Category Archives: Mandy

The Simpsons in the Sky

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  • The Simpsons in the Sky  –  Mandy:  #1051 (7 March 1987) – #1059 (2 May 1987)
  • Writer: Marion Turner (under pen-name: Fiona Turner)
  • Artist:  Andrew Wilson

Plot

The Simpsons are having a hard time. First their father walks out on them, then their mother loses her job. Tina the eldest daughter struggles to keep the family together after their Mother also abandons them. Tina along with her sister Beth and brothers Martin and Kevin move to a shelter on the roof top of their tower-block. The roof top had originally been planned to be turned into a garden, but this plan has been abandoned and the whole block is quite run down. Tina’s plan is to keep the family together, while trying to get their mother back. She fears the family will be split if they go into foster care. She manages to get some part-time jobs, but for different reasons she ends up losing them.

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She also believes she sees her mother at times, but she never manages to catch up to her. Her younger sister Beth helps out as much as she can, but her brothers believe their mum is just away because she is sick. They get by as well as they can in their roof top home but time is running out for them. Families in the tower block begin to get relocated and the plan is to knock down the building as soon as everyone moves out. Tina knows they’ll have to leave soon, but what she doesn’t know is that the demolition is brought forward a day. Luckily a news helicopter spots the kids and rescues them before the building is demolished. They appear on the  TV and in national papers. Their appearances on TV gets through to an amnesic Mrs. Simpson who has been hospital after getting hit by a car. The story also reaches Mr. Simpson, who comes back looking for a second chance. He has also saved enough money for a deposit on a house so the family can have a new start

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Thoughts

The Simpsons have some hardships, although it is not all tragedy all the time. Sometimes  good things happen as well. Beth has a pleasant birthday, despite missing her mother,  as the boys surprise her with a garden of her own and Tina gets her a cake.When a visit to a museum nearly ends in disappointment,  their luck changes when they get reward for returning a lost wallet and Tina lands a job in a cafe.

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Of course while there are some good things happening to our protagonist, to keep the reader invested the story still has to make sure she has more obstacles to get through to get to her happy ending! So while this job goes well for a while, another worker gets a grudge against Tina when she won’t cover a shift for her (this is because Tina wants to follow up on a hunch where her mother may be). This ends with Tina getting fired. This is also near the time she finds out about the demolition. Although everything works out in the end with the whole family back together. I do think it’s a bit too convenient to have both parents come back. Especially with the mother having amnesia, and everyone forgiving the father pretty easily.

The siblings have a nice relationship, the boys aren’t aware of the full situation, but it’s nice to see the sister’s so protective of them. In turn they fix up a garden for Beth’s birthday and try to help out at times. They still act like real kids of course,  so when they are being helpful making their own dinner they end up making more of a mess and a midnight feast nearly ends with Tina ringing the doctor. Beth while helpful and sharing some of the burden with Tina also shows her frustration with the situation at times. Tina as the eldest, takes on the responsibility of the family with little complaint, she is very protective of her  family, but seems quite distrustful of adults. She runs from her mother’s friend in case she finds out where the Simpsons are living. She does debate afterwards, whether she should have trusted her to help them, but she still likes to be cautious.

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Wilson’s distinctive art is as good ever. The story’s strong point is the family dynamic, and there is a nice climatic ending with the family on the roof just before the building is about to be destroyed.

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Mandy 1994

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Mandy_Ann_1994This is the last Mandy annual to have art on the cover, rather than a photo of a cover girl. It is also the first cover not to depict the Mandy character.  There are 22 picture stores, 2 text stories and 6 features. There are no photo stories, and as usual with Mandy there is one longer picture story split into 3 parts. There is also a symbol beside each story to show what type of story it is; drama, humour, spooky or romance, so there is a nice mix here and the layout is nicely done.

When this was published, Mandy and Judy had already combined in the week issues to become M&J and Judy’s last annual was published the previous year, so it makes sense that some traditional Judy characters continue to show up here; Cinderella Jones, Wee Slavey and Pepper the Pony. Angel as an original Mandy character, is the focus of the long picture story. Along with these regular characters there is also a lot of original stories.  (For just a list of contents click here)

Picture Stories

Rhymes for our Times     (Pages: 4/ 39/ 64/ 97)

Art: Wilf Street

These humorous one page strips update the old rhymes of Little Miss Muffet, The Queen of Hearts, Mary had a little Lamb and Little Bo Peep. In Little Miss Muffet,  Muffet refuses  curds and whey in preference of a strawberry yoghurt, she isn’t scared off when a fake spider appears beside her and excepts the trickster John’s offer of a date.

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In the Queen of Hearts, pop star Gloria Hart bakes some tarts but they are rock hard so no one wants to steal them. Only the local paper boy accepts the tarts  to give to his boxer to chew.

Next Mary helps out at a local farm and with a young lamb, Larry, when he follows her to school there isn’t laughing and playing instead she gets 200 lines.

Lastly, Betty “Bo” Peep helps look after her dad’s sheep and is quite taken by the handsome new shepherd. He is too busy to talk to her and a bit of a know it all, so Bo hides the sheep in order to help him find them later!

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Angel     (Pages: 5-10, 33-38, 113-118)

  • Artist: Dudley Wynne

Angel is a well remembered tragic heroine that appeared in the Mandy and M&J comics. When Angela Hamilton a wealthy young woman discovers she has only a year to live, she leaves home and dedicates her life to helping the poor. After she dies her parents dedicate a home to help the poor children and have a statue built in her memory. Here the  story set up is that 3 older people meet at the statue to pay their respects to Angel, each tell their story of how she helped them.

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Firstly is Peter, who as a young boy grew up with wealth, but after losing his parents he ends up on the streets. His pride makes him refuse Miss Angel’s offer of a home, because it is in a stables, which he believes is only fit for animals. Angel worries about him, then realising it is Christmas time, takes Peter to a church to see a Nativity scene and if a stable was good enough for Jesus, then Peter can accept her offer. This fits in with religious tones of the original story.

m94_angelThe next story is from Annie and actually takes place after Miss Angel’s death. She was given a violin by Angel’s parents which she then used to busk on the streets. She also tried to live up to Angel’s goodness by helping out the family living next door to her. When the money she earns to buy a Christmas feast for the family is stolen, she goes to sell off her violin. A customer hearing her play gives her a job in the orchestra.

The last story is told by the youngest woman, Peter points out that she couldn’t remember Miss Angel, as she has been dead over 40 years.  But she actually owes Angel, her life. She was born under a railway at Christmas and Miss Angel paid for her and her mother’s medical bills. Years later when the family is doing well they recognise the statue.

The art and the inking are great a like the soft pastel colours used. A lot of browns and greys are used, though it does not look dull. Also this helps to make Miss Angel stand out more with her green dress.

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A Shy Romance     (Pages: 11-15)

  • Artist: Giorgio Letteri

One of the many romance stories in this book. Trina is a shy girl and is delighted when a boy she likes Ross asks her out.  She is nervous about the date but seeing a tv programme about  “the shy guide to dating” gives her confidence.  Another girl Sophie, a jealous, tries to interfere with her plans with Ross. Because of this, Trina arrives to the date late and things don’t seem to be going well. Taking the advice of the TV show she leans in, to show her interest only to knock heads with Ross.

m94_shyromanceShe tries to follow the rest of programme’s advice but Ross gets in before her, asking about her hobbies. She realises he also saw the show, meaning that he is shy too and wants to make a good impression.  This is a sweet story with some humour, the artist is good at humorous expressions.

Cinderella Jones     (Pages: 17-22)

  • Artist: Oliver Passingham

Arnold Jones, Cindy’s father has been made redundant and Agnes is making sure he doesn’t laze around the house by putting him hard at work. As a Christmas present, Cindy helps him stand up for himself, when she gets someone to pretend to be from the tourist board, who expects a male in charge. This leads to him ordering Agnes around for a change! The last panel has the characters looking out of panel saying Happy Christmas. In this annual there is actually a few times where characters address the reader directly..

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M&J      (Pages: 23-25/ 59-61)

  • Artist: Peter Wilkes

Mandy and Judy, best friends have some small adventures. In the first story, Mandy is worried when her dog Patch goes missing. It turns out he sneaked into Judy’s family car and had a great trip to the country, while Mandy was searching for him.

In the second story Judy arranges a tennis game with Mandy but can’t find her racquet. She visits various friends that she may have lent it to. They don’t have the racquet, but they do have other things she lent them. Judy arrives at court with various things but without a racquet, but it turns out she had lent racquet to Mandy! Both stories have a lost theme, and it is  nice to see a focus on both characters in the different stories.

The Perfect Pony      (Pages: 27-32)

  • Artist: Veronica Weir

Julie has an old pony, Pixie, who is not a show jumper or  a very fast horse,  then Julie sees the opportunity to get a better horse in a competition. She wins an Arab horse, Desert Prince, in the competition. Her parents tell her they can’t afford to keep both horses, so she advertises to sell Pixie. In the meantime when Desert Prince arrives, Julie is very excited at the prospect of entering competitions. But soon she notices other differences in the horses, such as Pixie comes to greet her when she arrives at the field and comes to comfort her when she hurts herself. Julie realises that she wants a sweet pony that she has a bond with, more than a fast competitive one and ends up selling Desert Prince instead.

A Fairy Story      (Pages: 43-47)

  • Artist: Claude Berridge

A more fantastical romance story. Carrie and Bill, are dating and unknown to them they are also getting help from Carrie’s good fairy and Bill’s elf whispering in their ears. Carrie can be hotheaded, so her fairy helps calm her down. While Bill is easygoing and his elf encourages him to be more honest, like not agreeing to see a romance film when he doesn’t like them. It seems the advice they are giving is causing arguments between Carrie and Bill which also leads the Fairy and Elf  to argue about each others methods. They are so busy arguing that it takes them a while to notice that Bill and Carrie are getting on great without their help. They wonder who could they help instead and so breaking the fourth wall, they say to could help the girl reading the story!

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This is a fun story, the similar looks of the fairy/elf with their protagonists seem like they may be part of Carrie and Bill’s conscious, a part of them. Maybe when they find a new person to help their looks will change!

Wee Slavey      (Pages: 49-56)

  • Artist: “B Jackson”

Trouble for Nellie when the family buy the Little Wizard (an early vaccum cleaner model)! It’s meant to save her time for housework but actually it is so big, bulky and hard to carry that it creates more work for her. Then a diamond clasp goes missing, Nellie has idea to solve 2 problems at once by reversing hoover. So they find the clasp had been accidentally sucked up by the Wizard and the family get rid of the “faulty” machine.

Big ‘n’ Bertha      (Page: 57)

Dad kicks Big out of the house, saying he’ll be fine in the shed with his basket.  But when Dad get locked out of the house one night, and ends up sharing Big’s bed, he agrees the shed is too cold. So Big can stay in the house again.

Love Next Door       (Pages: 65-69)

  • Artist: Julio Bosch (Martin Puigagut?)

Tony and Julie are neighbours and also boyfriend and girlfriend, but they have a falling out. Their younger siblings John and Jane try to get them back together but seem to make things worse. Only after Tony rescues Julie from a ladder do they get back together. A couple of months later they get married. Some neighbours comment that they will miss the romance across the fence, but it seems John and Jane’s friendship is changing to something more. The story is fine, although not very memorable, still the art is very good.

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Pages: 1 2 3 4

“Nobody Knows My Face!”

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  • “Nobody Knows My Face!” – Mandy PSL: #143 (1990)
  • Artist:  J. Badesa.

Plot

Millie Mason is a budding actress with dreams of becoming a star. It seems she’s on her way to fame when she gets spotted by an agent, Eddie Tanner. Unfortunately every role she gets cast in she ends up in a costume, mask or in the shadows, so nobody sees what she looks like. Her agent  also thinks keeping the mystery of what she looks like will make her an even bigger star, with a big reveal.  Millie finally gets sick of being unknown and threatens to quit if  she can’t appear as herself., for her next interview. Eddie agrees and Millie is delighted. Only on the day of the big reveal she ends up getting mumps and is all bandaged up anyway!

Thoughts

Firstly, yes that is Dennis the Menace on the cover. Of course Mandy and Beano were both published by D.C. Thomson, it was quite common for the comics the reference another comic, sometimes characters would even be seen reading the comic they were part of! ! In this instance Millie’s first job is appearing as Dennis the Menace for a grand opening.

Millie then  gets her big TV break, doing a series of commercials. As Jane the Germ Killer, she gets interviews and fame and when her contract is finished in a year there will be a big reveal of who she is.  Apperently Jane the Germ Killer is a big hit.  I know some advertisements have been a staring path for big careers (like Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio) but I don’t remember them getting TV interviews for just staring in the ad! Then during a public appearance as Jane, Millie is kidnapped.  The kidnappers threaten to publicly unmask her if they don’t get paid. At first Millie is scared but she also thinks of the benefits i.e. that people will finally know who she is! She is disappointed to find out it is all a big publicity stunt by the agency.  Apparently they  didn’t tell her about the stunt because  they wanted her reactions to be realistic. Which is bad enough  but once they got her to the safe house, that may have been a good time to explain everything. But no, instead they tie her up and leave her wondering what is going to happen until some nice agency guy decides to turn up later. It just makes an unethical situation even worse

 

Even Millie sees how terribly wrong this is and wants out. She lets them know they can’t sue her for breaking her contract without her letting everyone know about the publicity stunt. The agency agrees but only on the condition that she never reveals she played the character. They are going to replace her with another actress and pretend she was always the one. Yep thats showbiz for you!

So Millie’s back to square one, and she can’t even use her television experience on her resume. She does gets another chance when she stars in a TV mini series. Unfortunetely her face is hidden in shadows. This trend of masks and shadows continues, until she decides she has had enough and quits. Eddie convinces her to come back to the business after he gets his writer friend to write a script based on the idea of “The Girl with a Thousand Faces”. Using a similar idea to the Jane the germ killer ad campaign, they are also going to build up the idea of the mystery girl but this time he promises she will get her big reveal at the end.

Really I couldn’t see this concept work today, people would track down Millie Mason no bother, on IMDB/Wikipedia or some social networking site.  Actually I find it difficult to believe even in pre-web/social networking  days, that not one reporter didn’t track her down! Eventually Millie gets her big moment to finally show her face….only to end up in hospital with the mumps.

This story has some unrealistic setups, particularly the kidnapping plot, but the story isn’t one to take it too seriously either. Millie could have come off as a very unlikeable character,  a girl that seems to be in the acting business not for the roles but to become famous. Yes she does come across a fame hungry at times but as its played mostly for laughs, she isn’t a terrible character. You don’t wish for her downfall. You sympathise with her frustration, but can also see the humour in the situation.  The big joke of all this build up only for her to be covered in bandages for her unveiling, is played with a kind of; roll of  the eyes “typical”  rather than as a devastating blow.

The Door to Yesterday

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  • The Door to Yesterday – Mandy PSL: #40 (1981)
  • Reprinted –  Mandy PSL:  #207 (1994)
  • Artist: David Matysiak

Plot

Sally Dean is staying with her aunt for the holidays. Aunt Mabel is a housekeeper to a scientist Mr. Winslow. Sally follows Mr. Winslow through a door in his attic and finds herself lost and alone in London in 1851. For weeks she tries to track down Mr. Winslow, finally grabbing his attention at a local music hall. Mr. Winslow gets her back to the present where no time has passed.

Thoughts

Firstly the artwork is great, I’m pretty sure its by David Matysiak, but if I’m wrong feel free to correct me.  The Victorian era is really captured in the clothes, streets and overall look. The grimy streets, overcrowded halls and in contrast the grand houses and the wonder of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Everything is wonderfully visualised. The characters are all expressive, Sally is a character that is shown to adapt to her situation but  her dejection when she thinks her only way home is blown up also is clearly illustrated.  Matysiak can switch between an everyday scene to an atmosphere of fear and creepiness brilliantly.

He’s definitely a favourite artist of mine.

The story itself is interesting. Mr. Winslow doesn’t come off as some crackpot scientist but is instead portrayed as a gentleman. In the middle of the night Sally notices him dressed up  in Victorian clothing going into the attic she follows him and is surprised to find herself out onto a foggy street. When the door shuts behind her she decides she best catch up to him but finds herself lost in the fog. Getting tired she falls asleep in a doorway. She is taken in by the people of the house. She decides its best not to tell them the truth particulaly when they enquire about her “strange” clothes. Instead she says she is an orphan and she came to London to look for a friend.

Sally is a great resourceful character, she first decides its best not to draw too much attention to herself by wearing the clothes that were lent to her. In the meantime she also goes about trying to track Mr. Winslow down. She hands in  some  of her coins to the local newspaper hoping to attract Mr. Winslow’s attention, unfortunately Winslow assumes they are coins he dropped and explains it a way to the newspaper without coming in contact with Sally. She manages to track him down to the hotel he was staying at but he has already moved on. Undeterred though she offers her services as a receptionist at the hotel so she sorts out a place to stay and money.

She continues to show her good detective skills in trying  to track Mr. Winslow down, she gets close to him at an exhibition but loses him in the crowd. She does manage to find her way back to the door she came through but is distressed when she arrives just as it is scheduled to be destroyed.

Despite this blow she doesn’t give up hope that Mr. Winslow may still be able to help.. She finally meets him at a Music Hall but they are seperated when a fight breaks out. She tries other music halls, during a talent competition hour, she has the idea to offer her talents as a maths wiz with her handy calculator. She gets the approval of the the audience but most importantly Mr. Winslow sees her and is able to meet up with her after the show.

Just when things are looking to be resolved, another obstacle is placed in front of them when a policeman arrests Mr. Winslow for his part in the fight at the other music hall. Sally isn’t going to let another thing get in her way of getting home, when she is so close. So she takes matters  into her own hands.

Finally Mr. Winslow gets Sally back home through another door, it turns out he has many ways to get back home (that’s convenient!). Sally arrives back at the time she left.

Sally  is an admirable character she is adaptable, smart and not afraid to get into a confrontation when needed. She is also shown to be kind and helpful to people, particularly those who helped her. She is at the same time – brave and stands up to people when needed.  She reprimands a man for not listening to a singer and throwing rubbish at her.

Mr. Winslow is a gentleman and shows his enthusiasm for science without looking like a mad scientist. The supporting characters for the little they are shown still get show their traits clearly. Miss Peacock an earlier character is shown to be disapproving and uptight, Mrs Brown who gives Sally a job at the hotel is kindly and shows concern for Sally.

The story itself takes the advantage of time being fluid. It establishes Mr. Winslow and Sally interacting early on before quickly moving into the main time travelling plot. It takes its time setting Sally up in this Victorian era, she is trapped for weeks, so the time period is able to be explored. The time period itself is just the backdrop for the detective side of the story as Sally searches for Mr. Winslow and a way back home. So there is a lot going on to squeeze into 64 pages and I think the pacing is done well.

Margie’s Magic Book / That Girl’s Me!

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  • Margie’s Magic Book – Judy PSL: #246 [1983]
  • Reprinted as That Girl’s Me!–Mandy PSL: #267 [1997]
  • Art: John McNamara

Plot/ Thoughts

This is one of these stories where the protagonist has to deal with her magical double. This was originally printed in 1983, then in 1997 it was reprinted with a name change. I think the second title suits the story better. Margie’s Magic Book implies Margie doing spells when in reality she uses it once, then her other self hides it so she spends most of the story looking for it to reverse the spell.  So I wouldn’t really call it her book. “That Girl’s Me!” seems to sum up what the story’s about more accurately.

The protagonist, Margie is a nice girl, though not the most outspoken or highest of school achievers. For a school project about local superstitions and legends, she researches a legend of Old Mother Wily a witch and goes to the ruins of her cottage. There she finds the magic book which releases her other self.

Her  double describes herself as the Hyde to her Jekyll, the part of her that dares to do what Margie won’t. Of course the whole Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story didn’t end too well for the Jekyll. These Jekyll and Hyde type stories that were common in these comics, and often did not end well for the good protagonist. In one Judy story “The Image of Iris” Iris’s double Siri ends up trapping Iris and taking her place permanently.

But Back to Margie and her double. Her double starts taking Margie’s place and making trouble. Usually Margie showing up just in time to receive the trouble.  The Double excels at table tennis and annoys the previous champion and insults her as well.  The Double also excels in schoolwork but she also insults teachers. When Margie turns up at school it’s her that has to face the gang of girls that the Double has  annoyed but her double helps out with a bit of magic, and sets a dog on them.

Margie knowing that her double is using the magic book to learn spells, follows her double to find where she has hidden it. Later while her double takes her place in a race, Margie takes the book and hides it in a new place.

Later she goes back for it but her double appears, she asks Margie to trust her and she’ll fix everything.

Honestly she doesn’t look trustworthy, she looks more creepy and evil but Margie figures she can’t defeat her so she gives in. The Double does a spell from the book and she disappears. Margie feels happier and more confident. Turns out they have merged. She finds herself excelling in running and table tennis, though her academics slip a bit which she figures is her old self slipping out. Overall she’s happy herself and her double make a good team.

So things work out for Margie, but throughout the story there is a bit of suspense on how things will work out. At times the double does try to help Margie, but at the same time the artwork can depict the Double in much more creepy and evil light, that we can’t be sure of her motivations.

 

The Third Wish

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  • The Third Wish – Mandy PSL: #178
  • Artist: Paddy Brennan

Plot/Thoughts


This is another time when the cover art is different from the inside. I like the simplicity and the painted look of the cover. Not something I note often but I also like the font style of the title, it just seems to fit well. The inside art is good too, Brennan’s art I primarily recognise  from the Judy strip “The Honourable S.J.” Though I do like the art I admit whenever  I see it I keep thinking S.J. will pop up.

The story involves a girl Becky, who is on a pony trekking holiday. On one of their treks her and her friend, Zoe,  accidently stumble across a pool. Playing around, Becky throws in silver leaves and makes three wishes. She doesn’t wish for fame or fortune, but makes simple requests. She would like trifle for tea, there is a particular horse she’d like a chance to ride before the end of the summer and she wishes that annoying know-it-all Nella gets what she deserves. That day she gets to ride her dream horse and they have trifle for tea. After a bit of research she discovers the legend of a magical wishing pool that will  only appear to those not intentionally seeking it out.

Becky starts to worry about her third wish so she begins looking out for Nella as it seems disaster could fall on her at any point. She nearly falls over twice, then nearly gets hit by a van. Becky feels responsible. As Nella is always telling people how to do things properly and being bossy, Zoe tells Becky no-one will hang around Becky if she starts hanging out with Nella.

After saving Nella from an old collapsing building Nella begins to show a nicer side. She explains how she was raised by her bossy gran who always sends her on courses during the holidays, so she knows a lot about stuff. She agrees with Becka to try and be a less of  a know it all.  During a treasure hunt Becky is trying to make sure Nella doesn’t get into trouble and ends up falling over quarry herself. Luckily Nella stays calm and withe her emergency supplies she saves Becka

Becky is happy to see Nella get what she deserves, a medal for bravery.

So a nice play on words. The story works fine, although Becky’s wishes could have been more elaborate I like how the vagueness leads to events following could be taken as coincidence. Nella actually becomes a more sympathetic character despite her bossiness. There’s a nice conflict for Becky where she wants to make sure Nella is okay but wants to stay popular with her friends at the same time. Overall the story isn’t breaking any new ground but for what it is, it is fine.

 

 

Mandy 1981

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In this annual there are 12 picture stories, 5 text stories and 6 features.

A common feature for Mandy annuals is to have a long picture story split throughout the book. In this annual there is one story that totals 36 pages and is split into 4 parts. The rest of the comic strips have a range of 3 to 11 pages.

There doesn’t seem to be as much variety as other annuals. The majority of stories are based on regular characters from the weekly comic such as “Stella Starr” and “Hilary of the Happy Bus”.  The features are all quiz based features, each quiz has a theme. For more details read on… (For just a list of contents click here)

Picture Stories

A Wedding for Wilma   (Pages: 4-9)

Fran is looking for a husband for her elder sister. For what purpose… to quote Fran “If only I could find her a husband to take her away from housework sometimes” Yep not so the husband can help her out but so he can take her away from it sometimes. Really, if that is her worry why doesn’t Fran help her out some time?

Considering this is 1981 annual, Fran’s character seems to be oblivious to any feminist movement.  While I don’t think its necessarily a bad thing to have a variety of  characters, and not everyone has to be the sensible strong feminist but I think this seems to be a common theme in this annual.  There seems to be a lack of  characters to contrast the less feminist  Fran.

Fran tries to set Wilma up with her gymnastics instructor Tim because he has the great husband qualities of being “ strong and handsome”. She tries to start their “courtship” off by giving them opportunities to spend time together. I question if  a 13ish old girl  be using the word “courtship” in the 80s.  Meanwhile  Wilma seems quite capable of making a play for Tim without help from Fran (Go Wilma!).

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Unfortunately Tim is fitness freak and his idea of dates is getting her to watch him play football and as she’s so supportive he brings her the teams strips to wash. He also decides to get the girls training for football and a romantic trip on the river turns into skull training for Wilma until she tells him where  to shove it.  Wilma is actually a good role model in a lot of way. She doesn’t hesitate in considering Tim as a potential boyfriend, but at the same time isn’t dependent on him for happiness and knows when to get out the relationship.

 

“That’s Not My Gran”   (Pages: 11-16/33-44/81-90/120-126)

  • Artist: Claude Berridge
  • Reprinted and translated into Dutch (as “Dat is mijn oma niet!”) – Debbie #26 (1981)

This is the 4 part complete new story. Jenny goes to visit her gran’s grave. While she’s there a storm blows up and she is knocked out by a branch and doesn’t see a ball of lightning in the sky. She wakes up and goes home and discovers her gran is alive. Which is kind of a creepy premise. Suddenly Gran is back from the dead, not as some zombie but as a mean lady who likes to kick fluffy cute lambs or poor cats.

   

So this makes Jenny suspicious.  Well that and the fact she is the only one that remembers her gran dying in the first place. Gran’s strange behaviour extends to cheating at a cake competition, deciding she wants a driving licence and nearly runs over a guide dog (she really has it in for animals!) and slamming her other granddaughter’s hand in the car boot.

But nobody else seems to notice Grans obvious evilness. Throughout the four parts the big mystery builds up, not only her strange behaviour but gran seems to be able to make people forget things when she looks in their eyes and she doesn’t show up in photographs. Jenny being suspicious of all this strangeness discovers that her “Gran” is  actually an alien.

She overhears Gran talking over radio about wheter earth is suitable. It is never actually states what they want Earth to be suitable for but presumably it’s the traditional Alien takeover scheme.  As a powerful alien though I don’t know where the thought process was that the best human form to take  was  that of a previously deceased gran! Luckily the alien accidentally disintegrates itself when it is attacked by a blind man. The aliens not getting their final data about earth presume it’s not suitable for a takeover and everyone forgets about fake gran again (except for Jenny). Alien plots like this are quite common, but what is less common is using an elderly person as often children or teens were used in some manner.

 

The Living Lie of Linda   (Pages: 22-32)

  • Reprinted and translated into Dutch as “Linda’s grote leugen” (Linda’s Big Lie) – Groot Tina Zomerboek #2/1981 (1981).

Linda is in a wheelchair after an accident. She is making progress learning to walk again when she overhears her father talking to a woman on the phone saying he can’t leave until Linda’s better. Linda jumps to the conclusion he is having an affair and decides the healthiest way to deal with this is to pretend that she still can’t walk so the father will have to stay with the family against his will.

When she’s out swimming another girl gets into trouble and Linda goes to rescue her so the family discover she can use her legs. It turns out the father was talking to his new boss’s wife about a job offer he wasn’t going to take until Linda was recovered.

While the story is fairly average, I do really like the different angles the artist used in this story its nice to see some experimentation.

 

Lucy’s Locket   (Pages: 45-48)

Art: George Martin

Lucy has a magical locket that brings bad luck to whoever’s photo is in the locket. So you’d think a magical object like that should be kept safe.  Lucy thinks its fine to let her little sister play around with the locket and wear it around. When her sister, Ruth, is conned by some market sellers into exchanging the locket for two cheap lockets, Lucy has to figure a way of getting it back.

Luckily for her she doesn’t have to do much because the con woman puts a photo of herself and her husband in the locket. So after a string of bad luck Lucy is able to get the locket back.

Stars in her Eyes   (Pages: 52-55)

Art: Richard Neillands

Karen is a girl who thinks horoscopes are a guide for life. When her horoscope for the week says she should take a chance on going someplace different but over-tiredness may ruin the day, she decides she can’t turn down any opportunity. So she agrees to go on a school trip, a youth club trip, help at a jumble sale and go to a disco all on the one day. At each trip she also has a different boy that she agrees to dance with at the disco. She tries not to tire herself out at any of the events, such as skipping the tidy up at the jumble sale, so she will have enough energy at the disco. Of course the three boys have been picking up her slack all day so they end up falling asleep at the disco, so Karen has no-one to dance with anyway!

 

Blind Ben’s White Christmas   (Pages: 57-64)

  • Reprinted and translated into Dutch (as “Blinde Ben’s kerstfeest”) – Debbie #26 (1981).

I am an animal lover so I did feel for the dog in this story. Ben is the family dog on a farm and he is losing his sight. The family of course just let him retire inside the house. Jill’s aunt comes to stay with the family and disrupts everything. She moves furniture around so Ben gets confused and then when Ben is just lying down asleep she blames him when she trips over him. She also insists that he should be put down.  I definitely would have told that aunt where to go!

Ben ends up being moved back outside in the snow. Then the aunt goes wandering off in the snow and slips hurting her leg. She would have probably froze to death only for Ben sniffing her out. The aunt apologises to Ben and the family, so everyone has a happy Christmas. I know the drama and conflict has to come from some place, but I really don’t see why the family would even consider putting Ben down because of the aunt’s suggestion. It’s already established other than not being able to see, Ben isn’t in pain and nobody is happy about aunt coming to stay in the first place so why would they be taking her advice!

 

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Toys!

Mandy, , ,
  • Toys! – Mandy PSL: #242
  • Artist: Norman Lee

Plot/Thoughts

With a tagline of “they’re cute ‘n’ cuddly- with minds of their owns!” it seems like this could be a Pixar Toy Story predecessor.  Instead this is a possessed toy story (so more “Chucky” than “Toy Story”).  We start off with our protagonist Jan buying material for the purpose of making soft toys. She finds a suspicious, creepy looking, old lady to buy material from. The old woman says the material is perfect for using with toys. So what could possibly go wrong?

Jan first uses the material to finish off  trousers for a toy clown. The clown is for her cousin Timmy that is in hospital. When she visits Tim the next day and is surprised when he tells her the clown was juggling for him. But as a rational person, she assumes this is because of the anesthetic and Tim’s over active imagination.

Next she finishes off a dog toy for her neighbour to have when she is teaching kids on the piano. She is surprised when the next day the neighbour comes back angry about the practical joke that Jan has played and saying she probably charged for the battery too. As Jan has no idea what she is talking about she checks the dog and can’t find anything.

Anyone that loves Toy Story may find the image of dog getting his stuffing ripped out traumatizing, but don’t worry she puts him back together again! After which she discovers the problem – when music plays the dog howls along with it. After this discovery she checks on Timmy’s clown and finds that Timmy wasn’t making stories up.

Her friend Liz is also having a problem with the teddy bear Jan gave her, he is eating all the honey in the house. Together they decide to investigate. All the toys have come from a new pattern book so they decide that this is the problem.

Yes I think those “funny” pages are actually called glossy pages. So their solution is not to use that book again and they just ignore the problem that there are toys doing cartwheels and eating honey etc.

When a friend wants something scary for Halloween Jan wants to avoid making something new. So she uses an old witch that she had given Liz. She ends up fixing the witch’s torn shawl with the cursed material. Liz also makes a hat for an old troll teddy Jan never finished.  They soon find that it was not the pattern book that was the problem, when the troll starts messing around in the garden and the witch displays some impressive powers.

Jan finally figures out it is the material that’s cursed.  She goes back to the market but of course in the tradition of mysterious people, the old woman’s disappeared.

Things are resolved quickly after this as Liz’s mum washes the teddy bear and it turns back to an ordinary toy. Ah water, the ultimate weapon against witches, aliens and possessed toys apparently!  So they manage to dunk all the rest of the toys as well.

So everything is resolved almost coincidentally, but I wonder if the material was the problem then surely removing it would have done made the toys inert as well. Also I’m not entirely sure what the old woman’s motivation was or what she hoped to achieve. She is happy to hear the material is being used for toys, so what would have happened if Jan just wanted it for clothes or making curtains or something.  What effect would that have had, it seems like it would need to be used for the specific reason of the personification of toys.

It doesn’t seem like it was a particularly evil scheme either. Other than the witch none of the toys seemed  evil or scary more of a nuisance and irritation. So I’m guessing her motivation is boredom and she only does this for entertainment and to annoy people.

 

Mandy Picture Story Library

Mandy
Issue No.Title
1Driving into Danger
2Susan of Studio ‘B’
3Sally On the Site
4The Silent Hotel
5Then There Were Three
6The Optimists
7Candy’s Collar
8The Magician’s Apprentice
9Gwendoline and Gran
10The Ivory Twin
11Sheila’s Sheepdog
12Kate Can Cope
13Mystery of the Ballet
14Roman Rita
15The Battling Baileys
16The Silver Baton
17Ride for Your Life, Julie
18Mystery at St. Mary’s
19A Pony Named Scarecrow
20Where is My Sister?
21Matron Mistikk
22The Curse of the Camera
23Brenda with the Bucket
24Listen-in-Lucy
25Lauren and the Secret Skater
26Mystery of the Sally Ann
27The Priceless Piano
28Slave at the Stables
29The Sky Sailors
30Riding for Rhoda
31Bionic Bunny
32The Girl Who Missed the Bus
33Beware the Mystic Ring!
34Gymnast Georgie
35Suzi-Ku’s Search for Stardom
36Mystery of the Manor
37Patsy the Peacemaker
38Skinny Minnie- Heavy Weight
39Secret Feud
40The Door to Yesterday
41Connie and Kim and Big Eggo
42Silverheels
43Snappy-Go-Lucky
44Queen For a Year
45The Strange Change in Softie Simpson
46“You’re Not My Mum and Dad!”
47Intruder’s at St. Judes
48Dana on Danger Mountain
49Three Girls in a Boat
50Captives Under the Sea
51Battle of the Bridesmaids
52Rambling Rosa
53Katie’s Kitten
54Wendy’s Secret War
55Ruby’s Revenge
56Beware the Grey Guardians
57House of Fear
58A Home for Henrietta
59Ruth and the Ravens
60Big Brother is Watching You!
61Patsy the Pastry Cook
62Who is Astra?
63Gilda’s Golden Torch
64The Curse of the Fox
65Gemma’s Jewels
66Pandora’s Box
67Holly’s Hilarious Holiday
68Turpin Rides Again
69Doreen’s Dummy
70The Barefoot Champion
71Wish Upon a Star
72Betsy at Big-Top Hotel
73Rita’s Remedy Book
74The Enchanted Necklace
75Hopeless Hope- she’s no dope!
76King Ali Cat
77Bleak Days at Blake House
78Suzy’s Supergran
79Wendy in the Wilderness
80The Riddle of the Chinese Bowl
81Ballerina from the Back Streets
82Polly on Pygmy Planet
83The Sisters’ Secret
84Dogsbody Debbie
85Snapshot Selina
86The Phantom Swimmer
87Linda’s Little Eden
88Brenda’s Barge
89Vanity Valley
90The Secret of Sally’s Secret
91Poor Little Rich Girl
92Tanzy Comes to Town
93Its all go on the Golden Trail
94Mog- is no Ordinary Cat
95The School of the Highwayman
96Peggy from Pegasus
97A Dog Called Calamity
98Wonder Doll
99Kidd’s Sister
100Julia and Jupiter
101Glenda Goes for Gold
102Vicky the Vixen
103Betsy and the Buter
104“They’re Letting Girls into St. Justins!”
105That Girl Next Door!
106Till the Clock Strikes Twelve
107The Ghost of Lizzie Black
108Brenda’s St. Bernard
109Stranger in the House
110The Lifeboat Challengers
111A Partner for Paul
112Paddle Your Own Canoe
113Billy the Billabong
114A Ghost in the Family
115Toni’s Troopers
116The Secret Skater of St. Kit’s
117Maggie’s Mongrels
118Wendy of the Waterways
119The Promise Maudie Made
120My Giddy Goat
121Share and Share Alike!
122She Lived to Dance
123Auntie Grace From Outer Space
124The Trouble With Ester
125Win Wendy, Win!
126The Girl From Smuggler’s Cave
127This Horse for Hire
128The Jinx on the Majestic
129“The Butler Did It”
130Roller-Skate Kate
131Two Cuckoos in the Nest
132Patsy’s Secret Park
133Grappling Gertie
134Hot Dinners for the Duke
135The Ding-Dong Bells
136Big Sister
137The Shadow Over Sheena Dodds
138Not-So-Blind-Betty
139Keeping Mum
140The Girl With My Face
141Old Rolls
142The Clifford Cup
143“Nobody Knows My Face!”
144The Treasure Seekers
145The Ice Maidens
146Unlucky for Some
147What Can Donna Do?
148“Make Me a Champ!”
149The Girl in the Picture
150Polly the Pet Minder
151Valda
152The Secret of Hardwick Hall
153Tough Gal Terry!
154Tina’s Toppers
155Girl Friday
156Valda
157The Lamb that Mary Found
158The Lady of the Lake
159Margie’s Magic Aunt
160Under the Green Glacier
161Marinda Girl of Mystery
162Valda
163The Good Fairy
164Wendy the Watcher
165Cycling Susie
166Search for Excitement
167“Oh, Mum!”
168Sally in the Saddle
169Mummy’s Girl
170The Girl With No Name…
171Just the Job for Judy
172She’s Back! The Girl With No Name
173Shape Up Sharon!
174Girl Friday
175Melissa’s Minder
176“But Honestly…!”
177Karen’s Cats
178The Third Wish
179Fran in Fashion
180Sandy’s Shadow
181The Secret Village
182The Black Cloud
183Dragonchild
184My Sister Must Go!
185Dream Boy
186Our Teacher’s an Alien
187The Secret Hotel
188Miss Cupid
189Penny’s Place
190Dragonchild and the Wild Ones
191Odd One Out
192Return of the Black Cloud
193Nurses
194I Wish…
195In Search of the Truth
196Crimebusters
197I’ll Make You a Champion
198Lucy All Alone
199Gymnast Gina
200Little Sister
201My Friend Fury
202Rags and Riches
203No Job for a Girl
204Trading Places
205The Secret Life of Sara Shaw
206Mystery at Moorcress
207The Door to Yesterday
208Lorna and Lady
209House of Fear
210Pearce V Price
211Who is Astra?
212Win or Lose?
213Aunt Ruby’s Revenge
214Flooded!
215Hayley on the High Board
216Penny’s Place
217Nightmare!
218Headcase!
219Rivals!
220Nurses
221Wish Upon a Star
222The Smuggler’s Cave!
223Camp Site Kids!
224Going for Goals
225House of Horses
226The Barn
227Sing a Song of Sadness
228Golden Girl
229Fear Behind the Footlights
230Cab for Hire!
231The Stranger!
232Little Miss Big!
233“I’ll Show Them!”
234Chill Out!
235The Secret…
236Where is Ben?
237Poor Little Rich Girl
238Starstruck
239The Chase
240The Millpark Mystery
241Doubles Troubles
242Toys!
243Where are the Children?
244A Brother for Molly
245Pandora’s Box
246In Sylvia’s Shadow
247No Place for a Sister
248News Hound
249Selina’s Sketches
250The House on Haggon Moor/”Beware Room 12A!”
251The Whisperers
252Act Your Age
253Tree of Fear
254My Friend Una
255Wolf Girl
256Sally on the Trail
257Dani’s Dragon
258The Jewellary Box
259Petra’s Prison
260Just the Job!
261Silverheels
262Ring of Confidence
263A Dog Called Calamity
264Model Sister
265Intruder at St Judes
266Triple Trouble
267That Girl’s Me!
268Beyond the Boundary
269Share and Share Alike!
270Holiday on Mystery Isle
271The Jinx on the Majestic
272Scream!
273Dogsbody Debbie
274The Minx
275The Butler Did It!
276Runaways
277Friend From the Future

Slave to Love!

Mandy
  • Slave to Love! – Mandy:  #1252 (12 January 1991) – #1261 (16 March 1991)
  • Translated into Dutch as “Zwaar verliefd” (Deeply Smitten) – Tina #9/1993-15/1993
  • Art: Leslie Branton

Plot/Thoughts

In the later years of girl comics, romance/boy drama stories became a more popular feature.  I suppose it was a sign of changing times, when fashion and pop stars were also becoming more common features. There is nothing wrong with some boy related plots, some were quite enjoyable but others didn’t exactly feature the most inspiring role models.

This story has an uninspiring, un-relatable, unsympathetic protagonist in my opinion.  Gail Somers gets a crush on a boy Justin. Justin has a horrible lazy sister Andrea who decides to take advantage of Gail’s crush. She makes a deal to get Gail and Justin together if Gail becomes her slave for a month and a day.

slave to love 1

 

Gail is somewhat under the delusion that the guy will take his younger sister’s advice on love. She blows off her friends gets in tons of trouble and doesn’t realise what an idiot she has been until the end.  At this stage Justin has met a girl he actually talks to and has started dating her. Her friends are totally understanding of the situation afterwards.

slave to love 2
Seriously they take that as a reasonable explanation for blowing them off. Oh it was all for guy well then of course everything’s okay, trying to get a boyfriend is way more important than our friendship!

None of the characters are that likeable. While there are a lot of stories where girls are being blackmailed or manipulated by nasty girls. Usually these girls are black mailed under the threat of their father getting fired or a family secret getting revealed or something, so it’s easy to sympathise with these characters.  This is why I really find it hard to sympathise with the protagonist in this story, because it’s her own stupid choice.

The antagonist Andrea isn’t likeable but she’s just taking advantage of the situation. She laughs about how gullible Gail is, but turns out she’s not too bright herself. When she meets Gail’s cousin and falls for him she agrees to become Gail’s slave for a month and a day.

slave to love

Seems Gail has a bit of a malicious streak in her as well and is enjoying taking her revenge on Andrea.  As for Andrea… really what does she expect the outcome to be she was just in this situation with her brother, does she really see this ending with Gail’s cousin as her boyfriend!