Jinty 27 May 1978

• Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)
• Alley Cat – (artist Rob Lee)
• Winning Birthday Girls! – Competition results (artist Christine Ellingham)
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie) 
• Knight and Day
• Your A-to-Z of Things to Do! – part 2
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden)
• Talking to the Star from “Robin’s Nest” – Tessa Wyatt
• Rinty ‘n’ Jinty
• The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
• Slave of the Swan (artist Guy Peeters) 
• Cathy’s Casebook (artist Terry Aspin)
• Snow in Summer – feature 

Concrete Surfer is set for a face-off against her spiteful cousin Carol in a skateboarding contest. Carol has stolen her skateboard, and in the contest she shows what a brilliant skateboarder she has become. She’ll be very hard to beat. 

Alley Cat is seeing red after being painted with it by an angry artist. But he and the artist sort things out in the end and enjoy a nosh-up together.

In “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, the dreaded grey telegram informing the Peters family that Dad’s been killed in action puts a damper their enjoying the upcoming VE Day celebrations. What’s more, Mum is now the family breadwinner and has to find a job. Her new job as cleaner at a theatre looks set to advance the plot considerably.

Pat Day’s natural mother, now Mrs Knight, hence the “Knight and Day” title, is suddenly demanding her back after four years of abandonment. What’s brought this on? Pat soon finds out it was just so she and her family would qualify for a council flat. Surprise, surprise. Added to that, stepsister Janet’s a bully, and we doubt the parents are much better. 

The Swan’s tricks to ensnare her Slave, the amnesiac Katrina Vale, grow worse and worse. This week she spins a lie that Katrina is a delinquent who burned down an orphanage, which is why she lost her memory, and the Swan’s the only one who will have her. Oh, no! If Katrina and her only helper Sarah fall for this, Katrina will not only be even more ensnared but lose her avenue of help as well.

Clancy on Trial is having a real trial all right, and it’s not just learning to walk again after an accident. No sooner has she arrived at grandfather’s place when she discovers how demanding he is in how he is testing her. At least she is rising to the occasion so far.

In “Cathy’s Casebook”, the demands on Cathy’s doctor father remain as unrelenting as ever, which means the demands on her to help relieve his workload are too. Naturally, new troubles crop up this week, and, as usual, it’s up to Cathy to find a way to sort them out. No peace for the wicked.

The Zodiac Prince sorts out a circus act, but it’s not long before another candidate for his astral gifts appears. This time it’s a girl who’s being cruel to a donkey.

Jinty 20 May 1978

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie) – first episode
• Get in the Swim! – Competition
• Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)
• Knight and Day – first episode
• Your A-to-Z of Things to Do! – part 1
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden) – first episode
• The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
• Slave of the Swan (artist Guy Peeters) 
• Cathy’s Casebook (artist Terry Aspin)
• Snow in Summer – feature 

This issue is an exciting one, for two reasons. First, we have a competition and part 1 of a new pull-out on A-Z of of things to do, so Alley Cat and “Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag!” get bumped to make room for them. Second, three new stories start.

The first new story is a real attention-grabber for using a four-page spread instead of the usual three. It’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, which went on to become one of Jinty’s longest-running serials. It has already proved what a powerful story it’s going to be, as it has knocked “Concrete Surfer” off first spot in the issue, a spot “Concrete Surfer” has enjoyed since its run began. It reunites the Alison Christie/Phil Townsend team from “Stefa’s Heart of Stone” and “Save Old Smokey!” with another emotional serial to warm your heart and make you cry. Dorrie and Max Peters are excited that World War II is about to end, but then comes the dreaded grey telegram, which means their father has been killed in action. And that’s only the first episode. What more could be in store for these kids? 

In the second new story, “Knight and Day”, Pat Day’s mother suddenly wants her back after four years of abandonment and nothing to do with her. Change of heart and wanting to make things up? We’ll be surprised. Unfortunately, social welfare doesn’t see it that way; they’re forcing Pat to go back to her mother when she was so happy with her foster parents. 

The third new story, “Clancy on Trial”, went on to become one of Jinty’s most popular stories, and it’s drawn by Ron Lumsden, which is a bonus. Grandfather has a change of heart about disowning Clancy’s mother over her marriage. For the first time in Clancy’s life, her grandfather is going to have something to do with her and is impressed at how Clancy is determined to walk again after an accident. But it doesn’t look like Clancy’s relationship with her grandfather is going to be an easy one. 

There’s a major development in “Concrete Surfer”, which tells us the story will reach its conclusion soon. After weeks of not being 100% sure whether her cousin Carol really is a smarmy schemer, Jean finally catches her out. But proving the truth about Carol to others is not going to be easy. Also, there’s the matter of Carol stealing Jean’s skateboard to stop her entering a competition.  

The Zodiac Prince reunites a girl with her father, who works as a clown at the circus, and gives her an astral gift to make her a circus star. But this has upset another circus worker, and we’re warned this will lead to big trouble next week.

Investigators come sniffing around in search of Katrina Vale in “Slave of the Swan”, and the Swan is pulling tricks to keep her Slave in her power. It looks like the Swan wins again, but bits of memory are filtering through Katrina’s amnesia. Will it be her key to freedom?

Dad has to defend himself against a charge of neglecting a patient. Or rather, Cathy does the defending for him as he hasn’t got the spirit to fight. She gets Dad off, and the board agrees to help delegate his workload. But of course fresh trouble isn’t far off, and here it is in the last panel – a runaway horse. 

Jinty and Lindy 3 April 1976

Miss No-Name (artist Jim Baikie)

The Jinx from St. Jonah’s (artist Mario Capaldi)

For Peter’s Sake! (artist Ana Rodriguez, writer Alison Christie)

Fran of the Floods (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Alan Davidson)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee) – first episode

The Slave of Form 3B (artist Trini Tinturé)

Friends of the Forest (artist “B. Jackson”)

Bound for Botany Bay (artist Roy Newby)

Save Old Smokey! (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)

Make a Scarf Wardrobe – feature 

It’s April Fools Day this issue, and who better to do the honours than our resident jinx? Katie the Jinx is determined not to be April fooled, but her attempts at foiling April Fool traps only get herself jinxed and in big trouble. Then she finds out she had the date wrong and it’s not April Fool’s Day yet. She’s made an utter fool of herself before the real fooling’s even begun!

Stacey, the evil manipulator in “The Slave of Form 3B”, also makes a fool of herself this week. Her scheme to hypnotise Tania into obtaining the answers for a maths test was only partially successful because a loud noise broke Tania’s trance before she could complete the job. So Stacey’s paper ends up half right (copied answers), half wrong (answers Tania failed to copy, and lazy Stacey hadn’t revised a thing) – giggle! It’s not as foolproof as you thought, eh, Stacey?

The issue also marks the debut of Alley Cat, the street-wise moggy, and the hijinks he has with his rich snooty neighbours, the Muchloots. His first episode appears below. The Alley Cat cartoon strip kept Jinty readers entertained for an impressive 163 episodes. He certainly was a greater success than Penny Crayon, the cartoon strip from the Lindy merger.

It looks like some other new strips are on the horizon as well. This week is the penultimate episode of “Friends of the Forest”, and there’s a hint “Save Old Smokey!” is approaching its resolution. 

Sadly, in “Fran of the Floods”, still nothing on the horizon but that infernal rain and one threat after another because of it. This time it’s a vigilante/cult outfit called Black Circle. 

In both “Miss No-Name” and “Bound for Botany Bay”, our protagonists have run away from their cruel abusers and fallen in with some helpers, but the heat is really on with the pursuit behind them. 

There’s a sad plot turn in “For Peter’s Sake!”. Gran dies, and her last words to Corrie are that there’s something important in the parlour. Now, what’s the important thing Gran has left for Corrie, who’s now all alone in Scotland?

Jinty 1 April 1978

• Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Slave of the Swan (artist Guy Peeters) – first episode
• Waking Nightmare (artist Phil Townsend)
• The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
• Paula’s Puppets (artist Julian Vivas)
• Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon
• Shadow on the Fen (artist Douglas Perry)
• Impossible Dreams! (competition story, writer Katy Buxey, spot illustration artist unknown)
• Darling Clementine (artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie) – final episode
• Grabby Bag – Feature

Now we are in April, so here is Jinty’s 1 April issue for 1978. Strangely, despite the date, there’s no April fooling in it. Not even from Alley Cat, who doesn’t appear at all this week. And instead of having fun on April Fool’s Day, Henrietta the Fun-Bag shows Minnie the Moaner that the good old days are not all they’re cracked up to be, and she should appreciate modern times more. A session in the stocks in the 18th century (as shown on the cover) certainly teaches Minnie that!

However, in Jinty’s new ballet story, “Slave of the Swan”, we have a girl who’s about to be fooled all right, but in a most terrible way. Katrina Vale goes to seek help from Mum’s old friend Rosa Kachinsky after Mum is hospitalised. But she contracts amnesia along the way, and Kachinsky, who has gone from being Mum’s friend to her worst enemy, is all set to take advantage of this when she sees it. 

It’s the final episode of “Darling Clementine”. It’s nice to see it doesn’t end on the cliché of the heroine miraculously rising from her sickbed to win the waterskiing contest and the prize money her dad so badly needs for a country cottage. Instead, she’s not sufficiently recovered from her hospitalisation to be on top form and is placed third, and then it’s the power of the press and human interest stories to the rescue. 

Concrete Surfer Jean’s annoyed that there’s no skateboard park around and wants to do something about it. She’s also trying a lot harder to get along with her relatives, but as she doesn’t trust her cousin Carol, it’s not going to be easy.

Poor Paula! She has seen how the destruction of her father’s factory has made Marnie and her family suffer and is finally learning to look beyond herself. She tries to do something nice for Marnie, but it blows up in her face and makes her enemies worse. And here’s another development – Dad has escaped from prison. 

In “Waking Nightmare”, Phil finally reads what has been in the newspapers about their escape – she’s actually busted a mentally ill girl out of an institution where she was receiving medical treatment. What does she do about it? She and Carol carry straight on, to where Carol’s gran lives – only to find gran isn’t there and the people who are don’t look very nice.

For once, Dad has praise for the Zodiac Prince when he helps a girl to prove herself as a mechanic. 

In “Shadow on the Fen”, our heroines get a nasty shock when the Witchfinder shows up at school as the new archaeology teacher! What’s his game now? Is it connected with the apothecary’s shop being unearthed at the archaeological dig?

Jinty 18 March 1978

• Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Two Mothers for Maggie (artist Jim Baikie)
• Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)
• Waking Nightmare (artist Phil Townsend)
• The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
• The Cat ‘n’ Mouse Story – feature
• Cliff Richard – feature 
• Paula’s Puppets (artist Julian Vivas)
• Shadow on the Fen (artist Douglas Perry)
• Shooting Stars! – feature 
• A Day I Won’t Forget! (competition story, writer Alison Owens, spot illustration artist unknown)
• Darling Clementine (artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie)
• Just Joking
• Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon
• Pick Up a Potato! – Feature

“I need air!” Jean thinks at how her aunt and uncle are fawning and fussing over her smarmy cousin when she dresses up for the theatre. Barf bags might be in order too. Blechh! 

Spotty Muchloot’s put in charge of minding his dad’s prize sunflowers, but he prefers to mess with Alley Cat. The results are the sunflowers coming a cropper and Spotty being kicked out of the house. Now wishing you’d stuck to the sunflowers, Spotty?

In “Waking Nightmare”, Phil plunges even deeper into the nightmare when Carol takes another strange turn, causing her to take a nasty plunge over some hills. What’s more, Carol’s conduct has caused Phil to lose her suitcase and most of her money on a bus. That would be a vital clue to anyone looking for them.

Can “Paula’s Puppets” be used for good when they’ve only been used for revenge so far? This week, Paula puts it to the test. She uses their power to see if it gets Lindy, who’s in a coma because of it, to recover. But Paula doesn’t realise that while she’s doing it, one of her enemies is spying on her.

Meanwhile, Ella succeeds in bringing Clem out of her coma despite Val Lester’s tricks to stop her. Will she finally be able to prove it was Val and not her who was responsible for Clem’s accident?

Sue wishes she and her friends are on Cloud 9. Oh dear, watch what you wish for when your fun-bag’s around, Sue! 

“Two Mothers for Maggie” reaches its penultimate episode. Maggie goes all out to help Miss Keyes make a go of the rundown theatre she’s bought over, and the results are promising. But what’s Mum, who’s never liked Miss Keyes, going to say about her return? And so the stage is set for the final episode.

In “Shadow on the Fen”, our protagonists clash with hoons, and things get worse when the Witchfinder recruits their help to destroy the witch ball, which is their protection against him. He fails this time, but he’ll try again, of course.

The Zodiac Prince and Shrimp decide to move – only it looks like they’re moving on straight into more trouble. The Zodiac Prince looks like he’s about to run someone over!

Jinty 11 March 1978

Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)

Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Two Mothers for Maggie (artist Jim Baikie)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Waking Nightmare (artist Phil Townsend)

The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)

Feature – Say “Please” to the Pleasers!

Paula’s Puppets (artist Julian Vivas)

Shadow on the Fen (artist Douglas Perry)

Just Joking

The Church Mice (competition story, writer Rosalind Savage, spot illustration artist Paul White)

Darling Clementine (artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie)

Get It Taped! – Feature

For this March issue we’ve got a fun cover, with fun with skateboarding and fun with juggling. And inside, Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag uses a spell to teach a stuffy man about fun.

Concrete Surfer Jean writes an essay on skateboarding, and is surprised to find teach liked it better than smarmy cousin Carol’s. Jean’s delighted to have triumphed over her sneaky cousin at last. Or has she? We know all too well that Carol will pull a fast one to stay top dog if her nose gets put out of joint. 

In “Darling Clementine”, it’s now well and truly the end of Ella trying to win the waterskiing competition on Clem’s behalf. She turns to getting Clem out of the coma, but Val Lester, the girl responsible for Clem’s condition, is pulling dirty tricks to stop her. 

Phil continues to protect Carol in “Waking Nightmare”, but it’s marred by Carol having strange mood swings between hysterics and happiness. A headline, which says a sick girl is missing, could explain things, but Phil fails to notice it. 

The Zodiac Prince uses the power of the Zodiac wheel to give hopeless girls new talents, but soon finds it wasn’t the way to help them. They’ve gotten cocky and carried away with their new gifts, which has led to trouble. Can the Zodiac Prince find a way to put things right?

In “Two Mothers for Maggie”, Maggie tracks down Miss Keyes after she disappeared in the previous issue, but is shocked to find her cleaning in a rundown theatre. 

A man throws a cricket ball at Alley Cat for disturbing his sleep when poor Alley Cat wasn’t even doing it. It all rebounds on the man when the ball goes his neighbour’s way instead. 

Speaking of balls, in “Shadow on the Fen”, the girls find a witch ball can ward off the Witchfinder. Now that’s a funny twist – weren’t witch balls supposed to ward off witches? 

After the power of the puppets causes an accident, Paula vows never to use them again. But she soon finds that the temptation to use them is hard to resist, not only because so many people are against her but also because the puppets won’t be destroyed.

Jinty 4 March 1978

Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)

Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Two Mothers for Maggie (artist Jim Baikie)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Waking Nightmare (artist Phil Townsend)

The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)

Feature – Lewis Collins…a British “Hutch”?

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

Paula’s Puppets (artist Julian Vivas)

Shadow on the Fen (artist Douglas Perry)

Just Joking

Leonora (competition prize story, writer Christine Foreman, spot illustration Terry Aspin)

Darling Clementine (artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie)

For Mum…On Her Day! – Feature

It’s now March, so we present some March issues from Jinty. Mother’s Day (UK) is coming up, and in this issue, Jinty gives instructions on how to make a gift for her. 

In Concrete Surfer, Jean’s trouble with her smarmy cousin Carol worsens. Jean has overheard Carol telling her parents something she didn’t want Jean to know about, but Jean couldn’t pick up what. There can be no doubt this is a gun in Scene 1 that is set to go off in Scene 3, and when it does, it will spell more trouble for Jean. Later, Jean’s hopes are raised that smarmy Carol will be caught out at last, but we wouldn’t bank on it. Not until the final episode, Jean, and that’s not for some episodes yet. 

Concrete Surfer must have started a skateboarding craze. Alley Cat’s arch-enemy Spotty Muchloot has caught the bug, and his skateboarding is making him even more of a pest than usual for Alley Cat. But of course Alley Cat turns the tables on him and his skateboard in the end. 

In a fit of pique, Sue tells her fun-bag she’ll have better luck without her around. Now that really is asking for a spell of bad luck – literally. 

In “Two Mothers for Maggie” Maggie finds that one of her mothers, Miss Keyes, has put up her house for sale. Is it just one mother for her now?

Phil continues to hide Carol from the authorities although something’s now telling her that she should be checking things out more. As the two continue to travel together, it’s not only instinct that makes Phil uneasy – it’s Carol’s strange conduct as well. 

The Zodiac Prince learns a few lessons about Earth food this week – like bath soap is not a food. Fortunately, he’s stopped before he gets a mouthful of soap, and later it’s his astral power to the rescue in cooking up a feast. 

Paula uses the power of the puppets to get revenge on the people who are bullying her because of her jailed father. But the inevitable happens – it goes too far and now a girl’s injured because of it. This looks like the shock Paula badly needs to snap her out of her selfishness and set her on the path to redemption that is also part of the narrative. 

The Witchfinder in “Shadow on the Fen” also causes a nasty accident, at an archaeological dig, which has unearthed a 17th century apothecary’s shop. A clear sign that our heroines are sniffing too close to something.

In “Darling Clementine”, Ella sprains her ankle, which puts paid to her entering the water-skiing heats on Clem’s behalf. She’s braving it all the same, but is her ankle up to it?

Tammy 19 February 1983

Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)

E.T. Estate (artist Guy Peeters, writer Jake Adams)

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)

Into the Fourth at Trebizon (artist Diane Gabbot(t), writer Anne Digby) – text adaptation

Just Like a Child… – complete story, repeated from Strange Stories

Heart to Heart Hints (Mari L’Anson) – Valentine feature

The Crayzees (artist Joe Collins) 

Happy Valentine’s Day (writer Maureen Spurgeon) – quiz 

Nanny Young (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Maureen Spurgeon)

Cuckoo in the Nest (artist Tony Coleman, writer Ian Mennell)

Goodies – Valentine’s Day cookery feature

For Valentine’s Day, here is the Valentine issue from Tammy 1983, an issue that is now 40 years old this year. Happy 40th!

Inside, we have plenty of Valentine features, including a Valentine’s Day story from “The Crazyees”. You would think The Button Box would have joined Valentine’s Day with a love story from the button box, but instead it’s a button story about Elizabeth II’s coronation.

Setting the Valentine theme off is a most beautiful Valentine’s Day cover, one of my favourites, with Tammy’s resident features: Bella, Pam of Pond Hill and The Button Box. It also features what must be the most extraordinary story ever in girls’ comics: “Cuckoo in the Nest”. There are loads of Cinderella stories, slave stories, animal stories, sports stories and SF stories, but you surely won’t find another serial like this in girls’ comics. Love it or hate it, you can never forget it. Why? It has a boy, Leslie Dodds, as the main protagonist, no less. Also, he is masquerading as a girl at a boarding school, would you believe? The reason for it is bit complicated to explain here, but maybe there’ll be an entry on this one at some point. So we have a boy who has to learn hard and fast about the girls’ world to keep up his masquerade, and the girl readership gets a taste of the boys’ world into the bargain. No doubt the closet male readership enjoyed this story too, along with the footy that’s in it. The story is now on its penultimate episode, which ends on the note that the game is now well and truly up for Leslie, and there’s no place to hide.

Still on the subject of masquerades, aliens are taking over “E.T. Estate” (and then Earth, of course) by switching all the people with themselves as doubles. They try to do this with Jenny Holmes, the only girl who knows what they’re up to. However, this time a weakness comes into play, which causes it to fail. But then Jenny discovers her parents have been switched. How? These aliens may be able to duplicate the human beings they replace, but boy, are they lousy actors! Their impostures would make the “Cuckoo in the Nest” look professional by comparison. Another weakness exposed. 

Bella’s current job is gymnastics instructor. There’s nothing new about that, but this time she’s doing it in an Islamic country where teaching oppressed Muslim girls gymnastics gets her caught right up in a modernism versus fundamentalism clash, with an usurper taking advantage to overthrow the Shah Bella works for. Shades of Iran! Right now, Bella’s retelling her pupils the story of how she taught gymnastics in Australia. However, the flashback doesn’t quite square with the original 1978 print. Either there’s something wrong with Bella’s memory or there’s some cavalier editing here. 

In Pam of Pond Hill, Tess Bradshaw has gone crazy over synchro swimming. However, an unfair ban (now lifted) on Pond Hill pupils using the public swimming baths at any time and now a clash of instructors have been causing problems. But that is nothing compared with Tess’s biggest problem: her nonstop yakking and bragging about synchro, which constantly annoys everyone if it doesn’t put them off her.

“Just Like a Child…” (reprinted from Strange Stories, with text boxes replacing the Storyteller) is a cautionary tale not to be too quick to dispose of your old childhood treasures, just because you think you’re past them. You never know, as Andrea Owen finds out when she is a little too zealous to switch from toys to teen stuff, only to find that one toy won’t be got rid of that easily. 

In Nanny Young, there’s a fake ghost called Sir Roger when the residents of rundown Manor Towers play ‘ghost’ to get publicity to save the manor (which backfires). It might be coincidence, but could this be a reference to Sir Roger from “Gaye’s Gloomy Ghost”? 

Jinty 2 December 1978

The Girl Who Never Was (artist Terry Aspin)

Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

No Cheers for Cherry (artist Phil Gascoine)

Let’s Go Nuts! Cookery feature

Jinty’s Top-Model Game – feature 

She Shall Have Music (artist Ron Smith)

Sea Sister (artist Peter Wilkes)

Fran’ll Fix It! (artist Jim Baikie)

The Human Zoo (artist Guy Peeters, writer Malcolm Shaw)

Home-made Christmas cards – feature 

It is now December, and Jinty is starting off the countdown to the festive season with a feature on how to make your own Christmas cards. Sadly, the rest of her Christmas countdown got cut off by a strike, causing her to miss three issues that December. In the New Year, Jinty belatedly printed the episode of Fran’s Christmas party, which must have been intended for the Christmas issue. Strangely, Tammy was not affected and had all her issues that month. Perhaps the IPC strikes did not affect their titles all the same way.

As we see on the cover, things are getting stormy in “Sea Sister”, and she’s not the only serial with it this week. Storms and floods are turning the tide in both “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “The Human Zoo” and helping our heroes to escape their respective confinements. In the former, it’s a cruel children’s home. In the latter, it’s an alien lab, which is also demonstrating that the aliens, so advanced compared to Earth, are light-years behind Earth when it comes to a flood crisis. Their technology is not made for water except in avoiding it. There’s no water drainage, no boating vessels, no flood control, no rain gear or umbrellas. They can’t even swim although they have seen it from humans. All because they are afraid of water, presumably because of their evolution.  

The Girl Who Never Was is given some magic spells to help her survive in the magic world, but there are drawbacks. The biggest one is a limit on the number of spells, so Tina has to really use her head in how she uses them – or avoid wasting them. Will it help the selfish Tina acquire the good sense she badly needs?

In “She Shall Have Music”, good sense is still very far from Lisa’s thinking. Her parents have given her an electronic piano so at least she has something for piano practice, but the arrogant Lisa considers it way beneath her and angrily kicks it to pieces like the spoiled brat she is. Her parents are deeply hurt, but all she can think about is piano, piano, piano. Then she tracks down her original piano, which is going up for auction. Knowing how obsessive she is about getting that piano back, this can only mean more trouble. 

Sue and her fun-bag are annoyed at how Aunt Thora goes on and on at how you should spread a little happiness wherever you go and keep a smile on your face at all times…with Henrietta around, that is asking for it!

In Alley Cat, Spotty Muchloot thinks he’s foiled Alley Cat at last when he bells the cat, but it backfires on him because of unforeseen consequences.

Fran plays Dick Turpin and “ghost” to keep a horse safe from crooks, but they track her and the horse down all the same. Better come up with something fast to fix them, Fran!

Cherry’s luck finally seems to have changed, with a big chance that could finally break her free of the relatives that she doesn’t even realise are exploiting her. But we’re not counting our chickens with her still in the clutches of those sneaky relatives.

Jinty 18 November 1978

The Girl Who Never Was (artist Terry Aspin)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Limerick Winners – contest results

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)

No Cheers for Cherry (artist Phil Gascoine)

Welcome to…Rainbow Corner! – Feature 

Shadow Games – Feature

She Shall Have Music (artist Ron Smith)

Sea Sister (artist Peter Wilkes)

Fran’ll Fix It! (artist Jim Baikie)

The Human Zoo (artist Guy Peeters, writer Malcolm Shaw)

Biscuit bonanza – feature

Fran sure deserves the cover spot this week because of her latest potty antic – landing a horse she’s trying to protect in the school swimming pool! She’s really excelled herself this time. 

Spotty Muchloot pulls another trick on Alley Cat, this time to keep him tracked and stop him pinching his food. But of course Alley Cat’s fast to detect it and turn the tables on Spotty. 

Tina (The Girl Who Never Was) and Lisa (She Shall Have Music) continue to make their difficult situations even more difficult for themselves because of their selfish attitudes, because of which they can’t see beyond themselves or realise there could be different ways to handle their situations. At the end of it, it looks like Lisa’s in trouble in front of the whole school, but there’s a strange development for Tina. 

This week, our space aliens in “The Human Zoo” demonstrate that in some ways, they are not as advanced as we first thought, and Earth has the upper hand over them in some areas. Shona and her friend Laika glimpse the aliens’ farming methods – which is done by hand ploughs and tools, and captured humans as (cruelly treated) beasts of burden – while Earth, far less advanced, has long since gone over to mechanised farming in developed nations. These aliens have the flying saucer, food replicator robots, a time machine and the flying skateboard, but they don’t have the frikkin’ tractor?! The logic to it is that farming machines would need repair and maintenance, whereas slave humans can be quickly replaced. Oh? For how much longer? The aliens are driving native humans to extinction, and it is getting too expensive to take ones from Earth. Considering how efficient and cost-effective Earth’s mechanised agriculture is by comparison, these aliens would do well to take a leaf or two out of our book. Well, on to the alien city, where things take a surprising but weird twist in Shona’s search for her lost sister Jenny. 

A police cell? That’s the latest shelter for our runaway orphans in search of the home “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, as the police haven’t anywhere else to put them. Don’t worry, the door’s not locked. The police have to do their duty and send them back where they started, but our orphans are working – well, singing – their way to the policemen’s hearts. 

Cherry gets an audition, but whether by accident or design, her mercenary relatives have dolled her up to such ridiculous levels that Cherry’s not on form for it. Can she recover and turn things around, or will there be no cheers for her again?

“Sea Sister” finds the stone she came for. The trouble is, it’s been set into a wall to fix a hole. And she’s growing attached to her new friend, Jane Bush, but she can only stay until she retrieves the stone. Things are definitely getting problematic.