Tag Archives: Swimming

Jodie and the Otter [1978]

Emma, Judy, , , , ,
  • Jodie and the Otter –  Emma: #01 (26 February 1978) – #19 (01 July 1978)
  • Jodie and the Otter –  Emma:  #30 (16 September 1978) – #42 (09 December 1978)
  • Jodie and the Otter –  Emma:  #81 (08 Sep. 1979) also printed in Judy: #1026 (08 Sep. 1979) continued in  – Judy and Emma: #1027 (15 September 1979) – #1037 (24 November 1979)

Other Appearances:

  • Jodie and the Otter – Bunty-Judy Summer Special 1980

Notes

  • Before the Emma comic merged with Judy, the first part of a “Jodie and the Otter”  story was published in both the last issue of Emma and the Judy issue #1026. After the merger the story continued in Judy and Emma #1027.
  • Art: Tom Kerr (2nd story)
  • Art: Rodney Sutton (part of 3rd story only, Judy and Emma: #1032  – #1037 and Bunty-Judy Summer Special 1980)
  • Translated into Dutch: Debbie Parade Album #3 (1980) as “Jodie en de otter”

Plot

Jodie and the Otter ran for 3 series, two series in the Emma comic and it survived a merger with Judy to have one more series in that title, as well as appearing in a Bunty-Judy Summer Special issue. In the first series we meet Jodie Masters and her longtime companion, Buster the otter. Jodie lives in a small Canadian town and is a champion swimmer, she is to fly to Toronto to compete in a long distance swimming championships, but disaster happens along the way when the small plane gets in trouble. Jodie bails out of the plane into the Canadian wilderness.  Jodie parachutes to safety and then meets an otter and helps free him from clinging weeds, grateful he decides to join Jodie on her journey and she is glad of the company. Meanwhile, the pilot does manage to land the plane and go for help, and then the search is on for Jodie.

Jodie names the otter, Buster, and the two of them make their way through the wilderness, encountering dangers along the way, such as a mountain lion, rapids, lightning storm, fire, a grizzly bear, rattlesnake, quicksand and a mine collapse! It is the start of a lifelong friendship as Jodie and Buster help each other,  Buster helps find her food, saves her life but also causes trouble when he accidentally sets fire to trappers cabin. Jodie sometimes despairs at her situation, such as when the helicopter sees the cabin but doesn’t see her, but Buster helps to keep her going. Eventually Jodie is rescued and Buster stays with her. Even after all her ordeals she is still determined to attend championship, in two days! Her main rival, Karen, isn’t happy to see her return, and Karen’s manager, notices that Jodie relies on her otter, so plans to use it to their advantage by stealing Buster. On the day of race, Jodie is not doing well as she worries where Buster is. Buster manages to break free and finds his way back to her in the water, giving Jodie the push she needs and she wins the race.

The second story has a different artist, two men, Ackerman and Sapstein, from New York visit Jodie with and opportunity to perform with Buster in a water spectacular show for 3 months. Although Buster takes an instant dislike to the Mr Ackerman, Jodie agrees to do it because she knows money is tight for her parents currently.  When she gets to New York she finds out they want Her and Buster to perform extreme stunts. When she tries to refuse she learns the small print of the contract she signed, said they can use Buster with or without her, so she decides to stay for his sake. She is locked in an apartment and Buster is kept caged in the water dome. As soon as she gets the opportunity she escapes and finds Buster breaks him out. She doesn’t have much money but they ravel as far as they can. But Ackerman and Sapstein, catch up with them and they have to make a run for it again.

She gets help from a farmer but Ackerman has enlisted a gang, known as the Syndicate, to go after her. She manages to make it to the airport and call her parents, they send, their friend, Joe, a helicopter pilot to pick her up, but the gang gets to Joe first and forces him to fly them all to a cabin, where they tie them up to await the arrival of Ackerman and Sapstein. Buster chews through the ropes and Jodie escaped with him, swimming across a lake, with the gang following and shooting at them. They get to an island in the middle of the lake, then, Buster  creates a distraction and Jodie steals the gang’s boat to get back to the mainland and rescues Joe. The police come and when Ackerman and Sapstein arrive to get Jodie and Buster, they are instead arrested and Jodie gets out of her contract. (I should think, kidnapping, hiring gangs and shooting at her would make the contract null and void!)

In the third story Jodie gets an opportunity to go to a training camp for Olympic hopefuls. It is strictly no pets but Buster sneaks into the baggage hold on the bus. Just before they reach their destination, Buster is disturbed and runs off, Jodie spots him and is then worried about him, causing trouble for her in camp as she is distracted. Despite her distraction, she still shows promise, particularly in their practices in natural water. Wen another girl, Angeline, gets in trouble in the water, Jodie rescues her and then catches up with the rest of the girls in practice. The couch is impressed but Angeline is annoyed.

Meanwhile Buster gets into trouble with some hunters but finds an ally in a Native American named Stands Tall. They get caught in storm and Stands Tall is injured by a tree felled by lighting. He is found by hunters and get brought to the nearby camp but Buster runs off. Hearing about the otter that was with the man, Jodie now has hope that he is near. Sneaking out to search for him, finally they are reunited. Jodie tries to keep Buster secret but he causes a mess in the dorm room and scampers off, she has to confess everything to her coach. He doesn’t believe the otter could have traveled so far to find her and thinks she had sneaked him in from the start, he tells her to leave camp for breaking the rules. Stands Tall has recovered and meets Jodie while she is out looking for Buster. They rescue Buster from a Wolverine, and Stands Tall comes back to the camp with Jodie, to corroborate her story, but the coach is not interested in listening. As Jodie packs her bags, Angeline is attacked by a snake, but Buster catches the snake. Grateful, the coach now listens to story and allows Jodie to stay and Buster to be the camp mascot.  Angeline is also grateful and becomes friends with Jodie. Now able to concentrate on her swimming she is pleased when herself and Angeline both qualify for the Olympic team.

Thoughts

After Sue Spiker, this character appeared the most in the short lived Emma comic. It had two sequels, one that was in the merged Judy and Emma comic, with the first episode printed in the last Emma issue as well as Judy to entice readers over. Girls finding wild companions is not unusual, and it does give the artists opportunity to draw some wonderful wildlife details. There are different artists, for  all the stories, and the last looks to be partly done by Rodney Sutton, they all do a good job with the wildlife aspects, though the 2nd artist had some dodgy human expressions in parts! The second story overall is probably the weaker of the three, plot wise as well there is a lot of contrivances, and getting the gang involved in kidnapping for an otter to do some tricks for 3 month show seems a lot more hassle then it’s worth!

The stories are all quite different but adventure is a major theme in all of them. They are entertaining reads, the first and third being my favourites. I like the third had Buster having his own adventure before finding Jodie, while still keeping Jodie’s story line interesting. The first is good at establishing why the two would develop such a strong bond, and is certainly the most exciting adventure. While it only had one series once Emma merged with Judy, it still had a good run with 3 series total and a summer special, again showing that Emma comic had a lot to offer.

 

Sheila in the Swim

Mandy

Plot

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

Notes

Appeared

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

Sally from our Alley

Judy, ,

Plot

Fourteen-year old Sally Owen was training hard to swim the English Channel. If she succeeded, the houses in Bellmont Alley, where she lived, would be given to the tenants. If she failed, the relatives of the late Charles Bellmont, Cyril and Hetty, intended to pull the houses down and sell the land.

Notes

  • Art: Roy Newby (?)

Appeared

  • Sally from our Alley – Judy: #736 (16 February 1974) – #745 (20 April 1974)

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

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

Plot

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

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

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

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

Thoughts

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

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

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

No Swimming for Sarah

Debbie,

Plot

When Sarah, a promising young swimmer, was adopted by the rich Mrs Jones she thought her dreams had come true. That was until Mrs Jones told her the real reason for the adoption was to stop her swimming ever again. But Sarah was determined to keep swimming no matter what the obstacles.

Notes

  • Art: George Martin
  • Reprinted and translated to Dutch as “Sarah kan zwemmen” (“Sarah Can Swim”) – Debbie #30 (1982)

Appeared

  • No Swimming for Sarah – Debbie: #419 (21 February 1981)  – #430 (9 May 1981)

Stella Who? [1965]

Bunty, ,

Plot

Stella is a mystery girl, with even her last name a mystery. She lives alone with her cat Minty at a disused mill. Stella is a brilliant swimmer and her talent is spotted for the British team at the Empire Games. Welfare put Stella in Fairbridge Park, a school for crippled and backward children, and separate her from Minty. Stella runs away to find Minty and has an accident. She gets reunited with Minty, but is sent back to Fairbridge. Mrs Thorne, who is on the Welfare Board, takes Stella in, but this is to stop her being a swimming rival to her daughter Marion. However, Stella’s selector, Jean Roxham, knows about Marion’s hatred of Stella and suspects what is going on.

Notes 

  • Artist: Peter Kay

Appeared

  • Stella Who? – Bunty: circa #375 (20 March 1965) – (?)

Dina’s Desperate Days [1973]

Debbie, ,

Plot

Swimming coach Mary Driver, obsessed with training a champion, blackmails Dina Taylor into a merciless swimming regime to turn her into that champion. Things take an unexpected twist when Dina’s art teacher Mr Wright becomes a more kind-hearted second coach to help Dina with her butterfly stroke, and Driver is forced to agree to it.

Notes

  • Artist: Peter Kay

Appeared

  • Dina’s Desperate Days – Debbie: #12 (5 May 1973) – #31 (15 September 1973)
  • Reprinted – Debbie: #388 (19 July 1980) – #407 (29 November 1980)

Clumsy Clare [1978]

Debbie,

Plot

Clare Dodd is a clumsy girl, but when she and her father go to live on a canal barge, she discovers she has a talent for swimming. Nellie Lee, who lives on a neighbouring boat, is a former swimming champion and offers to coach Clare. But Clare’s clumsiness causes problems, a lot of which are on the amusing side.

Notes

  • Artist: Barrie Mitchell?

Appeared

  • Clumsy Clare – Debbie: # 272 (29  April 1978) – #286 (5 August 1978)