kickstarter campaign, I got a digital version of the book, and a digital classic issue and also was able to choose an options for hardcover. I choose the gorgeous hardback cover by Marguerite Sauvage and was very pleased with the quality of the book. I also got extra goodies, tote bag, pins and bookmarks. The hardback editions were only available through kickstarter but paperback and digital version is available to buy now through rebellion.
https://shop.treasuryofbritishcomics.com/catalogue/RCS2351P
If you are picking that up, you might also be interested in their massive sale, with books like Jinty’s A Spell of Trouble, The Best of Cat Girl and Concrete Surfer at 75% off.
Paula, Mel, Rachel and twins, Jo and Jane had formed an all-girl rock group called ‘Simply Pink’. They wanted to compete for the inter-school rock concert, but their van had its tyre slashed. The girls suspected a rival group, ‘ Wild Bunch’ , were responsible for the tyre.
Gemma was staying with her trendy night while her mom was in hospital. Gemma had been looking forward to living with her aunt, but things weren’t working out like she hoped.
Geraldine Price was thrilled when her parents started up a successful fashion business selling teenage clothes. But, although Geraldine gained a lot from her new life, she found there was a price to be paid too. Her parents busy life was causing arguments between them.
Penny Ward and Pippa Benson were cousins and both girls were adopted. Penny discovered that on the day of their adoption either parents could have taken either baby. Pippa had very wealthy parents and Penny resented Pippa’s good life. She began causing trouble for Pippa
Fern Patterson had moved from the country into town, but things weren’t going too well. The school bully, Penny, was picking on her, and Fern was finding it difficult to fit in.
Sue Perry and Sharon Dixon have been friends for years, so are excited when Sharon’s parents have to go away for few months and Sharon will stay at Sue’s house. But it turns out living together isn’t as easy as they thought it would be.
Sophie Masters was school mistress at Oxley village in 1840. The school was maintained by a special trust, but there had to be at least three pupils on the roll or it would be closed. Elsa Bradley, the squire’s daughter, pretended to be Sophie’s friend but was plotting against her.
Gina Robson was thrilled when her mother invited Gina’s boyfriend,Sam, to stay with them for six weeks while his parents visited Hong Kong. But having Sam around all the time wasn’t always wonderful.
