Tag Archives: John Armstrong

Mandy Annual 2007

Mandy, , , , , ,

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

Bunty Holiday Special 1998

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Picture Stories

  • The Comp (Pages: 7-10) [Art: Peter Wilkes]
  • Bugsy (Page 14)
  • Girls Talking (Page 14)
  • Home and Away (Pages: 15-17) [Art: Eduardo Feito]
  • It’s a Dog’s Life! (Pages: 20-22)
  • Penny’s Place (Pages: 27-29) [Art: Guy Peeters]
  • Wish You Were Here? (Pages: 38-39) [Art: Andy Tew]
  • The Four Marys (Pages: 43-46) [Art: Jim Eldridge]
  • Bunty – A Girl Like You (Page 47) [Art: Andy Tew]

Text Stories

  • Carly’s Crowd (Page 11) [Art: Peter Wilkes]
  • Phantom Prince (Page 32) [Art: John Armstrong]

Photo Stories

  • Scatter Brain (Pages: 3-5)
  • Just Like Lizzie (Pages: 33-35)

Features

  • Happy Holidays! (Page 6)
  • Get Packing! (Page 12)
  • Plane Sailing! (Page 13)
  • What’s Cookin’? Summer Sizzlers (Pages: 18-19)
  • Pop Posters (Pages: 23-26)
  • Check in at the Pet Hotel (Pages: 30-31)
  • Do Not Disturb! (Pages: 36-37)
  • In the Swim! (Pages: 40-41)
  • Your Holiday Horoscope (Page 42)
  • Horse Poster (Page 48)

*Thanks to Goof for the information and cover picture

Fiona’s Friend / Caught in the Net

M&J, , ,
  • Fiona’s Friend – Judy and Tracy: #1362 (15 February 1986) – #1367?
  • Reprinted as Caught in the Net – M&J: #311 (26 April 1997) – #315 (24 May 1997)
  • Artist: John Armstrong

Plot

Fiona Lewis was delighted when her uncle Peter gives her a computer for her birthday. When setting up the computer, it asks Fiona to be it’s friend and Fiona agrees, but then things keep going wrong and the computer keeps causing trouble with her other friends. First while playing a game with her friend Shelley, it says Fiona wins although Shelley did better, then the message on screen says “Fiona is clever, Shelley is stupid”. Shelley thinks Fiona programmed the computer to say it, even when she denies it. Shelley still acts off-hand with Fiona, and later the computer asks if she is still her friend, Fiona is glad computers can’t sulk like people do.

When Fiona’s friend Kathy falls ill and has to spend time in the hospital, she rallies everyone in the class to send a card for her birthday. She checks the computer for Kathy’s birthday where she noted it and it says the 9th, but later she discovers Kathy was disappointed not to receive a card from her as her birthday was actually the 8th. As she is let out of hospital before the 9th she never receives the card. Fiona checks the computer and now it says the 8th, and she thinks she misread it. When her young cousin Kevin comes to visit, he is self conscious about his new glasses, Fiona lets him play on computer but it still asks for her, the next day when he is showing some drawings one comes up with “Kevin four eyes” upsetting him greatly.

At school Kathy and Shelley are still not talking to Fiona but when one of her classmates Megan moves close by, Fiona starts to hang out with her. While she is busy with Megan, the computer asks Fiona if they are still friends. Then the computer reveals Megan’s crush on a boy, Mark, in front of group of people, upsetting her, so Fiona loses yet another friend. At least she still has computer but  she is beginning to wonder why everytime something has gone wrong the computer is involved. She rationalizes  that she can’t blame the computer, it’s just an object, so it must be herself making the mistakes. Another opportunity for a new friend arises, when her and classmate, Diane need to take extra french lessons. She tries to help with a new French Learning CD she got and it keeps saying Diane is wrong, then Fiona tries to get wrong answer and it says she is right. Diane calls her a cheater and liar. This is too many coincidences for Fiona  and she now thinks the computer is making her lose her friends on purpose.

Fiona decides to get rid of the computer and she gives it to the boys next door, but it won’t work for them and her mother isn’t happy she gave away her present. She tries to tell the computer she’s not its friend, but it won’t listen. Then she sees a shop that buys and exchanges second hand computers, she manages to exchange it for a similar model so her family won’t notice the difference. She is relieved when she asks her new computer to be her friend it doesn’t recognise the instruction. At school a new girl, Lindy, joins and Fiona and her become friends,  safe in knowledge her computer won’t get in the way again. Later she sees her old computer at shop, she tests it out  to make sure she is really  free of it and is relieved to find the computer has forgotten about her and it has new friend the computer next it.

Thoughts

Computers didn’t show up often as a main plot-point in stories, when they did turn up they tended to be cause of conflict rather than a help! This isn’t the only time an M&J story revolved around computer, there was also Gameplay and it’s sequel and while Fiona’s computer isn’t as evil as Irma it does still cause a lot of problems for her!  It’s interesting we aren’t shown any reconciliation with her old friends. It seems the damage the computer has done is lasting, but at least Fiona finds a new friend and is happy to move on from the computer. This is a late John Armstrong work, he did a number of stories for M&J and as always his work is excellent, particularity for character expressions and it has some atmospheric panels.

As  #315 is the last issue in M&J, there is a double episode to conclude the story, I wonder if there were any more episodes planned originally, it does seem a little sudden that Fiona wants to get rid of computer but still works fine. I was more of a fan of M&J than Bunty and it was pity it swallowed up by the latter, as even in the last few issues there were some fun stories like this. Update: I have discovered this was actually a reprint of 1986 story from Judy, I’m not sure how many episodes the original had, so there may be some extra episodes to expand on Fiona’s suspicions.

Bunty Annual 2000

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Picture Stories

  • The Comp [two parts] (Pages: 13-18, 87-92) [Artist: Peter Wilkes]
  • Girl Zone (Pages: 19, 74-75, 98) [Artist: Andy Tew]
  • The Four Marys (Pages: 22-26) [Artist: Jim Eldridge]
  • Bugsy (Pages: 36-37)
  • Girls Talking (Pages: 38, 86)
  • Creepy Creatures (Pages: 39-43) [Artist: Carlos Freixas]
  • Room 13 (Pages: 56-60) [Artist: John Armstrong]
  • Fay’s Future (Pages: 61-65) [Artist: Julio Bosch]
  • Seeing Stars (Pages: 99-103)
  • The Four Marys (Pages: 115-120) [Artist: Jim Eldridge]
  • Penny’s Place (Pages: 121-125) [Artist: Claude Berridge]

Text Stories

  • Close Encounters (Pages: 44-45)
  • Just One of the Crowd (Pages: 84-85)

Photo Stories

  • Teddy for Sale (Pages: 6-12)
  • That’s Life! [two parts] (Pages: 31-35, 79-83)
  • I Spy! (Pages: 47-52)
  • Fancy That! (Pages: 68-73)
  • Cheat! (Pages: 107-112)

Features

  • Fan-tastic! (Pages: 2-5, 126-127)
  • Square Eyes! (Pages: 20-21)
  • Safari Posters:
    • Lion (Page 27)
    • Elephants (Page 53)
    • Rhinos (Page 78)
    • Giraffe (Page 114)
  • Flying Visit (Pages: 28-29)
  • What’s Cookin’? (Pages: 30, 113)
  • Time-Busters! (Page 46)
  • Do Not Disturb! (Pages: 54-55, 96-97)
  • Summer’s Day (Pages: 66-67)
  • Pop Quiz! (Pages: 76-77)
  • Shine On! (Pages: 93-95)
  • Well Wrapped! (Pages: 104-106)

 

* Thanks to Goof for information

Mandy Annual 1999

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Picture Stories

  • Playing the Part [8 parts] (Pages: 17-19, 30-32, 49-51, 62-64, 71-73, 78-80, 97-99, 110-112) [Art: Ron Lumsden]
  • Caught in the Act (Pages: 22-27) [Art: Julio Bosch]
  • Penny’s Place (Pages: 38-44) [Art: Guy Peeters]
  • Drummer Boy (Pages: 54-59) [Art: Julio Bosch]
  • Horse Laughs (Pages: 60-61, 109)
  • St Andrew’s Secret (Pages: 65-70)
  • Sweet Sisters (Pages: 102-108)

Text Stories

  • The White Lady (Pages: 28-29) [Art: John Armstrong]
  • Tinker’s Tale (Pages: 100-101)

Photo Stories

  • Time to Talk (Pages: 6-10)
  • Krystal Clear (Pages: 33-37)
  • In the Picture! (Pages: 121-124)

Features

  • Model Girls (Pages: 2-3, 126-127)
  • It’s a Date! (Pages: 11-13, 45-47, 87-89)
  • Make ‘n’ Do (Pages: 14-5, 94-95)
  • Wildlife Poster (Pages: 16, 48, 96, 125)
  • TV Teasers (Pages: 20-21)
  • Pop-Tastic Puzzlers (Pages: 74-77)
  • Disco Babes! (Pages: 81-83)
  • New Kids on the Block (Pages: 84-86)
  • Pleased as Punch! (Pages: 90-91)
  • Twice as Nice – or Double Trouble? (Pages: 92-93)
  • Summer Fun! (Pages: 113-115)
  • The Ice Girls (Pages: 116-117)

 

* Thanks to Goof for information and cover picture

Judy 1990

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Picture Stories

  • The Christmas Spirit (Pages: 4-9) [Art: Andrew Wilson]
  • Home Cooking (Pages: 11-15) [Art: John Armstrong]
  • Judy & Co. (Pages: 16) [Art: Norman Lee]
  • “I’ll Tell Him…Later!” (Pages: 17-21) [Art: Claude Berridge]
  • Girls Who Wear Glasses… (Pages: 24-27) [Art: Bert Hill]
  • Pepper the Pony (Pages: 28)
  • Bobby Dazzler (Pages: 29-32) [Art: Giorgio Letteri]
  • Lost on the Moor (Pages: 40-43)
  • Junior Nanny (Pages: 45-47) [Art: Oliver Passingham]
  • Judy & Co. (Pages: 48) [Art: Norman Lee]
  • Saturday Date (Pages: 49-52) [Art: Ana Rodriguez]
  • Wee Slavey (Pages: 54-58) [Art: “B Jackson”]
  • Cinderella Jones (Pages: 60-64) [Art: Oliver Passingham]
  • A Package for Paula (Pages: 65-67) [Art: Jose Maria Bellalta?]
  • The Ghost of Armley Fell (Pages: 71-75) [Art: “B Jackson”]
  • Laura’s Lesson (Pages: 76-79) [Art: Eduardo Feito]
  • Jimmy’s Journey (Pages: 81-85)
  • Penny’s Pony (Pages: 88-93) [Art: Oliver Passingham]
  • Judy & Co. (Pages: 96) [Art: Norman Lee]
  • The Treasure (Pages: 97-104) [Art: Jim Eldridge]
  • Pepper the Pony (Pages: 105)
  • The Gift Horse (Pages: 106-109) [Art: Julian Vivas]
  • A Bone for Barker (Pages: 113-117) [Art: Claude Berridge]
  • ABC of Love (Pages: 118-121) [Art: Sean Phillips?]
  • Judy & Co. (Pages: 123) [Art: Norman Lee]

Text Stories

  • Rivals for Robbie (Pages: 68-70)
  • Christmas Bells (Pages: 110-111)

Photo Stories

  • Night of the Cat  (Pages: 33-37)

Features

  • The Personal Touch (Pages: 10)
  • Pony Language (Pages: 22-23)
  • Horses and Riders (Pages: 38-39)
  • Dog (Pages: 44)
  • It’s a Dog’s Life (Pages: 53)
  • Swans ‘n’ Things (Pages: 59)
  • Christmas Crackers (Pages: 80)
  • A Monster in Wool (Pages: 86-87)
  • Gymkhana (Pages: 94-95)
  • It’s Magic! (Pages: 112)
  • Wild Flower Trail (Pages: 122)
  • Pumpkin Pie (Pages: 124-125)
  • Click! (Pages: 126-127)

(Click on thumbnails for bigger pictures)

Misty Short Stories X: Mythical Creatures and Legends

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In the tenth instalment of themed discussions on Misty short stories, we look at how Misty portrayed mythical creatures and legends. Vampires and werewolves are excluded because Misty did so many of them it would make the entry too long. Maybe at some point they will have their own Misty Short Stories entries.

There are a couple of cases where the creatures in these stories fall into a grey area. Strictly speaking, they are not mythical, but they share enough parallels with mythical creatures to be included here.

1: Creatures of the Deep

As these stories show, Misty drew on a lot of mythical sea creatures, particularly ones with hypnotic/bewitching powers. Sea monsters in Misty were far less common, but there were exceptions.

Mermaid

Misty: #88

Rafael Busom

Sheila meets a mermaid, but finds out the mermaid wants to capture her soul so she can venture on land; otherwise, she will be turned into a fish. The mermaid tries to bewitch Sheila with her music and lure her out to sea so they can swap places. Sheila tries to run, but no matter what she tries, she still hears the mermaid’s music. The spell gets broken when the mermaid gets caught in a fisherman’s net and becomes a fish. Although relieved to be free of the spell, Sheila does have a pang of pity for the mermaid because she was so beautiful.

 Thoughts

We can just see the connotations of this story if Sheila had been male. Indeed, so often it is men who get bewitched by mermaids/sirens, so it is a twist to have a female fall under the spell.

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter

Misty: #81

Artist: Blas Gallego

Reprint: Best of Misty Monthly #8

Criminals hide their loot in a deserted lighthouse, and shoot the lighthouse keeper Andy dead. They hear a girl’s voice calling for her father and go in search of her, but both end up dead. Andy’s daughter has had her revenge on them, but it is not until the final panel that we learn she is a mermaid.

Thoughts

One does have to wonder how the lighthouse keeper can have a mermaid for a daughter. Guess the lighthouse is so isolated the lighthouse keeper doesn’t get much company other than mermaids. It is a nice twist, having the daughter turn out to be a mermaid, and her using her mermaid powers to wreak justified deaths on the two killers.

Seal of Secrecy

Misty: #20

Artist: John Armstrong

Margaret’s father won’t let her swim in the sea or even learn to swim, saying the currents are too treacherous and her mother and uncle drowned in a boating accident. One day a girl named Dawn swims into the cove and befriends Margaret. When Dad hears about Dawn he says she must be a Silkie i.e. a seal that takes on human form to lure people to their death, but Margaret does not believe it. Dawn returns and Margaret enters the sea with her. She discovers she can swim and dares Dawn to race her to the nearest headland. But unknown to Margaret, her mother was the Silkie and she lured the uncle to his death (no boating accident). The real reason Dad kept Margaret away from water was her Silkie blood, but it won in the end. Meanwhile, Dawn’s family are waiting for her…

Thoughts

This story is very reminiscent of the Jinty story “Combing Her Golden Hair”, but it has more sinister overtones. At first Dad comes across as stupid, overprotective and superstitious. But after the reveal, we see Dad has a more serious and noble reason the grandmother in the Jinty serial than for trying to fight a (losing) battle against Margaret’s Silkie heritage: it will turn her into a killer if she discovers it. He is also traumatised at losing his brother at the hands of his Silkie wife. But like the grandmother, in the end he could not win against the mythical heritage. One can only hope that as Margaret is only part Silkie and is still part human, she will not start luring people to their deaths.

Seal Song

Misty: #10

Artist: Juan Solé?

Reprint: Best of Misty #3

Meg Peters’ stepfather, Jack Tanner, abuses her and her mother. Then Meg encounters a seal on the beach. She recognises it as one she saved as a pup. It sings along to her recorder and its song comforts her. Tanner discovers the singing seal and tries to capture it so he can make money out of its singing. But the singing hypnotises Tanner and draws him out into the sea. A sudden tidal wave sweeps him away, never to be seen again. Meg and her mother are happy again, but Meg is at her happiest when she is with her singing seal.

Thoughts

It’s not clear if this singing seal is a mythical creature (a good Silkie, maybe?), but it comes close enough to merit inclusion here. The seal certainly is reminiscent of a siren or mermaid in the way it hypnotises Tanner with its singing and lures him to his doom.

The Sea’s Graveyard

Misty: #33

Artist: Jose Canovas

Jane Holden and her father out on their boat “The Sea Lady” and get caught in a severe storm. Jane thinks she sees a figure outside. The Sea Lady founders, and Jane regains consciousness in the hold of a strange old-fashioned ship. She finds scrolls that list the names of the ships and crews that have foundered over the ages – including themselves. Then she discovers the ship is at the bottom of the sea. Jane now realises she and her father are in Davy Jones’ locker. Davy Jones appears, and Jane recognises him as the figure she saw earlier. She throws a lantern at Davy Jones, destroying the scroll that bears the name of the Sea Lady and herself and her father as casualties. This frees them from Davy Jones’ locker, and a rescue ship is surprised to pick them up six days after they foundered. Jane has no memory of her encounter with Davy Jones. A sailor comments that it’s not often someone escapes from Davy Jones’ locker.

Thoughts

Indeed, it is not often you escape from Davy Jones’ locker. But it looks simple to do – just destroy the scroll with the name of your ship and name on it. Davy Jones himself sure is a frightening figure and one of the scariest in Misty’s stories. He appears as a hooded figure and there is a terrible smell of decay about him. When his face is finally shown, he seems to have some sort of reptilian skin. His locker is brilliantly conceived and the artwork really brings it to life. It is the hold of a ship that appears to be some sort of ships’ museum, and the reveal that it is at the bottom of the sea is a stunner.

Safe Until Morning

Misty: #26

Artist: Josep Gual

Reprint: Best of Misty Monthly #6

Rita is bored stiff with her camping holiday with her parents. She falls into the lake, but a monster lifts her out. It scares off bikers who try to mug her and keeps watch over her until morning. Next day a search party finds Rita. The parents decide to go home, saying they’ve spent two months looking for the Loch Ness Monster without success and reckon it must be a legend.

Thoughts

It’s a nice take, having the Loch Ness Monster as the protector and rescuer of a girl in trouble. We are left hoping Nessie will stay safe like Rita, as the closing text box says. Come to think of it, when Nessie appears in a girls’ serial, he (she?) tends to be portrayed as sympathetic instead of a dangerous monster that needs to be hunted down and destroyed. Bunty’s “Humpy Dumpy” is one example.

The Sea Demon

Misty: #42
Artist: Unknown

A ship picks up a survivor, Wendy Coles. She tells them her family yacht was attacked by Gorr, a sea demon who disguised himself as a human, Mr Pocock, whom they picked up on their travels. She tells them not to pick up any more survivors in case one of them is Gorr. They ignore this and continue to search for survivors. But unknown to them, Wendy is the sea demon.

Thoughts

Though the sea demon is not strictly a mythical creature, it is close enough to be included here. Certainly it shares several characteristics with the other mythical beasts here, particularly ones that assume human form to trap people, or simply lure them to their doom. In fact, Gorr deserves to have a serial. His power to assume any human form and his lust for destruction and evil would make him a brilliant and frightening antagonist that would be extremely tough to destroy, which would make for a thrilling, exciting serial.

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Misty Short Stories VIII: Ghosts

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In our eighth volume on Misty short stories we turn to the subject of ghosts, which, predictably, is huge. Owing to the expanse of the subject, there will be no individual thoughts for each story. However, the stories will be grouped into subthemes in accordance with the role the ghost served in the story, and there will be “closing thoughts” at the end.

1: Revenge from Beyond the Grave

It is no surprise that a lot of ghosts in Misty’s complete stories were there to inflict comeuppances. In many cases the motivation was revenge for causing the death of the person who is now a ghost, by murder, neglect or other means. The ghost’s revenge usually takes the forms of:

  • Punishment fitting the crime, sometimes in a “give them what they want” manner (“The Disembodied”)
  • Ruin them (“Dance of Death”)
  • Ensure they don’t enjoy their ill-gotten gains (“Black Agnes”)

Dance of Death

Misty: #27

Artist: John Richardson

A cruel innkeeper, Joseph Higgins, forces fiddler Peter Price and his daughter Nancy to play and dance for their supper, ignoring their protests that they are too cold and hungry to put on a good performance. Their performance is predictably awful, and the cruel spectators torture Nancy too. Higgins kicks them out into the cold, where they freeze to death, and smashes Price’s fiddle. But their ghosts start haunting the inn, fiddling and dancing, which drives off customers. Higgins tries to sell the inn, but nobody will buy it with those ghosts in “permanent residence”, and he is ruined.

A Room of Her Own

Misty: #69

Artist: Joseph Gual

Lorna Barnes is taken in by the Hennings after her grandmother dies, but their daughter Joan does not want to share her room with Lorna. So Joan tries to get rid of Lorna by playing “haunted house” to scare her away (a trick also used in the Misty short story, “Nightmare!”). It goes too far when Lorna runs away in terror and drowns in a swamp. But Joan soon finds she still doesn’t have the room to herself – she is now sharing it with Lorna’s ghost.

Malice in Wonderland

Misty: #75

Artist: Bob Harvey

Reprint: Best of Misty #8

The ghost of a girl haunts a fairground, Wonderland. She has driven off customers and the once-booming fairground is now deserted. The owner, Richard Hobson, confronts the ghost for ruining him. She says she is making him pay for the negligence of the roller coaster that caused her death, which he bribed his way out of in court. Hobson tries to run her over with the same roller coaster, but forgets she is a ghost, and only sends himself plunging to his death. He in turn becomes the resident ghost of Wonderland, which reopens under more savoury management, and can only watch as its new profits go into the new owner’s pocket.

The Disembodied

Misty: #68

Artist: John Richardson

On a class trip Olivia rips a page out of a book of spells that was once owned by an baron who practised black magic She uses the spell to summon the spirits of three of her teachers to give her all the answers to a school test. But she gets greedy and demands more and more information from them, which keeps them up past dawn, despite their protests. When Olivia learns the three teachers have died, she discovers too late she overlooked something: if the spirits do not return to their bodies before dawn they will become disembodied and cling to the person responsible for their deaths until the day their true deaths should have occurred. The disembodied spirits take revenge by giving Olivia more and more answers until she gets information overload – literally – and her head is ready to burst.

Black Agnes

Misty: #59

Artist: Josep Gual

In 1665–6 London, Agnes Barton takes up a position as a servant in the wealthy Patterson household. She poisons the family, taking steps to ensure everyone puts it down to plague, so she can steal their moneybox. But she soon finds the Pattersons’ ghosts are following her around. At Pudding Lane the haunting drives her to breaking point and she throws the stolen money back at the ghosts: “Take your gold! Begone I say!”, but knocks over a candle while doing so. This starts the Great Fire of London, and she perishes in the blaze.

Lead Kindly Light

Misty: #57

Artist: Maria Barrera

Ruth’s stepfather Jabez Penallen is a shipwrecker and he whips her into being his accomplice. Ruth sees no way to escape. Running away is hopeless because Jabez will only find her again. Reporting him is no use because he has everyone believe he is a devout, respectful churchgoer. An old friend, Sybilla, arrives and helps Ruth escape on a ship, but Jabez wrecks it while not knowing she was on board. Ruth returns as a ghost, but Jabez does not realise she is one. She uses his own false light and takes advantage of his blind rage towards her to lure him to his doom over the cliff. She then extinguishes the wrecker’s lantern forever.

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Misty Short Stories III: Witches

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For the third volume of Misty Short stories I have selected Misty stories with a corresponding theme: witchcraft and how Misty portrayed witches in her complete stories. As many of the stories have a similar theme, they have been grouped together under subheadings, with “thoughts” attached. I have also included closing thoughts at the end of the overview. Text stories have been omitted from this list. So witch-themed text stories such as “The Story of Little Wytching” have been excluded.

1: The Wise Woman

The true definition of “witch” is wise woman, a person who would use folk magic and herbal knowledge to help people. But witch-believers did not always see it that way and wise women were always vulnerable to being persecuted as agents of Satan. As the following stories show, Misty had the sense to frequently show the witch as she really was: a wise woman. However, they also show that how the wise woman’s help was received, or even understood, depended very much on how much the protagonist needed – or deserved – her help.

Bookworm

Misty: #99

Artist: Jordi Badia Romero

Reprints: Scream & Misty Halloween Special #2

Joanie Preston is a bookworm, but also a selfish, lazy girl. She wants to live the life of Lady Agatha in a book she is reading, where she can live in ease and comfort and never have to work. She finds a spellbook in Professor Margolis’ collection of forbidden books. She bullies Old Nell, who has a reputation for witchcraft, into helping her cast one of the spells to transport her into the Lady Agatha book. She ignores Old Nell’s warnings that it is evil black magic and can only bring disaster. While Joanie is casting the spell the Professor finds out and tries to intervene. This causes Joanie to take the wrong book into the magic circle – and its title is “Dracula”.

Thoughts

It is curious that although Old Nell warns Joanie that using the black magic will lead to catastrophe, what really causes Joanie’s undoing is her accidentally taking the wrong book into the magic circle. The danger of using black magic might have been more effective if Joanie had gone into  the Lady Agatha book after all, only to find it’s not what she expected – a monkey’s paw sort of thing.

If Only…

Misty: #51

Artist: Carlos Guirado

Poor girl Lois is jealous of rich, spoiled girl Kora, so she visits a witch, Widow Farley. Farley agrees to help because Kora is a girl after her own black heart and Lois deserves the spell.  The spell has Lois and Kora switch bodies. Then Lois finds out too late what Farley really meant by her deserving the spell: Kora was dying, and this is why she was spoiled.

Thoughts

We are told that Widow Farley is a more black-hearted wise woman than the other examples below, but it gets no development. The story would have been fine to leave that part out and have Widow Farley give Lois the spell just to punish her for her jealousy.

Aunt Mary’s Blessing

Misty: #21

Artist: Uncertain

Dying – and creepy – Aunt Mary tells Melody that she has Romany powers, which include precognition, and Melody is to inherit the art. Melody does not want any part of it. After her death, Aunt Mary appears as a ghost to Melody and tells her where to find the box that contains her inheritance. Sensing what is happening, Mum gives Melody a crucifix for protection but a teacher confiscates it. Aunt Mary draws Melody to her house and directs her to dig up a box, which contains a hand. As the hand touches Mary left hand, it crumbles into dust, and Aunt Mary tells Melody she will not see her again. Later, Melody has a premonition that her hospitalised father will be okay, but inwardly adds, while looking at her left hand: “But will I?”

Thoughts

So Melody is fated to inherit Aunt Mary’s powers. But are these powers really evil or is it just a case of people being afraid of something they don’t understand? Aunt Mary sure is creepy, but is she evil? And would Melody inheriting the powers make her evil? Or will Melody find it a great gift that she learns to accept and love? The title does say Aunt Mary’s inheritance is a “blessing” after all.

A Girl’s Best Friend

Misty: #48

Artist: John Richardson

Reprint: as Carla’s Best Friend in Tammy 15 January 1983

Blind Carla and her guide dog meet Old Greta. They are kind to Greta while others avoid her because she says she is a witch. That night Belle slips out to Greta’s house, and Greta realises why Belle has come. Next morning, Carla is astonished and overjoyed to find she has suddenly regained her sight, but then realises Belle is missing. Greta explains that she did use a spell to restore Carla’s sight, but for it to work, someone else has to give up his or her sight in return. Belle made the choice to do so, and now she is blind. Shocked to see Belle blind in her stead, Carla begs Greta to reverse the spell. Greta says Belle will still have a good life as long as Carla reciprocates the love and affection Belle showed her when she was blind. Carla hugs Belle and promises her all the love in the world forever.

Thoughts

This is one of Misty’s most brilliant and moving short stories. Carla regains her sight with the help of the witch, but it’s not a happy ending. It’s a bittersweet ending that leaves us all in tears when we learn the price that has been paid for Carla’s new sight. We cry even more when we learn Belle will stay blind, and will need all the love and help she can get.

The Queen’s Hair

Misty: #43

Artist: Jaume Rumeu

Reprint: Best of Misty 4

Tyrannical Queen Elida administers cruel justice to her subjects and throws them in her dungeons. The real reason for this is that she blames them for an illness that caused her hair to fall out and she has to wear wigs. Elida strikes a bargain with a witch for a spell for new hair. The witch gives Elida a headband that will make her hair grow again, but she must not wear it for more than 24 hours. Elida reneges on the deal and throws the witch into her infamous dungeon.

Although Elida does grow new hair she does not forgive, and she leaves her prisoners in the dungeons to rot while she throws a celebration. But then Elida’s hair starts growing crazily and uncontrollably. She realises it’s because she forgot to remove the headband after 24 hours (we thought that might happen). Elida soon finds there is no way of stopping the super-growing hair or removing the headband. The witch can’t help as she died in Elida’s freezing dungeons. Elida’s angry subjects seize the moment to storm the castle, rescue the prisoners, and exact revenge on Elida. But they find there is no need for revenge because the hair is now engulfing the whole castle and bringing Elida down with it.

Thoughts

As with Old Greta, the witch is the helper. But the witch would have really been able to help Elida if she hadn’t been beyond helping. Growing her hair back was not enough to help Elida. She had grown so cruel and selfish that she was totally beyond redemption, and she was given a chance to redeem herself. Plus she reneged on her bargain with the witch, which was really asking for trouble. We can’t help but wonder if the witch caused Elida to forget to remove the headband in time and it was she who engineered her own death in the dungeons, rather than the cold.

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John Armstrong

Bunty, Creator, Misty

Anyone who has read girls comics will be familiar with John Armstrong’s work. From his long run drawing for Bella at the Bar, strips in cult favorite comic Misty and a run of covers for Bunty in the 1990s, along  with many other strips, he was a prominent contributor to girls comics. Sadly John passed away on 28 August this year. Down the tubes have printed a nice memoriam piece for John which you can read here. Clearly he will be missed, and while John was deserving of more recognition for his work, it is nice to know that he was able to see some of his work reprinted (with credits), with the Rebellion treasury line.  First was the Misty reprint of Moonchild and more recently Tammy’s Bella at the Bar.

                       

Until I started this blog, I wasn’t familiar with creator’s names (due to credits regrettably  not being given) and there are still many unknown, but lucky some have been tracked down. Of course some artists were able to sneak in a signature in the background, so these days it can be like a “Where’s Wally?” looking for Armstrong’s distinct J.A. signature. When I first started reading comics, while I wouldn’t have known his name, Armstrong’s art was instantly recognisable. When I was younger, probably his work for Bunty covers is where I first noticed him, I was fan of The Comp and really liked his depictions of some of my favourite characters. I’ve found more of his work since and it is always top quality. He is maybe best known for his gymnastic stories due to his work on Bella and I recently covered a late Bunty story he did Secret Gymnast.   But he had quite a range, whether it was horse stories, family drama, romance, mystery or historical . His protagonists were often of a working class background and his talent at depicting emotions always came across in the strip. A story from a Bunty annual that stuck with me, is a blind girl that is told by her parents that she is their princess, when she get’s her sight back and sees (in her eyes) that she is not as pretty as a princess she is devastated. Then there was his work on Misty, when I did a list of some of my favourite short stories of that comic, it’s no surprise majority are drawn by him (see that blog post here). There are many other stories that I can see clear in my mind because of his artwork, it would be impossible to pick one favourite, and I can still enjoy reading his old stories (I also look forward to discovering the old stories I haven’t read yet).

 

 

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