Category Archives: Bunty

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

Bunty, ,
  • 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

Bunty, ,
  • 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

Bunty, , ,
  • 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

Cover Gallery on Page 2

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
Pages: 1 2

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]

“I Want to Dance!”

Bunty, , , , ,
  • I Want to Dance!”–  Bunty:  #1275 (19 June 1982) – #1291 (09 October 1982)
  • Artist: Cándido Ruiz Pueyo  (also used the pseudonym Emilia Prieto)

Plot/ Thoughts

These comics were known for their ballet stories, so I thought it was about time I talked about one. The title may suggest this is the type of story where a young girl is forbidden to dance by her bitter aunt/guardian/whoever, but actually this is set in the future where everyone is forbidden to dance or listen to music.

Yes, music damages your life by encouraging slothful behaviour…so in the year 2082  I guess there’s no TV shows, films, humorous websites, social networking or any other thing that people use these days to procrastinate instead of study/work.

Our  protagonist Denny Dacre, feels different to to her friends and family.  She wants to rebel against study and work and this worries her. Her closest friend is a robot named Miki.

It’s amusing to see in the 80s what the world was imagined to be like in the future. Films like Back to the Future II and even Blade Runner, while being over optimistic in some aspects, in other ways could not guess what technological achievements would be made. Even though we’re still 70 years away from the  setting of this story, there are no Kindles or iPad type devices instead it is imagined that we will have robots to carry our heavy paper books.

So Denny discovers why she feels so different when she finds an old cassette player at some market. When she takes it home and plays it she discovers the music of Swan Lake and she is enthralled by its beauty and wants to learn how to dance to it.

She gets into trouble at school when she can’t concentrate on her work. Later she hears a group of teens talking about wanting to dance. She sneaks out to meet them but is disappointed when they play some illegal disco music and “stamp” around the place.

After listening to one piece of music, already she’s a critic!

Luckily when she’s sent to a boarding school, she finds people who like to dance ballet and is admitted into a secret ballet class that takes place in the basement at night time. The class is run by the mysterious Alana and everyone wears hoods to protect their identities. Hence this kind of creepy image:

Denny figures out who one of the other girls is when she sees a burn on her hand. She thinks that Joanna is a spy as her mother is the Minister for Juvenile Education. She confronts Joanna, but discovers that she is genuinely passionate about ballet too.

There is a lot of sneaking around to try and keep things secret, but Miki learns of the Ballet class. As he is programmed to protect Denny, his logical conclusion is that he must know more about the class. As he is also programmed to obey Denny, she commands him to block out what he knows. This causes him to overload.

 

 Later at the ballet class, the basement floods during a storm, Denny is nearly swept away but luckily Miki revives himself and comes to rescue her. The whole class are brought to the creepy caretaker, Alice’s room. Everyone’s identities are revealed and Denny figures out that Alana and Alice are the same person.

When Joanna goes home she develops pneumonia and ends up blurting out everything about the dance class and who is involved in it. Her mother proceeds to arrest everyone involved and says that her daughter will be punished along with them.

On the day of the trial Joanne takes a turn for the worse and is asking for Denny. So the trial is suspended while Denny goes to see her.  So we never find out what the punishment was going to be, were they going to  be imprisoned, exiled, shunned from society? Joanna is going to die as there is nothing to live for in this world, but Denny gets the idea to save her with the power of dance!

This actually works and the mother is so impressed that the power of dance has brought her daughter back from near death, that she reconsiders the value of music and dance. Just hope she’s not considering it for medical purposes! So the girls are set free and they now have a minister behind them to help overturn anti-music laws.

Ballet, robots, mysterious teacher, oppressive governments, what’s not to like in this story!

The Queen Who Wasn’t! (1979)

Bunty, ,
  • The Queen Who Wasn’t! –  Bunty: #1143 (18 Dec. 1979) – #1156 (09 Feb. 1980)
  • Artist: Matías Alonso

Plot/ Thoughts

Titles in girl comics sometimes weren’t the most imaginative at times, they loved alliteration and other times they liked a title so much they would just reuse it for different stories! This is the case, with this story where the same title was used  in Bunty within just a space of a year, for two very different stories. The first story (published in 1978) involved a poor girl, whose mother convinces her and everyone else that she is a lost heir to a throne. The second story was about a queen who becomes ill and is replaced by a mechanical wax model.  I do have a more fondness for the more bizarre stories which is why I’m going to discuss the wax model Queen story.

Unfortunately as artists went un-credited back in the day it can be quite hard to track down which artists drew what. [Update: I had previously credited this story to artist Vitor Peon a Portuguese artist, who has had similar work credited to him elsewhere on the web. Apparently it is not certain this is his artwork, again it reiterates the fact that its hard to track down these artists! Particularly in the girl comics industry. It is now thought be the work of Matías Alonso, who worked on other British comics like Victor] Whoever did draw this I always found the  style pretty and eye catching. One common feature of his characters they always had big eyes. While I wouldn’t call it a Manga style I do think his artwork could appeal to those Manga reading fans.

So the story is set in the fictional Kingdom of Gretenberg. (Between the fictional kingdoms and Exotic Islands, Girls Comics could make up an entire world!). It is set in modern times (i.e. the 80s rather than 1800s). The people in this kingdom are unhappy with taxes and unemployment and are pretty close to revolting. Meanwhile Ella lives with her father ( no mention of her mother) who owns a wax museum. Apparently business is good for him, because who wouldn’t want to visit wax museums when they are not busy protesting about unemployment and high taxes!

Getting into the elaborate schemes of the story, the Queen has to have an operation so her staff “employ” Ella’s father to make a wax mechanical model of the queen with voice recordings to temporarily replace her.  When I say “employ” I mean they are keeping him in a dungeon and threatening him. Hmm I wonder why people are ready to revolt!

Unfortunately this mechanical wax model of the queen has the brain box of a child, which causes mishaps. It’s all a bit vague, it seems like she is half childlike A.I. and half controlled by Ella. I suppose like most sci-fi/fantasy stories you just have to move past vague explanations and just go with the flow.

So the big bad guy in the story is General Maximilian. He’s worse than the people locking old men in dungeons apparently.He comes complete with bald head, eye patch  and a beard he probably devilishly strokes when he’s coming up with devious plans. He’s waiting to see any weakness from the queen so he can over throw her. While he and his sidekick try to kill the queen with such schemes as making her horse buck and poisoning her dessert,  Ella is trying to keep control of the Queen and explain away some of her childlike tendencies, such as sliding down banisters.

Ella figures out what the General is up to an tries to expose him. General Maximilian also figures out the queen is made of wax when she doesn’t die from cyanide poisoning and he learn of Ella’s father been brought to the castle. Luckily he is exposed, the real queen recovers  and everything works out in the end.

Interestingly some of the  visuals changed from the first issue, Ella changed from dark haired to fair haired, the queen also changes hair colour and looks older in later issues. Other than these inconsistencies, the art is always lovely to look at and while the mechanics of the childlike wax queen don’t make a lot of sense, it is harmless fun in the end!

Electra of the Evil Eye

Bunty, ,
  • Electra of the Evil Eye –  Bunty: #1157 (15 March 1980) – #1169 (07 June 1980)
  • Translated into Dutch (as “Elektra”) – monthly Debbie Stripstory #6/1981.

Plot/Thoughts

Gina Soames lives with her mother; her father is nowhere to be found and is never mentioned. Mrs Soames is a foster mother and her newest charge is an unusual girl named Electra. Gina is suspicious of Electra from day one.  I’m more suspicious of their living
arrangements. Despite Mrs Soames having fostered many children before, at the moment Electra is the only foster child in the house but she and Gina have to share a room as they apparently don’t have a spare room. You’d think with foster children coming and going regularly they’d have more than 2 bedrooms!

Electra has a common character trait of many Bunty characters. She acts all sweet and innocent and everyone is taken in by her. Only Gina is suspicious of her and of course Electra gets her in trouble while everyone thinks Electra is the nice girl.

The “evil eye” part of the title is soon revealed when Electra has to release energy and sets fire to a pavilion.

Gina starts becoming suspicious about fires popping up everywhere since Electra’s arrival. Electra continues to get Gina in trouble, which is bad for Gina as this is a time when corporal punishment is still in practice.

electra of the evil eye 2

Electra decides Gina’s getting too nosy. So Electra locks her in a room with a fire, and then inexplicitly saves her.  She seems to think that being in a fire would have made Gina forget about what she has done.

electra of the evil eye 3
Although she keeps threatening to remove Gina permanently, she never follows through. Which will have bad consequences for her later.

Gina convinces her mom to search Electra’s room. Mrs Soames finds an unusual torch. But Electra appears in the torch she is not happy with Mrs Soames snooping. Mrs Soames ends up in a paralysed state. This seems like a random new power for Electra to display, it is not fire related but  apparently whatever powers are needed to advance the story, she has them.  These stories often had “a wizard did it” attitude to some events.

Gina sees Electra talking to a fire apparition her master. Electra sets another fire and this time people get hurt. She sets up Gina to take the blame. Gina runs away from the cops to her mum another fire is set at the hospital. Gina helps get patients out. She is then arrested and she figures she’ll be safer behind bars.

Electra contacts her master who tells her to proceed with the Plan X. So in Bond villain style Electra breaks Gina out of jail and reveals the whole plan to her.  She tells her of her home planet Mercunopus that is about to explode. To her people flames are life so they setting fires on earth to warm up the atmosphere. Hmm yeah I don’t think that’s how these things work!  So while Electra’s people wait for the signal to invade Gina figures out that water stops fire. What is it with aliens that are vulnerable to water trying to take over a planet that is two thirds water? They really should know better. Gina drenches Electra and she does her wicked witch of the west impression.

electra of the evil eye 4

The aliens get the message, that this isn’t the best planet to invade.

Girl Talk / Girls Talking

Bunty, Nikki

Plot

Humour strip, following two girls Liz and Lucy. It started as a short strip inside comic and then appeared as the front cover of Nikki for a long time. When Nikki merged with Bunty the Girls Talk came with the merger, it later was renamed Girls Talking.

girl-talk

girls-talking

Notes

  • The strip had several different artists over the years. The characters were probably most recognised by their time as cover girls.

Appeared

  • Girl Talk – Nikki: #23 (27 July 1985) – #237 (2 September 1989)
  • Girls Talking – Bunty: #1811 (3 October 1992) – (?)

Other Appearances

Summer Specials

  • Girls Talking – Bunty Summer Special 1993
  • Girls Talking – Bunty Summer Special 1997
  • Girls Talking – Bunty Summer Special 1998
  • Girls Talking – Bunty Summer Special 1999
  • Girls Talking – Bunty Summer Special 2000
  • Girls Talking – Bunty Summer Special 2002