Category Archives: Mandy

I Must Find Little Ben

Mandy, ,

Plot

Two orphan siblings, Ben and Penny, escape from the orphanage, only for Ben to be abducted by a Fagan-like criminal, the Director. Eventually Penny, with the help of shoeshines, street peddlers and others, manages to find Ben and the Director drowns in the canal. They all retire to the country and life happily ever after.

Notes

  • Art: Len Potts? (not confirmed)
  • Reprinted and translated to Dutch as “Kleine Ben” (Little Ben) – Debbie #11 (1979)

Appeared

  • I Must Find Little Ben – Mandy: #409 (16 November 1974)- #414 (21 December 1974)

Chill Out!

Mandy, Picture Story Library, , , , , ,
  • Chill Out! – Mandy Picture Story Library : #234 [1996]
  • Art: Cover & Story 2 – Norman Lee,  Story 1 – Douglas Perry, Story 4 – Carlos Freixas

Plot

Four short spooky tales for this picture story library.

Story 1:  Lonely… (Art: Douglas Perry)

In 1933 Lyn Lawrence and her family move into a temporary rented home, Lyn finds the  house’s old fashioned phone a novelty. Then during a storm she gets a strange call with a faint voice saying “I’m lonely…”, but her parents say the telephone lines have been brought down in the storm. She find out the lines have become tangled with the grave of a 13 year old girl Annie, who once lived in the house. Meanwhile she has been getting messages in her bedroom, written on her mirror “I’m still lonely” and pencils spelling out Annie. It escalates to Annie’s ghost appearing to Lyn and trying to get her to come and be her friend, Lyn snaps out of her trance just in time and her mother sends her to stay with her gran until their new house is ready. Lyn is happy in the new house, until her mother answers a strange call and she goes to her room to find the message “I’ve found you and I’m still lonely” on her mirror!

Story 2: Trapped! (Art: Norman Lee)

On a school trip to Holburn Hall, Fay Lang feels a strange connection to the house, knowing things about it despite never being there before. One thing she knows about is a fake door that leads to nowhere, but as the rest of the tour group moves on she suddenly hears someone calling for help from behind it. When she tries the door she actually finds herself in the past face to face with her double named Bridie. In the Victorian era the hall had been used as a orphanage, Bridie helps Fay escape from the cruel Matron, getting whipped across the arm in the process. She convinces Fay to put on some old clothes and hides her away in a laundry. Matron catches up with Fay and thinks she is Bridie, not listening to her protests. Meanwhile a girl steps out the door in the present, bruising on her arm indicates that it is Bridie.

Story 3: Home Sweet Home! (Text story)

Emma wakes up after a sickness and is confused to find some strange things in her house, the furniture in her room has changed, she can not find her parents and the strangers in the house ignore her, while their dog growls at her. One person does acknowledge her when she sees her, a girl who yells out to her parents to come look at Emma before she disappears  again. It is then Emma realises she is a ghost and has been dead for over a 100 years!

Story 4: The Mark! (Art: Carlos Freixas)

Fliss and Gina move into an old cottage with their parents, as it had been empty for some time, there is a lot of repair work to do. In one room their father tries to paint over a damp patch but it keeps showing through the new paint, the sisters comment that it looks like a figure of a girl. Everyday  the figure seems to get more clearer, the room is colder and at night Gina is woken up by scratching noises downstairs. Gina in particular is getting more creeped out by the house, and at a cafe a local girl overhears them talking about it and tells them the house is haunted by a girl who was walled up in the cottage when it was built and is now out for revenge. Fliss being more practical, thinks the girl is only making things up to scare them, when they go to talk to their parents there seems to be a logical explanation for everything. Mice have been scratching at night and previous owners had a cafe with a highwayman mural,that must now be showing through. Their father is going to cover up the mark with wood paneling, the girls are relieved. The next day they help their mom in another room but are surprised to uncover the highwayman mural there. At the same time, their father is upset the mark is still coming through the wood panel he just dis, and notices it does look more like a figure of a girl, Gina and Fliss are scared, the girl is coming out for revenge…

Thoughts

Spooky stories for a spooky month! There have been a few picture story library books that had a collection of supernatural stories. Debbie had several spooky storyteller, Damian Darke, based books, Mandy had Chill Out! and later Scream! which had 5 short stories. In this book none of the protagonist get happy endings, or they are left ambiguous to their actual fate. They are all quite effective stories for such a short format.

Lonely… is a creepy tale and just when you think that Lyn has escaped, it ends with Annie tracking her down again, will she be haunted forever, will Annie succeed in trapping Lyn or will she find a way to banish Annie for good? The ending is left unresolved, leaving us to speculate what might happen next. Trapped! raises even more unanswered questions, such as why did Fay remember Holburn Hall, was it some connection with Bridie that she was feeling, which is why Bridie also know about Fay and set up her devious scheme? Is Fay forever trapped in the past and will anyone notice that Bridie is not who she says she is? Home Sweet Home! works well as a text story with an unreliable narrator, only in the last spot art panel we can see Emma is out of place in the contemporary setting. The Mark has one of the more frightening endings with the ghostly figure coming out from the wall.  Again, the story ends before revealing their fate—an common approach for ghost stories, where conclusions are left open-ended, allowing readers to use their imagination to fill in the blanks.

The Double Life of Coppelia Brown / The Double Life of Dolly Brown [1969/1976]

M&J, Mandy, , , , , , ,
  • The Double Life of Coppelia Brown – Mandy: #128 (28 Jun 1969) – #138 (06 September 1969)
  • Reprinted as The Double Life of Dolly Brown – Mandy: #482 (10 April 1976) – #492 (19 August 1976)
  • Reprinted as The Double Life of Coppelia Brown – Mandy #818 (18 September 1982) – #828 (27 November 1982)
  • Reprinted as The Double Life of Dolly Brown – Mandy #1188 (21 October 1989) – #1198 (30 December 1989)
  • Reprinted as The Double Life of Dolly Brown (as Mandy Classic) – M&J:  #297 (18 January 1997) – #307 (29 March 1997)

Plot 

Note: The main character went by different names in different prints of the story, in this summary, I’ll just refer to her as  the most commonly used “Dolly Brown”

In Victorian times, traveling around fairs Gus Grimby shows off his amazing mechanical doll invention that can walk, talk and obey commands with no strings attached. Although if the audience could look closer, they would see it was actually a girl in makeup, straining to stay still and not blinking. While not on stage Dolly Brown is forced to slave for Gus and Ma Grimby. Dolly cannot remember her past, but has been told by the Grimbys that she committed a crime and she owes them as they protect her from being sent to prison. A torn wanted poster with her picture convinces her that  they are telling the truth, and she must stay being a puppet.

Despite her hard life and supposed criminal past, Dolly still shows kindness to others like pretending to freeze up on stage to point out a thief, being kind to an ill girl or rescuing a kitten, even though it risks punishment later . She is forced by the Grimbys to give a way the kitten to an audience member. The recipient comes back to thank the doll and seeing servant girl, Dolly, the family seem to think she looks familiar, whether they are recognising her as doll or from some place else is unclear, beginning the mystery of who really is Dolly Brown.

Dolly gets a clue to her past when she helps an injured girl during a storm, the girl seems to recognise her when she says “Dolly! Willow Wood..”. Dolly doesn’t get a chance to see the girl again to question her more, as the police move the Grimbys on. This also raises doubts about the Grimby’s honesty regarding Dolly’s past. Gus Grimby tells Dolly they had to move on because the police were sent after the girl recognising her, but Dolly had overheard the actual conversation, that the police is moving them on because the squire doesn’t want fairs on his land so she knows he is lying.

In the meantime she continues with her double life. She stills shows kindness to others, although she finds out not everyone is deserving of it. She is tricked by a girl into borrowing the dolls shoes, but the girl then tries to sell them, luckily they are returned but that doesn’t stop Dolly getting a beating and the Grimbys implying she was in on the scheme being a criminal herself. She never gets any sympathy from the Grimbys, even when she is sick they ignore her suffering and force her to continue to perform. When she does collapse, not wanting to lose their source of outcome they do temporarily get better lodgings and someone to look after her. After waking up from her fever in a comfortable bed, a confused Dolly first asks if she is at Willow Wood. The woman looking after her remembers a story about Willow Wood,  that a child disappeared from there, alongside valuables.

Not wanting to miss a good money opportunity, the Grimbys head towards Maybury, where Dolly supposedly committed her crime. Ma Grimby is nervous about being so close to there and tells Dolly to keep out of sight. Dolly  can’t stay hidden when a fire breaks out at a nearby tent and she rescues a baby, a comment from crowd says she has look of a gentry family named Harding. Deciding to investigate further thinking that Willow Wood must be close by Dolly takes an opportunity to sneak off to look for it. She locates the large house and immediately recognizes it, but before she can look around, the groundskeeper spots her and drives her away, assuming she’s there to pry into others’ misfortunes. Later that evening, the man goes to view the show, Dolly thinks he has recognised her, until realising it is Gus Grimby he is looking at. After the show the man confronts Gus Grimby, as Dolly is still dressed as a doll, Gus is forced to let her stay. The man, Gem Baker claims he remembers him from the night Grimby and his gang robbed Willow Wood. Grimby ever the charming con man, weasels out of it claiming it was his brother that he must have seen. Having heard it all Dolly believes they were all part of robbery.

When they are asked to do longer show, Dolly knows she must endure if she is to stay in Maybury and find out more about her past. Dolly investigates further and she meets a girl, Susie, who’s mother now works at Willow Wood. She feels the house is familiar and a feeling of happiness, when she hears the story of the robbery, that Mr Harding was struck down and crippled during the robbery and the housekeeper’s daughter disappeared at the same time, she concludes she must be that girl who betrayed her mother and Mr Harding by letting the thieves in.She doesn’t wait for Susie to tell her the rest of the story.

Having enough of her double life and wanting to atone for her crimes, she decides to turn herself in to the police. Suspicious, Ma Grimby catches her and stops her,  when Dolly tells them she knows she was daughter of the housekeeper who betrayed Mr Harding, the Grimbys suddenly act nicer to her. Later she hears them say that they are safe as she still doesn’t remember who she is, they plan to keep a closer eye on her and board up her room’s window. Dolly is surprised she still doesn’t know who she is, but she won’t keep up this life any more and with no other option, in the middle of the act on stage she shouts out for help and give up the ruse.

The Grimbys make a quick get away with her, but crash the caravan. Cutting their losses they leave the unconscious Dolly for dead and get away. Dolly wakes and makes her way to Willow Wood, knowing she will be safe there. Collapsing at the house when her makeup is removed, she is revealed to be Mr Harding’s granddaughter. She had seen the robbery and lost her memory with the shock of seeing him struck down. The Grimbys kidnapped her so she wouldn’t be able to give evidence against them. Finally home her memories come back,  the Grimbys are found and arrested and Dolly packs away her doll costume never having to live double life again, but she will not forget her time, and those less fortunate than her.

Thoughts

Clearly a well received story, as it was reprinted 4 times. In the original story the girl’s name was Connie Brown, and the doll was named Coppelia. The doll’s name and title clearly a reference to the Coppélia ballet, where a man becomes infatuated with a mechanical doll that an inventor has created and his previous love, dresses up as the doll to rescue him. In the reprint the name is switched to Dolly Brown, the next reprint has the title changed back to Coppelia Brown again, but oddly in this case the girl is no longer called Connie, instead both her and the doll are called Coppelia. The next two reprints they keep with the Dolly Brown name.

As with other stories, we see variants pop up, such as The Secret of Penny Farthing where a girl is blackmailed into pretending to be a ventriloquist dummy or Ballerina on a String where a girl performs as a dancing puppet. Due to being one of the first or perhaps because of its many reprints, this story is one that sticks in the mind more.  There is also added mystery in this story, as Dolly has amnesia and we don’t know who she is or what she supposedly did. Throughout the story and Dolly’s acts of kindness, despite her own circumstances, the reader must find it hard to believe that she could have committed such a terrible crime. Meanwhile the Grimbys are deceitful, cruel guardians, forcing her to perform and slave for them, beating on her when she doesn’t meet their standards. When the truth comes out, that not only are they blackmailing her with the crime they committed, but also that they kidnapped her from a loving home, they certainly rank top among the despicable villains to appear in these comics.

The build up of clues to Dolly’s past and wondering if she will ever be free of her false life keeps readers engaged. When Dolly finally decides to break away, going to turn herself in to the police, there is one more obstacle as the Grimbys stop her, and it seems she is trapped again. Revealing herself on stage makes for a more exciting climax and the panicked escape with the Grimbys taking Dolly, it is relief to see her finally escape their clutches and get her happy ending. As with a lot of theses older stories, there is a panel of info dump explaining how Dolly ended up with the Grimbys, but overall an exciting and satisfying conclusion to the story.

 

Mandy Annual 2007

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This Christmas I’m looking at the last Mandy annual published. While it’s common to call these books annuals, they didn’t actually say that on the cover majority of time, instead it would be some variation on “Title for girls” or “Title Stories for Girls”, a trend that stayed with Bunty up to its last annual in 2009. Mandy however did start adding in “Annual” on the cover in 1999, calling it Mandy Annual 1999 for Girls, then it this last book it drops the for girls, though it those have the splash of  “For girls Like You!” so you could argue that is part of the title.

Inside the book itself there are there is traditional multi part story that would appear in Mandy annuals. There are 3 photo stories, reprinted stories and lots of features. (For just a list of contents go to the next page)

 

Picture Stories

Rowan Lodge [4 parts] (Pages: 7-12, 52-57, 91-96, 110-115)

Art: Peter Wilkes

Alice “Allie” Raymond is spending her school holidays with her grandmother while her parents are abroad. While at her grandmother’s another older relative, Auntie Mac, takes a fall. Nan and Allie go to stay with her at Rowan Grange. Auntie Mac, is nearly 100 year old and her first name is also Alice. She tells Allie stories of her brother, Cyril who was killed in World War I. Allie is quite bored in the isolated house and unhappy staying in the old nursery with its old hard furnishings and barred windows.

Exploring the gardens she finds a walled off part with a locked door, she climbs a tree and sees a  a small lodge but Mrs Green, the housekeeper, stops her from investigating further. Later back in her room, she finds a photo of Auntie Mac and her brother from when they were young.  Then she hears some noises in the locked cupboard, that startle her, but she reasons it must be the old heating system. On a trip to village, she meets a girl, Kelly, who tells her there is a legend that there is treasure hidden in the house and that Lady Jane Grey once stayed there. This story makes Allie think it will be more interesting to stay at Rowan Grange after all.

At the house, Allie explores the attic, she doesn’t find treasure, but she finds out more about Auntie Mac as she finds a painting of her dressed up for her birthday and Cyril’s old war uniform and a page from diary. Mrs Green again interrupts her. Allie’s not giving up yet though, down town she looks at old war monument and finds out Cyril was killed on Auntie Mac’s birthday. She meets Kelly again and tells her about noises she heard and some funny things going on, Kelly tells her she has heard there is supposed to be ghost in a secret room near the nursery and she should stay away from it.  Allie does not take the advice and asks Auntie Mac if there is a key to the room, but when they go to get key it is missing but Auntie Mac tells her about another way to enter.

Allie gets in and finds a map addressed to Lally from Rilly. Hearing someone coming she hides and is surprised to see Mrs Green enter with Kelly. It turns out she is Mrs Green daughter and had no where to spend the holidays and had been hiding out in the house. Allie says they can talk to Auntie Mac and she is sure Kelly could come and hang out with her. Allie keeps the map secret, she realises the map refers to Rowan Lodge rather than Grange and must be the place in the garden. Allie dreams of Cyril who warns her not to trust the Greens, when she wakes up the map is gone. She tells Nan and Auntie Mac everything, they find the Greens at the Lodge,they are trying to figure out a riddle on the map but they run off when confronted.Auntie Mac then tells Allie where to look, the map referred to an old game she used to play with her brother. They find a doll that Cyril had bought his sister before going off to war. Unknown to them Cyril is watching over events. Mrs Green is reported to police and Auntie Mac gives the doll to Allie, to keep it in the family, rather than selling it off. Allie senses Cyril and promises to look after the doll.

Staying Over (Pages: 30-37)

Reprint of Living with Lucy from Mandy Annual 1996

Jane and Lucy are best friends and want to spend all their time together, so when Lucy’s parents go away on holiday, they are excited that Lucy will stay at Jane’s for 2 weeks, but of course it doesn’t go as planned. Sharing homework lands them in trouble, Lucy annoys Jane with her untidiness, Lucy is upset when Jane borrows her new skirt without asking and then accidentally rips it and Jane has to turn down  date because her mother insists she can’t go out while she has a guest. At the end of the stay the girls are no longer talking to each other but when they unknowingly end up on a double date together they make up.

Long Distance (Pages: 60-64)

Reprinted from Judy Annual 1989

Art: John Armstrong

Jen uses her great grandmothers old fashioned phone as a prop for a play.One of the set people, Brian, says he will set up a ring for it, then during rehearsals when it rings Jen answers it and a girl talks about Bleriot flying over the English Channel. Jen thinks Brian has set up a fake message but he says that would be impossible on the old phone and that he hasn’t even set up the ringer. When leaving rehearsals, Jen hears phone ring again, she answers it and the same young girl asks for help, that she is trapped in a fire. Jen runs to the address given and finds herself transported to the past. SHe rescues the beridden girl before passing out from the smoke fumes. She wakes up her own bed, she tells her mom about the fire in her dream, her mom tells her its a funny coincidence that her great grandmother was rescued from a fire when she was bedridden as a young girl, and the girl who saved her disappeared. Jen believes she knows what happened, on the night of the play when the phone rings, she wonders what will happen.

Sadie’s Summer (Pages: 69-74)

Art: “B Jackson”

Reprinted from Bunty Annual 1998

Sadie works for a family in Victorian times, she is excited when the family plan to go to seaside and bring the servants with them, but the master cancels all time off, so they are expected to work and there will be no opportunity for Sadie to see the beach.  A chance encounter with a dog, she meets a young girl, who insists on rewarding her for catching her dog. She comes from an influential family and is able to get Sadie a day off so she can fulfill her wish to enjoy the seaside. Even better the family offer a Sadie a job so she gets a job with a nicer family and to live by the seaside permanently.

Lucky! (Pages: 81-87)

Art: Juan Velasco

Reprint of Lucky and Lisa from Mandy Annual 1996

This is another reprinted story, it’s also the only story in the annual that was a weekly serial originally appearing as Lucky and Lisa in M&J comic issues #211 to #231. In this story Lisa and her horse Lucky win a place at a European ‘Rural Riders’ Camp, which big-headed Maxwell is also going to. Maxwell is sure he will win the trophy for best rider at the end of the week. He goes to practice the cross country route, but his horse, Midnight, slips and gets stuck, Lucky and Lisa find them and help them out. Maxwell is even happy for Lisa when she wins the trophy at end of camp for a good showing at all events and being most helpful member.

Timeout! (Pages: 98-102)

Art: John Armstrong

Reprint of Wishing Your Life Away from Judy Annual 1989

A second John Armstrong story and both have a label of “it’s spooky”. In this story Sandy buys a second hand clock and finds she can use it to skip forward in time. She uses it to skip boring stuff like homework and tests and skip forward to when her favourite TV show is on and to the weekend, but she doesn’t think of the consequences disappearing for large chunks of time. As time still happens normally for everyone else, her parents call the police, when she doesn’t return from school. Sadie goes to shed to try and fix things winding the clock backwards, but it is slower process. She borrows her dads hand drill to help but then accidentally winds it forward 10 years! Eventually she manages to wind it back, injuring her hand but she is home and decides to give the clock back to shop.

 

Text Stories

The Kidnap (Pages: 26-27)

Writer: Susan Elizabeth Issacs

Art: Susannah Fishbourne

Clara has a lucky toy rabbit mascot named Carlos. Another girl Andrea teases her about it, so when Carlos goes missing with a note demanding money for his return, she accuses Andrea of stealing it and says she will tell her mom. Andrea breaks down crying that her mom left a few months ago. They come to an understanding, that Andrea has been teasing Clara because se was jealous of her home life, but they will be friends now. It turns out Carlos was stolen by some boys as April fools joke, and her friend Sasha was in on it.  One of the boys uses the opportunity to ask her to an upcoming dance, which she is happy about.

Considering how upset she was when Carlos was missing and how angry she was when she thought it was Andrea, Clara takes it surprisingly well, when it turns out to be a “joke” by her friend!

It’s Magic! (Pages: 66-67)

Writer: Tracy Joy Holroyd

Art: Susannah Fishbourne

Amy likes a boy John who cycles by her house every weekend, she finds excuses to work in the garden but he never notices her. She talks about her troubles to her cat, Wush. She then has the idea to try out a magic spell, from a book her mom got her for the birthday. The next time she sees John, it seems he is going to ride straight by again, until Wush suddenly runs across him causing him to crash. Amy helps him and insists he come into house to recover. It turns out he likes Amy too but was too shy to say anything before. So Wush has helped Amy out, almost like he knew what he was doing!

Photo Stories

Only a Name! (Pages: 17-22)

Daisy is annoyed with her older sister, Poppy, who keeps calling her Daze and Dopey Daze. After talk with mom, Poppy promises to try and call her by her actual name. When Poppy’s boyfriend breaks up with her because a girl tells him Poppy has been cheating on him and Poppy can’t remember were she was, Daisy saves the day with her diary. She doesn’t mind sharing it with Poppy as it is only full of day to day activities rather than any secrets, though Poppy does notice, after all her complaining about her name, that Daisy has her own nickname, “Pops” for her sister.

The One For Me! (Pages: 41-47)

Reprint of “The Boy For Me!” from Bunty Annual 1998

Louise is excited when Paul asks her out but he does not get along with the dog her family are currently fostering.  The dog, Ben, is a bit troublesome, but Louise is hoping she can convince her parents to let her keep him, when Ben warns family about leak in the bathroom, they come around and agree he can stay. Paul isn’t happy to hear this news and gives her an ultimatum, him or the dog. It’s an easy choice for Louise and she chooses Ben.

Secret Admirer! (Pages: 120-125)

Dawn finds a note in her book from a secret admirer and with the help of her friend Steve is trying to track down who wrote it. She narrows it down to boys in her English class and can eliminate some as they already have girlfriends or are interested in in someone else. She eventually finds out it was Steve who wrote the note but was nervous if she would see him as more than a friend. Dawn is happy at the revelation, as she likes him too but also didn’t think he fancied her.

Features

There’s a whole variety of features, with puzzles, quizzes and factual features, plenty to keep reader occupied.

Puzzles

  • Spring: picture and wordsearch (Pages: 2-3)
  • Summer: picture and wordsearch (Pages: 28-29)
  • A B C (Pages: 38-39)
  • Criss-Cross! (Pages: 65)
  • Autumn: picture and wordsearch (Pages: 78-79)
  • Spot the Differences! (Pages: 90)
  • True or False? (Pages: 103)
  • Puzzles! Puzzles! Puzzles! (Pages: 106-107)
  • Winter: picture and wordsearch (Pages: 126-127)

Quizzes

  • How Superstitious Are You? (Pages: 16)
  • Dodgy or Divine? (Pages: 48-49)
  • Ready, Steady, Go! (Pages: 80)
  • Are You Psychic or Sceptic? (Pages: 108)
  • Best Friends! (Pages: 118-119)

Posters

  • Poster: Fearne Cotton (Pages: 6)
  • Poster: Girls Aloud (Pages: 40)
  • Poster: Konnie Huq (Pages: 75)
  • Poster: Hilary Duff (Pages: 97)

Reader Features

These articles focused on girls, around the readers age and different aspects of their life like what their bedroom is like, what their favourite hobby is and favourite things.

  • Girls! Girls! Girls! : Room to Talk! (Pages: 13-15)
  • Girls! Girls! Girls! : It’s Fun! (Pages: 50)
  • Girls! Girls! Girls! : Meet Me! [Sarah] (Pages: 76-77)
  • Girls! Girls! Girls! : Meet Me! [Caroline] (Pages: 104-105)

Factual Features

Different articles, from animals, celebrities, dolls houses and writing tips from Tracy Joy Holroyd, who wrote the text story “It’s Magic” for the annual.

  • We Love Dolphins! (Pages: 23-25)
  • Focus on… Jennifer1  [Aniston] (Pages: 51)
  • House Proud! (Pages: 58-59)
  • The Write Way! (Pages: 68)
  • Mystic Maggies! (Pages: 88-89)
  • Focus on… Jennifer2  [Lopez] (Pages: 109)
  • Sleep Tight! (Pages: 116-117)

Final Thoughts

This is a good annual, although it has a lot of reprints, most readers wouldn’t have seen them before. Obviously the weekly M&J issues had long finished at this stage, and there is no big presence of regular characters here, only Lucky and Lisa appeared in M&J before. This is change from the previous years’ Mandy annual which had a lot of recognisable characters; Pennys Place, Angel, Wee Slavey and Cinderella Jones. I enjoyed the long story Rowan Lodge, with its mystery and supernatural elements, I think it’s not as strong as some previous long stories we’ve seen, but decent enough. Timeout! is my favourite story here, some memorable imagery with Sandy in the future.  While we get drama, mystery, spooky, I think we are missing some humour stories in this annual, the photo stories are fine, pretty standard, the text stories are fine, out of the two, I liked It’s Magic! best.

With this being the last Mandy annual,  I noted it has the same number of pages as previous annuals, while Bunty would go on to have 2 more annuals after this, there was a reduction in pages, likely due to decline in readership not able to justify the production costs. Mandy had a good run, 37 annuals, and ended its run decently.

Pages: 1 2

Sheila in the Swim

Mandy

Plot

Twelve year old Australian Sheila Dawson was determined to become a champion swimmer. She had taught herself to swim with the aid of an instruction book and, having won a scholarship to Sydney High School, she expected to get expert swimming, coaching there.

Notes

Appeared

  • Sheila in the Swim – Mandy: circa #69 (11 May 1968) – (?)

The Last School on Earth

Mandy, ,

Plot

After World War Ill, Britain lay in ruins and the few survivors lived like savages. Ann Jarrold’s scientist father had trained her to be a teacher and, when he died, she went to Glasburgh to start a school. General Smith, Glasburgh’s brutal leader, burned all Ann’s books and forbade her to start a school. Helped by Barbara, a twelve-year-old orphan, Ann set out to find books to replace-those she had lost.

Notes

Appeared

  • The Last School on Earth – Mandy: #68 (4 May 1968) – (?)

The Girls at Swindlem Hall

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Plot

Swindlem Hall was an expensive school where riding was the main subject. The headmistress, Mrs Fleece, was so mean that she refused to spend a penny more than necessary on the girls and their mounts. The girls dared not complain because she knew something to the discredit of each of their families.

Notes

Appeared

  • The Girls at Swindlem Hall – Mandy: circa #69 (11 May 1968) – #81 (3 August 1968)

The Amblemere Ark

Mandy, , ,

Plot

Sandra Weston and her sister, Pauline, were spending their holiday on Lake Amblemere on their father’s cabin cruiser, “Kittiwake”. A huge dam had been built at one end of the lake and much of the countryside was flooded. The sisters renamed their boat the “Amblemere Ark” and set out to rescue as many animals as possible.

Notes

  • Art: Len Potts

Appeared

  • The Amblemere Ark – Mandy: circa #69 (11 May 1968) – (?)

Princess of the Sun

Mandy, ,

Plot

While on an expedition to the east, Professor Ross found and adopted a baby girl. He named her Linda Ross. Fourteen years later, it was found that Linda was a royal princess and heir to the throne of the eastern state of Kurata. Linda returned to Kurata, where she soon became suspicious of Kara, the Chief Priestess of the Temple of the Sun, and Zyeddin, another of her advisers. Linda’s Senior Minister and only friend, Kalmut, was seriously ill and Linda believed he was being poisoned!

Notes

Appeared

  • Princess of the Sun – Mandy: #67 (27 April 1978). – (?)