Category Archives: Emma

Beware of Beryl! [1978]

Emma, Mandy, ,
  • Beware of Beryl!–  Emma:  #32 (30 September 1978) – #43 (16 December 1978)
  • Reprinted –  Mandy: #933 (1 December 1984) – #944 (16 February 1985)
  • Artist: Carlos Freixas
  • Abridged version reprinted as ‘Mijn vriendin Agaath’ (My friend Agaath) –  Tina (1983)
  • Reprinted as ‘Bang voor Beryl!’ (Afraid of Beryl!) – Debbie Groot Mysterieboek 48 (1985)

Plot

On a stormy night a girl collapses in front of film star, Maria Moore’s house. Maria takes her in and the girl claims to have lost her memory, so Maria calls her Beryl due to the beryl stone on the pendant that she is wearing. The kindly Maria insists she can stay and they will help her, although her Aunt Hilda is immediately suspicious that “Beryl” may be a schemer trying to take advantage of Maria’s celebrity status. Maria trusts Beryl doesn’t know about her fame as she believes her memory loss story, but by the end of the first episode, the reader gets to see Beryl’s true thoughts and find that Aunt Hilda is right and Beryl is planning to use Maria to get fame and fortune.

While Maria believes she has found a true friend, Beryl must keep on her toes as Aunt Hilda is trying to prove she is a fraud. Hilda gets a psychiatrist, Dr Perlman, to come visit in the guise of helping Beryl recover her memory, but Beryl faints before she can be questioned, and at the doctor’s next visit she is prepared and puts on a great act. She also pretends to be shocked when she finds out Maria is a film star, but she still can’t fool Hilda. Beryl moves onto the next stage of her plan while visiting a film set with Maria. She stirs up trouble pretending one of the background actors said something nasty, and Maria insists Beryl replaces her in the scene.

When Maria takes Beryl on a trip it seems there may be trouble as the man renting out boats claims to know Beryl, but Beryl genuinely doesn’t recognize him and wonders if Aunt Hilda has set up a trap for her. It does seem Dave knows something about Beryl, as he claims to have met her while staying with his cousin in Brimlington, a place where Beryl stayed briefly but she keeps her cool and pretends that she wants to investigate this new clue to her past. Then she schemes to get rid of Dave by placing jewellery in his room, she convinces them not to press charges but Dave leaves. She was right Aunt Hilda was behind the scheme, trying to trip Beryl after she had found a bus ticket for Brimlington in Beryl’s belongings. Beryl not knowing how she knew that detail is a little nervous how Hilda found out some of her past but still keeps one step ahead of her.

Maria introduces Beryl to more film industry people at a party, Beryl is able to charm everyone, and when Maria gets ill she is able to take advantage and convince the film director to let her stand in as the shots aren’t close-ups. Aunt Hilda is still working on exposing Beryl, and now that she has the clue that she was in Brimlington, she has invited Dr. Perlman back to do some more questioning. Beryl is a bit unsettled by this when Dr Perlman asks her to say the first word that comes to mind when she hears family she replies “sister”. She plays up to Maria that she feels like there is something bad in her past and thats why trying to remember is upsetting her. Against Hilda’s wishes Maria tells Dr Perlman his services are no longer required. But Hilda won’t be deterred so easily and surprises the girls with a woman claiming to be Beryl’s mother. She is not her mother but Beryl can’t prove it unless she reveals she has her memories. Beryl runs away from the house and pretends to fall down the cliff path which causes her to regain her memories. She tells a sob story with some truth to it, that her parents died and she lives with her sister  Dilys (she is named Sharon in the reprint), but that Dilys doesn’t care for her and mistreats her.

Again Maria trusts Beryl’s version of events and at the same time Beryl is keeping Maria, away from other people on set so she only has her friendship to rely on. Hilda is still investigating she collaborates Beryl’s story that her parents died and she was sent to her sister, Dilys to live but there was trouble between the sisters. Hilda confesses that she’s checked up on Beryl’s story and assures her that she needn’t go back to her horrid sister. Beryl finally thinks she as fooled the older lady but Hilda is actually playing Beryl at her game, lulling her into false security so she can continue her investigation without Beryl knowing. Hilda goes to Dilys and finds she is not how Beryl depicted her and she sees Beryl’s room covered in Maria’s pictures. Beryl is shocked when her and Maria return home from a shopping trip only to be confronted by Hilda and Dilys. Dilys has Beryl’s scrapbook that shows all the information Beryl had collected on Maria. Maria is of course upset. While at first Beryl is mad a t Hilda for ruining her chance at fame, her guilty conscience does start appear that night, unable to sleep she takes a walk and finds that a fire has broken out in the house. She wakes the others but Maria’s door is locked and she does not answer the shouts. Beryl breaks into the room and rescues Maria putting her own life at risk. While Maria is not hurt, Beryl ends up badly burned. Beryl refuses visitors though weeks later as she recovers, Maria comes pretending to be a  hospital volunteer, Beryl’s eyes are still bandaged, she asks the volunteer to help her pen an apology letter to Maria. Then Maria reveals her identity and says she forgives Beryl.  Some months later when Beryl is fully recovered, she is pleased to be able to have a second chance with her friend and sister and is determined to make her own way win or lose.

Thoughts

It’s quite a dramatic opening with the rain-soaked mysterious girl making her way to a house in a storm, only to collapse at the doorstep. While Beryl’s true intentions could have been made ambiguous by the end of the first episode her motivations are revealed to the reader. The real tension from the story comes from Aunt Hilda and Beryl trying to outwit each other. Beryl is  presented as a manipulative and opportunistic character who is always one step of Hilda, she would certainly make a good actress as she fools a lot of people and is quick to adapt, thinking on her feet. Carlos Freixas is an artist who does well drawing such duplicitous characters (like such characters in Wendy’s Web and Sharon’s Secret Sister). He also does well capturing the dramatic scenery like the aforementioned opening panel and the fire in the concluding episode.

Aunt Hilda does make a formidable opponent for Beryl, she is ready to point out anything that doesn’t add up with Beryl’s story, she sets up people like Dave and the fake mother to try and catch her out and  investigates any potential clues that she gets about Beryl’s past. When finally Beryl is caught out, she thinks of Hilda as a battleaxe just trying to stop her ambitions, when Hilda tells her what she did was not to bring Beryl down but only to protect Maria, it must give Beryl something to think about, as that night is the first time we see her start to feel guilty about her actions.

While Beryl has spent her time keeping Maria isolated, and it is revealed she had an unhealthy obsession with her, it seems  their time spent together developed part of a true friendship. Of course after such betrayal only such a dramatic action, getting gravely burned in order to save Maria’s life earns Maria’s forgiveness. It is the start of Beryl’s redemption, and that she doesn’t even try to use this event to worm herself back into Maria’s good graces, instead it is Maria who seeks her out, this shows she has changed her ways.

 

Lynne Against Lareno [1978]

Emma, , ,
  • Lynne Against Lareno –  Emma: #01 (26 February 1978) – #09 (29 April 1978)
  • Art: Norman Lee

Plot

Lynne Frankin arrives in Lareno, a small town located just before the Mexican border, to visit her friend Kate Marlow. Kate moved to Lareno to set up a riding school, but when Lynne asks a taxi driver to take her to Kate’s school, he drives off saying there is no such place. The Sheriff and Mayor are also unwelcoming, and the mayor tells her, Kate died of a fever showing her a fresh grave with the markings still wet. The Sheriff, lets her stay in a cell for the night saying the hotel is full and that he will bring her to bus in the morning. But Lynne doesn’t believe their story and wants to stay and find out what happened to Kate even if the whole town is against her.

First she tries to talk to the town doctor but he is uncooperative and the Sheriff is always close by watching. Then she tries to hire a car so she can drive to the riding school, but is told none available. With no other option she decides to walk to Kate’s school, but a fake sign along the way leads her astray. She would be lost in the desert but luckily she figures out by how the sun is casting shadows, how to get back on to the road. She meets a young man, Mike, who is friendly until he finds out who she is, he drives off. She finds er way to Kate’s school which appears to be abandoned but then Sheriff Tully arrives and arrests her for trespassing. A secret friend gives her the bail money she needs through the cell window and the friend also helps by leaving her food, when no-one will sell her anything.

Lynne spies some residents trying to bury something on the outskirts of town until Sheriff Tully clears them off. They are having some worries but the Sheriff tells them to remember what happened to the last person who raised objections. She wonders if they are talking about Kate. Before she can investigate further she is caught again and this time locked in a hotel room. She sees some newcomers arrive and she is about to get their attention when she is stopped by Mike. She also sees Kate but Mike tells her that Kate is dead and who she saw was the Sheriff’s daughter. Thinking Mike is not going to help her she manages to find a way out from where she is being held. She tracks down the strangers she saw earlier and tells them her story, but they in turn says she knows too much and take her captive!

They take her to the riding school and Lynne gets more pieces of puzzle as they seem to think plane crashed there and are looking for something the Sheriff and Deputy arrive and arrest the men and Lynne. Mayor Novak is getting jumpy, talking about taking his share and leaving. Then Lynne sees the Mayor driving off and Deputy shooting after him. Mike tells Lynne to escape in the confusion. Lynne uses the opportunity to search where she last thought she saw Kate, she finds her asleep (possibly drugged) in a cellar, she is unable to rescue her as she is tracked down again. She comes across Mayor Novak’s car he has already been caught and there are men taking crate of gold ingots back to town, now Lynne knows what the town has been hiding. Lynne sees Mike, he helped er before but she doesn’t know if she can really trust him, she isn’t given a choice when more of the Sheriff’s men come after her and start shooting at her, she as to jump into his jeep to escape. It is the right choice as Mike has been secretly helping her. They make contact with state police and rescue Kate. The whole story comes out, a gang had committed a big robbery and were flying to Mexico when their plane crashed near Kate’s school, killing all the crew. The town decided to share out the gold, but Kate and Mike wouldn’t go along with it, which is why they locked up Kate, as Mike was a local they gave him the benefit of doubt that he wouldn’t turn them in. The strangers that arrived were part of the gang looking for the gold. After the police have finished their investigation, Lynne, Kate and Mike leave Lareno for good as there’s nothing left for them there anymore.

 

Thoughts

This must have been fun for Norman Lee to draw, having small American town in the desert, makes it a different backdrop to the frequent British locations. The isolation and unfamilar area, certainly ups to stakes for Lynne too. With seemingly the whole town against her and nowhere close by to go for help, she is left to fend for herself. She has the option of leaving, but shows her loyalty to her friend by sticking around through the hostilities to find out what happened. Lynne also shows herself as resourceful, like figuring out how to get out of desert or finding loose floorboard to escape through. The mystery is intriguing enough as well, the reader must wonder what the town is hiding and is Kate really dead. Along with that there is a lot of action and excitement, such as Lynne getting stuck in quicksand or getting shot at! When she finally goes to strangers for help it turns out they are worse than the people of Lareno!

There are some questions like why would Kate choose this place to start a riding school, doesn’t seem the most lucrative of places to set up a business and it is a long way from England. Also as Mike was person to raise objections initially it seems odd to let him guard Lynne. Sheriff Tully does seem to be running the show, as we do see others a bit nervous of the scheme, so it is interesting that he is not interested in doing a deal with the gang saying he doesn’t do deals with crooks, but considering what he has done to that point the has already crossed the line into unlawful behaviour, but maybe in is mind he has been able to justify his actions. It’s the only time we see him express any morals so we don’t get to develop that further, for most of the story he is just the main antagonist to deal with. The other towns people are unfriendly to Lynne but seem less confident than Sheriff Tully. Of course with so many people involved and everyone getting jumpy its inevitable that their downfall will come. It is an exciting journey along the way and again showed off the variety of stories the Emma comic started with.

 

Sue Spiker [1978]

Emma, ,
  • Sue Spiker–  Emma: #01 (25 February 1978) – #19 (01 July 1978)
  • Sue Spiker–  Emma: #44 (23 December 1978) – #63 (05 May 1979)
  • Sue Spiker– Judy & Emma: #1027 (15 September 1979) – #1038 (01 December 1979)
  • Art: “B. Jackson”

Plot

Sue Spiker ran for 3 series, two series in the Emma comic and it survived the merger with Judy to have one more series in that title.

In the first series Sue is a troubled girl who has been kicked out of several schools, she now lives in Farewood Home, a home for deprived girls and the only available school in her district is the posh Farewood school. No-one is pleased by the situation, the head-mistress is reluctant to take her in and the pupils look down on Sue, but Sue isn’t one to be quiet about snide comments  she gets, which gets her into more trouble. At the home things aren’t much better as Mrs Crum, the Matron, is lazy and mean-spirited and leaves majority of chores to Sue as the oldest girl. She does gain one ally in Miss Graham the assistant games mistress. Sue has a talent for volleyball, in particularly spiking the ball, which gets Miss Graham’s attention and she puts her on the school’s senior team. While one of her teammates, Val, a prefect, is friendly the other girls still don’t accept her. One girl Elma accuses Sue of stealing her gym kit, just to stir up trouble, Sue not taking kindly to the accusation hits her. Elma’s parents call the police and the headmistress feels the school will be in disgrace when people see police there. At the police station Sue is calmer and even convinces them to let her play volleyball when she sees a game by the cadets. That along with Miss Graham coming to defend Sue,means  she is released and the police set up match between the school and  the cadets which relieves the headmistress as she can say that is why the police were at the school.

Sue shows she does have a softer side when she takes the kids to fair and wins coconuts for them, then sells the coconuts to buy treats. She also guards the younger kids from Mrs Crum.  After seeing her home Val tries to get her father to help but it ends with Sue being kicked out of the home as Mrs Crum blames all the problems on her (poor kids that are left behind!). Sue ends up in a tougher home for girls, but not for too long as her dad shows up again. He has remarried and has 3 young step children, he takes her in so she will look after them and do housework, while he and his new wife go out all night. Looking after the kids means Sue is late for school and volleyball and she also falls asleep in school. She has to take them to practice with her when the parents don’t return home. When the kids fall sick a social worker arrives and they have to go to hospital. Sue is left on her own and then because of unpaid rent , the furniture is taken and then the flat. Because of all this she is kicked out of school for not attending. Her only bit of reprieve is playing with the youth club. She finds out about the Midlands Juniors team that she was part of when she as in school are going to big final in London. She gets down to London to join the team and they win the game. At this stage she is finally tracked down by her social worker who she had been avoiding. She is put with a new, kind, foster mum and is let back into school when social worker explains case (it resolves pretty quickly).

When we return to Sue in the sequel, she is happy but that actually takes the edge off her game. The happiness doesn’t last too long, as her foster mother takes ill, her old social worker has moved away and Miss Graham gets a new job. She is put back with her father, who has allegedly changed his ways. In her new home, Sue has a run in with some hoodlums vandalising the tower block and things are no better at school as the new games mistress, Miss Collins, takes a dislike to her, and drops her from team. Sue’s father has of course not improved, he beats on his wife and she takes it out on Sue. Sue in turn takes it out on the gang that are still causing trouble.To escape this bad home life, she plays a volleyball marathon with youth club friends, but then has trouble in school the next day for being sleepy and out of uniform, because her father has pawned it! Sue runs away from home to escape a beating. She gets her things back from pawn shop and a job as night watchman at an allotment, she finds this situation much better than living with her family, but she doesn’t want the social workers to know she is living rough, so has to pretend to still live with her father. Meanwhile the thing that has always comes easy to her, volleyball, she is surprised at a match to meet some equals and realises she will need to learn more defense moves and not just rely on her spiking .

The school headmistress meanwhile is trying to get her transferred and Miss Collins has put her in the younger B Team, she instead chooses to play for the youth club.  The district judges see her play and she is chosen for district team, but then her makeshift home in the watchman’s hut is destroyed by vandals and she is left homeless. Some good news for Sue is when the chairman of the school sticks up for her and she gets to stay at Farewood. Then another bit of good luck when she gets a job and room at factory coaching team. Of course things can never keep going right for Sue so after accidentally hitting a teacher during a factory training session, when the school is on excursion, she is pulled from district team for being a professional. Her social worker finds her and puts her in front of panel, luckily Mrs Blane (who got Sue on the district team) and the factory manager stick up for her and she gets back on the team. Then she loses her cool with an American businessman visiting the factory and loses her factory job. Again this bad news is followed by some good news as she gets picked for the special English volleyball team (along with her friend Val) and has news that her foster mother will be out of hospital soon. After a tough match against the Netherlands, Sue makes the winning point of the game and then returns home to her foster mother.

The third series, sees a change of setting, as Sue joins a holiday camp while her foster mother visits family in Canada. The Carson Sport Camp is a struggling holiday camp that takes Sue on after the snobbish Panton camp she was meant to work in, refuse her when they realise she’s a girl. After the cook quits the Carson’s Camp, Sue has to be cook, dishwasher, and waitress as well as volleyball coach. There are 2 guests Mike and Koolie that also keep causing problems, but the owner, Mr Carson, still tries to keep them happy as he can’t afford any bad reviews. Things start to look up as a volleyball enthusiast joins as cook. Sue encourages them to join a volleyball league, to earn some money to do up the camp. They get on well and start tidying up camp. They even attract some guests over from the Panton Camp. Sue continues to work hard and do favours around the town so she can improve camp. Then she gets surprise when her father, and family turn up. Seems Mr Carson thinks he was doing something nice to thank her for her work, little did he know! Sue’s upbeat enthusiasm takes a hit, and soon Mr Carson realises his mistake, especially as he sees her stepmother ordering Sue around. Mr Carson gets rid of them by saying  the condition of the free holiday is to help with the piles of dishes, which gets them moving quickly. They also clear out Mike and Coolie with all the new facilities, they can’t put a complaint in against the camp. To round things off they win  final volleyball match against Panton Camp, and now with all problems fixed Sue can relax and enjoy the rest of her holiday.

Thoughts

Sue Spiker is the character that appears the most in the Emma comic (just outdoing “Jodie and the Otter”), it had 39 episodes in total in Emma and a further 12 episodes in Judy & Emma. I can see the appeal, firstly the top art by “B” Jackson, then the story following a likeable character that seems to never be able to catch a break, she has to deal with abusive guardians, being unfairly treated at school, and homelessness. Of course her one talent, volleyball, may be the thing to get her a happy ending. It does follow a typical formula, but there is a reason readers like these stories, anticipating if the protagonist will overcome all the obstacles that keep getting flung at them.  Emma was a more experimental title than some other DCT girl comics, it may have been trying to compete more with IPC titles of the time, as we see with the character of Sue Spiker, a working class girl that has a lot of hardships and with a more unusual sport  that she is good at (tennis or hockey was more commonly seen in these titles), Sue would have fit right in with Tammy or Jinty.

The class divide is clearly against Sue from the start, not only are the girls snobbish and try and get Sue in trouble, the teachers are as equally (if not worse) at fault, being condescending, spiteful and looking down on Sue. Right away the headmistress declares her unhappiness to having Sue there, before she even meets her and is always looking for an opportunity to get rid of her just because she not the “right” class of student she wants in the school. There are few exceptions Sue finds a friend in Val, a senior, and Miss Graham. Although in the second series, Miss Graham takes a new job without even a goodbye or warning to Sue, which seems thoughtless. Miss Collins her replacement has similar attitude to the Headmistress, but also seems to be not a good teacher as Sue is able to teach girls more about volleyball than her. The teachers say she has a bad attitude, and while Sue might not always go about things right way, she won’t be bullied or talked down to which is what causes trouble. But she has had to learn to look out for herself since an early age and we are glad to see her take down some of the bullies at school.

Despite all these problems at school, it is still better than her home life, filled with abusive and neglectful guardians.  At least Sue finally gets a good home in the end, but I feel sorry for the kids she left behind, particularly her stepsisters. In the first series both with the foster home and her family, they neglect the kids, don’t give them enough food and let Sue do all the housework and looking after the kids. Her father and step mother are particularly bad, coming back late at night and having parties and leaving the kids on their own for long periods. So it is a surprise that the kids are given back to the parents with only a fine. In the second series we see the abuse escalate to physical abuse, while it doesn’t seem like the younger girls get hit, it is still wrong that they get left behind. In the third series, everything seems a bit more toned down, the parents show up and take advantage and talk down to Sue but don’t come across more lazy than abusive and are quickly gotten rid of.

The third series is the weakest story, while Sue has challenges to overcome, they are less personal, she is just trying to help Mr Carson out, the biggest conflict is when her family arrive but they don’t hang about too long. While we always want protagonist to win in the end, I’m sure part of Sues appeal was the hardships she faced, so there is less drama here and perhaps that is why she didn’t last another series after this one.

Skate-Cat Kate [1978]

Emma, , ,
  • Skate-Cat Kate –  Emma: #10 (29 April 1978) – #23 (29 July 1978)
  • Art: Leslie Branton

Plot

Kate Dobie is excited about the new skate-park that is opening and wants to join the new Ketworth skate-boarding team, her brother Simon isn’t too happy about this. He is the jealous type that always wants to be centre of attention. He is also grumpy as he had an accident on his skateboard and hurt his leg. He tells Kate they won’t allow girls on the team. Kate eagerly goes to the opening of the new skate-park opens, but when Brett Kenn, the new team trainer, prompts any “boys” with the skills to tryout for the team, Kate is nervous that Simon is right. She decides to audition under Simon’s name and figures once she gets in the team she can reveal her true self. She makes the team but the next part doesn’t go to plan as Simon shows up asking if can audition once his plaster is off, and Kate scurries off before she can be questioned. She believes her chances are now ruined as no one will believe she was going to tell the truth.

She does eventually get to ask Brett for another chance, he gives it to her, but Simon isn’t happy. She suspects that Simon messes with her equipment ruining her 2nd chance audition and then Simon ends up getting her place on the team. She watches the team practicing in the hopes of learning something. Even at home Kate doesn’t find things easy  as her parents keep praising Simon and buying him new equipment and tell her she should be supportive of him.  For the first competition, the whole family go to support Simon and it is only then that Kate finds out she was made reserve on team but Simon didn’t pass the message onto her. As one of the team doesn’t show up, Brett asks her to step in, as she is ill-prepared she has to do the whole competition in a dress. Simon always wanting to be the best attempts to jump over the rest of the team, but his leg gets caught on Kate’s dress at the end. While she argues that he was already coming in low, he still blames her.

While Kate is doing some early practice, a truck crashes near the skatepark, Kate skateboards for help. When reporter hears of this and wants to interview her, Simon pushes in to get some of the spotlight saying she is part of Kenworth team. So Kate is back on team officially. The team continue to prepare for a big competition, and Simon continues to make things difficult for Kate and tries to be the most prominent team member.  While practicing Simon tries a stunt without safety gear and when Kate breaks his fall, she injures her hand.  Before competition she has to have a final check on her wrist, Simon says there is no point waiting for her, but  luckily Brett decides to swing by hospital anyway and Kate makes it to competition. At the competition Kate is worried about Simon trying to cheat, especially as despite how boastful as he is, he is actually a good skateboarder. She puts a stop to some of his plans and the team do end up winning partly because of a skateboarding trick Simon pulls off.

Simon is still not the best team player, and always wants to be star of the show, so while Kate is concerned when Mr Keen gets bad news about his fiancee being missing, Simon sees it as opportunity to take over the team and do his plan for the semi-finals. At the semi final Simon manages to hurt his hand. He has to ask Kate for help doing a handstand trick pretending to be him and they succeed in making to finals. While watching the televised report after, Simon’s jealousy flares up again, when the TV reporter calls Kate more stylish than Simon. Simon then decides its best to replace Kate and a younger small boy, Johnny, with two stronger boys. Though soon even Simon has to admit the replacements aren’t as good but he has hard time telling them that. Luckily Mr Keen turns up with his fiancee just in time for the finals and reinstated the team as it should be. At the finals Kate tells Simon he can beat the other team’s best time and win the individual prize. Finally Simon realises Kate is still cheering for him after all he did to her and that she is a good sister. The team win and conveniently Simon and Kate jointly win the individual prize all expense paid trip to California.

Thoughts

With the release of IPC’s Concrete Surfer thought it was an opportunity to look at a DCT skateboarding story. They are very different takes and having recently read Concrete Surfer, it is clearly the superior of the two and a better crafted story, but Skate-Cat Kate still has some merits. Interesting while Concrete Surfer did come out first  there was only a couple of months between the 2 stories and they ran consecutively for a while (so it doesn’t seem like it was an influence,  Emma previously had articles about skateboarding as well).  While skateboarding wasn’t the most common sport to see in these comics, it does seem like 1978 was a popular year for skateboarding as Mandy also had a humour strip Skateboard Sally, that year. Clearly to comics were trying to keep in tune with trends at the time.

Concrete Surfer  among other things does well at addressing class divide, Skate-Cat Kate addresses a different issue – sexism (although it’s not the main focus). Simon is antagonistic towards his sister, jealous and conceited, so overall not great person, but it is actually the actions of people around him, particularly Brett,that highlights the sexism issues. Simon winds Kate up by telling her girls won’t be allowed on the team, but it is Brett’s statement about boys should try out for the team, that makes Kate believe it’s true. In the end Brett doesn’t mind girls on the team but he does make assumptions that it’s a boys sport first. His treatment of Kate and Simon, is to see them equally responsible for their fighting. Even when it’s clear that Simon is starting arguments, or not passing information to Kate, they are both seen as in the wrong. When Kate gets in the newspaper at Simon’s pushing, Brett reprimands her as using it as opportunity  to sneak back on the team, but when Simon says it was his idea to get good publicity he praises him for being shrewd. Brett seems unaware of his biases, but at least as times go in he begins to value Kate more and not just take Simon’s word on things, such as actually going to collect Kate from hospital so she can attend event.

Maybe more favoritism than sexism (though still a bit of that mixed in) the Dobies do take Simon’s side of things a lot, buying him new skateboarding gear, encouraging Kate to congratulate and cheer her brother on and never do much to encourage her own skateboarding. With all this against her, no wonder Kate fears standing up to her brother too much in case he becomes even more spiteful to her. Yet despite all of what Simon has done she does clearly care for him, even injuring herself saving him. Simon really doesn’t get repercussions for his actions, he finally comes around to Kate and says she is a good sister but doesn’t actually apologise for what he has done and they both end up getting the prize. (Very odd that the prize could be afforded to be split  as surely logistics of paying for a trip to California for one wouldn’t match up to price of sending two people!). It is also odd that a lot of time is spent showcasing Simon’s skills,  like how he’s the only team member that can beat the rival’s team speed times. Both Kate, and another team member Paul who is far nicer and encouraging of Kate, actually seem to put in the work, whereas Simon tries flashy things that only sometimes work. Some of the lesson seems to be Simon overcompensating and maybe should have faith in his own skills, but a far more satisfying ending would have been Kate winning the individual prize for her precision skillful skateboarding, and Simon apologizing, realizing she deserves it more!

Wynne Against the School [1978]

Emma, ,
  • Wynne Against the School –  Emma:  #30 (16 September 1978)  – #43 (16 December 1978)
  • Art: Carlos Freixas

Plot

Wynne Taylor is a promising track star, and when her family move to a new town she is approached by a top athletics club, the Harriers, to join. She promises to run in their next relay meeting, not knowing how many problems it will cause her in the future! Everyone in her new school become very unwelcoming when Wynne says she can’t run for the school at the meeting, as she has already promised the Harriers. Worse luck is that the Miss Baker who is in charge of athletics, is also her form teacher  and she starts to give Wynne a hard time in class . She tells Wynne, her work isn’t up to standard and calls her impudent when Wynne tries to defend herself. At the meeting Wynne wins for the Harriers against her new school, to the calls of “Traitor!”.

Despite saying she wants to run with the school when she’s not with the Harriers, nobody thinks this is good enough compromise. When Wynne tries to use school equipment, the girls, led by sports captain Wanda, pick on her and throw her uniform in the shower, she then gets extra work from Miss Baker for not being in proper uniform. Only one girl, Annie, tries to help Wynne out, but she gets her bike wheel stolen for her efforts. Wynne helps her find it, and promises not to tell anyone she helped so Annie doesn’t get hassled more . This gets her in trouble when she’s late for school athletic training, Miss Baker tells her not to bother to change. Tired of being pushed around, she runs in her uniform and still beats everyone, making her as unpopular as ever. The girls don’t even want Wynne representing the school at county level.

Despite efforts by the other girls, Annie continues to be friendly in secret with Wynne. She is still a timid girl, so when Wynne and Annie both get chance at scholarship to another school, Wynne fluffs her chance so that Annie can escape this bullies. This does mean Wynne that not only has to stay at Brainton Academy, but also loses her only friend at the school. She does briefly find friendship elsewhere with John Talbot, who also goes for morning runs to train for Rugby. A local newspaper takes a photo of the two of them together and quote Wynne out of context. This of course riles the girls up again, and Wanda ruins Wynne’s new friendship, by pretending to be Wynne on the phone. She tells John she hasn’t time to waste on stupid kids when he asks “Wynne” for some tickets to her next competition. Wanda meanwhile supplies the tickets and succeeds in turning John against Wynne.

Wanda’s hate campaign against Wynne starts to get more personal, as she is jealous of all the attention she gets. She starts trying to get Wynne in more serious trouble, like  when they visit a  school in France, she tries to set Wynne up as vandalising the school with graffiti. Luckily Wynne while up early for morning run, is able to repair the damage before anyone sees. More trouble follows when the local newspaper runs the story about Wynne’s treatment at the school, Miss Baker wants Wynne to show that everyone is really friendly but Wynne isn’t interested. The reporters get a picture that looks like Wanda attacking Wynne and then Wynne gets suspended while the head hopes the bad publicity dies down and she can investigate further! Knowing the school wants to keep the story quiet, Wanda again impersonates Wynne on the phone  telling  the local newspaper about the suspension and that Wynne is being victimised. Wynne is able to deny she made the call as she has an alibi.

With the story still out there, people are sympathetic to Wynne and start to send her gifts. Seeing this as an opportunity to stir more trouble, Wanda gets Wynne disqualified from a race as she claims she is not an amateur. Wynne’s parents have had enough of the way she’s being treated, and Mr Taylor says he will ask for another transfer, Wynne’s happiness is most important. Wanda not knowing of this latest development, is still out to get Wynne. Having stolen her pendant, she vandalises a classroom leaving the pendant there as evidence. Wynne out for her early run, notices lights on in school and goes to investigate. She catches Wanda burning  the head’s papers but it goes out of control. Wynne ends up saving Wanda and putting fire out, as a policeman arrives. When the head visits Wanda in hospital, she tries to blame Wynne at first, but then breaks down and confesses. Things happen quickly and the Taylors move away. At her first race in her new home, her old schoolmates and and teachers come to apologise and cheer her on. Wynne wins setting a new record and feeling accepted at last.

Thoughts

Firstly this has a very pun-tastic title,  I do like wordplay in titles! Carlos Freixas art is top notch as always and the story is engaging. While at the start, the campaign against Wynne is by whole school, by the end it focuses more on Wanda’s jealousy. While Wanda’s actions become more extreme, I feel she ends up becoming a sort of scapegoat for the rest of the school, who have all acted terrible too. The school show up at Wynne’s race in her new home, and tell her Wanda has made a full confession and they have come to apologise, which implies it was all Wanda’s doing that turned the school against her! While some of the girls follow the lead of Wanda, really it’s the adults that should have known better. It’s  some of their actions that influence the students.

Miss Baker clearly sets things up against Wynne, even coming down on her school work. As the girl’s coach she is held in high regard. She does still care about school reputation, so while simultaneously being hard on Wynne, she lets the French School fuss over Wynne rather than Wanda, as she wants their school to give a good impression.  It’s actions like these that fuel Wanda’s spite of Wynne. Miss Baker also tells Wynne to come back  and show the news reporters how friendly everyone is, when Wynne doesn’t listen, Wanda tries to pull her back, clearly following Miss Baker’s lead. It’s no wonder Wanda acts as she does, she may have her own jealousy issues, but is not helped by her her coach being antagonistic with Wynne (when it suits her!) and Wanda’s position of school captain being undermined. The headmistress is no better suspending Wynne while she investigates the whole story. You’d think punishment would be doled out after an investigation not before! Also odd that Wynne’s parents aren’t called in to discuss the matter. Even though Wynne isn’t seeking sympathy, it’s no wonder people reading the newspaper story side with her and really the school should be trying to put things right, rather than making things worse suspending Wynne.

While the Taylors don’t appear much, it is nice to see that they are supportive of their daughter. While Wynne doesn’t want her dad to set back his career, he puts her happiness first  (though luckily a similar position elsewhere is available). Wynne is very strong willed, despite all the obstacles, she doesn’t let that interfere with her running. She doesn’t take the easy way out and shows her loyalty numerous times. She doesn’t back out of running with the Harriers, she helps her friend Annie out of the school as she knows she is strong enough to deal with the bullies and despite the hard times she doesn’t go around bad mouthing the school and is opposed to the newspaper story (despite it being pretty accurate!). While the Taylors do end up moving away, it is good to see she does get acceptance from her old school at last, though I still feel they could have shown more contriteness. Wynne has shown that she that would succeed with or without their approval anyway.

 

Emma Comic [1978-1979]

Emma

For something a bit different I thought it would interesting to look at a comic as a whole.

Emma was a short-lived D.C. Thomson comic running for only 81 issues, published from 25 February 1978 to 8 September 1979. It was the second shortest run of the 11 DCT girls comic titles (Spellbound was the shortest at 69 issues, ending just before Emma launched). It is interesting that both Emma and Spellbound, didn’t last very long as these two titles were more experimental than DCT’s usual format. A month after Emma ended, a new title arrived, Tracy, which was more similar to Bunty, Judy etc. and that lasted 277 issues. So could it have been that people liked to stick with the familiar, or was there another reason this comic didn’t last?

A note on what other DC Thomson girls comics were running at this time. Long running Bunty, Judy and Mandy comics were still going strong and Debbie seemed to be doing well since launching a few years prior in 1973. So that was 4 other DCT comics that children could choose from and they most likely had their loyal long term readers, added to that you had popular IPC comics like Tammy, Jinty and Misty also competing, making it that much harder to get a piece of the market. By the late 70s the “golden age” of comics was over and there was starting to be a decline in readerships, one theory being there was so much other entertainment to also compete with. Although to contradict that theory, one just has to look at something like 2000AD which also launched in the late 1970s and is still going strong celebrating 40 years of publishing, which goes to show if the quality, the right marketing and commitment is there, it is possible to last in the comic market.

While Emma had a variety of stories, it also leaned more on magazine elements, such as interviews, fact files, pop news etc. Perhaps it was conceived to be a stepping stone for those girls who were beginning to show more interest in magazines like Jackie, but still liked more picture stories too. If this was the case, maybe the paper quality was a factor in it not being as successful as other more glossy story/magazine publications like Diana and Suzy. The set up of Emma was that the title character was a reporter, so every issue she would interview someone (these included the Muppets, Abba and more) and throughout the issue she would also  have other features such as reports on popular trends (like the majorettes in issue 1), or “What’s in a Name?” (looking at names meanings and famous people with that name). The character of Emma also had her own story, where she usually ended up solving a problem while filming a report for her TV show. More notable was the Emma’s Mag which took up the 4 middle pages of the comic and again had a variety of features, focusing on famous people, hair tips, Kid Jenson’s LP section and more. This mag is one of the things that survived the merger with Judy and became a prominent feature of it.

In the first issue we are told Emma has another meaning too. Emma is an acronym for Excitement, Mystery, Marvelous Free Gifts, Action. Looking at the first issue, we’ll see how much that holds true! Of course the obligatory free gift is there, the first gift is an Initial Brooch, gifts from other issues include a bag, bangles and supercomb. There are 7 stories in the first issue. The Emma Report in which Emma goes diving for sunken treasure for a report and nearly gets lost (one of the weaker serials in my opinion and maybe a downfall for the comic as Emma was really being pushed as the representative of the comic). Sue Spiker  a tough foster home child with a talent for volleyball, Sue was one of the comics long running characters, she returned in 2 sequels, one of which was in Judy after the comics merged. Similarly Jodie and the Otter about a swimming champion who makes friends with an otter after she has to bail out of a plane over the Canadian Wilderness, also had 2 sequels. Angie which I’ve already talked about here, is about a nurse who gets kidnapped by bank robbers along with her young sister, with art by Ian Kennedy. Lynne Against Lareno, art by Norman Lee, where Lynne travels to a small town on the Mexican border to visit a friend, only to be told her friend died, but Lynne suspects something else is going on. Disco Talk a one page text story that shows conversations between two friends, Jill and Carol, at a disco. Blue Eyes, where Belinda’s earnings for acting goes to her apparently sick cousin, but then she begins to have sight problems. There are also two short humour strips; TV Mad about a girl Madeline who is obsessed with television and Tessa a girl who won’t get off the phone. The majority of the stories are 3 pages, exceptions being The Emma Report and Lynne Against Lareno which are 4 pages. There is a good variety in the stories, both in plot and locations. I do think the stories cover the excitement, mystery, action, the art is good throughout, as is the layout, title headings and lettering, so it was quite a strong start to the comic.

While there are some familiar concepts with the stories in Emma there was also less common things, such as volleyball as the sport in Sue Spiker (rather than the more common sports like athletics or hockey) and the use of varied locations. This trend continued in new stories too. Skate-Cat Kate a girl with a talent with skateboarding who has to contend with her brother’s jealousy. Viva Marisa! a young girl who becomes part of Revolution to overthrow a dictator in  South America, with art by Jesús Redondo. Yang Ling a historical story where a young Chinese girl wants to be taught the ancient art of self-defence and is eventually chosen to escort a girl from China to America. Molly and her Millettes, a young teacher tries to encourage a class that everyone thinks is hopeless by forming them into a Majorette troupe.

 

When the comics gets into its #20s is it weakest point in my opinion. Jodie and the Otter and Sue Spiker both finish in issue #19 and Viva Marisa! in issue #21. For a while there is only 5 stories, (except for the sporadic appearance of Kay Rules…Ok?). The line up during this time is The Emma Report, The Rebel, Yang Ling, Make Me a Champion! and Janie Jungle Nurse. This line up doesn’t last too long as issue #30 has all new stronger set of stories; Holly of Hazard Unit, Little Nipper, Wynne Against the School, Teech n’ Me, Nola Girl from Nowhere and the return of Jodie and the Otter. In issue #32 Beware of Beryl also joins the line-up. This is the only time there is a big change of line-up with all new stories, it also becomes standard to have at least 7 stories running at a time.

 

We start to see some more reprints in later issues, The Secret Life of Dana, Plain Jane, The Rebel and Belinda Born to Skate all appeared previously in other comics. In the case of Belinda Born to Skate it first appeared in Judy as “Vicky on Skates” but here it has new art by Carlos Freixas. Of course the reverse is also true, where stories that appeared in Emma were later reprinted in other comics, such as Beware of Beryl, No Joy for Jenny, Red Fur and Lady Sarah’s Secret. The stories in the last issue are Kitty and the Crooked Myles, The White Mouse, Carrie – and the Conroy Curse, Lucy and Lightning, Nobody’s Child and the first part of another Jodie and the Otter sequel which will continue in Judy after the merger. Stunt Girl and Belinda Born to Skate finished in the penultimate issue. So overall I think Emma had some good stories and some interesting features, but ultimately it didn’t seem to capture attention of readers. With a new comic Tracy also in the works at the time, the publishers must have decided it was best to end Emma before that launched, particularly with so many other competing comics. Also it could have been some of the initial contributors to Emma could now have been working on the new comic. Of course I can only speculate to the reasons why Emma finished up, I don’t have the sales figures for the comic or the knowledge of what was going on in the DCT at the time, but having read some stories about the end of other publications, I’d say a combination of the reasons I mentioned is likely. [I’ve looked briefly at the DCT mergers already in another post, it can be found here]

For some further analysis, focusing on the serials that appeared in Emma, I’ve done a breakdown of the type of stories.  To keep it simple I’ve kept it to 10 broad categories (with a longer running publication, there would certainly be more categories) these are  what I see to be the main element of the story and I’ve been subjective in where I’ve placed stories, as some could certainly fit into several categories and others aren’t necessarily an exact fit.  So this isn’t a perfect method but should give a rough idea of what you could expect to read in Emma.  The comic had 44 stories, (although 2 stories spawned sequels, so if those were included separately, the number would rise to 46). As for the length of the serials, the average and mode for story length is 12 episodes. The shortest story was Stunt Girl at 5 episodes, possibly cut short due to Emma’s looming merger with Judy. The longest was The Emma Report  at 29 episodes (that’s a continuous run, not including returning one shots and such), which makes sense as she was the title character and the comic was pushing her as a selling point. The story/character that appears most, including sequels, is Sue Spiker with 39 episodes (and she would go on to have a further 12 episodes in Judy), she was an appealing character, with good artwork and it made sense that she also got a sequel in Judy after the merger.

Here are the categories I’ve chosen, listed by most popular. Go to next page to see which stories I put in each category

  1. Adventure [8 Stories – 18%]
  2. Sport & Dance [8 stories – 18%]
  3. Family [5 Stories – 11%]
  4. Animal [4 stories – 9%]
  5. Career [4 Stories – 9%]
  6. Science Fiction [4 stories – 9%]
  7. Friendships [3 stories – 7%] (this includes false friendships too)
  8. Historical [3 stories – 7%] (stories set before World War II)
  9. Mystery [3 stories – 7%]
  10. Supernatural [2 stories – 5%]

Adventure and Sport & Dance are on top at 8 stories each, but I have to point out that a lot of stories had adventure/action elements, such as stories I’ve categorized under career and historical often had the protagonist in risky situations. Interesting to note popular story elements like the Cinderella story or jealous rival are not common here, this may be another reason, the comic didn’t last.  While the majority of the stories, as to be expected, are set in Britain with white protagonists there are stories that go against this standard.  Other than Britain places where stories were set: Africa (1), America (5*), Belgium (1), Canada (1), China (1*), South America (3*) and Space/Off planet (2). The numbers with asterisks are to note a story may be counted twice due to it starting in one place but then spending a significant amount of time elsewhere, for example in A Girl Called Sam, Sam travels from America to South America, 9 issues into the story. Protagonists that were not British were: American (1), Belgian (1), Canadian (1), Chinese (1), Puerto Rican (1), (unspecified) South American (1). Most characters are either in school or appear to be school age, of the protagonists that do have jobs, being a nurse is the most popular with 5 main characters having that job. Having a job in the entertainment industry is also popular, with 4 characters being involved in that.  Also while IPC is often acknowledged for it’s use of working class heroes, it doesn’t mean DCT was without them, Sue Spiker, the Millettes from Molly and the Millettes, Lucy of Lucy and Lightning are some examples here.

 

For a short lived comic it had many good qualities. The stories were varied, (though I would say adventure/action was a big element), there was also some quality art work, known artists included Norman Lee, Ian Kennedy, Jesús Redondo, Hugo D’Adderio and Carlos Freixas. The idea to have a character to do interviews tying in the features to story side of the magazine was a good idea, although like I mentioned I personally think The Emma Report was one of the weaker stories (although the art was lovely). The overall aesthetic was very pleasing, such as the lettering and title headings for the stories were nicely done. It may not have left as big an impression as other comics, but it is worth a look.

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Lady Sarah’s Secret [1979]

Emma, Judy, M&J, , ,
    • Lady Sarah’s Secret – Emma:  #61 (21 April 1979) – #69 (16 June 1979)
    • Reprinted – Judy: #1500 (8 October 1988) – #1508 (10 December 1988)
    • Reprinted (as Judy classic) – M&J: #308 (4th May 1997) – #315 (May 24 1997) [last issue has 2 installments]
    • Artist: Hugo D’Adderio

Plot

In 1840, Lady Sarah Cragston is out riding when she nearly runs down a girl. She is surprised to find out the girl has runaway from the local orphanage which her father is governor of. Sarah doesn’t listen to the girl’s claims of mistreatment, believing her to be an ungrateful wretch and takes her back to the orphanage. She does however become suspicious when the Bonneys that run the place, are keen to get rid of her. She insists on looking around and is appalled by the conditions. Later she tries to tell her father about what she saw and at first she thinks he shares her outrage but he is only upset that she went to orphanage and forbids her from going there again. Later while talking to a maid, Sarah learns that the orphanage used to be a mansion called Fell Grange, until the daughter of the house, Elizabeth Sturgesse, was tragically killed while out riding. There is a legend that Elizabeth’s spirit appeared  to help those in need  and she became known as “The Dark Lady of Haunted Hill”. Lady Sarah decides it is time for the Dark Lady to reappear and  finds old riding gear and dark wig to become the part.

Lady Sarah’s first act is to free the runaway she met earlier, who had since been beaten and locked in the cellar. She first runs into the Bonneys, Mr Bonney is terrified of the ghost but Mrs bonny shows less fear and has to be dragged inside by her husband. The girl, Ellen Rumble, is very grateful and even more so when Sarah arranges it so she can hire her as personal servant.  Ellen makes a good ally as she can tell Sarah about the inner workings of the orphanage. She helps Sarah when she does some investigative work to see where Mrs bonny gets the food for the orphanage, she obviously buys the good stuff for herself and the orphans get the cheap, poor quality stuff. Sarah buys supplies for the orphans and sets out a feast for them. Then in the guise of the Dark Lady, she warns the Bonneys to start feeding them properly.

At this point Mrs Bonney’s original confidence of ghosts not being able to harm them, seems to be waning. The Bonneys even foolishly put bars on the cellar door to keep the ghost off. Of course while that would be no use against a ghost, it does pose a problem for Sarah, as she now needs to find another way to access the orphanage. Ellen does know of one  successful runaway who said she had aunt in Crampton. Sarah manages to track her down and find out about a secret passage. Then using a potion that was given to her father by a sea captain, she is able to temporarily paralyze the Bonneys in order to stop them abusing cripples. These things further convince the Bonneys that she is a supernatural being with powers.

Next Sarah finds out that the money her father provides for a doctor, actually goes to a charlatan doctor who gives the sick children coloured water, so him and the Bonneys make a tidy profit by not giving proper medicine. Sarah and Ellen go searching for a legitimate doctor to treat a very sick girl. They find a doctor name Sturgesse and this seems like a good omen so Sarah hires him. The Bonneys are surprised by Dr. Sturgesse’s visit and by his name. Adding to their stress further is when asked who sent him, the doctor points to Sarah who is watching close by dressed as the Dark Lady.

When a letter arrives from the Bonneys to her father, saying the price of coal has increased, Sarah is suspicious of a scam. She is proved right when visiting the orphanage she hears the Bonneys plan to forge bills. While returning home, her father sees her near the orphanage and is very angry, he doesn’t want her anywhere near the orphans in case she catches something. While she says she will stay away, that night she is back again as the Dark Lady to see if she can find out what the Bonneys are doing with the money they keep. She finds Mr Bonny hosting a card game and she takes a risk haunting them. While she does startle the men, one of them knocks over a lamp and starts a fire. While they are putting out the fire, Sarah escapes, but one on of the men, Harry, hears her coughing and therefore believes there is no ghost. Harry visits Lord Cragston the next day to talk about the occurrences at the orphanage. Sarah whose throat is still irritated by the smoke can’t stop herself coughing, which leads Harry to accuse her of being the ghost. Lord Cragston doesn’t believe such things and kicks him out but he is concerned by Sarah’s coughing and sends her to an aunt to recover. This is a further worry for Sarah as this will mean the Bonneys will not believe in the ghost now, but Ellen keeps up the legend as she sneaks out and plays the Dark Lady in her stead.

While out riding Sarah sees the parish clerk beating on a young girl while bringing her to orphanage, that night worried about this outspoken new girl Sarah sneaks into the orphanage to check on her, but Ellen has a sense of foreboding. That night the Bonneys have visitors who are concerned about the “hauntings” – the parish clerk and Mr Calver, the justice of peace. Ellen goes to warn Sarah about the arrivals, but the secret panel to the passage closes and they are forced to hide. While they do manage to slip out, Sarah accidentally leaves a riding glove behind. The Justice of Peace sees the girls riding off in the distance, he suspects there is no ghost and wants to investigate the orphanage further. Meanwhile Mr Bonney has found the riding glove and also now knows there is no ghost and that it is Lady Sarah that has been behind everything. He goes to Lord Cragston with this news, who is troubled by this, but still doesn’t believe Sarah that anything wrong with the Bonneys. He is forced to listen with the sudden arrival of Mr Calver with Mr Holmes, a government inspector of children’s work conditions. They want Sarah to testify against the Bonneys. At the inquiry Ellen also testifies but the other orphans are too scared to. One exception is Crissy, the outspoken girl, who shows the beatings on her back. Lord Cragston, apologizes for being unaware of what Bonneys were doing and promises to get suitable replacements. A few weeks later with the kindly Jacksons in charge, Sarah can put away her Dark Lady costume.

Thoughts

When we first meet Lady Sarah she is not too concerned for the orphans, going so far as to bring back the runaway to orphanage by tying a rope around her waist and calling her an “ungrateful little wretch”. It is likely that this initial attitude is influenced by her father.  He doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of the orphans seeing them as brats, of little use and potentially infectious rather than what they actually are – children. We are not told how Sarah’s mother died but it may be a factor in Lord Cragston’s fear for his daughter’s safety and that she may catch some illness from being near the orphans. He doesn’t seem to be intentionally cruel, as he does believe the orphans are being provided for and that the “good” Bonneys are training the brats to be useful to society. But his claims of ignorance of the Bonneys wrong doings, isn’t good enough when his own daughter has told him of their cruelty and he doesn’t bother to investigate further.

Like I said Sarah seems to have a similar attitude to her father, until she sees the actual living conditions of the orphans and is horrified. It is fitting then, that the first person she helps is that same runaway she brought back. In quite a contrast to their first meeting, after her rescue of Ellen, Sarah attends to her injuries, no longer feeling above those poorer than her. In return for this kindness Ellen becomes a loyal companion to Sarah. In other stories such as “The Seeker” or “The Secret Life of Hateful Hattie”, the protagonists pretend to be mean spirited in real life to keep their secret, so it makes a difference here that Sarah speaks up for the orphans even when she’s not in costume and also that she has an ally to confide in.

Using the legend of the ghost, is also an interesting angle. Through her father’s local history books, Sarah learns about deeds that  the “Dark Lady” supposedly did, which she uses to help her own cause. It would seems most people are familiar with the legend, but whether those events were real, exaggerated or perhaps someone playing at the ghost, like Sarah did, we never know for sure. It could be interesting if different people use the guise of the Dark Lady whenever she is needed. While many people fear her, Mrs Bonney initially shows her toughness, not fearing the ghost, it certainly seems to be her that’s in charge, as Mr Bonney fears his wife’s wrath as well as the ghost.

The art is gorgeous and very detailed, I particularly like the details in the clothes. Also the use of the shadows and perspective when Sarah is doing her haunting, makes her a very intimidating presence. While a lot of the panels are standard size, when given more room with wider panel D’Adderio takes advantage doing some lovely work as demonstrated in the opening panel.  It is another strong story from the short lived Emma comic and with the classic artwork and captivating story, it’s no surprise that this was reprinted in Judy and as a Judy classic in M&J.

The Double Life of Dana / The Secret Life of Dana

Emma, Mandy, ,
  • The Double Life of Dana– Mandy: #306 (25 Nov. 1972) – #317 (10 Feb. 1972)
  • Reprinted as The Secret Life of Dana – Emma: #49 (27 Jan. 1979) – #60 (14 Apr. 1979)
  • Artist: Claude Berridge

Plot

Dana Fenton, an orphan, has always dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Even now that she has left the orphanage she grew up in and has gotten a decent job and comfortable lodgings, it is not enough to satisfy her. So when she sees that there are auditions for a scholarship with a Ballet Company and a maid’s job in a prestigious ballet school, she takes the leap to follow her dream. She quits her job and applies for the in-house maid job, in the hopes that while she could never afford to go to school there, she may be able to learn by watching. Madame Rochelle proves to be a tough employer, meaning Dana will certainly be working hard to earn her place. At the same time she has to try and find time to go to Belmont Company audition. She arrives at the audition, but seeing Madame there with two pupils, she is afraid she will lose her job, so she dons a wig and makeup and gives the fake name ‘Ann Smith’ in order to keep her secret. The judges see potential in her and she gets in to the next round along with the two pupils from the ballet school, Janice and Ella.

secret life dana1Dana’s double life makes things difficult at time, such as Madame telling Dana to wait by the phone so she can tell everyone the results of the next audition. Of course as Dana is also meant to attend the audition she has to figure out how to do both things! She manages to attend the audition then rushes to pay phone outside and calls Madam pretending to have misunderstood the instructions. She then has to rush back to the school, and actually lets air out of Madame’s tyres so she will beat them back.

Also making life difficult for Dana, are her two rivals, Janice and Ella, who are snobbish and like to make more work for Dana. When Madame entrusts Dana to take the girls to next audition (which is a stroke of luck for Dana as she wondered how she was going to get to someplace so far away), the girls don’t listen to Dana and call her skivvy expecting her to be their personal maid. Luckily Miss Norris and old friend of Madame’s has also been sent to check on the girls and she helps Dana keep them in line. They still continue to cause more trouble,  back at the school making muddy prints over the floor Dana just cleans, they turn even more against Dana when Madame sticks up for her and make them re-clean the floor! Then later at an audition, they leave room a mess and carelessly leave clothes near an electric fire. Dana  in her ‘Ann Smith’ disguise finds the dressing room on fire and helps put it out, before having to run off before her identity is discovered. Janice and Ella blame Dana for the fire and their clothes getting destroyed. They decide to return the favour by destroying her clothes. So her ballet costume isn’t discovered, she has to chase them out of her room, which causes more trouble with Madame. While Madame doesn’t blame her for fire, she does think she should have been attending her duties more carefully, she also is suspicious of the girls being in Dana’s room but does tell Dana any more trouble and she’ll be dismissed.

secret life dana2

Due to the fire, the audition has been rescheduled and Madame offers the school as a new venue. Dana has to be extra careful not to be discovered and uses a traditional mask to hide her face completely. More questions are being asked about, who this mysterious Ann Smith is! While Madame doesn’t suspect Dana, Janice and Ella are beginning to wonder if she and Ann are the same person. Ella even opens a trapdoor at an audition in the hopes of not letting Ann slip away, she doesn’t seem concerned that she could have caused her some serious injury, if not for Dana/Ann’s quick reflexes allowing her to leap out of the way in time. Her secret is discovered by an unlikely person Myra Dean, a famous dancer, who is now blind. When she visits the school, Dana helps her twice, one time as ‘Ann’ and Miss Dean recognises her work-rough hands. Although she hints to Madame, that Ann and Dana maybe the same person, Madame dismisses the thought and Myra doesn’t try to persuade her, instead she becomes Dana’s ally.

secret life dana3

A  mistake signing a girl’s autograph book, leads Janice and Ella to also discover Dana’s secret.  At the last audition, using Dana’s friendship with Miss Dean against her, the girls send Dana to the wrong place. She only just makes it to the right place at the end, with no chance to change into Ann Smith. Myra Dean confirms her identity and Dana is allowed to dance, even though she doesn’t have time to even change into ballet clothes. Dana wins the scholarship and Madame Rochelle is shocked to find her own maid is Ann Smith. Seeing her dance she knows Dana deserves to win and she will also being having words with Janice and Ella about their involvement in the audition mix-up. Dana is delighted she can now pursue her dream and no longer lead a double life.

Thoughts

Dana while she certainly hasn’t the easiest time, it’s not as hard as other characters in similar positions, leading double life (such as “Ballerina on a String”). She is actually a very upbeat person and she is in charge of her own choices, as she is not forced to do the things she does. She left comfortable lodgings and a shop job, to work at the school, because she wants to follow her dream.

Madame Rochelle has a reputation as a slave-driver and none of  her other maids stayed very long. She certainly works Dana hard but she is not cruel and does treat her fairly. She even puts her trust in Dana to chaperone the other girls. When she knows of the tricks the girls play, she assesses situation and doesn’t automatically favour her students over her employee, as seen when she makes Janice and Ella clean the muddy prints and not taking their side when she finds Dana yelling at them as they were in Dana’s room.

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While she does treat her with some respect, at the same time she does not see Dana’s potential, viewing her only as maid. This bias blinds her to the clues in front of her, such as finding Ann Smith looks familiar, nearly catching a girl practicing late at night to audition music (and it not being Janice or Ella), she doesn’t even question that the mysterious Ann Smith gets a letter to the school and ignores the hint her old friend Myra Dean gives.

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So while the work is hard the main difficulties Dana has, is keeping her identity hidden while getting to auditions and the bigger problem of the spiteful girls. Of the two girls, Ella is more dangerous than Janice, she is the leader of the two and the most suspicious. She also opens the trapdoor on Dana and while she passes it off as an accident, she should really have more repercussions. She is not happy to be shown up by Ann Smith, and even less happy when she finds out that Ann is actually the ‘skivvy’ Dana. Even without Dana in the competition, Ella’s thoughts are shown to be quite big-headed, she expects to win over her supposed friend Janice too.

While Dana has joined the school to learn of ballet, we don’t really see much time focused on seeing how she benefits from this and how she improves. Instead most episodes are dedicated to her trying to attend an audition and keep her secret. Although as she keeps getting through to the next stage her “unpolished potential” must be getting better. The competition for the scholarship isn’t very clear, there’s seems to be a lot of auditions happening but it’s not clear how many stages there are and how many people auditioning. In the first stage the 3 girls get through, but as we never really get to see other competitors this leads to the impression that there are only three in the running all the time! In the last audition there appears to be five competing but again wonder how many auditioned initially in the first stage and how wide an area did the competitors come from? Still other than the questions of how the competition is ran, the story keeps a nice pace and the main characters are each distinctive both in personality and design. The art throughout is very nice and expressive. Berridge seems to be quite a varied artist, doing many different type of stories, I’m not aware of any other ballet story that he’s done, but he does a good job here.

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Janie Jungle Nurse

Emma,
  • Janie Jungle Nurse –  Emma: #24 (05 August 1978) – #29 (09 September 1978)

Plot

Jane Morrison is a newly qualified nurse and is set to join her Uncle Harry’s practice located in the African bush. When she arrives it is not quite what she expected, instead of a fine clinic, Harry runs his practice from a leaky old boat “The Flying Queen” and accepts whatever payment  he can including chickens! It seems Janie read more into his letters  then was actually there. The only staff he has is a young girl Kari, who would like to be a nurse and her parents. Janie wants to go home the next day but as there are no buses she is stuck for the meantime. When a fire breaks out a nearby village, Janie saves a young child and Harry is impressed by her work and quick thinking. Janie is still ready to leave as soon as possible. Her plans are blocked when Harry falls ill and despite her best efforts, he passes away after making her promise to carry on his work.

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With the help of Kari, Janie sets out to live up to her promise. She feels she has to earn the villagers trust and prove to them (and herself) that she can take Harry’s place. So when there is a mad bull on the loose, Janie tackles the problem herself by spearing it with a sleeping dose. The next episode is even more dramatic as a helicopter lands and men grab Janie and Kari. They tell her they are freedom fighters and they need medical treatment for a hostage as he is no good to them dead. He then threatens her, if the hostage dies then she will die too. The hostage is the son of British Consulate, and Janie quickly comes up with a plan. She says she needs a particular medicine which she uses an opportunity to slip out a secret message. When the group are distracted by arrival of government helicopters, Janie takes out their guard with chloroform and uses his gun to hold off the others. As thanks, for saving his son’s life the Consulate sends Janie a load of medical supplies.

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Next a couple, Mr and Mrs Farr arrive claiming Harry had invited them to spend some time on The Flying Queen. Janie agrees to host them but think there is something off about them. When a local tribe offer to share a feast she is not happy to hear they are eating elephant meat, but they claim they didn’t kill it, they found it dead without tusks. Everyone starts feeling drowsy and on the way back to the boat, Mrs Farr falls into the water. Janie fights off her own drowsiness to jump in at save her, under the water she also see the tusks tied under the boat. She confronts Mr Farr, and gets him to confess to what drug he shot the elephant with (which was still in the meat they ate), Soon after the district officer takes the Farrs away.

Janie’s not the only one that can be quick thinking. Kari proves her worth when they need money for oranges, (for patients lacking vitamin C), Kari shows Janie how to barter and exchange things at the market. When thieves run by, Kari trips them with a spear she just got and then pins thief with spear when he grabs Janie. The next episode sees more thieves as Janie is picking up medical supplies at the supply post. Janie tries to stop the men and in the struggle some bottles get broken. When they go to leave in their  truck, Janie still won’t give up smashing a glass bottle in front of the tyres. They then say they will use her boat to carry the supplies. Then one of the men comes out in red spots, Janie says he is highly contagious and deadly and both men need injections immediately. Obviously not the smartest of men they agree to this and Janie sends them to sleep. It was just an allergic reaction to the smashed bottles earlier but Janie has used it to her advantage. This is the last episode but still left the possibility of further adventures as Janie says life as a Jungle nurse is never boring!

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Thoughts

This is quite a short story and the pacing isn’t great it feels rushed in places. Considering that issue #30 of Emma introduced 6 new stories, it seems likely that there was pressure to shorten the story, to make way for these new stories. The new line up was a stronger set of stories and included a new nurse story Holly of Hazard Unit that ran for 19 issues.

The premise of Janie Jungle Nurse, seems solid enough the character of Janie is not happy to find that the great clinic she imagined is actually an old boat and she wants to leave as soon as she can. In the first episode she comes across as a bit bratty and as she is stuck there for the time being it would be a good point to let the character grow and slowly overcome her reluctance. Instead it’s very jarring to start the next episode with Uncle Harry on his death bed, with no build up to an illness and Janie promising to continue his work.  She does briefly mention she would rather go back to England but won’t break her promise. But then the rest of the episodes she’s fully involved in helping and wanting to prove herself, a complete turnaround.

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Also quite underdeveloped is some other characters, Kari’s parents, usually just hang around in the background, her mother is never even named and doesn’t even get a line to speak. Her father does a bit better, he is named as Zake but only gets some input in episode 2. It would also have been nice to see Janie help more with Kari’s nursing ambitions, but this isn’t mentioned after the first episode again. Overall there isn’t much time spent on actual nursing, as the focus is usually  on more extreme situations, namely defeating kidnappers, thieves and poachers!

Of course there is no rule that says the story should  focus on her profession more, it works fine as a more action orientated story. The artwork certainly helps capture the action scenes and interesting surroundings. Each episode was quite action packed and Janie is very proactive  and capable. There is a lot to admire about Janie and she is very brave and adept at action. Actually a lot of the Emma stories had capable fighters as protagonists, whether it be because of the situation they found themselves in (e.g. Angie) or because they trained themselves (e.g. Yang Ling). The ending does seem to leave it open for a return of more adventures, if it was popular enough. But being so short it didn’t seem to catch the same attention that other stories did and as well there were more deserving stories that I would pick first for follow ups. Of course the Emma comic itself was also short lived, lessening the chance of Janie to return.

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The White Mouse (1979)

Emma, , , ,

The White Mouse logo

Published: Emma #67 (02 June 1979) – #81 (08 September 1979) – final issue

Artist: José Ariza

Plot

Louise Colbert is a nurse in Verville in Nazi-occupied Belgium during World War II. She is known as a timid, gentle, unassuming person. One night an Allied pilot is shot down. In hospital, a patient named Mr LeBlanc confides in Louise that he is hiding the wanted airman in his old theatre. She must inform a Mr Gabin about this, and that the airman is to be taken to a pickup point that night. But both Gabin (had to evade arrest by the Nazis) and LeBlanc (died later) become unable to help the airman, so it falls to Louise. She makes her way to the theatre, but finds the Nazis have caught the airman. Louise heads to the props room, where she dons a white mouse mask and uses a prop rifle to help the airman get away from the Nazis and to his rendezvous to be picked up.

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And so Louise’s career as “the daring White Mouse” is born. Word soon spreads about this new resister. A lot of people, such as fellow nurses at the hospital, laugh at the idea that the White Mouse could be Louise because she is so timid. It doesn’t take long for the White Mouse to become so famous that other European countries, including Nazi Germany itself, hear about her; she gets plenty of comment from overseas agents and one defecting German saying so. The White Mouse is soon the bane of Colonel Koenig of the Gestapo and his henchman, Major Lutz. But like everyone else, Koenig and Lutz assume Louise is too timid to have any connection to the White Mouse.

White Mouse cases often start at the hospital where Louise works. Louise encounters more patients who have connections to the Resistance one way or another, and it is a simple matter to put on her mask and get them to confide in her as the White Mouse. Other times it is someone she meets while out cycling, such as a defecting German, downed Allied airmen, or Resistance fighters. After that she takes up their cases, which include rescuing their relatives from the Nazis, retrieving items they stole from the Nazis, getting people on the underground railroads to safe countries and other emergencies.

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Koenig sets several traps for the White Mouse, of course. In one episode, he rigs up a German as a downed Allied airman for the White Mouse for help. But the White Mouse gets suspicious, simply on finding that his rifle is cold and therefore could not have opened fire on Germans only moments before, as he claimed. She goes along with him until she is ready to turn him over to the Resistance.

Ironically, in one episode Koenig actually does capture the White Mouse – in her civilian identity – without realising it. It takes a bit of luck and ingenuity for Louise to get rid of her White Mouse mask before the Gestapo search her and find it, and they soon release her. Presumably she got another mask from the old theatre, for the theatre does reappear in the strip to get disguises for the people she is helping.

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The White Mouse carries on until the last issue of Emma. Sadly, she does not make it into the merger. The final episode is a regular White Mouse episode, where she comes to the aid of Belgian resistance fighters and a British radio operator, who have been surprised by German forces. After seeing them all to safety, Jacques the leader thanks the White Mouse for the service she has done for them, which they can never repay. The war still rages, so the career of the White Mouse continues.

Thoughts

Curiously, there was a real-life WW2 SOE (Special Operations Executive) agent and resistance fighter called The White Mouse. Her name was Nancy Wake and she made it all the way to Number 1 on the Gestapo’s Most Wanted List. Unlike her Emma counterpart, the real White Mouse did not wear a mouse mask or adopt the moniker as a code name; the Gestapo dubbed her the White Mouse because of her ability to elude them.

The shyness of Louise Colbert could be described as a Clark Kent personality – except that unlike Superman she did not develop it as a cover for her secret identity. Rather, this is her own personality; Louise starts out as a nurse who is known for her shyness. However, Louise does not show her shyness much, either before or after she becomes the White Mouse; it’s only through the comments of other people that we know it at all. She comes across more as an ordinary nurse, no different from any other.

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Shyness does not make Louise a coward, though; even before she dons the mouse mask she does not hesitate to go to the rescue of her first case at the old theatre when his initial helpers become unavailable. The moment he is caught by the Germans, she has no qualms about going to the rescue and thinks fast as to how to do it. In that split second Louise demonstrates not only courage but also instant powers of resourcefulness, quick wits and fast thinking in getting out of sticky situations. She also has amazing powers of observation that would make Sherlock Holmes proud. For example, she is tipped off to the phoney British airman Koenig set up for her by the mere fact of discovering his rifle was cold.

Luck also plays its role in the success of the White Mouse. For example, on her debut night, she is stopped by German soldiers as she drives the British airman to safety. But they are so startled by the mouse mask that they flee in fright. Silly boys! That mouse mask sure does create a lot of humorous moments, especially from an artistic point of view; for example, when it is drawn at an upwards angle.

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It is ironic that everyone assumes Louise is too timid to be the White Mouse. Does nobody remember that mice are associated with timidity? They probably equate shyness with cowardice, as one hot-headed resister does in one episode. So much the better for keeping the identity of the White Mouse secret.