Category Archives: Bunty

Superlamb

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  • Superlamb–  Bunty:   #1469 (08 March 1986) – #1485 (28 June 1986)
  • Artist: Matías Alonso

Plot

A girl named Mary, of course, has a pet lamb. Lenny the lamb gets injured and is rebuilt by vet scientists. They have the technology, the capability to build the world’s first bionic lamb. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster. Along with being super fast and strong, Lenny has heat powers, x-ray vision and once after being hit by lightning he became super magnetic for a  while. He gets Mary into trouble sometimes but usually everything works out for the best in the end. In one instance he gets trapped in a school oven, he breaks out destroying the oven. Luckily the Home Economics teacher, Miss Dixon, is glad as she can get the school to invest in a new cooker!

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Lenny gets into trouble again when he gets hold of a hang-glider, Mary grabs hold of him to try and stop him but they are both swept up into the sky. They crash into a tree and Mary is left hanging on for her life. Lenny cuts the tree down and takes the brunt of the tree falling in order to save Mary. She takes him to the vet who says he has exhausted his bionic powers and he’ll just be an ordinary lamb now, though never growing old. But as Mary walks him home, Lenny turns invisible. It seems that he has gained other powers to make up for his lost ones! So the story ends on the possibility of more adventures with Lenny.

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Thoughts

Making a character, bionic, was a popular way to gain powers. Supergirl (Bunty’s version, not Superman’s cousin!) also had a similar origin. At times Lenny gets to be a hero, he helps capture some burglars and joy-riders.

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For the most part though Lenny’s powers are not used for super-heroics.  He is often just mischievous. Causing trouble in the first place. It is a fun story and ridiculous (in a good way).  The ending doesn’t really make a lot of sense, as super strength, speed and even x-ray vision seem possible after bionic enhancements, but I’ve never heard of  bionic invisibility! But this is a world where you leave all thoughts of reality behind and just enjoy the fun.  The lamb is cutely drawn, and the art throughout is good.

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Mary’s main purpose seems to be tying to keep Lenny, and herself, out of trouble and giving exposition on his powers. So she doesn’t get a whole lot of character arc, but she shows how much she cares about Lenny, when she tries to protect him and is concerned when he is sick. She also knows when to use his powers to his advantage, such as helping her carry newspapers and with mowing the lawn.  As well as that she continues the tradition of being a Bunty character, that reads Bunty!

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List of Appearances

  • Superlamb–  Bunty:  #1469 (08 March 1986) – #1485 (28 June 1986)

Other Appearances

Annual Appearances

  • Superlamb –  Bunty Annual 1987 [Artist: Matias Alonso]

Summer Specials

  • Superlamb –  Bunty Summer Special 1990 [Art: Matias Alonso]

Picture Story Library

  • Superlamb – Debbie Picture Story Library #174

Hope Street

Bunty, , ,
  • B403_hope_streetHope Street – Bunty PSL: #403  (1995)
  • Artist: ?

Plot

In 1898, Dr Benjamin Osborne is dying and his family gather around him. They include his wife, his brother, his son and 2 daughters.  He is pleased with his son’s career as a ship’s doctor and  that he has lived to see his daughter Caroline qualify to become a doctor, but he worries he will not be able to guide Hannah his youngest daughter. She promises to keep up the family tradition and study medicine.

Caroline is in for a difficult time with her chosen profession, as after her father dies she does not get support from  her uncle or mother. Hubert does not hire her on at the family practice as he believes it is not suitable job for a woman, Her mother agrees with him, especially as she thinks her husband was sent to an early grave because of his career. Caroline doesn’t have any better luck outside her family either. She gets rejected by all the jobs she applies for. One of the maids, Dolly points out there is plenty of work at a poorer end of town, even if they can’t pay much. Caroline takes her advice and buys a warehouse on Hope Street to set up a clinic.

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After a slow start, Caroline and Hannah are soon kept busy with patients. They get a visit from Edgar, the doctor that Herbert has hired and he seems taken with Caroline. When Mrs. Osborne finds out about the clinic she and Caroline fight leading to Caroline moving out. Hannah and Caroline blame Edgar for their mother finding out, but it is actually a servant who accidentally let it slip. Hannah helps out secretly at the clinic but it is clear that Caroline, who is now living at the clinic, is overworked. When Edgar helps out with a factory owner problem, Caroline starts to soften up to him and accepts his help  at the clinic.

Hannah comes up with a plan to reconcile her mother and Caroline, by tricking them into meeting up. On the way to the meeting there is an explosion in the underground, Caroline rushes to help and included in the crash is Mrs. Osborne. Other than a sprained ankle, she is fine and is also very proud of Caroline’s achievements after this incident. Caroline is considered a heroine, and Mrs. Osborne supports the clinic. She is also delighted to see it named for Benjamin.

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Thoughts

For the historic context; the 1800s was a time when women began to study as doctors. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first female doctor to qualify in  the UK, though she obtained her medical degree in Paris after getting refused in England, she then set up medical school for women and continued to campaign for women doctors,  in 1876 an act was passed that allowed women to enter the medical profession. So historically it is accurate that Caroline could become a doctor but as it was just 20 years after this act it is expected that there was still prejudice against women doctors.

Even though she is met with obstacles in pursuing her career, she seems to set up her own clinic with  ease. Presumably Caroline was left money by her father after his death but not only is able to buy the warehouse quite quickly, she also converts it into a clinic and maintains medical supplies. The poorer people pay with what they can, (sometimes they even pay with food) so she most have a good source of money backing her up. Though they do end up looking for contributions to help the clinic by end of the book.

The uncle seems like he could be villainous,  he has a bit of a sinister look about him in the first panel, but he’s actually not very antagonistic. Other than refusing Caroline a place in the family practice he hardly appears in the story.  As a contrast the young Edgar, is more open minded about women doctors, he is shown as very compassionate and is admiring of Caroline. After so much rejection and discrimination, Caroline is very slow to trust him.

Caroline is a commendable strong character. She is hard working, caring and stands up for what she believes in. Of course these characteristics can lead to her flaws; as being stubborn and slow to accept help and admit weakness. So she is a well rounded character. She is not the main character though as the story is told mostly from the point of view of the younger sister Hannah. She gets to strike the balance of both worlds. She helps at the clinic, she has the ambition to follow this career path and she clearly admires Caroline. At the same time she sees her struggle, she is more willing to encourage Edgar to help. She can see her mother’s reasoning of it being hard work and also sees that Caroline and her mother are both similar in their stubbornness.

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It’s an interesting story, good characters, while a main plot is a woman struggling to find acceptance in a male dominated profession, it is also focused on the family drama along with it. There are some dramatic moments, like the train crash, and the confrontation at the factory to keep it more exciting. The art is good throughout, I particularly like the detail that went into the crash scene.

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Silent Illness (A Four Marys Story)

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  • Silent Illness – Bunty (PSL): #439 (1997)B439_silent_illness
  • Artist: Jim Eldridge

Plot

A Four Marys story where Cotty catches a viral infection which causes her to lose her hearing. Her parents want to send her away to a special school to cope, but with the Marys support, Cotty convinces them that she can stay on at St. Elmos. The girls start to study sign language, Cotty learns to lip read, the school changes the tv to have subtitles and Creef makes sure to write things on the board. Mabel and Veronica are also eager to help out as they feel responsible as Veronica purposely sneezed on Cotty. They are unconvinced when the Marys tell them its completely unrelated. Even though the snobs are being friendly and trying to help, they end up causing more trouble for Cotty. Veronica tunes Cotty’s violin before a concert causing great embarrassment to Cotty, who can’t hear its out of tune. They also annoy Cotty to an extent, that she insists she can go meet the others on her own. This is bad luck as a fire drill goes off while she is on her own.

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Of course Cotty’s parents arrive and are not happy; if it was a real fire Cotty could have been killed. So Cotty has to leave. The new girl that takes her place is Mary Smith, and though its not the same as old times, the girls do get along well with Smithy and they start their usual adventures, rescuing puppies and fundraising.  Just when things seem to be settling in Smithy’s father gets a job in Australia and she has to move. The Marys are disappointed and worried about who her replacement will be. They are surprised to find Cotty back. Turns out the deafness was just temporary. The snobs are dismissive of her taking advantage, so back to their old ways and everything is back to normal.

Thoughts

This is one of the many PSL books the Marys were featured in. There was about 15 of these PSL stories. This was also a book with a Four Marys symbol, that was used before but not regularly, the last 3 Four Marys PSL books all had this symbol.

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Interestingly Cotty nearly leaves St. Elmos for a music academy in another story in the weekly issues. She is also replaced by a girl called Mary but she isn’t as nice as Smithy is in this story. In fact she becomes friends with the snobs. It could have been interesting to see one of the Marys replaced permanently, though shocking as well! Smithy doesn’t get much time for characterisation but appears to fit in well with the group

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Cotty seems to pick up lip reading quickly which can’t  be that easy. Also  lip reading is made harder that phonemes can often be visually the same. Adjusting to a new disability would take more time than depicted in this story, but it is nice to see the effort the girls and the school make, to help with the adjustment. The snobs trying to be nice is amusing, they are even happy when Smithy joins up. It’s a story that concentrates a lot on the girls friendships, and even if the snobs make things difficult, there is no antagonist here. Strangely, even though it is Cotty that is having to adapt to her new life, the story is shown more from the other Marys perspective. There is the time where Cotty decides she has enough of Mabel and Veronica and goes to practice music on her own, but other than that it’s mainly the other girls  making the effort to ensure Cotty is settling back in and then getting used to Cotty being gone.  Of course, everything is back to the status quo by the end of the story.

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The Four Marys – Sabotage at St. Elmos

Bunty
  • B345_sabotage_at_st_elmosPublished: Bunty (PSL): #345
  • Artist: Paddy Brennan?

Plot

The Four Marys are enjoying their Summer holidays, when they find out that St. Elmos has been vandalised. Miss Mitchell had allowed some troubled girls  from a reform school to use St. Elmo’s over the summer. Unfortunately the girls decided to wreck the place and one of the girls is now missing.  The Marys ring each other and they all agree they should go back to school and help clean up. Miss Mitchell and Creefy along with some other students all work hard to get the school opened quickly again. The Marys are surprised when Veronica and Mabel show up, but of course they are not there to help, they only to see if that they read was true and what a state the school is in. Soon the school is ready for reopening.

Later when the Marys are in town, they see a girl in a school blazer throw a brick through a window of a new building named Dodds. It turns out Dodd is a developer that bought some woodland that used to belong to St. Elmos 20 years ago, not realising some by-laws prevented him from building houses there. But Mabel’s father has discovered there is nothing stopping him building non-residential places, like small factory units. The girls are horrified to hear this, especially when big fences are put up around the wood and lake. Later Cotty and Simpy find Dodd’s hut on fire and a girl with a blazer running away. They raise the alarm in time, before the fire spreads to the wood.

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Meanwhile around the school things keep going missing like food, blankets and Creefy is missing a book. The girls tell Miss Creef their suspicions that it may be the runaway delinquent taking these things. Miss Creef agrees though she doesn’t think she took her book because what would a girl like that want with a bird book. Later Raddy notices something suspicious in one of the sheds, she goes to investigate only to be confronted by the missing girl, Ros.  She tells Raddy her parents sent her to reform school because of her quick temper and that her and the other girls smashed up S. Elmo’s because they don’t like wealthy people and how the privileged few can buy an education. Raddy tells her that not true and that there are lots of scholarship girls at St. Elmos. They get talking more it turns out Ros is upset at Dodd’s plans disturbing the wildlife and that she took Creefy’s book to confirm that there are rare birds nesting by the lake. Meanwhile the other Marys are beginning to worry about Raddy. They soon find her and Ros gets taken away by the police.

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Raddy tells the others about the birds on the lake, but Dodd gets in guard dogs to scare off the birds. Things aren’t looking great until Simpy says something that reminds Raddy of a document she read over the Summer. It turns out one of the conditions of the sale to Dodd is that there is unrestricted access to the Lake for fishing rights on application to the owner. This will lapse after 10 years if there is no application, they find this out the day before its due to lapse. So they save the lake, though Mr Lentham spins it so he looks like the good guy.

Thoughts

I find that these picture story library books, can be rushed at times or not properly edited. The story itself is fine, but some of the art is inconsistent. When we first see a girl throw a brick through Dodd’s window, she has long light hair, later when Raddy meets Ros she has shorter dark hair. Worse than this, is Mabel and Veronica switch hair colours half-ways through the story. Other than that the art is good, and it is fun to see the Marys drawn by a different artist than the usual.

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The story itself is a typical Four Marys story, with them saving the school and being the ones to find the missing girl, etc. That’s not a bad thing though, it is a good story and there are some nice moments, like Simpy going after Cotty to comfort her after she gets upset about the lake being filled in and Mabel being nasty about it. I also liked Raddy and Ros talk and thought it was a good choice to have Raddy, the rich girl, talking to Ros, rather than someone like Simpy, a scholarship girl.  Also glad it didn’t have Ros completely reform after the talk, but it does have Raddy sympathising with her and telling the others she’s not all bad.

The ending is a bit of a cliche. Just when they are about to lose a conveniently previously forgotten law saves the day. Its also funny that these laws are always just about to go out of date too, just to add a last minute rush and excitement

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The Four Marys

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  • The Four Marys – Bunty: #01 (18 January 1958) –  #2249 (17 February 2001)*
  • The Four Marys in the Footpath Fued (text story) -#25(5 July 1958) – #30 (9 August 1958)
  • Writers: Maureen Hartley (2 Stories: “Creefy’s Rival” and “The Mystery Virus”), Rhoda Miller, Judy Maslin [and other unknowns]
  • Artists:
    • Bill Holroyd (#01-#15),
    • Either James ‘Peem’ Walker or Jim Lorimer worked on the story after Holroyd. (1958-1981)
    • Manuel Cuyàs (#434 – #436)
    • Selby Donnison (1980s)
    • Jim Eldridge (Late 1980s – 2000s)
  • *Note: The Four Marys did appear in most issues including first and last issue, but there were times when it had a break or reprinted older stories.
  • List of Appearances 

Plot

Four girls all named Mary attend a reputable boarding school, St. Elmos. They become firm friends and usually go by their nicknames Raddy, Simpy, Fieldy and Cotty. Throughout their time they have many adventures and solve some mysteries.

Thoughts

This is one of the most well remembered stories, and that has to be partially due to its longevity. A 40 year run is quite impressive. The strip appeared in the majority of the issues but wasn’t a continuous run from first to last issue. There was a couple of breaks particularly in the 80s, though they never went away for too long. There were some reprints over the years particularly towards the end of Bunty.

1950s/1960s

The first 15  issues were drawn by Bill Holroyd, and each girl had their own distinctive look.  The early years had an Enid Blyton tone to the stories, they had the usual boarding school routines,  as well as chase up some mysterious going-ons.

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While all the girls had their own personality and talents, Mary Simpson was probably one of the most inspirational to young girls. A smart working class girl, that had earned her place in a good school, yet had to contend with being looked down on by some snobs. Bunty in the late 50s was aimed at a more working class background and at the time it was quite a novelty to put a scholarship girl as a main character.  Overall it seems the big appeal of the story was the relationships and friendship of the girls. (Mel Gibson discusses such things in her essay: What Bunty did next….)

While it’s true that the friendships were very important, probably most people had their favourite Mary. Personally I always had a soft spot for Mary Cotter, the talented but often shy and clumsy Mary. Mary Radleigh was the daughter of an Earl but also hated anyone putting on airs and graces, she was loyal and down to earth. Mary Field was the active sports mad girl, that could be a little too pushy at times. Of course 2 other regular characters were the snobs; Mabel and Veronica, who disliked Simpy for her lower class upbringing and the Marys in general for being popular and goody two shoes!

The boarding school itself was full of traditions. Dr. Gull was the head mistress, sometimes known as the Squawker (and the first years were called the Newts). While the girls were allowed to go to the local town, Elmbury, they were expected to behave appropriately, wear their full uniform and there were certain shops they weren’t allowed visit. Miss Creef was the third form mistress, who held up the various traditions but was also described as firm but fair.

Story arcs from this decade included; a mystery surrounding  a hermit teacher Miss Johnson who turns out to be a former student; Lady Josephine Bramily. She has amnesia after a boating accident. Luckily, Mary Simpson and head girl, Ann Fairlie, help her  recover her memories so she can go reclaim her inheritance. Another mysterious teacher Miss Mandy seems to have hidden past with a young cockney that involves thieving. The girls help a young girl Hilda secure a job as maid in the school, only to discover someone’s out to get her fired.  Mary Cotter damages her eye in a lab accident and  nearly does worse damage when she mixes up eye ointment with a bottle of bleach, luckily Simpy catches her in time, and eventually Cotty’s eyes recover (although by the end of the series, her eyesight declines and she ends up having to get glasses!).  A group of girls dub themselves ‘the avengers’ and punish any girl that has done any wrong doing. Simpy discover that it is Raddy and Fieldy doing such things after they let her join them in dunking a cheating prefect Avril in a bath.

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Early on the stories usually consisted of 2 pages, though later this got expanded to 3 pages. The girls interestingly didn’t refer to each other by nicknames, for the first few years they continued to just call each other Mary. I’m not sure when exactly the change happened but it made sense to start giving them each a distinctive name to be referred as.

1970s

There was a lot of reprinted stories in the 70s.  It was quite common to reprint shorter serials in these comics and with a long running strip like the Four Marys it may have been hard to keep the weekly turnover of new stories. Presumably it was also thought that readers of the first printing would have outgrown the comic by then.

Some of the new stories included; the school being threatened by a flood. A cycle trip with the cycle club led by Miss Creef, Mabel and Veronica mess with Simpy’s old bike in the hopes of getting back to the school earlier. Simpy manages to borrow an old 3 wheeler bike and enter in a race. She doesn’t win but the winner gives her the prize of a new bike for being so entertaining. Cotty believes she is under a gypsy curse and those close to her are getting harmed, it turns out to be a combination of  Mabel and Veronica playing some tricks and a scheme to take over the school. Raddy has trouble looking out for her cousin Sonia.  A feud between Mr Crowe, a local farmer, and the school starts over the school using the right of way to walk through his land.

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1980s

Like I mentioned before the 80s saw the Four Marys on some breaks. On one of these breaks the regular ongoing story had some similar themes, involved 3 friends in a ballet boarding school called The Three Imps. Perhaps they were testing out permanent replacements or maybe they just needed a break, but the Marys did return again and with a new artist. At the end of the 80s a new format seemed to settle with the Marys. With them being the first story in the issue, and the more modern School’s Out (which was replaced with The Comp by 1989) as the last story of the issue. Dr Gull had been replaced by the more forward thinking Miss Mitchell, and the girls even got to interact with boys from St. Bartophs boarding school.  The end of 1989 was also when Bunty got a new colour update. While some stories were still in black and white, The Four Marys were now fully coloured.

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Some stories in the 1980s include the girls rallying a strike to stop Miss Creef being dismissed after a fall out with Dr Gull. A group of unruly circus girls joining the school temporarily. A new American pupil Lana  gets elected captain of the Bee’s House and wants to hold up all St. Elmos traditions including challenging the village boys to a football match, running barefoot down to the town and raising the house flag on the clock tower. A mystery involving the school’s founder Margaret Carews actual death. A temporary Home Economics teacher who has been secretly keeping her toddler daughter at the school. A competition sees the Marys all split up into different teams, this causes problems but in the end they all come together. St Elmo’s comes under threat of closure when they start to lose students, of course the school is saved with the help of the Marys.

1990s/ 2000s

So the 90s started with the Four Marys in colour and now expanded to 4 pages. The Four Marys was trying to change with the times, with the more up to date Miss Mitchell, continuing to modernise the school, and even Cotty stopped wearing her hair in 2 plaits. The girls were now frequently seen out of uniform as they were able to wear their regular clothes down town and like I mentioned before they were even mixing with boys. Still even with this more modern tone, the girls still has familiar adventures; dealing with new teachers with hidden agendas, threats to the school and tests of their friendships. By the end of the 90s earlier stories were reprinted a lot.

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Stories in the 90s included; Mary Field having trouble when her cousin becomes her teacher, causing the other girls to think she’s a teacher’s pet. The girls go on a trip to America with Miss Creef and help foil a jewel thief. The girls try to help a girl they believe is being held captive. It turns out the wheelchair bound, Ailsa, who just has an overprotective aunt, but agrees to let her join St. Elmos. When a famous fashion designer comes to St. Elmos to unveil her new collection, it seems someone is out to sabotage her.  A story set in the past shows the Marys first term in St. Elmos. Raddy gets held captive by robbers who coerce Miss Mitchell into letting them hide out the school. The other Marys soon get suspicious of the new “gardener” and Miss Mitchell’s story that Raddy was sent home sick.

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In the final story for The Four Marys, it looks like they will be split up when Cotty fails her exams and will have to leave St. Elmos. Luckily she passes her resit test, Raddy gets elected as form captain and Simpy ends the strip on line “The Four Marys forever”

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Final Thoughts

The Four Marys certainly had lasting power, although by the 80s/90s I think they were considered somewhat old fashioned, and so there was changes made to modernise them. At the same time the Marys were permanently stuck in the 3rd form, similar story-lines were repeated and in some ways they felt quite worn out. Still they appealed to a lot of readers. Personally growing up I did enjoy the Four Marys but I  was definitely more interested with The Comp. Funnily reading back the older issues even though it was before my time I actually find the 60s stuff appealing to me more, the art was more simplistic and it had a nice charm with the setting and stories. I think sometimes the Marys could come off a little too good and helpful at times, but still they weren’t without their flaws and their solid friendship it seems is one of the things that interested people.

The art changed a lot over the years and while the artists all did well, my personal favourites are  James Walker (60s) and Selby Donnison (80s).  There was a lot of adventure, mystery, fun and characters that you could get invested in.

Quick Links:

The Four Marys – Characters                                List of Appearances 

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The Mini Morgans

Bunty, , ,
  • The Mini Morgans – Bunty: #1634 (06 May 1989) – #1645 (22 July 1989)
  • Artist: George Martin

Plot

The Mini Morgans are Little People,  that perform as a circus act in 1885, along with their friend Martha Little. Unfortunately the circus has to close and while the owner thinks he can get Martha another job, for the Morgans he says the only option is to join a freak show. The Morgans are not happy with being considered freaks and Martha decides she will help find them jobs. The Morgans consist of Ada and Bert the older parental couple, Danny their son,  Holly and Jake a younger couple and Frank and Freddy.

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Along the way to find new jobs they have to deal with people’s prejudices as well as DeVere the owner of the Freak show trying to capture them. Danny is the first to get  job when he comes across a young catatonic girl Emily and manages to entertain her. The grandparents are so grateful that the offer him a place to live and to train him up as a tailor to work with the grandfather. Soon after that, a scheme by DeVere to capture the Morgans leads Ada getting hurt. They get her to a doctor, who tries to scam them saying she  will need an operation.  Luckily Martha also does some research on Dr. Dakin, and finds out he’s a scam artist, Ada will be fine she just had a concussion

Later Madame DeVere convinces Frank and Freddy to give her a chance only for her to steal their horse and burn their caravan. Holly is the romantic of the group while her boyfriend Jake is more gruff  and is not one to show his feelings. They get a job looking after chickens but on their first night a wild dog attacks the chickens, while trying to scare it off Jake is hurt. Unfortunately he doesn’t make it. Holly is devastated and doesn’t want to stay at the farm, but soon after Martha gets  gets Holly a job with a family of acrobats. Frank finds a girlfriend, Sally and gets married. Freddy rescues a girl in a fire, and in doing so catches the attention of a rodeo manager who gives him a job. So that only leaves Burt and Ada. Martha does some temporary acrobatics with family. When the parents decide it’s time to retire the son Davy suggests him and Martha could start their own trapeze act. Burt and Ada, see Martha has a chance of  love and job and decide to leave before she turns it down. Martha goes after them, she catches up with them just when Burt is  nearly killed when he rescues a dog from a flood. Burt and Ada get jobs as gardener and housekeeper with the dogs owner, and Martha feels she can move on now.

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Thoughts

There is a lot going on in this story. There is obvious drama but also some comic relief, with the way characters interact with each other, particularly with Frank and Freddy and Holly and Jake. There is also a good sense of family and closeness between the characters.

Holly and Jake are fun with her gushing romance and Jake being more of the gruff type but there is still the sense that he cares about her . His death is really unexpected and touching. We don’t actually see him die, but a doctor says it does not look good for him. It is well done with him declaring his love for Holly, then the next scene cuts to the next day Holly crying wanting to leave and a wordless panel with the Morgans comforting each other.

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While that is well done, it is strange that the next issue Jake never gets mentioned, presumably a bit of time has passed but still even in the caption box it basically says there is now only 5 Morgans left but doesn’t mention what happens. Though I suppose it seems that once a Morgan has moved on no matter what the circumstances they aren’t spoken of again. Ada and Bert have a tearful goodbye with their son Danny only for him  never to come up in conversation again.

DeVere drops off pretty suddenly as well. just before Holly gets her job, DeVere locks Martha up in order to convince the Morgans that she has abandoned them. She  leaves them with her card in hopes they will join her. Martha escapes of course and then the move on, and DeVere is never heard from again. Perhaps she thinks with only 4 of them its not worth her trouble any more as the whole point was to get the entire group, but its never explained what happened to her.

It is a nice story, the Morgans do have to deal with prejudice and being mocked. When things get tough, some of them even feel that maybe being in a freak show is their only option. Clearly Martha is a good friend and very close to them, but its also a bit sad that they sometimes feel a burden to her and that without her help they wouldn’t get much of a chance. I did like that when Martha is upset that Bert and Ada have left and she has to go find them, Davy points out that they are adults and would maybe like to look out for themselves. (Also its one of the few stories featuring little people that doesn’t involve magic, or some hidden society!)

The artwork is good, especially at portraying some of the more emotional scenes. There is plenty of action, drama as well as some humour to keep the story entertaining. The characters are very likeable and their is a nice sense of family and comradeship between them.

Pat the Brat

Bunty,
  • Pat the Brat –  Bunty:  #1638 (03 June 1989) – #1647 (05 August 1989)
  • Artist: Colin Merrett?

Plot

Pat Barnet, is a good tennis player but doesn’t have the killer instinct, she plays for fun not to win.  At some point in the past, her mother died of unnamed reasons, so it’s just her and her dad at home. Then her father gets in some serious trouble when he borrows money from a charity fund he is treasurer of to help out his own business, planning to pay it back later. An audit is coming up in 4 months and if he doesn’t replace the money by then, he is sure to go to jail.

Pat decides she must start winning cash prizes at tennis and show no mercy to other players. The other girls are surprised at this new attitude, especially when she does dirty tricks to get her opponents nerves, such as “accidentally” breaking a girl’s lucky racquet  and throwing people off their game by arguing with the umpire. She starts acting nasty in general, so not to give away the reason why she is suddenly so keen to win. She gets the nickname “Pat the Brat”  and she upsets her coach, Anne, even more when she refuses to play in charity match, as it means no money. This ends up with them going their separate ways.

Needing more money Pat goes onto a Europe tournament, she has to keep up her brat act, though one reporter Pauline suspects there is more behind this brat act. Just as Pat is regaining Anne’s trust, she notices Pauline watching so she has to act up again. Back home she goes for her last match against a nice girl Amy, and although she could probably win on her own merits,  just to be on the safe side she also shatters Amy’s confidence.

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She presents her dad with the money she’s won, so he can replace the money and things also are looking up for his business as he just landed a big contract. She goes on to explain to Anne about the situation, who understands the difficult situation she was in and also promises not to tell, though she does not condone her actions.  After their last match Amy has quit tennis. Pat tries to make amends  she talks with Amy and helps her get her confidence back.  She is also happy to be back playing tennis for fun.

Thoughts

Tennis was one of the more popular sport for girls to play in these comics, usually with an end involving winning some big tournament. Here instead of been driven by a need to prove her talent, Pat is doing it only to help her father. Even if she is quite talented she also feels the need to use dirty tricks as well, though her coach Ann points out their were many matches she could have just won with skill alone. While understandably Pat doesn’t want to take the risk, but it does mean the matches weren’t fairly won and that makes it harder to root for the protagonist.

pat_the_brat_01  pat_the_brat_02

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Overall the story is okay and the art is fine. In lots of ways it is hard to feel sympathy for some of the characters, especially the father. He is the cause of the trouble to begin with, once he mentions his concern that Pat is getting a bad reputation, but for the most part he is so distracted by his own problem he actually doesn’t take much notice of Pat.  He also tends to go around feeling sorry for himself, but not really doing anything pro-active to solve the problem. As for Pat there have been many characters that may act hard and nasty to cover their true feelings (for example The Seeker) but it doesn’t really excuse her actions.

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So yes there is a moral grey area, but I think the biggest problem I have with the story is actually that it’s a bit boring.  Even if I dislike some of the characters actions, it doesn’t make them un-likeable people, but mostly they are just bland and forgettable. I wasn’t eagerly awaiting to see what happened next.  I will say my  my story preference is more towards sci-fi stories or the unusual, but  that’s not to say I don’t like some of the grounded more soap like stories.  It may have appealed to other readers but personally I think this is one of the weaker stories printed.

Bunty 1995

Bunty, , , , , , , , , ,

Bunty_Ann_1995Bunty had a long run of annuals, up to 1988 Bunty appeared on the covers, after that cover girls were used instead. There was still plenty of picture stories inside, long running popular characters like The Four Marys and The Comp are present, along with complete new stories.  In this book, there are 17 picture stories altogether, only 1 text story though.  By this time photo stories were a common element, still there are only 2 photo stories present here. There isn’t a lot of  features only 5 here. Overall there’s a nice variety here. (For just a list of contents click here)

 

Picture Stories

The Four Marys    (Pages: 5-12/ 76-80)

Artist:  Jim Eldridge

Probably the most famous of school stories and the longest running, the Four Marys was about 4 friends that attended a boarding school, St. Elmos. For the most part they went by nicknames to avoid confusion (though in early stories they did not).  Raddy was the down to earth- daughter of an Earl, Simpy was the scholarship girl, who often got a hard time from the snobs Mabel and Veronica,  Cotty was the artistic one and also sometimes a klutz, and finally Fieldy was the sporty one.

In this annual there are two stories about the girls. The first is a Christmas themed story. While most of the school has gone home for the holidays, a group including the four Marys and snobs Mabel and Veronica are left behind for a few extra days as their parents aren’t around yet. It starts to snow and the girls have great fun the first day having snowball fights and sledding. Then it continues to snow and the girls wake up to find the electricity gone. While Mabel and Veronica complain about everything, everyone else gets on with things. Later when the girls are out, another pupil Andrea has an accident and hurts her leg. The girls get her back to the school but she will need to get to hospital. The phones are down and the roads have yet to be cleared, but luckily Raddy is a great skier and manages to go for help. They get Andrea to hospital and also get supplies for the school. The roads still won’t be cleared for Christmas though so they will have to stay. The girls don’t mind so much. Though Mabel and Veronica amusingly do.

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The second story has Raddy become a snob after a skiing accident. A blow to her head causes amnesia, while her memories return, her personality changes. Her parents hope that being around friends will help her recover. While Miss Mitchell and Creef are aware of this plan they don’t actually think it would be helpful to inform the other Marys about Raddy’s accident, so they get a surprise when Raddy comes in and starts ordering them around. and insist everyone refers to her as Lady Mary. Another knock on the head cures her, though when Simpy accidentally drops a book on her head.

Secret Schoolgirl    (Pages: 17-20, 71-74, 97-100)

This is a story in 3 parts which was a more common trait for Mandy annuals.  Amy is at boarding school when she hears her parent’s plane has crashed and they likely haven’t survived. She has to go live with her aunt who is mean to her and treats her like a free maid.  The people at her new school aren’t any nicer, so Amy goes back to Blackstone and her friends agree to hide her. They find the perfect place in the drama room, which is situated near a classroom so she can hear lessons and also she can dress up in disguise quickly when needed. When Amy sees a new girl stealing she make sure she’s caught but also the police are called. She thinks it’s too much of a risk to stay and runs away when she sees the police coming.  She trips and knocks herself unconscious. When she wakes up in hospital her parents are there they had survives the crash after all. This was common when someone says that no-one is likely to have survived a crash, the dead people would turn up by the end of the story!

Annie’s Story     (Pages: 21-25)

Artist: Don Walker

The opening caption box for this story places the time period as April 1985 but judging by their dress and background it is meant to say 1895. Unless it’s some time warped village which would put an interesting spin on the reading or a reminder of Shyamalan’s The Village! Annie is new to the village but has fitted in well as she is a friendly, nice girl. This does lead to some trouble with two girls; Mary and Ellen. They are especially mad when it comes to picking the May Queen, Annie makes sure a young  disabled girl gets to be the Queen. This leads to a fight where Annie gets knocked onto an oncoming horse and cart. It is revealed that the family had moved to the village after Annie had nearly died from an illness and her eagerness to help of others is mostly due to her gratitude of surviving. On hearing this Mary and Ellen see the error of their ways and are very sorry about the accident.  By the next summer Annie is recovered and the 3 are good friends visiting sick kids in the hospital.

A Dancer’s Dream    (Pages: 26-32)

Artist: Guy Peeters

Hannah longs to be a ballerina and when she gets an audition for a scholarship at a famous ballet school she is thrilled. The audition is to take place over a weekend and Hannah is to room with 2 other candidates, Stephanie and Nicola. Hannah quickly becomes friends with Stephanie but Nicola is quite a nasty person, who makes sure to suck up to the teachers while trying to sabotage the other girls on the side. Hannah ends up being late for her audition as she tries to comfort a girl Gail that Nicola upset.

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Hannah thinks she may have lost her chance but it turns out Stephanie is already a student at the school and she was there to make sure that as well as being talented,  a generous and kind pupil was chosen. Predictable that Nicola would be found out, but still a decent story with decent art.

My Pen Pal From Pluto    (Pages: 33-39)

Artist: Matias Alonso

Alien antics are always fun!  Karen’s brother  Martin customises a satellite dish so he can  get channels from all over the world. It turns out the dish doesn’t just pick up transmissions from our world, as Karen finds herself communicating with a girl from Pluto; Aurora. No one believes her as she can never get Aurora to appear when people are around.  Aurora comes to visit for a day, and of course causes trouble when she does such things as put food samples in her bag saying they will be interesting for scientific study.

pen_pal_B95  pen_pal_2B95

Before a French lesson Karen tries to use Aurora’s language translator to help her, but Aurora’s too late in explaining you need to point it at the person who is fluent in that language. Aurora is beamed back to her ship before fixing it and Karen is left only able to speak Pluto. Luckily at their next transmission Aurora is able to fix Karen, just in time because the neighbours have complained and Martin has to take down dish.

I like the alien Aurora design, though she still looks close to human, it is still fun, which matches the fun, light-hearted tone of the story.

Bunty- A Girl Like You    (Pages: 48/123)

Artist: Andy Tew

Bunty gets up to her usual amusing antics. In the first strip Bunty and her friends are annoyed by people in the cinema talking and eating loudly. Lisa convinces the girls that they can watch a video quietly while babysitting her cousins, but of course things don’t work out that way as the kids stay up banging on drums while the girls try to watch their film.

In the second strip Bunty builds a snowman but the next morning all the snow has melted. It starts snowing again so she build another one. Her mother tells her next morning her snowman is gone again but Bunty isn’t disappointed as this time it is because it snowed even more during the night and now she can build even more snowmen.

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Also of note is that Bunty appears on the first 2 pages and the last 2 pages inside the cover. It is more like the traditional way of the old Bunty; an amusing rhyme goes along with the images.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

It’s in the Book!

Bunty, ,
  • It’s in the Book! – Bunty PSL: #336 (1991)
  • Artist:  J. Badesa

Plot

Sally Barton is a bookworm but her parents believe she should be out meeting new people and getting fresh air, so they sign her up for an adventure holiday on an American island. There are 7 girls signed up and their holiday leader is Miss Tuffnell. For no sensible reason (other than to serve the plot), Miss Tuffnell sails on in a powerboat leaving the girls by themselves following  in a motor boat. Fog splits the girls up from Miss Tuffnell and the end up drifting of course and landing on an uninhabited island. Janice a regular holiday adventurer and a bossy girl decides to take charge but it is Sally with all her book knowledge that is the better equipped to handle the situation.

After Janice leads them to the other side of the island where there is little food and only cliffs, Janice overhears Sally telling Liz they would be better off on the beach where they can fish and have better chance of being seen. Janice decides to present this idea to the rest of the girls as if it was hers. On their way back they run into a swamp with a crocodile but luckily get safely back to the beach. Janice does not like that Sally is taking control of things. While looking for firewood Janice sees she is being watched by some unidentified animal and runs back to camp. The situation starts taking its toll on her, Janice seems defeated and stops giving the orders. Sally and Liz discover Janice’s mysterious animal was a lost dog. The dog comes in handy when a storm washes away their supplies and he finds them again.  Also he leads his owners back to help the girls. Sally and the girls get home safely and promise to stay friends and keep in contact.

Thoughts

This isn’t the most original story, a bunch of people being stranded on an island has been told often enough, but it is still a good adventure story. Visually the island is interesting and well represented, from the swamps and dense forests to the open beaches and cliffs. There are no mysterious smoke monsters, just the normal hazards of islands like animals, storms and  poisonous food. While the girls do not crash on the island the boat does get swept away onto the rocks, which serves putting them in a difficult situation without dealing with injuries on top of it.

There are 7 characters and while visually distinctive most of them don’t have a lot to do. Of course the focus is on both Sally and Janice. Liz as Sally’s close friend gets to be supportive of her and put down Janice when needed. One other girl Eunice seems to have the trait of making things worse by scaring the other girls.

The other girls seem to be there just to complain or switch allegiances from Janice and Sally and follow who ever is favourable at the moment, like sheep. It is a short book so I supose can’t expect everyone to form distinct personalities. Both Janice and Sally get time to develop. Janice actually gets the most development. She goes from being bossy, arrogant and jealous to scared and unsure. She gets back to taking charge again but it is more driven by fear after the dog runs off and she forms a group to follow him. While bossy and jealous she is never shown to be nasty and softens up a lot by the end. Sally throughout maintains her practical and level headed attitude. She does gain friends that will take some of her time from reading and she is happier about the holiday than she was in the beginning but overall she stays the same. It is nice to see the bookworm triumph!

I do find Sally’s parents attitude quite funny. When they send her on holiday, I get that they want to her to socialise and exercise and such, but you wouldn’t think having a daughter that likes to read would be such a problem.

I don’t think reading too much is something that needs to be cured, it’s not something I want to be cured of anyway!

 

Yesterday’s Children

Bunty,
  • Yesterday’s Children –  Bunty:  #1605 (15 Oct 1988) – #1614 (17 Dec 1988)
  • Artist: Dudley Wynne

Plot

Two girls, Sally and Heidi, are on their way to a school camp when they get lost in some fog. They decide to camp out until the fog clears and soon fall asleep. When they wake up they find a sign for a village Little Swaydon, that isn’t on their maps. They find a very quaint village and everyone dressed up in old fashioned clothes . At first they assume some sort of pageant is going on, but then the villagers start getting aggressive and end up  locking them in stocks. They are helped by a young girl Mary who believes they are witches.

They in turn help her with her sick brother. They discover he has an earache and Heidi uses her hot-water bottle, to help ease the pain.  Soon the rest of the villagers come for help from the girls and their “magic” bag of tricks. The girls stay at Mary’s house and get jobs with the local squire. They use their bag of equipment to help out. They are quite shocked at some of the hardships of the time; particularly the way women and children are treated. They try to bring some modern thinking to the people. Including encouraging the Squire’s daughter, Jane, to go to art college. But unfortunately the Squire wants to marry off to an unpleasant man, Lord Boshley, to settle his debts.

Jane actually has her eye on someone else and on the day of her wedding plans to elope with an inventor, James. The squire catches her but the girls interrupt the wedding by setting off stink bombs. An even bigger interruption happens when the dam breaks. The girls help get a lot of people to safety but are swept away themselves. When they get to dry land they find themselves back in the present. They are eager to find out what happened to the village. They learn that it was flooded but most got out safely thanks to some witches, and Jane ended up marrying James, having a museum dedicated to them. Their friend Mary went to work for them and they all went to America. Even the squire managed to get their debts paid off.

Thoughts

The art is done by Dudley Wynne probably most famous for the strips ‘Valda’ and ‘Angel’ Mandy.  Although he has drawn modern stories, his style seems to particularly suit historical stories, he captures the dark and grimy look of the past.

Its actually a few issues in before the girls actually realise they are in the past. While at first they think the village is doing some pageant, when it becomes evident they aren’t playing about, they think the villagers have decided to opt out of the modern world. It is a slow realisation that they are actually back in the past.

Most of the story-lines involve the girls helping around the village. Because of their modern gadgets they are considered witches. This is nothing new for stories involving time travel to the past, new inventions  seem like magic.  Despite some hardships and the girls objecting to some standards particularly how women and children being treated, it balances these with some humorous situations, such as stealing the neighbours cockerel so he doesn’t disturb the Tench family.  The neighbours son lose their jobs as they aren’t woken up in the morning. They solve this by giving them an alarm clock and get them new jobs as well.

There is a good variety of characters in the village. The girls main friends though  are Mary Trench and Jane. They try to help Jane escape a marriage to Boshley which they consider a fate worse than any prison sentence. Luckily they manage to disrupt the wedding and the dam bursting puts off any chances of repercussions. The girls help get most people to safety, though they get caught up in the water themselves along with another villager. While they end up back in the present, he is not so lucky.

The story while dark at times, it has it light moments too. The girls spend their time in the past trying to help people, and particularly get better treatment for the women of the time. They are accepting of their circumstances. That’s not to say it is an immediate acceptance, they are frightened at the thought of never getting back to present but they don’t dwell on it.  Its nice to see them concentrate on their relationships with the people around them. While the girls get back to the present as suddenly as they left, the story is still  nicely wrapped up, all the important characters get their ending.