Category Archives: Bunty

The Secrets of Charlie Chatterbox

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  • The Secrets of Charlie Chatterbox – Bunty: #1603 (1 Oct 1988) – #1615 (24 Dec 1988)
  • Artist:  Norman Lee

Plot

Fiona Parker is given an old ventriloquist dummy named Charlie. Only Charlie can really talk and he convinces Fiona to start performing with him. Money is tight for her and her mother, who is a widow. Mrs. Parker is working all hours to provide for them, so Fiona sees this as an opportunity to help out. Things don’t run smoothly for Fiona when Charlie  causes problems by insulting people. Also she is worried as he seems to have an agenda of his own.

They make an enemy of a wealthy influential woman, Mrs. Grant, when Charlie insults her. When Mrs. Grant tries to get her own back, Charlie  soon puts her in her place as he knows some of her family secrets. Charlie is eager to tour about the old theatres, and when Fiona catches the eye of agent Ted Alcorn, they get their opportunity to tour.  Fiona starts to suspect Charlie is up to something when she finds him rooting around Alcorn’s office.

He also scares Fiona at times, and he comes across as threatening. She is particularly cautious after an old stage hand, Bob,  appears to have been attacked and Charlie has blood on his sleeve. Fiona gains some advantage with Charlie as she realises he needs her to carry him around. Then they get an opportunity to appear on TV, while on TV he sings his special song and it appears to have affect on another doll Daisy-Belle, who is owned by two old ladies. Meanwhile Mike Harris, a reporter, is investigating Charlie, after a magician  Solesto who tried to steal Charlie, and who claimed Charlie could talk. Harris follows Charlie, but Charlie gets the better of him locks him in a shed. He goes for Daisy Belle who is delighted to see him. He wants Fiona to perform with both of them. Instead Fiona decides to retire and gives Charlie to the old ladies. Mrs. Parker has put away enough money to open up a shop, so money won’t be a problem any more. Mike not being able to report on the talking dummy, writes a “fictional” novel about Charlie, which gets turned into a film. He shares the profits with Fiona and also ends up marrying her mother.

Thoughts

This is a story that can go in the classic list. It is mysterious and creepy, with good characters and nice atmospheric art. The story was published around the same time as horror film Child’s Play came out. The film has Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray a serial killer possess a doll. So while there is no serial killer aspects to this story there does seem to be a few similarities. But The Secret of Charlie Chatterbox is actually the scarier of the two and definitely the better story.

There is a slow build up to what it is Charlie is after, you also don’t know what he is capable of doing to get what he wants and Fiona definitely doesn’t know whether to trust him. He is quite nasty to Fiona at times, calling her stupid and threatening/blackmailing her. The readers do see some sort of a redemptive side to him when the old stage hand sees Charlie walking around, he has a heart attack and Charlie tries to help him. Charlie calls an ambulance, but he does let Fiona believe it was him that attacked him to keep her doing what he wants.

He makes trouble for Fiona with other people on the theatre tour, being rude to them. Charlie also keeps Fiona going along with things by making her feel guilty about her mother working all the time. When Fiona gives out to him about his rudeness, he makes things difficult by not speaking on stage. In the end though he has a rough manner, his objective is to find his love Daisy Belle.  He would not really go through with any threats.

The story is developed well. There is a nice progression in the story. Even hints of what Charlie is after, such as when he gets upset when Fiona says she doesn’t care who he used to sing his song to. The character of  Mrs Grant and her daughter could have been the typical snobs and antagonists throughout the whole thing, instead she is quickly dealt with and the plot moves on focusing more on Charlie. Mrs. Grant after being insulted, fires Mrs. Parker so you are glad to see her get her comeuppance when Charlie reveals her family secrets on stage. But it also shows Charlie’s nasty streak and that he obviously has a lot of knowledge and history.

The dynamic between Charlie and Fiona is well done. Fiona is doing the gig to help her mother and sometimes Charlie scares her. But at the same time she isn’t afraid to argue with him and point out his rudeness. She also gets the better of him at times like when he won’t speak she starts singing his song to get a reaction out of him. Charlie can be scary particularly in the early issues. But he also is very set on achieving his goal. So rather than any real maliciousness on his part, he is just trying to reunite with his love, which sometimes makes him oblivious to others around him. Its interesting to see how Fiona and Charlie interact together.

While Fiona and Charlie have the main dynamic, side characters do get a bit of time too. Mike is an ambitious reporter, knowing he could have a great story on his hand, but he is also a nice guy he is actually concerned about ruining Fiona’s career if he tells Charlie’s story.  Eddie and Liz are acting as chaporones to Fiona, they seem to mostly be there to get the brunt of Charlie’s rudeness, but they do try to help Fiona out.

How Charlie and Daisy Belle could talk in the first place is never explained. They touch on it in the last issue but it is a  bit of a cop out as they say we’ll never know!

 

But on the other hand the focus of the story is more concerned with Charlie finding Daisy Belle and his relationship with Fiona. So I guess there really isn’t a need to know why he can talk and it can be fun to come up with theories.

So my verdict is this was a good strong story, nice build up to its conclusion, a good mystery and creepy in parts. It is also well drawn, the framing and use of shadows to make Charlie more imposing despite his size, is good and the character of Charlie should be remembered as one of the greats.

 

Mirror Image

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  • Mirror Image – Bunty PSL: #437
  • Artist: Veronica Weir

Plot/Thoughts

This is a story about Alternate Worlds. I personally love stories with alternate worlds, Fringe, Man in the High Castle, It’s a Wonderful Life are some of my favourite stories. While this story doesn’t reach the high levels of storytelling of the latter, it is still a fun read.

The main character, Donna, isn’t too happy with her life. She wishes that her family and life was different. She would like to live in a better modern house and have parents that are less eccentric and more attentive like her friend Denises. Denise on the other hand thinks Donna has a great life, a good family, a cool house and Donna is an A student.

When her Mum buys an old  three way mirror at an antiques fayre, Donna discovers it has special qualities.

 

So she is able to travel to alternate dimensions. She finds her first wish coming true, as in this world her parents are well off so she lives in a big modern house and has expensive clothes and all she ever wanted. Her mother is a famous professional artist and her father is a successful business man. Of course things aren’t as perfect as they first seem, her father is all smarmy calling her princess all the time and at her mum’s art exhibition she has a very boring evening with her parents ignoring her. Things don’t get any better when she goes to school next day and finds her friends are all stuck up. Having enough of this world she travels back to her own world. She discovers that hardly any time has passed in her world. Out of curiosity she decides to check out other dimensions.

She finds herself in a life where she isn’t smart and struggles at school. Her home life is dreary, her parents are strict. Her mother’s an art teacher and a dragon of a teacher. Which doesn’t make Donna popular with other students.

Donna is quick to leave this world and she decides she has enough of travelling to other worlds. But when she goes to talk to her parents they are both too busy to talk, feeling fed up Donna decides to give the mirror another go. She finds herself in a similar world to her own except that her and Denise are partners in competitive disco dancing. When Denise makes a mistake at a competition, Donna’s mum is quick to get rid of Denise and get Donna a better partner.  It turns out she’s a very pushy controlling stage mum, Donna begins to appreciate her own mother.

She is panicked when she discovers this mother has given away the mirror, she worries she will be stuck in this world forever, luckily she finds it at a jumble sale and is able to travel back. She is happy to be home and has realised she has a Wonderful Life after all.

It’s fun to explore alternate worlds. The art is good at representing the different people and worlds, Donna’s mother looks snobby in the first world , old fashioned in second world and sharp in the third world but they are all recognisable as the same person.  The moral is nothing new discovering that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, but its a fun story anyway.

 

 

The Change in Claire

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  • The Change in Claire –  Bunty:  #1697 (21 Jul. 1990)  – #1708 (06 Oct. 1990)
  • Reprinted: Bunty #2165 (10 July 1999) – #2176, (25 September 1999)
  • Artist: Matías Alonso

Plot/Thoughts

Jane Cook is happy when she finds out her friend Claire is moving back to the neighbourhood, but Claire seems to have changed in her time away and has it out for Jane’s family. She starts out with small things, such as knocking over Jane’s books so Jane misses the bus, of course she acts all nice afterwards claiming it was accidental. It’s not just Jane she’s making trouble for though, Jane’s Dad’s car gets scratched and Claire causes Jane to break her Mum’s favourite teapot. After Claire turns the class against Jane, Jane is determined not to get tricked again and also get to the bottom of why Claire has changed.

When Jane’s cousin Andy comes to stay, his dog goes missing, Jane believes Claire has something to do with it she confronts Claire. It seems Claire has mistook Andy for Jane’s brother Mike. Jane begins to wonder if Claire has something against Mike in particular. After a trip to a funfair, Claire appears to be getting more dangerous, nearly pushing Claire’s Mum out of a ferris wheel carriage, while pretending to have vertigo.

Claire’s little tricks have now become more psychotic as she actually tries to injure some of Jane’s family. While out riding with her cousin Jenny, Claire startles the horse causing Jenny to fall off and get injured. She reveals to Jane that her change seems to be something to do with her sister Sara/Fay. ( It seems the writer/editors, had a hard time keeping track of Claire’s sister’s name. In issue 1697 it is Sarah, then in issue 1704, she is called Fay and in 1707-1708 she is back to being called Sara, though without a h!)

Continuing on the road of nearly killing the Cooks, Claire invites them over to the house while her parents are out. She acts all nice for a while, then pops out. She leaves the central heating on full blast, then locks all the doors and windows so they can’t escape.

Luckily Claire’s parents come home in time. Meanwhile Jane has discovered that Claire’s room is covered with pictures of Sara. (Jane describes it as a shrine, creepy much!?) Later Claire confirms that she is making the Cooks pay for what they did to her sister. Jane not having any idea what that could be, is happy that her brother Mike is coming home from college so she can talk about Claire with him.

Claire is excited her sister Sara is coming home too, she boasts a lot about her. Mike goes cycling on his new bike but Claire cuts the breaks, even though Jane can’t prove it. So another kill attempt, the girl is seeming like potential bunny boiler material!  After the accident Jane remembers  that Mike and Sara had been on an adventure holiday together a few years ago. Mike is reluctant to tell her the story, but does eventually.

His version of the story is that him and Sara were friends, but then she started to tell everyone  they were engaged and Mike didn’t know how to handle it.  (So I wonder how much of a casual “friendship” this was, either way Sara is delusional to announce their engagement. Seems this family is full of issues! ) So Mike not wanting to embarrass her waited til he was home and wrote to her saying he wasn’t ready for that sort of thing. I would think so, as Mike is just in college now and the holiday was a a year ago how old were they when Sara created this engagement? I’m guessing way too young to be planning a wedding.

So Jane tells Mike what has been happening. They go to see Claire. Sara is home and they are surprised to see her in a wheelchair. Turns out Sara had an accident on her horse a couple of weeks after Mike’s letter and Claire has blamed Mike  and hated his family since, because its rational to hold a vendetta against the entire family over what she perceived Mike did wrong. Anyway Sara knows it was just bad luck, and she was over the Mike break-up at that stage (would have been nice if she told Claire that!) Claire’s upset at this revelation.

In a few weeks everyone’s feeling better and apparently there are hints of Sara and Mike getting together, yep because nothing is  more attractive than a delusional girl and her psychotic sister, that nearly killed you and your family. Seriously hope Claire got some professional help, her obsession with her sister and basically attempts to kill people isn’t something that should be that easy to get over in a few weeks….in the real world at least!

 

The Sailor Doll / Sam

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  • The Sailor Doll – Bunty PSL: #265
  • Reprinted as  Sam –  Bunty PSL: #396
  • Artist: Peter Wilkes

Plot/Thoughts

This month is the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking.  I’m sure  with all the books on the subject that have been released and James Cameron 1997 film Titanic is being re-released in 3D, that it has been pretty hard to miss. So with the month that is in it I thought it was a good time to look at the story “The Sailor Doll”.

The story is drawn by Peter Wilkes and is a mystery/ ghost story involving a girl Jackie and a sailor doll that was on the Titanic. Jackie is going on a school trip with her friends Donna and Fran, they are taking the cruise ship “Odin” to New York then onto Disneyland for a week.  It must be some fancy school school these girls went to, if they can afford a cruise ship to America and a week in Disneyland on top of it. I also wonder about the logistics of the trip so they get a ship to New York then do they fly to Disneyland, because presumably if it’s in California that’s a really long drive to take!

As a mascot Jackie’s father gets her a sailor doll named Sam from a junk shop. When they are sailing off Jackie nearly drops Sam into the water. It’s the first sign that there may be something strange going on.

In the standard procedure of these stories,  more strange things happen when the girls keep finding their porthole window open and Sam beside it. At first these things are dismissed and Jackie’s friends are particularly cynical that there is something unusual with Sam. Then Jackie has a nightmare in which she is drowning she also see a young girl in old-fashioned clothing, looking for Sam.  While she tries to forget these nightmares and just have fun, she starts to see visions during the daytime.

 

So the only reasonable theories Jackie can have is that she is hallucinating or that Sam is trying to tell her something. Later from a tear in his jacket she finds a note.  She can’t read all the note but she can make out the date of  April 1912 and words “exciting, cold and  big ship” also the name of the ship ends in ‘anic’.  So Jackie researches the information and finds out about the sinking of the Titanic. I would have thought this is something she would of heard of before in school at some point but apparently not. She notices that there are similarities between the Titanic and the trip they are on now, they are travelling the same course, between the same dates and their captain is also name Smith.

Jackie tries to convince her friends that there is a connection with their trip and the Titanic. When more strange things happen Fran and Donna agree to help investigate. Jackie sees the young girl again and falls down steps chasing after her, ending up with a concussion. Fran decides to throw Sam overboard thinking if he’s gone all the trouble may stop. Jackie is upset when she finds out this, she is also convinced their ship is going to sink as well and only Sam could have helped them. Not sure how Sam could have helped him but instead of finding Sam sinister and creepy, Jackie thinks he is a good spirit.

Luckily it turns out Sam fell onto a lower deck when Fran dropped him so Jackie finds him again. She figures that the girl would have been saved if she hadn’t gone back looking for the doll, while Sam was rescued from the water and now he wants to be reunited with the girl. The girls decide they need to toss Sam overboard on  April 14  at 11.46pm.

After this the ship arrives safely at its destination. Fran and Donna believe they let their imaginations run wild but Jackie believes Sam and the girl are happily reunited.

The story is quite a common one; strange occurrences, ghosts and cynical friends. It has the more accurate historical setting which is a bit more educational than the usual made up ghost history. A lot of these tortured ghosts were looking to be reunited with a beloved item, if there is a lesson to be learned I think its if your ship is sinking/house is on fire/school collapsing etc… do not go back for your favourite toy/ locket because you will be killed and end up haunting some girl 60 years later.

 

Bunty/ Life with Bunty/Bunty – A Girl Like You

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  • Bunty –  Bunty: #01 (18 January 1958) – #1550 (26 September 1987)
  • Life With Bunty –  Bunty:  #1551 (03 Oct 1987) – #1657 (14 Oct 1989)
  • Bunty – A Girl Like You–  Bunty:  #1658 (21 Oct  1989) – ?
  • Art: Doris Kinnear (1958-1987), Andy Tew (1988-2000)

Plot/Thoughts

While a few girl comics had general names like School Friend or Spellbound, the most common thing for the titles was  to be named after girls, i.e. Bunty, Judy, Tracy, Emma, Tammy, Sally  etc. Bunty isn’t the most common girls name, particularly these days,  so I think the name is more likely to bring up memories of the comic than a person. Bunty was represented  by a girl of the same name in the comic. For the majority of the Bunty publication she was the first thing you saw on the covers, but even after revamps, she still  survived  by moving inside the issues and having a comic strip.

The first issue of Bunty had two girls featured on the cover a blonde and a curly black haired girl (the cover art for issue 1 by Doris Kinnear who continued to draw the covers for many years). The emphasis was more on the fact that this was a brand new comic with free gift rather than any cover character. The second issue again emphasized the free gift more than the Bunty character but it was now clear that the blonde girl was the comic’s namesake.

By Issue 3 the cover was dedicated to a Bunty comic strip. It was usually laid out with three small panels and one big panel for the pay off. There was no word balloons instead the story was told in short rhymes.  Sometimes competitions or advertised free gifts would take over the front cover but otherwise this format stayed for over 1500 issues, after which the cover had pictures depicting stories inside the comic instead.

Bunty started off as young girl with long blonde hair in plaits, later her image was updated, with a new shorter haircut. The other regular characters were her two parents, who would often be exasperated with her, in the early covers, she also had an older dark haired sister. She disappeared later, perhaps old enough to move away or just simply forgotten about! Sometimes friends would pop up but mostly just as when it was convenient to the plot.

When the covers started to portray stories from inside the book. Bunty was moved to the back cover, so usually a full colour strip. Although sometimes if an advertisement or Design a Fashion was on the back cover the strip was inside and in black and white, The strip was named Life with Bunty. Her hair was short and curly and now it was a longer strip more of a story and more dialogue with word balloons, no more rhyming captions. It was still wrote as a humour strip.

This only lasted a 100 or so issues, then Bunty got revamped again. With issue 1658, the comic was now being printed  on glossy paper and inside a lot more fully coloured strips appeared. The Bunty strip was renamed again; as Bunty-A Girl Like You. I believe a regular artist for this was Andy Tew. Again Bunty got a new hairstyle to depict the change, this is even commented on on the first strip.

Her parents were still there and still recognizable as their earlier counterparts. Two more regulars were added; friends Lisa and Jo and they became a permanent trio. Jo was a black curly haired girl (I wonder if she was a nod to that black curly haired girl that appeared on the first issue!) and Lisa a red head. Often these strips concentrated on Bunty’s crush of the week, or fashion, so it was a lot more teen aimed than earlier strips. Bunty as a humour strip of a teenage girl also seemed to replace the younger Toots model. Later the srips were re-printed under Girl Zone banner.

Its good to see the comics namesake survived throughout the years and the character of Bunty was a memorable one.

Other Appearances

Annual Appearances

  • A Bite for Bunty – Bunty Annual 1969 [Artist: Doris Kinnear]
  • Life with Bunty – Bunty Annual 1989 [Artist: Doris Kinnear]
  • Life with Bunty – Bunty Annual 1990 [Artist: Doris Kinnear]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1990 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1991 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1992 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1993 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1994 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You – Bunty Annual 1995 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1996 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1997 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1998 [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty- A Girl Like You (x2) – Bunty Annual 1999 [Artist: Andy Tew]

Summer Specials

  • Life with Bunty – Bunty Summer Special 1988 [Art: Doris Kinnear]
  • Life with Bunty – Bunty Summer Special 1989 [Art: Doris Kinnear]
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Summer Special 1988 [Art: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Summer Special 1991 [Art: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Summer Special 1992 [Art: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Summer Special 1993 [Art: Andy Tew]
    • Reprinted as Girl Zone – Bunty Holiday Special 2003
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Summer Special 1994 [Art: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Summer Special 1995 [Art: Andy Tew]
    • Reprinted as Girl Zone – Bunty Holiday Special 2001
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Summer Special 1996 [Art: Andy Tew]
    • Reprinted as Girl Zone – Bunty Holiday Special 2004
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Summer Special 1997 [Art: Andy Tew]
  • Bunty – a Girl Like You – Bunty Holiday Special 1998 [Art: Andy Tew]
  • Girl Zone – Bunty Holiday Special 2002 [Art: Andy Tew]

Wish Upon a Star

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  • Wish Upon a Star  –  Bunty:  #1770 (14 December 1991)  – #1777 (01 February 1992)
  • Reprinted – Bunty: #2177 (2 October 1999) – #2184 (20 November 1999)
  • Artist: Andy Tew

Plot/Thoughts

So what do you do if your best friend is potentially an alien? This is the problem Dawn faces when she becomes friends with her new neighbour, Stella Starr. Previous to becoming friends with Stella, Dawn is the only girl in her class that doesn’t have a best friend. She is friends with the other girls in the class but when it comes to partnering up for assignments she is left out on her own.  So she is feeling quite lonely and at night she sees a shooting star and she wishes she had a best friend. Conveniently the next day a family move in with a girl Dawn’s age.  Dawn is pleased to make friends at first though she notices  Stella has a weird sense of humour and things don’t seem to add up right with her family.

Stella doesn’t know about pop groups or soaps, when she says things that make Dawn suspicious, Stella pretends she is joking.  Mrs. Starr plants some flowers that grow overnight and are like nothing Dawn has been before. When Dawn and Stella are babysitting and the baby is sick, Dawn’s mother appears after “sensing” something was wrong. In class Stella makes up chemistry solutions that have never been heard of.

So Dawn keeps noticing these strange things about Stella and her family.  When she finds a piece of paper with Junsta written on it and Stella says that is where they lived before, she decides to research it. She discovers Junsta is the name of a planet so the Starrs must be aliens. Why would aliens need to keep a scrap of paper with their home planet name written on it, were thay afraid they’d forget?

So Dawn doesn’t freak out at this revelation, like its scary that alien exists they could be invading, or wow this is interesting aliens exist and cool I have super powered best friend. Instead her biggest worry seems to be she doesn’t want to be friends with an alien because she’s weird.

Seems ungrateful to me. She was upset about not having a best friend, then she gets one and just because she’s  possibly an alien she is going to drop her. Stella has been really nice to her and Dawn doesn’t seem to be afraid of Stella’s alien powers, more worried that other people will think she’s weird too. So she begins to avoid Stella. Stella finally confronts Dawn she explains all the strange instances and tells her Junsta was the name of their old house not town so Dawn is relieved to hear this.

So yes the big reveal Dawn was right all along! So the story is pretty lighthearted.  The art is simple, a bit cartoony at times and matches the tone of the story well. There isn’t any fear or tension that there might be aliens and they have hidden agendas to take over the world by blending in first. Instead its more of a girl suspecting her friend is an alien because she’s odd. I think it would have been more of a twist if it turned out she was just an odd girl. It’s not the most adventurous storyline, and it doesn’t live up to older more bizzare alien stories. I wouldn’t consider it to  be a top classic strip or very memorable,  but  it is still nice to see that aliens still pop up in issues from the 90s.

I also wonder if the alien, Stella Starr,  is a variation on the older Mandy character of the same name. It may be just a nod of recognition or maybe its the common name for aliens, the Starr being obvious reference to being from the stars.

Letters of Hate

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  • Letters of Hate –  Bunty: #1678 (10 March 1990) – #1686 (5 May 1990)
  • Artist: Tom Hurst

Plot/Thoughts

This story is narrated by Gemma, her life isn’t going so well, these days, her boyfriend Mike dumped her and her father has lost a job.  So she isn’t having a great time, but she still seems surprisingly upbeat. She brushes off Mike having a new girlfriend as no big deal and encourages her father to keep going for interviews. Then people in her school start getting poison pen letters. Janice is called out for being spotty, Ben and Abigail break up after he gets a note that Abigail spent evening with another guy. Gemma and her friends Cathy and Laura decide to play detective and find out who is sending the letters.

Spoilers! In the end the shocking twist is  that Gemma is the  culprit herself! Having protagonists be the person behind nasty tricks was one of those plots that would pop up sometimes. The story tries to steer towards other suspects, even in the first issue two girls Babs and Josie are highlighted to be mean gossips, so later on they become suspects. In the second issue Gemma herself gets a nasty letter. Again this was common to have the supposed victim be behind everything.

The letters are written in different methods, so these clues to lead them to new suspects. In one instance a letter is typed right after girl bragging about new typewriter. Conveniently Gemma always is on her own when a letter arrives. When  Gemma and Laura decide to hide in the classroom waiting for the writer, Gemma goes to tuck shop and it turns out a letter appears in another class. Next a letter is sent with cut out comic bookletters (Bab and Josie are suspects). Later Gemma and Laura find spare letters in cloakroom they are surprised that they are beside best friends Cathy’s peg. When Cathy is off sick the next day the rule her out,

Throughout the story Gemma’s ex Mike and his new girlfriend Dawn pop up. Her thought bubbles reveal she still wants him back even though she says she she doesn’t mind outwardly.

Mike and Dawn both become suspects, when they find a typed list of names including most of the victims. It is actually a party list and typewriter doesn’t match.

Cathy meanwhile has figured out why the crooked M on typewritten note looked so familiar, it’s Gemma’s. So Laura and her confronts Gemma and yes she did it because she was having a miserable time. Some people who got notes was just to make them miserable too, others like a girl Tania got a note because she disliked her for beating her in a race. Of course Gemma loses all her friends after everyone knows what she has done. She seems quite surprised by this.

Again its not breaking any new ground, but at least some of the suspects like Cathy, Mike and Dawn seem possible and less obvious than earlier suspects. Gemma seems a bit oblivious to the consequences but her motivation is plausible.  She is not an overly vicious character, she did a terrible thoughtless things, more because misery likes company than any real spite. But in the end its good to see her get what she deserves. The art is solid. Some stories have settings that gives the artist lots to explore with like old style Victorian, or futuristic sci-fi, or even having crazy pets but with stories set in a modern era schools, there can seem to be less to play around with.  Still the expressions are subtle, characters are distinctive and while there isn’t lots of action it is still nice nice and consistent.

Framed!

Bunty,
  • Framed! – Bunty Picture Story Library: #353
  • Artist: Don Walker

Plot/Thoughts

This was one of those stories, that when I saw the preview for it, I imagined something very different.  I thought there was some mysterious story about the characters, that they were based on actual people. Instead this is the story of  fictional characters coming to life.

Carly Bell’s mother is an artist and writer of picture stories for basically Bunty type comics. The fake publication they name here is “Jenni”. She discusses her new idea with Carly; a family called the Swifts, begin to have falling outs after winning the pools. Carly thinks the characters aren’t realistic, they are too good to begin with, to suddenly have fights over money. The mum is really not one to take constructive critiscism  well and decides to bin the entire idea. She gives Carly the drawings she has already done as she has no use for them. While I know some ideas may not work and writers/artists may like to start new, but she gives up on the idea very quickly. I mean she scraps the idea without even trying to improve it and I think even if she didn’t use that story or exact characters a lot of artists and story writers use elements of disregarded ideas.

Also I don’t know if it was intentional dig at picture stories that were commonly seen in Bunty, or else it was a good-natured acknowledgement of the flaws. Criticising characters for being overly good and also reusing story-lines is mentioned. I would think its just a self awareness of the type of stories that were often published and I’d take more as a bit of poking fun then actual malice behind it.

Back with Carly, she is putting away the disregarded pictures when there is a nice subtle hint at troubles about to begin.

The happy drawings of the characters, look sinisterly at Carly. It’s a good panel setting up the creepy atmosphere. While Carly’s gone the Swifts express their anger at Carly for getting their series scrapped, they decide to teach her a lesson. First, the girl Swift ruins a night out at the disco when she causes Carly to spill a drink all over her friend’s new dress. Though really the friend overreacts a lot. Each of the Swifts take a turn at playing tricks on her,  including the dog. These tricks seem to be done with real malice at time, so there is reason to actually worry about what will happen to Carly. The grandad setting up Carly to look like a thief, seems quite tense.

Carly tries to tell her mother what’s happening, of course mother laughs it off as an overactive imagination. After every Swift has played a trick on Carly, she thinks they’ve gotten their revenge so they will leave her alone now. Instead they all get together to gang up on her.

They chase her into barn. As it is dark Grandpa lights some matches, Carly escapes out of a hole. Grandpa drops the matches and the barn goes on fire. Firemen arrive and are informed that there is people inside, but all they find are burnt up pieces of paper. Carly is delighted to hear this.

I know they were terrorising her but she maybe looking a bit too gleeful about their deaths. Even if they were just fictional characters that were chasing this innocent girl, being burnt to death seems quite a dark ending for them. Although the ending is still a bit vague did they just disappear or burn to death and turn to paper?

The Swifts motivation seems a little arbitrary as well. You would think if they were so powerful to live outside their frames, they’d want to just get on with a life rather than torturing some girl.

Other than the vague ending of the Swifts and the questionable motives I quite liked this story. The idea of picture characters coming to life is always fun to play around with. The art is solid, the Swifts could look mischievousness and then suddenly turn quite menacing. The threat to Carly seemed like it was genuinely dangerous at times, it made the atmosphere tense leading up to the climax.

 

Bunty Picture Story Library

Bunty
Issue No.Title
1Moira Kent and the Disappearing Ballerinas
2The Girl in the Red Mask
3The Face in the Painting
4House of Secrets
5Name Unknown
6The Ice Princess
7Moira Kent and The Missing Star
8The Girl in Mystery Cottage
9Lorna Drake and the Stowaway’s Secret
10The Mystery of the Green Shoes
11Shadow of the Star
12Lorna Drake – Ballerina Behind Bars
13Little Miss Lonely
14Please Find My Father!
15The Truth About Ruth
16The Secret of Six Gables
17Patti Mason – Fashion Model
18The Slave of Tregarron
19Girls of Sundown Stables
20Snowbound School
21Scarecrow of the School
22Mystery Mountain
23Danger From Her Double
24The Secret of the Seventeen Steps
25She Walked by Night
26The Girl Who Knew too Much
27“Who Am I?”
28Dora and her Donkey
29She Danced into Danger
30A Medal for Madeleine
31The Runaway Dancer
32Stella and the Stowaway Prince
33That Brat Pat!
34The Spy at the Stage School
35The Secret of the Black Triangular
36The Fight for Freda’s Fairground
37Orphan Ballerina
38Teddy Bear’s Secret
39The Girl in the Tall Tower
40The Secret of the Doll’s House
41She Sang for her Supper!
42Stowaway Stella
43School for Strangers
44Wendy and the Seven Songsters
45The Girl in the Bell Tower
46The Topsy Trail
47The Red Door
48The Mystery of Monks Island
49Kathy at Coldmoor
50Imposter at the Ballet School
51The Secret of the Nocturne
52The Stranger on Storm Island
53Wild Girl of the Moors
54The Secret Ballet
55Film Star for a Fortnight
56Girls of Stagecoach City
57Sal of Sandheath Stables
58The Jinx on Jarrods
59Betty the Ballet Menace
60The Boomerang Bells
61Moira Kent and the Silent One
62Flora of the Forest
63Hilary of Hamilton Abbey
64Secret from the Sky
65Debbie and her Dogs
66The Flying Fentons
67The Village of Hate
68Terrible Tillie
69Spinning Jenny
70The Outcast of Oakvale
71Curtain Up for Clara
72No One Knows Nina
73Lost- One School!
74The Girl in the Tower
75The King’s Caravan
76Maid of Music
77Princess Pop
78Martians at the Manor
79Even Clowns Can Cry
80House of Hate
81The Crimson Crest
82Sew Sew Jo
83The Nameless Ones
84Jenny Guitar
85No Place to Play
86Maid of Magic
87The Splendid Seven
88The Bolas Lass
89Challenge of the Peaks
90Stella’s “Stage” Coach
91Village of the Blind
92The Angry Island
93Queen of the Buskers
94Beth of the Outback
95Molly’s Mop-Up Brigade
96They Shall Have Music…
97The Chosen One
98Dance for Your Daddy!
99The Pipes of Panji
100The Hee-Haw Hero
101They All Want Lucy’s Locket!
102The Girl with Green Fingers
103Dora the Dope
104Slaves of Happy Valley
105No One Wants Nina
106Debbie’s Ugly Duckling
107The Clip-Clop Clarks
108Hilda in the House of Secrets
109Crazy Academy
110Dinah in the Dark
111Lily of Lonely Island
112Penny of Pennycoat Lane
113The Girl from Up There
114Joker’s of St. Jude’s
115Hetty’s Hee-Haw Holiday
116Sally’s Sailing School
117Meg All-Alone
118Horoscopes Rule at Dingley School
119Their Queen is a Panda!
120The Stone She Fears
121They all Hate Hannah!
122Jeanie and her Genie
123Sandra’s Slave
124No Badge for Madge
125Puppets in Peril
126Katy Cope the King’s Last Hope
127Penny Whister’s Band
128Gwenda’s Goat
129Kitty on the Run
130Find the Thursday Girls!
131Mona on Mystery Moor
132Two-Faced Freda
133The Fabulous Fletchers
134Clowns Don’t Cry!
135The Secret Cyclist
136The Runaway Cookery Queen
137Hand’s Off Our Bell!
138Granny Get Your Gun!
139The Amazing Misty
140Beware the Black Cat!
141The Terror of St. Trudes
142The Trail of the Sunset Girl
143Danger Girl
144Ghostly Gloria
145Lisa’s Lion
146They all Hate Hetty!
147Dance into Danger!
148No Mirrors for Morna!
149The Austins Must Go!
150The Secret of Room 7
151Where No Voice Sings!
152Runaway Ballet Dancer
153The Mystery of the Blue Windmill
154The Milkfloat Marathon
155A Clean Sweep for Clara
156Girl From Space
157Ghost Rider of Gull Grange
158The Lady and the Scamp
159Mystery at High Hollow
160Midge & Madge: they’re hopeless apart
161The Cat on the Trail of the Flying German Bomb
162Island of Tears
163Eyes for Brother Billy
164Terror on Black Rock
165Guardian of the Silver Stallion
166Penny Ballerinas
167Castaway Class
168The Mystery of Gloom Glade
169The Mystic Medallion
170Maid of the Mountain
171Polly from the Past
172Fiona in Fashion
173The Four Marys
174Mystery at Creepy Creek
175The Star Stealer
176Little Champion
177The Rival Castaways
178Ruth on the Run
179Sandy of the Silver Reins
180Queen of the Tree People
181Prisoner of the Purple Ray
182“Wish you Were Here!”
183No Love for Lisa
184House of Secrets
185The Traitor’s Daughter
186Wings on her Wheels
187The Sea Scamps
188Lonely Lucy
189Nora of the North
190Shirley and her Shadow
191The Ice Princesses
192The Phantom of the Saddle
193Betty’s Great Big Ben
194Patti Morgan-Fashion Model Afloat
195The Bell Must Ring
196Patsy and the Little People
197Born to Fly
198Susie and Sandie- Action Twins
199Carole – the Clownmaker
200Kay King Ship’s Nurse
201A Pigeon called Peg
202Jill-Junior Reporter
203Trixie’s Taxi
204Forbidden to Ride
205The Sail Riders
206And Baby Went Too!
207Rena of the Rose Bowl
208The Girl’s of Pet Place
209She Wants to be Expelled
210The Helping Hands of Heather
211The Taming of Tanya
212Singalong Sue
213The Courage of Blind Belinda
214Loser Lou
215Zoo Girl Zoe
216The Only Girl at St. Hilda’s
217Her Mother is a Star
218Slave for a Week
219Personality Penny
220Heartbreak Stables
221Big Sister
222Sue and the Smiling Dolls
223The Bravest of Them All
224No Welcome for Nurse Carson
225“I’ll Never be Captain Now”
226Eskimo Ella
227The On-the-Dot Dales
228Wendy and the Water Horse
229Us and the V.I.P (very important pig)
230The Dragon Next Door
231A Piano for Marjory
232Gwen’s Little Gallopers
233A Dog’s Life for Donna
234Anything Hugh Can Do…I Can Do Better
235Fay of the Footlights
236The Secret of Her Sister’s Doll
237“I Must Find My Mum”
238Three on the Tiger Run
239Dorcas and the Dark Lady
240“I’ll Make You a Winner”
241Tall Storey
242Tina the Tester
243Ride into Danger
244Galloping Gran
245Hetty at the Helm
246Dolwyn's Dolls
247Lonely Lynn
248Dee and the Dog Star
249Push Button Academy
250Fearless Flo- stunt girl
251The Witch Waggon
252No Place Like Home
253Super Sue
254Paula and the Lion and the Chimp!
255Roller Girl
256Dana the Time-Master’s Daughter
257Hilary’s Highwayman
258Forgotten Fay
259The Secret of the Gipsy Doll
260Catch the Wind
261Galloping Gran Again
262My Model Sister!
263The Chosen One
264The Return of Big Sister
265The Sailor Doll
266Rachel’s Runaways
267Gymnast Jackie
268Chris Carson Assistant Nurse
269Lazy Daisy and the Livewire Ghost
270Fran’s Secret Friend
271The Dances of Donna Dean
272Hope’s Huskies
273Jena and the Giant Beetle
274Bushgirl Beth
275The Girl at the Window
276Dolly’s Dolphin
277Water, Water Everywhere!
278Joy of the Gym
279“I Won’t Share with Shirley”
280Dancing for Diane
281She Lived to Tell a Tale
282Her Downstairs Friend
283The Strange Changes in Jenny Jones
284Dennis the Pony Menace
285Amazing Sammy
286Katie Bright Keeping Mum Right!
287Ollie the Ostrich
288No Medals for Margie
289Stand-In Sister
290Secret Gymnast
291Four Against the School
292Slaves of the Teasets
293Captain Shirley
294Super Budgie
295The Silver Scorpians
296The Kidnapped Castaways
297Footlights of Fear
298Flo’s Chippy
299The All-Star Spooks
300Becky and the Beachbike
301The Perfect Girl
302Ollie Ole
303The Return of Dennis the Pony Menace
304Stagecoach Stella
305Wendy’s Wonder Window
306“Run Nippers Run”
307The Time Leapers
308Out of Her Class
309The Purple Fan
310Travels of a Tree-House
311Saving the Pennys
312The New Girl’s Secret
313Pretty Plain Jane
314The Secret of Madge’s Mutt
315Rosie’s Rainbow
316Becky and the Beachbike
317Tess Tempest
318The Diary
319The Seeker
320Ollie the Ostrich
321Clare of Witch Hill
322The Curse on St.Elmos
323The Pest from the Past
324My Brilliant Friend
325Miss Sunbeams
326Vive La Comp
327A Heart as Cold as Ice
328The Five Marys
329The Real Rachel
330Trouble at Tree Tops
331Bonnie and Claude
332Dream Dancer
333Robina Hood
334The Seekers
335Rita’s Robots
336It’s In the Book!
337Molly the Matron
338The Comp
339Brassribs
340Bonnie and Claude
341Cinderella Jones
342Backstreet Hospital
343Codey
344The Girl With The Golden Smile
345The Four Marys- Sabotage at St. Elmos
346Bonnie and Claude
347Help...
348The Comp
349Diana the Dresser
350The Magic Wood
351Kathy’s Clean Up
352Grappling Gertie’s School-Days
353Framed!
354The Black book
355Angel
356My Cousin From Oz
357The Witch’s Return
358School’s Out
359Doctor Fido
360Just the Job!
361The Four Marys at Sea
362Nancy’s Paper
363Invisible Isla
364Dear Pen Pal…
365The Secret Servant - a Four Marys story
366She Wants to be Expelled
367School on Skis
3683 Great Stories
369Wedding Belles
370Lonely Lynn
371New Kids at the Comp
372The Four Marys in Four Great Stories!
373“That’s My Pony”
374Luv, Lisa
375All In a Day’s Work
376Happy Holidays
377Return of the Seeker
3783 Great Stories about Dolwyn's Dolls
379The Girl in the Mirror
380Fay of the Footlights
381The Four Mary’s- Break Up
382The Eyes of Belinda Blair
383Looking Out for Jodie
384School for One
385White Fire
386“My Mother’s a Star”
387Bring on the Clowns!
388Ski Into Danger!
389Simply Perfect!
390Rachel’s Runaways
391The Four Marys-Boy, Oh Boy!
392My Model Sister
393School of Shadows
394The Chosen One
395Pets On Parade!
396Sam
397Friends For Ever!
398A Class Apart!
399Luv, Lisa
400Rosie at Thorndale Hall
401Part-time Pupil!
402“I’ll Find My Mum”
403Hope Street
404Born to Dance
405Animal Nurse!
406“Hands Off Our Club!”
407The Four Marys
408The New Girl
409T for Trouble!
410Phantom in the Saddle
411The Comp
412She’s the Best!
413Lady Lizzie!
414Sylvie Must Skate!
415Hunted!
416It’s All Go With  Jo!
417Wild Ones
418Trapped!
419“My Cousin Carla”
420She’s Guilty!
421Friends
422“I Won’t Share!”
423The Bracelet
424Born to Teach
425Eve All Alone
426Star’s Story
427The Summer Fête
428Unfair to Favourites
429Nowhere to Run
430The Cat
431The Painting
432Polly of Pickpocket Row
433Haunted!
434Penny Ballerinas
435Mystery in Manor Park
436The Wild One
437Mirror Image
438Slaves of the Teasets
439Silent Illness - a Four Marys story
440Trixie of 2097
441Trouble Brewing
442She Lived to Tell a Tale!
443Amy All-Alone
444Stella’s Step into Time
445Girls On Film!
446Captain Shirley
447Model Pupil
448The Kidnapped Castaways
449Double Trouble
450Footlights of Fear
451Janie in the Jungle!
452Her Downstairs Friend
453Terri On Tour
454Reunion at St. Elmo’s
455California Dreaming

Toots

Bunty,
  • Toots – First Appearance – Bunty: #01 (18 January 1958)
  • Artist: Bill Ritchie

Plot/ Thoughts

It wasn’t all drama, orphans and ballet in Bunty. There were a variety of humour strips that ran in Bunty. Most were a page long though some extended to two pages, others like Haggis, and from later issues, Girl Talk, were just a few panels at the end of the page.

Toots was a long running strip in Bunty. There was no continuous plot to follow so it didn’t always appear in consecutive issues, it was just a light-hearted funny strip. It was about a young girl, Toots,that wore a polka-dot dress and got into various adventures every week.

It was drawn by Bill Ritchie who is probably best known for his strips in comics like Beano, Beezer and Topper such as Sweet Sue, Smiffy, Baby Crockett and Gnatasha.  Some stories had Toots not really winning at the end of the story.  Such as a story where she is told she is needed for a “leading” part of the dramatic society ballet only for the strip to end with her leading people to their seats.

Other times she would come up on top of the situation. Whether it was outsmarting her friends or making use of an umbrella on a dry day.

A lot of the time she would exasperate her parents, usually not intentionally. In one strip she is making noise by wearing her mother’s shoes and ends up getting a telling off from her parents for scaring them.  So she switches to slippers and ends up scaring them by “sneaking” up on them!

Whatever the situation, it was always a fun read.

Other Appearances:

Annual Appearances:

  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1960
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1961
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1962
  • Toots’ Holiday Postcards – Bunty Annual 1963
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1964
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1965
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1966
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1967
  • An ABC of Toots – Bunty Annual 1968
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1969
  • My Dad – A Poem by Toots – Bunty Annual 1970
  • Toots in Dreamland/Toots As She Really Is – Bunty Annual 1971
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1972
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1976
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1977
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1978
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1979
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1980
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1981
  • Toots in Space (feature) – Bunty Annual 1981
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1982
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1983
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1984
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1985
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1986
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1987
  • A Merry Old-Fashioned Christmas from Toots – Bunty Annual 1988
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1989
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1990
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1991
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1992
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1993
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1994
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 1996
  • Toots – Bunty Annual 2002

 

Summer Specials:

  • Toots’ Holiday Snaps  – Bunty Summer Special 1967 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1968 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1969 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1970 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1971 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1972 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots at a Holiday Camp – Bunty Summer Special 1973 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty-Judy Summer Special 1978 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty-Judy Summer Special 1979 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1981 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1983 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1984 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1985 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1986 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1987 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1988 [Art: Bill Ritchie]
  • Toots  – Bunty Summer Special 1992 [Art: Bill Ritchie]