Category Archives: Debbie

The Shop at Shudder Corner [1976-1980]

Debbie, Spellbound, , , , , , ,
  • The Shop at Shudder Corner – Spellbound: #14 (25 Dec. 1976) – #21 (12 Feb. 1977)
  • The Shop at Shudder Corner – Spellbound: #32 (30 April 1977) – #39 (18 June 1977)
  • The Shop at Shudder Corner – Spellbound: #53 (24 September 1977)
  • The Shop at Shudder Corner – Debbie: #372 (29 March 1980) – #374 (12 April 1980)
  • Art: Norman Lee (Spellbound and Debbie picture story libraries)
  • Art: David Matysiak (Debbie  and Debbie Annuals)

Other Appearances:

  • London’s Burning! – Debbie Annual 1980
  • The Shop at Shudder Corner – Debbie Annual 1981
  • The Shop at Shudder Corner – Debbie Annual 1982
  • The Shop at Shudder Corner – Debbie Annual 1983
  • The Shop at Shudder Corner – Debbie Annual 1984

Plot:

Sheila Hawkins  and Jean Marsh help in an antique and curio shop called The Shop at Shudder Corner, run by Jean’s uncle, John Shudder. One day after school, while on their way to the shop, Sheila drops and breaks her torch lens. When a storm comes upon them they shelter in a hut and see lightning hit a nearby bush. When the storm clears, Sheila notices something glinting in the bush, it’s a round piece of glass and it’s a perfect fit for her torch. She notices scratches on the glass that appear to be in a shape of a pentacle, she is more surprised when she tests it out on an object in the shop, a spider in a glass paperweight, and the spider grows and breaks out of the glass. The girls run outside to find that it is now night-time and the street seems to have disappeared, but they don’t have time to think about it as they are now being chased by many spiders. They are then caught up in a big web. As they have figured out the torch got them into the mess, then it should help get them out. Changing it to narrow beam rather than wide beam and aiming at spiders makes them smaller. Suddenly they find themselves back in the shop and the paperweight is normal again. Jean’s uncle returns and tells them some history of the paperweight. It came from Italy in 1850, from a family whose members had been condemned to death for witchcraft by “The Spider” where ropes were tied around them tightly like a web until they could not breathe. The girls test out the torch at home but nothing happens and they conclude it only acts strangely when dealing with something creepy and mysterious, with the wide beam awakening the danger and the narrow one stopping it.

The next time the girls are in the shop, Jean is hesitant to use the torch, especially on anything creepy, Sheila picks a walking stick and shines the torch on it without more thought. It turns out to belong to a guardian that is scaring his young charge with a “ghost” dog, in order to get rid of the boy and claim his inheritance. The girls help the young boy and while going across the marshes Jean shines her torch at the ground near the guardian and he and the dog sink down into the marsh. (This has similar story points used in a picture story library later). They are returned to shop and John Shudder explains the history of the walking stick again without knowing any of the girls adventure. Next they end up travelling to London just before the Great Fire of 1666 breaks out, they help a man escaping some thieves, he repays them with a broach and Jean is happy that it gives her idea to write for her history homework. In another adventure they help a notorious handsome highwayman by the name of  William Tate as they can’t help but be charmed by him.

They continue to go on more adventures, usually following a format of Jean being more hesitant but Sheila  jumping right in, the torch only bringing them back when they have done or seen what they need to and  after their adventure, Jean’s uncle tells them the story behind the objects. Often their adventures are just time travelling to important event and influencing some person they meet there, but other times there was more supernatural elements in play, like when they get in carriage but the passengers are silent and have an eerie blue glow around them they just manage to get back to their own time as the carriage goes over a cliff, or when they end up on Wrecker’s island, where wreakers have broken the beacon to loot ships that will crash into the island, instead it it the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman that rams the island causing the cliff to collapse. In another they have to escape from a witch finder with a girl called Sarah. A magically brought to life chair aids them in their escape, though Sarah seems to disappear before they find out if she is safe. Later from Mr Shudder they find out carvings of the chair is because family had legend of turning into hares and they now know Sarah is safe. The first series ends with another witch, but this one isn’t as nice as Sarah, as she nearly traps them in her cottage with plants.

The next series also starts off with a witchy story.  This time the girls find themselves being chased by a group of witches that can take form of cats. The next story breaks the usual format, when Sheila shines her torch on a clawed table with cloth, it turns into a leopard, as they run outside they find unusually they have not time travelled, but the leopard turns into a witch doctor and starts causing chaos. Everything goes back to normal after they sine light on him. From that story to a more historical story as they get transported to Scotland in1879 and nearly perish in the Tay Bridge disaster, only escaping with the torch in the nick of time. Other adventures include meeting Spring-Heeled Jack, candlesticks that  bring them to mysterious inn, where guests have disappeared before and a fair where they help a boy who gets flung from a roller-coaster. They travel to a nice cottage but no-ones is around Sheila carelessly unties a knot in a rope, despite Jean’s warnings and the superstition that it keeps the sea calm appears to comes true as story weather and a shadowy hand comes out of the sea destroying the cottage and nearly the girls too, before they escape last minute.  For there last adventure in the second series, after shining a torch on a replica of a gate, they end up in Victorian London, they are chased by some thieves but end up escaping through a mysterious gate to the beautiful countryside, they are not in a hurry to leave but Sheila drops the torch and they are sent back. John Shudder tells them how the gate carving was done by a man in prison for debt who one day mysteriously vanished from his cell, he thinks it’s a fantastical tale, but the girls know better!

In the last Spellbound story the girls end up in a beautiful Georgian house, the people can’t see them, then a shadowy figure appears and starts to make the people disappear, the girls make it back to the shop. Mr Shudder tells them  legend that a crafts woman who designed the house and garden and swore revenge after they cheated her out of her fee, the girls know she got her revenge.

The girls returned briefly in Debbie (with new artist David Matysiak), though there were some changes as the girls had switched names! Now the long haired blonde girl was referred to as Sheila and she carried the magic torch and Jean was now the brown bobbed hair girl who was reluctant to go on adventures! Unusually as well the first story was a 2 part story, then there was a stand-alone episode and that was the last of the stories for the weekly issues, but they still appeared in Debbie annuals and picture story library and the switched names stayed the same in these too. The two stories in Debbie issues have familiar plots, in the 2 part story the girls travel back in time and meet a boy Rafe who is trying to escape his uncle, who will inherit everything if he dies, they escape first taking a boat but a storm, forces them back to land. They return to the manor hoping that Rafe’s uncle will presume them drowned, but his hounds pick up their scent. They manage to escape again using a secret passage and the uncle is killed when the manor catches on fire after been struck by lightning. A fun twist at start of that story is Jean takes the torch away from Sheila at the start to prevent an adventure but accidentally ends up using it herself! In the second story the girls are back in the Georgian era, his time the girls clothes have changed to be appropriate to the time and they are  able to participate and interact with the party happening at the grand house. They are enjoying this adventure until a betrayed Gipsy woman, returns to gets revenge.  All the guests disappear as they are engulfed in shadow and the house is taken over by roses. The girls make their way back to their own time and Sheila’s uncle tells them a legend about Gipsy Rose who was driven of the land and came to claim the ground back.

Thoughts

Halloween is perfect opportunity to revisit some Spellbound stories. The Shop at Shudder Corner was a story that lasted in other formats past the demise of Spellbound. Essentially this was an episodic story, so it was no surprise to see it turn up as one-off stories, in annuals and picture story libraries. Although it regularly appeared in Debbie annuals, it didn’t actually last very long in the weekly issues, in fact it didn’t even appear until 2 years after Spellbound merged with Debbie at which point the Spellbound logo was long gone from the cover.  It maybe at the point of the merger that Damian Darke, as another popular supernatural Spellbound story, filled that niche instead, but it was nice to see it get revived briefly and have a presence in the annuals.

It was a strange mix of stories, the 1st episode was unlike most of the stories as it involved the torch making the spiders grow, while the modern streets do seem to have disappeared when the girls run from the shop, it’s not clear that time travel has occurred.  After this time-travel becomes more explicit and they have a series of more straight forward time-travel adventures, then it starts to bring in more supernatural elements again, with witches being a common encounter. The torch itself is quite mystical, the pentagon symbol implies some sort of magical properties, but we don’t know where it came from, was it always in the bush and the lightning brought it to life? In the first picture story library they change the origins to more simply being found in the shop, which also makes sense as it seems to be connected to the objects in the shop. There are a few early adventures where they use the torch in a more active way during their adventure such as shrinking the spiders, or causing the cruel guardian to sink in the mud, but soon these more complicated uses are ignored and it becomes just their means of travel. The torch doesn’t always do what they want though, in one story they plan to shine it on a shepherdess statue, but instead it catches  on a candlestick, it also only works to bring them back when the adventure is done, and sometimes it is very close calls!

In the Debbie run of stories, it confused me at first until I realised the girls names has swapped, though keeping some elements , the blonde girl it’s still her uncle’s shop, but now she is the one who found the torch and has brown haired girl’s personality of being the one wanting adventure. Also there is some inconsistency in later adventures with the shop, being called “The Shudder Shop” or it is said to be located at Shudder Corner rather than it being it’s actual name. Interesting in first stories as well that the girls just appeared in the new locations, before adding in the more dramatic whirls and sound effects when they travel. While the first story seems like only objects in the shop are effected, there are some stories later where outside the shop they shine the light on something old, such as cobblestones and it also works. Sometimes the girls could interact with people, other times they seem to be only witnessing events, the stories did not restrict itself to certain rules, instead did whatever worked best for the story. The story with the witch-doctor stands out as being different from others, as they don’t time-travel, and the torch undoes the damage he causes rather than them being whipped back to their time at the last minute.

Despite some of the inconsistencies, it was fun read, later stories also used some similar settings, like the cruel guardian, Georgian house or Great Fire of London, but even then they change things enough to make it interesting.  Norman Lee and David Matysiak, both were perfect artists for this series, for spookiness, depicting different time periods and epic scenes.

The Doll’s House

Debbie, Picture Story Library, , , ,
  • The Doll’s House – Debbie PSL: #155 [1991]
  • Mystery Stories from Damian Darke

Plot

Damian Darke tells the story of a cursed Doll’s House and how it affects each new owner.

The story starts in the the 19th century, with Charlotte and her new doll’s house, that she shows off to visitors; Amanda Carter and her father. We think this will be the house of the story title, but when jealous Amanda causes Charlotte to fall on the house and break it, we know it can’t be. Instead Amanda asks her father for an even better doll house than Charlotte’s had been. He commissions a talented craftsman to  build it, but then he cheats the Mr Sugam out of money pushing him to floor when Sugam protests. Sugam curses the Carters  as they leave and later dies of his head injury. The police show up to question Mr Carter just as Charlotte is showing off her new house to Amanda. Charlotte is shocked to see the figure of Mr Sugam in her doll house lying unconscious on the floor, although no-one else can see it, she blurts out everything and the police arrest her father. After her father went to prison Charlotte was sent to a home for destitute children and the doll house ended up in a second-hand dealer’s shop.

Some months later a girl Lynn spots the Doll House and begs her adoptive mother to buy it for her birthday. But while her husband is away Mrs Blake can’t afford to buy it for her, instead she gives her a family necklace. Lynn ungrateful put it on stuffed parrot in the attic. When Mr Blake does return he buys the doll house for their daughter Alice’s birthday, thinking the girls can share it. Lynn is seething with jealousy and says Alice is clearly the favourite “real” daughter. When an opportunity arises for one of the girls to be painted as part of an advertising campaign, Lynn pushes Alice into a quarry getting rid of her competition. She rushes home and goes to find the old necklace in the attic to wear, she gets a shock to see one of the doll’s now life size in the attic with her and the door locked. Alice luckily surviving the fall rushes to her parents to tell them what happened, but they can’t find Lynn anywhere.  Alice later sees 2 dolls in the attic of her dollhouse, one of which looks curiously like Lynn, it disturbs her so much she gets rid of the house.

It was bought by Sir Martyne for his children Elizabeth and Max. They were spoilt and ill-tempered and didn’t improve even as they grew up and their parents died. They raised the rent on their tenants to keep up their lifestyle and when they discover that one of their tenants have a girl they fostered that may be a long-lost heiress they force the Harrises to give the girl to them, hoping to get her fortune. The girl, Maggie, is allowed to play with the doll house, when she sees it on fire she douses it with water, angering Max, who calls her a liar. Later a fire breaks out in the actual house, Maggie tries to warn the siblings but they don’t believe her, she runs for help but it’s too late for the Martynes. Maggie does discover se is an heiress and is able to buy the land for her now adoptive parents the Harrisses. The doll house which was salvaged from the fire is sold off.

It appears again in the 1920s, by now legends have build up about the house that it can avenge evil and foretell the future. Milly who next gets the house is fascinated by the idea it could tell the future. Later it appears to come true, as her father is at a meeting, Milly sees the mother doll fallen out of bed onto the floor. She check on her own mother and sees her in a similar state, and looking older. Unfortunately the phone lines are down, forcing Milly to ride her horse in a storm to get help. She rides through the nearest village but it is now a run down ghost town. She meets a man who tells her a business man built a chemical plant in the village then an explosion killed half the people. Milly sees the old sign on the chemical plant has her father’s name on it, the man continues telling her the businessman died of heart attack and a little later his daughter found her mother on the ground sick from grief, she rode off in storm for help but fell when her horse stumbled. Milly begs him to stop, that it can’t be true, then she wakes up in her own bed, her parents beside her. When she tells o her dream, it turns out the meeting her father was at was about building a chemical plant, but he now changes his mind.

Finally in more recent time the Doll’s house is owned by Barbara, she notices a new figure in the house when suddenly a girl appears at the window. She talks a bit strange saying the house drew her there, and seems to vanish when Barbara goes to introduce her mom. Her mother goes to visit the new neighbours who seem to be cagey about their daughter. After another visit from the girl to Barbara, the family confront the neighbours with a handkerchief they found. It turns out their daughter is in a coma, when Barbara goes to talk with her, she wakes up and everyone is delighted. Damian Darke ends the tale saying the girls have now grown up and the Doll house is changing hands again perhaps someone has already bought it for the reader.

Thoughts

Halloween is the perfect time for a Damian Darke story. The storyteller had a few picture story library books, unlike the first book; Beyond a Strange Door… which had 4 different stories with a common theme, this book has the same object, connecting them all. The story starts with a good misdirect, as we see Charlotte with her new doll’s house we think this will be the story’s namesake, so it is surprising when it gets broken. After Amanda gets her house and Mr Sugam is cheated out of his money and he places the curse, it looks like nonsense words but appears to be just backwards, if we translate forwards he say “I curse – I curse…. no joy or..” we don’t see what comes after the “or” I wonder if there was addendum for good people as the strange house’s powers seem to evolve from punishing bad people to helping deserving people by warning them of future events.

The first 2 stories have jealous and spiteful girls being punished, the third story also has nasty people making their end, but also a change when Maggie is able to escape the fire and Martyne’s because of the doll house. The next story the helps Milly by showing her a premonition and in final story it seems to call to the comatose Fran helping her to get well again. It is strange that it evolves from punishing people when they do something wrong, to actively helping good people, certainly a very powerful house/curse! In particular things seem very elaborate in Millys story as not only does she something in the doll house but a very realistic and detailed dream of a whole village being wiped out. The creepiest story is Lynn’s end to become trapped as a doll in the attic, while it may be seem deserving after attempting to kill Alice, the Blakes were actually willing to forgive her and get the mental health treatment she needs (very generous and progressive of them!),  of course they never find her, and Lynn is fleft to her horrible fate. After beginning with some unsettling stories, the last story is quite positive as the doll house helps both a comatose girl and it’s owner to find a lifelong friend, then with it’s ending of Damian Darke saying that the house could end up in a reader’s hands, the thought may be that it could help you… if you are a good person. But also could be considered a warning if you have any jealous or greedy thoughts!

The Gold Medal [1966] /Slave of the Watch [1978]

Debbie, , , ,
  • The Gold Medal – Judy: #329 (30 April 1966) – #336 (18 June 1966)
  • Art: Paddy Brennan
  • Reprinted as Slave of the Watch – Debbie Picture Story Library: #05 [1978]
  • Cover Art: Ian Kennedy, Inside Art: John McNamara

Plot

June Laing lived with her strict guardian, Miss Sharpe, who didn’t allow her to have any close friends, as that could interfere with her swimming training. She was determined June would be a British champion and she trained her in secret in a pool at their house. Miss Sharpe had some secrets, and spent time in the attic, where June was not allowed go. One day June is alone in house and finds Miss Sharpe has not locked the attic door properly. There June finds magazine scrapbook about another June Laing and Olympic gold medalist, but all the photos are scratched out! Some of the ceiling of the old house falls,she is knocked unconscious, and Miss Sharpe finds her. She is not pleased to find Jane was in attic, but thinks she doesn’t remember what she saw. A few days later June collapses going home from school (Miss Sharpe has not let her recover from her injury enough). A man Colonel Blount helps June, and insist on bringing her home. He recognizes Miss Sharpe but she cuts him off before he can say too much.

This mystery has spurred June to stand up to Miss Sharpe more, she thinks the other June Laing was her mother but she wonders how Miss Sharpe is involved.  June does well at her first swim competition and she finds out the older June, lost her gold medal because she took money for advertising swim wear and was no longer considered an amateur. She also finds out Colonel Blount’s daughter Jessica was June’s biggest rival, but Miss Sharpe hurries her away before she can talk to them. When June asks if someone could lose their medal for taking money for advertising, it brings on a headache for Miss Sharpe. Soon after a coach interested in June, sneaks in to the backyard to see June swim and offers to coach her. Normally Miss Sharpe wouldn’t consider it, but as her headaches are getting worse she relents. Mr Shefford is right that competition spurs on June and her timings improve. June becomes friendly with her rival Anne Clifton, while at her father’s store one day, June. After finds the advert that caused Laing to be disqualified. Mr Clifton tells her more of the story, that Laing claimed to have been tricked by her rival Jessica, but Mr Clifton suspects that it was actually the work of her sister, Janice Sinclair. Miss Sharpe finds them in the shop and after some harsh words, the girls fall out,  but they make up again, when they are both chosen for British team.

Between swimming training and competition, Jane does a bit more investigating into her namesake. She finds out more about Janice who apparently was jealous of June, despite being famous as a first class glider pilot herself. June begins to suspect Miss Sharpe is Janice (especially as Mr Clifton thought she resembled her), but then she sees she is afraid of flying. At the international competitions, Miss Sharpe continues to push June hard and doesn’t allow her to socialise with the other competitors. June barely qualifies for  next stage of the  competition,and Miss Sharpe blames Coach Shefford for being too soft on her. But he tells Miss Sharpe that she’s too hard on June and has never made her feel wanted or loved.  Miss Sharpe seems surprised at this. That night someone sneaks into June’s room to wish her luck and it spurs her on to win her next race. While Miss Sharpe dismisses the visitor as superstitious nonsense, June’s mystery friend is what keeps June going.

June’s is becoming quite famous and offers start pouring in, but she won’t make the same mistake as the older June and she burns them all. While doing this she notices one letter is a personal one, she rescues it and although it is half burnt,  she gathers that it is from her aunt Janice and she wants to meet at the international championships.  When June turns up, it turns out Janice wanted to meet original June to ask her for forgiveness, as it was indeed her that was the cause of the medal loss. June tells Janice, her mother is dead, but then later that night Miss Sharpe arrives and tells her she is her mother!  She confesses that she wanted to make Jane into a champion, to make up for her own disappointment.  She was also her secret visitor, showing that she did care about June, and she forgives her. With the truth out in the open, Miss Sharpe’s headaches go away as they were caused by tension. Her mother now openly affectionate and encouraging June is motivated to do her best and she wins the International gold medal.

Thoughts

While the reader may hope that June will win her swimming competitions and go on to win gold, the real drive of the plot is the mystery. The mystery of Miss Sharpe and June’s mother is quite intriguing, with some good red herrings throughout. Good pacing, means we get more snippets of information inter-weaved with June trying to become a swimming champion. With the case of many of these shorter stories, the end with the explanations and quickly forgiving protagonist, doesn’t work as well. Miss Sharpe/June Laing told her daughter she was dead and didn’t want to show her affection for fear she would lose control of her and she wouldn’t become a swimming champion, and June is very quick to accept that! I think it might have worked better if Miss Sharpe turned out to be the aunt trying to make up for her mistake through misguided means! I do appreciate the story did show us some of Miss Sharpe’s thoughts throughout, showing that all the lies are causing her headaches and her genuine surprise  when Shefford tells her June feels unloved. It makes her a bit more sympathetic and that she started visiting June unseen, showing more affection. Though I still think June is a bit too happy with the revelations of all the lies!

It’s funny that Laing chose the name Miss Sharpe, as she does embody the name with her sharp and harsh demeanor.  The artist (in Slave of the Watch) does a good job  showing the change from her usual stern face to her softer affectionate face when she reveals the truth. June is a sympathetic character throughout, her isolation makes her all the more vulnerable. It is good to see when she gains a friend, she begins gaining confidence and is able to push back against Miss Sharpe’s methods more. Of course while Miss Sharpe has taught her a lot, in the end she wouldn’t have become a champion without encouragement, some affection and a life outside of swimming!

Updated: Reading through some old Judys I realised this is actually a reprint of The Gold Medal, reformatted into a picture story library size with new art. Surprisingly the story is pretty much word for word despite restrictions in the smaller size, a few small things may have been changed but otherwise a pretty straight forward reprint. It wasn’t a long serial but would have been nice to see a few things expanded on, like I mentioned above, perhaps the original story could have done with an extra episode to wrap it up.

Twins on Trial!

Debbie,

Plot

Twins Claire and Kelly Miller were being fostered with a view of adoption by a quiet kindly couple the Blakes. They had lost their own daughter Sharon in an accident. Claire a quiet girl herself was worried her tearaway sister would put the Blakes off adopting them.

Notes

  • Photo story
  • Reprinted and translated into Dutch (as “Tweeling op proef”) – Debbie #43 (1984)

Appeared

  • Twins on Trial! – Debbie: #499 (4 September 1982) – #504 (9 October 1982)

The Curse of Carlos

Debbie, ,

Plot

When a Spanish ship  was lured on to the rocks a curse was placed on anyone who tried to steal the gold she carried! Years later, Joan’s sister, Maggy, dived with three Americans to recover the gold, but two of the party were drowned. Maggy and the other American, Tim, returned but Maggy remained unconscious and icy cold!. The daughter of Juan Carlos then appeared to Joan in a dream and told her that her sister wouldn’t recover until the gold was returned to the wreck. So Joan followed Tim, who had the gold coins, to London, where she discovered that Tim had been mugged and the coins stolen!

Notes

  • Art:  Manuel Carmona Ruiz ?
  • Reprinted and translated into Dutch (as “De vloek van de Santa Perez”) – Debbie #35 (1983).

Appeared

  • The Curse of Carlos – Debbie: #499 (4 September 1982) – #504 (9 October 1982)

Forgotten Island

Debbie,

Plot

Alison Blair was spending holidays at her Gran’s cottage on the lonely Dunes island she was happy to meet a girl her own age but then she mysteriously hurried off.

In the sequel, Alison returns to the island with her friends Karen and Julie. They thought the island was deserted but then they hear some strange stories about ghosts haunting the island.

Notes

  • Photo story

Appeared

  • Forgotten Island – Debbie: #494 (31 July 1982) – #498 (28 August 1982)
  • Return to Forgotten Island – Debbie: #508 (6 November 1982) – #513 (11 December 1982)

Dangerous Destiny

Debbie, , , ,

Plot

Unknown to Marie Talbot, her mother had been killed in a circus accident when Marie was a small child. Terrified that she would share the same fate, Marie’s Grandfather had banned her from doing gymnastics.

Notes

  • Art: George Martin
  • Translated into Dutch as “Geboren voor acrobatiek” (Born for Gymnastics) and published in Mariska Starstrip #4 (1980s).

Appeared

  • Dangerous Destiny – Debbie:  #492 (17 July 1982) – #501 (18 September 1982)