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 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 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?

Jinty 9 February 1980

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

Gaye’s Gloomy Ghost (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Spirit of the Lake (artist Phil Townsend, writer Benita Brown?)

The Perfect Princess (artist Trini Tinturé)

The Chamois Trail (artist Bill Mainwaring) – Gypsy Rose story

Alley Cat – Rob Lee

Toni on Trial (artist Terry Aspin)

Sports Pages – featuring Martina Navratilova

Winning Ways 5 (writer Benita Brown)

White Water (artist Jim Baikie)

When Statues Walk… (artist Phil Gascoine)

Spring Greenery – feature 

This week’s Gypsy Rose story (recycled from Strange Stories), brings readers some Bill Mainwaring artwork. The tale takes us to the Swiss Alps, where a trail of chamois carved on the mountains takes a mysterious hand in saving lives, and we’re left wondering if the spirit of the man who carved them take a hand also.

In “When Statues Walk…”, Laura discovers how to get into the cavern where these walking Viking statues are holding the captive princess, and plans for rescuing her are coming together.  

In “The Perfect Princess”, Princess Victoria’s latest trick almost gets rid of Sally, but she survives to fight another day. Victoria gets locked up in a tower for her conduct, and things backfire on her when she tries a cannon escape (obviously, her dumb father didn’t thoroughly check out the tower for all possible means of escape). Meanwhile, Sally’s imposture is in danger of discovery when her foster parents send a message that they are coming to visit. She has thought of something, and so far, it is working. But the next episode will tell.

The dragon hijinks continue in “Gaye’s Gloomy Ghost”, with Sir Roger playing St George to slay a dragon, which is actually people dressed up. Though he got things wrong, it has the benefit of taming another dragon – a dragon teacher – when he accidentally takes off her skirt with his lance, and everyone is laughing at the sight of her bloomers! 

Pam of Pond Hill contributes to the increased sports presence in Jinty with her current story, where Marty Michaels’ interfering sister Trina becomes her self-appointed sports coach. Talk about bossy! Trina ought to be in the Army. Worse, Mum and Dad are actually encouraging Miss Bossyboots and her bright ideas for training Marty. Then comes another complication: Marty disobeys teacher’s orders and takes a secret spring on the new school trampoline, but soon pays the price for her infraction when she hits her back on the trampoline. Ouch! That bang looks serious.

In the other sports stories:

Toni now realises she has an enemy sabotaging her at the sports club, but with so many people against her because of her mother’s disgrace, the suspects are many. She reaches breaking point and runs away – but it looks like she’s run straight into danger. 

Sneaky Cynthia’s accident (unwittingly caused by “The Spirit of the Lake”) is definitely making things difficult for Karen. Cynthia is unconscious, and Karen’s dreading what she will say about the accident when she wakes up. But the story has given us another beautiful cover.

Bridie finally gets a canoe, which was going second-hand, but only on deposit. She has to raise the rest of the money, but how? 

Jinty 2 February 1980

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

Gaye’s Gloomy Ghost (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Spirit of the Lake (artist Phil Townsend, writer Benita Brown?)

The Perfect Princess (artist Trini Tinturé)

House of Ghosts (artist Robert MacGillivray) – Gypsy Rose story

Toni on Trial (artist Terry Aspin)

Sports Pages – featuring Karen Witt

Winning Ways 4 (writer Benita Brown)

White Water (artist Jim Baikie)

When Statues Walk… (artist Phil Gascoine)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

In this issue, Alley Cat and Gypsy Rose return for 1980. This week’s Gypsy Rose story (recycled from Strange Stories) brings readers some Robert MacGillivray artwork, which has not been seen in Jinty since “Desert Island Daisy”.

It looks like Laura’s task is to liberate a captive Viking princess in “When Statues Walk…” from these walking Viking clay statues. Another one of them gets broken, and Laura is worried a teacher will discover the secret if she puts the pieces together. 

In “The Perfect Princess”, bratty Princess Victoria gets rid of another rival, Isabella. Sally, the remaining rival, is pleased about that, as Isabella was the favourite. But she doesn’t realise Victoria plans to get rid of her next by making it look like she pulled that trick on Isabella.

Dragon hijinks abound in “Gaye’s Gloomy Ghost”. First it’s a dragon teacher, and now Roger’s playing St George with some visitors dressed as a Chinese dragon.

The latest Pam of Pond Hill story adds to the increasing presence of sport in Jinty. Marty Michaels has a big problem: her sister Trina, who goes overboard with crazes, and thinks she either knows it all or can gain it from books. Trina’s latest craze is to become an athlete. Although she eventually realises it’s not for her, it’s the immediate springboard to her next craze: interfering with Marty’s athletics by becoming her self-appointed trainer. Marty thinks this sounds ominous, and she can only be right. We doubt books alone would make anyone a good sports trainer.

In the other sports stories:

Sneaky Cynthia is doing a stakeout to find out what this accelerated learning is that’s turning Karen into a brilliant ice-skater. Of course she can’t see “The Spirit of the Lake”, who’s giving Karen coaching – and as a result, she gets a shock that causes her to have an accident. This could make things awkward for Karen. 

More sabotage for “Toni on Trial” from jealous Julie. This week, she loosens the spikes in Toni’s shoes, and when Toni falls on top of her as a result, she accuses Toni of doing so on purpose. And with so many people thinking badly of Toni because of her mother’s disgrace, it’s all too easy for the accusation to gain traction.

And finally, Bridie has to resort to some “equal rights for women” arguing to get into a canoe club for Boy Scouts. They make their own canoes, which could give her the canoe she needs, but then she discovers there’s a snag – their canoes are for troop use only.

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. 

Jinty 4 February 1978

Come Into My Parlour – artist Douglas Perry

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

Two Mothers for Maggie – Jim Baikie

Alley Cat – artist Rob Lee

Waking Nightmare– Phil Townsend

Concrete Surfer – artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills

The Jam – feature 

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

Paula’s Puppets (first episode) – artist Julian Vivas

Land of No Tears – artist Guy Peeters, writer Pat Mills

Darling Clementine – artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie

You Really Take the Biscuit! – feature

In this issue, two stories are clearly on their penultimate episodes: “Come Into My Parlour” and “Land of No Tears”.

In the former, Mother Heggerty’s spell forces Jody to set fire to the Kings’ store. But she’s been caught in the act. She could be facing criminal charges, but the blurb for next week says fire will strike at something else other than the store. Maybe someone is going to burn the old witch at the stake or something?

In the latter, Cassy comes close to losing the vital swimming marathon the Gamma Girls need to win because of a forced bargain with the ruthless Perfecta. Fortunately Perfecta injures herself from over-exertion in the race and drops out, freeing Cassy from all that and enabling her to catch up in the nick of time. Everyone is cheering her on, much to the villainous Hive Inspector’s chagrin. His response to secret helper Miss Norm’s delight in Cassy catching up – “What do you mean, Miss Norm? It’s a disgrace!” – cracks me up every time. Now Cassy is duking out the final length with two others and it’s so close. Everyone except the Hive Inspector and Perfecta is on the edge of their seats to see if Cassy will win. 

“Two Mothers for Maggie” looks like it could be nearing its end as well. Mum is critically ill. It looks like the crisis has actually aroused a bit of conscience in Maggie’s horrible stepfather, but he’s not treating Maggie any better because of it. 

A new story starts, “Paula’s Puppets”. Paula Richards is a spoiled, selfish girl whose rocky road to redemption starts when her father’s toy factory burns down and he is arrested for it. Her life turns upside-down while he protests his innocence. We believe him though nobody else does, but we know the poor bloke’s going to go down for it. Meanwhile, Paula finds some weird puppets at the burned-out factory, which seem to possess some kind of power. 

People should really watch what they say with Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag around. Two pitying women whisper what an “absolute dragon” poor Jenny’s got for an aunt and she needs a knight in shining armour. Henrietta obliges, but she has taken it a bit literally and hijinks ensue. But of course it sorts out the old dragon.

Ella is not making much progress with her training for the waterskiing event she wants to win for her family, nor with convincing others she was not to blame for her cousin Clem’s accident. Then Ella makes progress with something else – finding the girl who really caused Clem’s accident. But when she confronts the girl, the miscreant makes it clear she is not going to own up and clear Ella’s name. 

Alley Cat gets freebies from the sausage factory, but trust Spotty Muchloot to make trouble. Fortunately it all turns to the advantage of the factory and Alley Cat is rewarded, much to Spotty’s consternation.

Phil is trying to work out how break into Hardacre House, where she believes Carol is being held prisoner. It’s still very odd that Carol’s family clam up about it. It gets even odder when Phil learns Hardacre House and its owners are very mysterious, and she does not like the look of them when she sees them. After an accident with a tractor she is finally inside. The blurb for next week hints she will not like the look of what she finds there either.

Skateboarding is the only thing that gives Concrete Surfer Jean Everidge the upper hand over her smarmy cousin Carol. Jean’s about to start her new school with Carol, but the leadup to it is not going well, and Jean senses Carol is behind it.