Girl & Tammy 25 August 1984 – (non) merger issue

The Return of Splat! (photostory sequel) – first episode

Olly Decides! (artist Trini Tinturé) – complete story

Let’s Go Pop! – feature 

Wham! – Pullout 

Village of Shame (photostory)

Patty’s World (artist Purita Campos)

The Final Curtain (photostory) – final episode

Help Me! – Problem Page

For the final issue in our Tammy August round, welcome to the Girl and Tammy non-merger issue on 25 August 1984. This is the issue where Tammy would have properly merged with Girl if not for the strike that cut her off on 23 June 1984. 

Instead of a proper merger, all that appears is the Tammy logo. There is no Tammy content anywhere in the issue. It’s business as usual for Girl. Girl readers must have wondered what the Tammy logo was doing there, and where the hell Tammy was inside if she was merging with Girl. On the cover here, something is written in pencil: “first combined issue”. From this, it is confirmed the official cancellation of Tammy was set for 18 August 1984 with issue 699. A new photo story starts this issue, possibly to replace whatever had been planned from Tammy.

What the final issue of Tammy would have looked like can only remain forever in speculation. As there was not much room in Girl for the Tammy merger, it is fair to deduce that everything in Tammy would have finished by the final issue, with probably Bella Barlow and/or Pam of Pond Hill carrying on in Girl. How long either of them or anything else from Tammy would have lasted in Girl is anyone’s guess, especially as Girl was given a total makeover on 6 October 1984.

The Tammy logo appeared on the Girl cover, denoting the token merger, until 29 September 1984. Then a new look Girl was launched.

Princess II, 24 December 1983

• The Last Christmas Carol (artist Purita Campos) – complete story
• The Grovel Game – feature (artist Joe Collins)
• The Ghostly Ballerina (photo story)
• Fairy Tale (artist Julio Bosch)
• Best of Friends… (photo story) – first episode
• Cinders on Ice (artist unknown) – final episode
• Sadie-in-Waiting (artist Joe Collins)

 

More Princess II’s have been added to my collection. Christmas may have been a couple of months ago, but here is Princess II’s one and only Christmas issue anyway.

Leading off the cover is a complete Christmas story from Purita Campos. Sue and Jill Crawley are new to the neighbourhood and feel lonely. They go out carol singing for charity, which turns into a spooky time travel trip to the Blitz. They give an old lady her final Christmas carol and return with souvenirs of the 1940s.

Christmas carolling does wonders on Grovel too. He’s pressganged into being Santa Claus but is more like the Grinch until Christmas carols work some Christmas magic on him and he starts enjoying himself. We can also play “The Grovel Game”, where the objective is to be the first to give Princess Bee her presents, but Grovel is trying to stop you.

There is also a Christmas dinner in “Cinders on Ice” to celebrate the fairytale ending we all expected. Yep, that story was definitely written to tie up with the Christmas issue.

The Ghostly Ballerina gives Clare Thomas the power to dance brilliantly, and everyone is surprised at the sudden improvement. But it is obvious that the power comes at an unpleasant price, which starts with it turning Clare’s friend Sonja against her.

Fairy tales get screwed up and turned on their heads in “Fairy Tale”. This week it’s a dotty old genie who is hard of hearing and can’t hear wishes properly – or even hear if what people say really is a wish. As a result, our protagonists get unwanted hair length and now they look like Rapunzels.

In the new photo story, Lizzie and Katie are “Best of Friends”. Then the old “three’s a crowd” comes in between them when new girl Linda comes along, and Katie’s in tears.

Princess Tina 27 May 1972

Cover artist: Purita Campos

• Stop ‘n’ Chat with the Tina Gang (writers Linda, Jeffy (Jennifer) and Horace) – feature
• Patty’s World (artist Purita Campos, writer Phillip Douglas)
• Clueless – the blunderdog (artist John Richardson)
• No Swimming Allowed! (artist Santiago Hernandez)
• Pop People (feature)
• Princess Tina cookbook cover – feature
• Briony Andrews (artist Rodrigo Comos) final episode
• Ross – Student Nurse (artist Colin Merrett)
• The Happy Days (artist Andrew Wilson, writer Jenny Butterworth)
• Summer Line-up (feature)
• Problem Pony (artist Edmond Ripoll)
• Freedom Island (artist Juan Solé Puyal)
• Fifty Tote Bags to Win! (competition)
• Make this with Jeffy (real name Jennifer) – feature
• Princess Tina Cook Book – feature
• Flower Arranging – feature
• Janey (writer Jemma) – text story
• “Fire!” (by Horace) – text story
• Jinny below Stairs (artist Julian Vivas)
• Tina Aims for the Top! (artist Candido Ruiz Pueyo)
• Tell us about it – letters page

We continue our exploration of older titles with a look at Princess Tina. Princess Tina started on 23 September 1967 by merging Princess (first series) and Tina. Well, it makes more sense than “Princess & Tina”. In 1973 Princess Tina merged into Pink (best remembered for Sugar Jones, the scheming celebrity you love to hate, though you have to love her for being a sex symbol). 

Princess Tina is a larger size than her contemporary sisters. Princess Tina is also striking for giving credit to some of her writers and her creative teams. These tend to be the writers who write features such as Jeffy (Jennifer), who puts up cut-out dress patterns and text stories, and Horace, writer of the Horace Scope (horror scope). Now that is a nice touch, showing a human face to the creative team. There are even photos of these writers attached to the features. Horace also took part in the artwork; Stop ‘n’ Chat says he painted the cover you can cut out for the Princess Tina cookbook (which has been removed from this copy).

(click thru)

 

The Princess Tina covers were drawn by Purita Campos and featured happy girls doing very happy, everyday things; in this case they are eating watermelon. Many Princess Tina covers found their way into reprints on other covers, such as the Katy series and the Dutch Tina.

Princess Tina is best remembered for Patty’s World and The Happy Days. This particular issue is the last to feature Patty’s World in black-and-white. Next issue Patty is going to be produced in colour, “in all its shades from happy sunshine yellow to the blues”. Ooh, nice! In the story itself, Patty is looking forward to leading a majorette’s parade but has to cancel out because of a funeral. At least such a sombre thing should be out of the way in time for Patty to start enjoying her colour episodes.

In “The Happy Days” Sue has to find a missing will but the dog has torn it up. Let’s hope the dog hasn’t eaten it too! At least trying to find the dog helps a man in trouble.

In this issue, John Richardson makes one of four appearances as filler artist for “Clueless – the Blunderdog”. The other dates Richardson drew Clueless are 22 April, 29 April and 15 July 1972. The Richardson artwork for Clueless in this issue appears below.

“No Swimming Allowed!” is, as you might expect, an unreasonable ban on swimming. In this case it’s a headmistress imposing it on an entire school (because her fiancé drowned) instead of a parent or guardian imposing it on the protagonist. Of course the swimming continues in secret, with help from a surprising source: an aristocrat named Lady Squires. She and her husband have wangled it so the team will compete for the junior swimming trophy match, but the unpleasant head girl is suspicious.

Briony Andrews, a shy but good-natured girl who has elevated from “country mouse” to a confident model, finishes her story this week. But next week she starts another, “Designed for Danger”, so she must have been popular.

Jan Ross, a student nurse, is wrongly dismissed thanks to a forgetful nurse, Sister Mott. But now she finds Mott’s forgetfulness is having even more dangerous consequences: forgetting the warning that her car brakes are bust – and now she’s driving it!

“Problem Pony” is such a problem that Hazel Green has run away with him. His problem is that nobody can ride him unless his dog pal, Dodger, is near him. Then, when Dodger runs off, problem pony does the same. This will most certainly mean he will gallop into trouble.

“Freedom Island” is home to a school where children of UN delegates can be free. All the same, one girl, Pauline, is unhappy and sets off – in shark-invested waters. Even after being rescued from all those sharks, Pauline just won’t say why she tried to run off.

Jinny below Stairs is a good-natured maid who agrees to help a fellow maid, Mary, hide her brother Bert, who is on the run from the police. But doing so gets her into trouble and she is now in danger of being sacked. Then there is even worse danger – Bert is forced to come up to the house and it looks like the horrible housekeeper is about to catch them all red-handed.

In “Tina Aims for the Top!”, Tina has been ordered to find out why girls are leaving an office training course at Maire Castle. Tina suspects it is because the trainer, Fay Petrie, is up to tricks. Caught snooping in Fay’s office, Tina has no choice but to confront her with her suspicions. What is Fay going to say next week?

Princess II, #6, 29 October 1983

• Their Darling Daughter… (artist Bert Hill) – final episode
• Mr Evans the Talking Rabbit (photo story)
• Ring of Feathers (artist Santiago Hernandez)
• Miranda’s Magic Dragon (Carlos Freixas)
• Stairway to the Stars (photo story)
• Farthings’ Flight (artist Hugo D’Adderio) – first episode
• The Princess Diana story part 6
• Mini Princess Diana Pinus
• Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)
• Fun Fair (puzzles)

Ever since #1, Princess had used selections of letters from her sister comic Girl for her letters page. From this issue she stops saying she is using Girl letters, so she must have been receiving enough letters to start printing her own.

It’s the Halloween issue, but only Sadie in Waiting honours it. Princess Bee is hosting a fancy dress party for Halloween. Grovel is grumbling because he hates Halloween. He hates it even more after he mistakenly attacks Princess Bee (dressed as a gorilla) as SuperGrovel and does mountains of washing up as a punishment.

“Their Darling Daughter” is the cover story, probably because this is the final episode, making it the second to be ejected from Princess’s first lineup. For some reason the title has ellipsis points, which it did not have in the other episodes. Perhaps it’s because of how everything resolves. Up until this point the impression was Mrs Crooks was plotting against Sylvie out of loyalty to the late Rachel. But then Sylvie finds out the real reason: Rachel was really Mrs Crooks’ daughter and Sylvie is really the Townes’ daughter. Mrs Crooks had switched them at birth so Rachel would lead an aristocratic life. Once discovered, Mrs Crooks goes fully insane and sets out to burn the whole house down while taking herself and the bound and gagged Sylvie in it!

In “Mr Evans the Talking Rabbit” Dad’s too overcome with grief over his wife to do a show. Jenny calls upon Mr Evans to help out, but he refuses to do so after the bad experience he had with the other children who captured him after he became a rabbit.

Nasty Uncle John has stolen Cheryl’s ring of feathers, but a bird friend helps her to get it back. She has also discovered Uncle John’s whole plan to destroy the woodlands, and only the ring of feathers can help her stop it. Meanwhile, Mum is hospitalised because Uncle John worked her too hard.

“Farthings’ Flight” starts, and it is Princess’s first period story, set in Victorian times. We meet Lizzie Farthing, whose grandfather has a power over animals and birds. Silas Allgold discovers grandfather’s power, and tries to force them into joining his freak show. Allgold is even going as far as to threaten violence against anyone who employs or shelters the Farthings, so they will have no choice but to crawl to him. Lizzie won’t give in to such blackmail, hence the flight of the Farthings, but how far will they get from Allgold? He looks extremely determined to get them, and he has the money and heavies to back him up.

In “Miranda’s Magic Dragon”, Liz is thrilled to meet King Arthur in person, but then the evil Mordac captures her. Meanwhile, a hint is dropped before Miranda that Paula has stolen her magic pendant, but will Miranda catch on?

In “Stairway to the Stars”, poor Terry is expelled after getting in a fight with bullies who call him “cissy”. But after intervention from Sandy, Terry’s father, who had disapproved of Terry attending stage school, changes his mind about it so much that he persuades the school to reinstate Terry.

Princess II, #5, 22 October 1983

• The Incredible Shrinking Girl! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones) – final episode
• Mr Evans the Talking Rabbit (photo story)
• Ring of Feathers (artist Santiago Hernandez)
• Miranda’s Magic Dragon (artist Carlos Freixas)
• Stairway to the Stars (photo story)
• Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)
• Their Darling Daughter (artist Bert Hill)
• The Princess Diana story part 5
• Princess Bright Ideas Box: Pretty as a Picture!

“The Incredible Shrinking Girl!” is the cover story this week. It is only fair, because this is the final episode; the incredible shrinking girl returns to normal size after being hit by fly spray. This was the first story to be ejected from Princess II’s first lineup, after five episodes. The short run should not be taken as a reflection of its popularity, or lack of. As Princess II progressed, many of her serials had short runs, running at 5-6 episodes.

In “Their Darling Daughter”, Sylvie can’t convince her foster parents that Mrs Crooks is pulling nasty tricks to get rid of her. And now Mrs Crooks has turned extra nasty after Sylvie scores her first triumph over her with help from Ben the dog. Mrs Crooks is taking advantage of Sylvie being left alone with her for the weekend by saying it’s going to be her last. Now what can the old bat mean by that? Whatever it is, it sure sounds like she’s knocking off the fancy stuff now and just going in with her big guns blazing at full throttle.

In “Ring of Feathers”, Cheryl discovers her Uncle John is out to destroy the woodlands, and with it the birds’ habitat. But there’s a loophole in his deed of ownership that says the woodlands must be left intact. Looks like the woodlands are safe after all, but Cheryl doesn’t realise her uncle is plotting to destroy the deed and make a forgery. And now Uncle John is stealing the ring of feathers – which will take away Cheryl’s power to get help from the birds.

Things really get in a pickle in “Miranda’s Magic Dragon” this time. Miranda from Camelot is stuck in 1983, and now a mistake on behalf of the evil Mordac whisks Miranda’s 20^th century friend Liz away to Camelot – along with her house! Meanwhile, sly Paula is still hiding Miranda’s magic pendant, and without it Miranda is powerless.

Mr Andrews has been desperate to make a meal out of Mr Evans the talking rabbit, not realising he really is a human turned into a rabbit. But this week he pulls a hat trick – literally – to save Mr Evans when his unpleasant owners come in search of him.

Sandy’s audition fails in “Stairway to the Stars”, though she does get handy advice afterwards. Meanwhile, it’s not just Dad who’s calling Terry’s dancing “cissy” – bullies in the street are now doing it as well.

For once Grovel does “Sadie in Waiting” a good turn. Princess Bee is imposing early morning keep fit jogs on the staff, much to Sadie’s consternation. But when it’s imposed on Grovel (much as he needs it), the results put Princess Bee off the idea completely, to Sadie’s great relief.

Princess II, #3, 8 October 1983

Contents

• Their Darling Daughter (artist Bert Hill)
• Mr Evans the Talking Rabbit (photo story)
• The Incredible Shrinking Girl! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Miranda’s Magic Dragon (artist Carlos Freixas)
• Stairway to the Stars (photo story)
• Ring of Feathers (artist Santiago Hernandez)
• The Princess Diana Story part 3
• Mini Princess Diana pinup
• Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)

The third issue of Princess II came with no free gift, which is unusual for the third issue in a new IPC series. Usually all the first three issues of a new IPC series came with gifts.

“Their Darling Daughter” is the cover story this time, and without the free gift there is more room for it on the cover. Unlike Jinty or Tammy, Princess clearly liked to rotate her stories so each would get a chance to be on the cover. That certainly made for more variety on the covers. In the episode, Mrs Crooks tricks Sylvie into ruining Lady Towne’s birthday party by having her show up in the dress Rachel wore when she died, which shocks Lady Towne into a faint. At least it should make Sylvie realise that Mrs Crooks has only been pretending to be friendly with her and is still out to get rid of her.

Mr Evans the talking rabbit hitches a ride home with Jenny – only to find Mr Andrews is so desperate for food and no money to buy it that he wants to eat the rabbit. Will Mr Evans end up in a rabbit stew before Jenny can get to the book of spells that can change him back?

“The Incredible Shrinking Girl” is horrified to find her family is out to make money out of her condition and turn her into a cash cow. They even have a line of incredible shrinking girl dolls planned. Their excuse is that they now have a chance for money when they had always scraped by, and they have the nerve to call Clare selfish for protesting against it. Then they get a shock when they find it looks like a cat has had Clare for dinner.

It’s not just Mordac who’s after Miranda now in “Miranda’s Magic Dragon”. A nasty 20^th century girl, Paula, gets suspicious of her and won’t let up until she finds out the truth. Meanwhile Mordac’s servant finally manages to get hold of the pendant while Miranda sleeps.

“Stairway to the Stars” really gets into its stride when it’s revealed that the school is in danger of closing because there are people on the council who don’t approve of funding it. Meanwhile, Terry, the only male protagonist in the story, is revealed to be a Billy Elliot. His father doesn’t approve of him attending stage school because he thinks it’s “cissy”.

Cheryl is beginning to understand the power of the “Ring of Feathers” while the school bullies are getting suspicious of it. Meanwhile, slave-driving Uncle John is working Mum so hard that she faints from exhaustion.

In “Sadie in Waiting”, Princess Bee can’t find a disco outfit. In the end she settles on Grovel’s uniform (a rather odd choice as it is too big for her). All Grovel can find to wear is a maid’s uniform, much to his embarrassment.

Princess II, #2, 1 October 1983

Contents

• The Incredible Shrinking Girl! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Mr Evans the Talking Rabbit (photo story)
• Ring of Feathers (artist Santiago Hernandez)
• Miranda’s Magic Dragon (artist Carlos Freixas)
• Stairway to the Stars (photo story)
• Their Darling Daughter (artist Bert Hill)
• The Princess Diana story (part 2)
• Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)
• Princess Diana Pinup

The second issue of Princess II comes with a princess happiness ring. “The Incredible Shrinking Girl!” leads off the cover this time. Clare has now shrunk down to doll size. The parents take her to hospital, but now a media circus is outside to take advantage of the huge story. The parents allow them to do so, despite Clare’s protests that she does not want to be treated like a freak. The parents say they need the money the press is offering for Clare’s treatment – well, that’s what they say, but we suspect greed is overtaking them, and they don’t care for Clare’s feelings.

For some reason they dropped the exclamation mark in the title for “Mr Evans the Talking Rabbit” that appeared in part one. The rabbit explains to Jenny that he is Mr Evans, the owner of the local joke shop. He was trying out a book of spells, but it backfired and he turned himself into a rabbit. Obviously, the consequences of meddling with magic when you don’t know what you’re doing.

Miranda doesn’t fully know what she’s doing with magic either, although she is the granddaughter of Merlin. She’s unwittingly whisked herself from the days of Camelot into the year 1983, but at least she’s found a friend and guide to help her with the time and culture shock. However, the evil Mordac is not far behind and has sent his unfortunate-looking servant, in the form of a raven, to 1983 to steal the “magic dragon” pendant from her.

In “Ring of Feathers”, Cheryl Gibson is finding misery at her new school as well as at home with abusive Uncle John. The class bullies are picking on her and for this reason nobody dares to be friends with her except one girl – and the birds that seem to be hanging around her ever since she acquired the ring. After the birds teach the bullies a lesson, Cheryl finally begins to suspect something funny is going on.

A bully is out for a punishment in “Stairway to the Stars” as well. Linda picks on new girl Sandy, but Sandy finds some friends to help her punish Linda. They’ve tricked Linda into signing a document saying what a conceited pain in the neck she is, and they’re going to put it up on the notice board (hee, hee!).

In “Their Darling Daughter”, Mrs Crooks suddenly becomes all apologetic and friendly to Sylvie, saying she didn’t mean those threats to get rid of her and it was the grief from Rachel’s death. But then it looks suspiciously like Mrs Crooks has tricked Sylvie into selling two pieces of porcelain that could get her into a lot of trouble with Lady Towne.

Girl II #151, 31 December 1983

• Splat! (photostory)
• Animal Poem (feature)
• Fun Fashion: Going in Disguise (feature)
• Tippy’s Special Pool (artist Eduardo Feito)
• A Special Friend – text story (artist Jenny Gable)
• Beauty Resolutions: I Promise… (feature)
• The Kitty Café Cats (artist Joe Collins)
• The Secret Society of St. Nicola’s (photostory)
• Flower’s First Days (feature)
• Patty’s World (artist Purita Campos)
• Slaves of the Nightmare Factory (photostory)
• Help Me! (problem page)
• Police pinup (feature)

This issue of Girl II was published on New Year’s Eve 1983, so it is not surprising there is a New Year’s resolutions feature. The Kitty Cats are also having a dispute over their New Year’s resolutions – the first one of which turns out to be “We promise not to argue”. Meanwhile, Patty hasn’t even got up to Christmas Day yet, and Christmas Eve is anything but merry because Patty’s stepfather has fallen foul of a road accident.

Splat the alien needs a food called “blengrens” in his alien language – which turn out to be peas – in order to remain a convenient doll size and not his usual 10 metres. But he might have been better off growing back to 10 metres after all because he’s now been kidnapped by Rita Harrison and Thelma Crow, the worst enemies of his friend Wendy Collins.

Nobody realises “Tippy’s Special Pool” is being used for dumping chemical waste, which has now poisoned Tippy the otter and his friend Frances. Can it all be cleaned up in the final episode next week?

“The Secret Society of St. Nicola’s” swears to help a new pupil when the headmistress does not allow her to keep her pet at the school. Still, the headmistress’s position is understandable when you consider the pet is a crocodile!

The plight of the “Slaves of the Nightmare Factory” grows even bleaker after escapee Ellen Crawley dies in suspicious circumstances. In punishment for her escape, the girls are given even higher dress quotas to meet. At least the toady is punished too, by losing her privileges and having to share the girls’ rotten diet. Then Natalie falls dangerously ill, but the crooks’ only response is to shut her in the Punishment Box because she was too ill to meet her quota. Amanda is shut in there too. On the other hand, this enables Amanda to discover that fate has played a cruel trick on the man who is the mastermind of it all, and it could cause everything to explode in the crooks’ faces.

Esther Y Su Mundo, vols 1 & 15

I have recently been to Madrid and saw two relevant comics items when I was out there. One was a free item, sponsored by Telefonica, about Paralympic swimmer Teresa Perales. (Digital version available via this link.) It’s a very interesting and well-done comic overall, although as an anthology there are abrupt transitions in style from the serious to the humorous to the positively silly. The overall tone is pretty serious in that it recounts Perales’ achievements and tribulations as a Paralympic athlete, but it also has plenty of time for humorous and revelatory asides on on the difficulties as a wheelchair user of making one’s way through a world designed for able-bodied people.

The first story in the comic was by Purita Campos, the very popular artist on Patty’s World. This caught my attention and got me to look twice at the free comic in the first place, but it also meant that I had Campos and her popular creation in mind when I went into a bookshop a day or two later, at which point I asked if there was a collected edition of the Spanish edition of Patty’s World – “Esther Y Su Mundo”. Indeed there was – a handsome reissue of at least 15 volumes of the story, advertised as “One of the great classics of Spanish comics in a new re-coloured edition”. I bought volumes 1 and 15, so as to be able to get a sense of how the comic has developed over the years since its first pages were published in 1971. I am not sure what year of original publication Vol 15 relates to, ie how long a time-span is represented in my two selected volumes; certainly a number of years, but I suspect not the full original publication span of 1971 – 1988.

They are solid, substantial-feeling editions: 96 pages long, which is slightly less than the 114 pages of the Rebellion Misty reprint (and substantially less than the 192 page whopper reprint of Monster), but the hardback binding, handsome red cloth covering of the spine, and the full colour cover and insides, make for a very enticing package. The price is pretty comparable to the UK reprints I mention above – around £15 – £16, with fluctuations depending on the exchange rate with the Euro. The end papers are a greyscale montage of images from the various years covered in the volumes, and showcase Purita Campos’ beautiful art very nicely.

“Patty’s World” is not something I knew anything at all about until quite recently, and I hadn’t ever read any of it either in the original version or in translation. The first volume starts with Patty Lucas (or Esther Lucas as I will now think of her, having only read the Spanish version!) just turning thirteen. Lots happens to her in the pages of the comic – the pace is quite different from the 14 – 18 episodes of what I think of as a typical girls comic story. This story doesn’t build up and up to a dramatic finale – in this first volume, Esther fights with her family and her best friend and then makes up again, gets into trouble when someone thinks she is shoplifting, worries about her mother getting remarried, pines after a boy from her school, and has a mutual hate society going on with nasty Doreen. It’s all down to earth and (more or less) realistic, apart from the frenetic pace that it all goes at.

It’s not the sort of story that I normally go for very much; and for me the first volume was more of a curiosity item than something that hooked me. However, Volume 15 felt like it would do more for me – it develop story arcs a little more slowly and gives them more time to breathe. I think the stories are also actually better, too: the first arc in the book is genuinely amusing (Esther and her friend Rita swop lives for a day and it gets very silly). It also clearly has more of an edge, though this is really an extension of what we saw right at the beginning. One of the things going on in Esther’s life at thirteen is that her father died some years previously and her mother is considering remarrying, with all the adjustment that this brings. And in Volume 15 Rita’s mother is shown to have died in a previous volume, and her father has since remarried – the stepmother role is shown in a positive light even though tempers can flare. It’s all very human and warm. I think the focus on boy-chasing would put me off if I was embarking on a prolonged read, but overall I can certainly see how readers could end up living in this world and greatly enjoying the characters and the stories.

Of course for many people the draw will also be the art. Purita Campos is great at fluid, expressive characters of all ages, but her protagonists as they move from being girls to young women are her particular focus of course – and she imbues everyone with their own distinctive looks and ways of being, from flirty Rita and annoying Doreen to girl-next-door Esther. The girls are sassy and sexy without crossing a line, the boys are rather cute, and it’s all fun.

Will we ever see a UK reprint edition? The title that it originally appeared in, Princess Tina, started to be published before the 1971 cutoff date that places it outside of Rebellion’s ownership, but the story and the character was published after 1 January 1971. The fact that the Spanish edition has gone through numerous reprintings and new editions clearly indicates that those rights must be clearly established by someone, even if the UK rights have historically been somewhat tangled. The Spanish readership seem to have an ongoing love for this character: the back cover blurb acclaims the comic as a ‘great classic of Spanish comics’ which has been loved by ‘three generations of readers both male and female’. The UK doesn’t have anything like as strong a memory or feeling about this story, though there will certainly be many with fond memories of it in this country. But if this story and this character – which after all is actually set in the UK, with right-hand drive cars, British bobbies, and double-decker buses! – is so popular in Spain with a general audience, it has perhaps the strongest chance to break into that teen market than any of the other Rebellion content acquisition. That is, so long as this is even part of that purchase…

Esther Y Su Mundo volume 1 and volume 15. 96 pp, 17.95 EUR (around the £15 – £16 mark at current exchange rates). Story by Phillip Douglas, art by Purita Campos

Girl and Tammy 25 August 1984

• The Return of Splat! (photo story) – first episode
• Animal Poem – competition
• Olly Decides! (artist Trini Tinturé) – complete story
• Let’s Go Pop! Regular feature
• The Kitty Café Cats – cartoon (artist Joe Collins)
• Wham Pinup – feature
• Village of Shame (photo story)
• Patty’s World (artist Purita Campos, writer Phillip Douglas)
• The Final Curtain (photo story) – last episode
• Help Me! – problem page

We continue exploring the context of Jinty’s family tree with Girl. IPC published Girl from 14 February 1981 to 1990. Later IPC published the Best of Girl Monthly, which reprinted stories from the original comic.

This was the second series called Girl; the first was a comic that ran from 1951 to 1964. Another photo story/picture story comic, Dreamer, merged with Girl in 1982. Tammy was scheduled to merge with Girl in 1984 but was instead dropped after a strike, leaving her stories unfinished. None of the Tammy stories carried on in Girl. Only the Tammy logo made it, mysteriously appearing on Girl’s cover (as is the case here), some time after Tammy disappeared with no explanation. It appears about the time Tammy was originally scheduled to be cancelled, so it was probably meant as a token gesture. All the same, Girl readers must have been puzzled by the sudden appearance of the Tammy logo. In 1990, Girl merged into My Guy.

Note: As Tammy came out Monday and Girl Thursday, my theory is that Tammy, being originally meant to be cancelled in late August, was set for cancellation 22 August and readers instructed to pick up the week’s issue of Girl on Thursday 25 August.

Girl II was largely a photo story comic, but always included two picture stories. One was the regular, “Patty’s World”, which made its way into Girl after going through several other titles. The other picture story was a serial or complete story. The photo stories were in black-and-white. Strips included “Nine to Four” (written by Pat Mills), “The Haunting of Uncle Gideon”, “No Mother for Marty”, “The Pink Flamingo”, “Slaves of the Nightmare Factory“, “The Evil Mirror”, “Wish of a Witch”, “The Runaway Bridesmaid”, “The Perfect Pest” and “To Catch a Thief”.

Most of the photo stories were about school, boyfriends, horse riders, gymnasts, theatre and ballerinas. But some photo stories did have a supernatural theme, such as “Wish of a Witch”, where a girl is given a ring that can grant seven wishes. But she gets greedy and also wastes several wishes because she is not using the power thoughtfully. “Splat” and its sequel, which starts in this issue, are among the few Girl photo stories to delve into science fiction. Occasionally the photo stories used the theme of tortured and abused heroines as well. One, “Slaves of the Nightmare Factory”, was about a racket where girls are abducted and used as slave labour in a dress factory – in the 1980s.

The early Girl annuals are noteworthy in that they reprinted serials from Tammy, Jinty and Misty. These include “Tricia’s Tragedy”, “Secret of the Skulls” and “Journey into Fear…” – which was a badly abridged reprint, with about half of the material cut out. The annual would have done better to use a shorter serial or one that lent itself more readily to abridging.

And now we turn to the issue that has been chosen to represent Girl. In this issue, we see the start of a sequel to an earlier Girl story, “Splat!”, about a space alien. Splat returns in response to a call for help from his Earth friend Wendy. But another alien has landed too. Is it friend or foe?

It is the final episode of “The Final Curtain”. It is the final curtain in more ways than one because Julian Berridge, who has been giving Sherry Martin acting lessons, dies on stage after helping her give the performance of her life.

In “Village of Shame” the Walker family are on holiday at a fishing village – only to find it mysteriously empty. Except for some bank robbers who are now holding them hostage! But the bank robbers could be in trouble too if there is some supernatural force responsible for the empty village. And it’s not much of a holiday for Patty either – she has discovered the holiday chalet her family booked got destroyed in a cliff collapse! And the place they do end up in delivers another whammy – Patty’s arch enemy Doreen Snyder is there too!

“Olly Decides!” is a complete story, where a dog has to end up choosing between the girl who has taken him over and loves him, and his previous owners who have suddenly turned up to claim him.

References

http://ukcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Girl_(1981-1990)

http://britishcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Patty’s_World

http://britishcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Girl_(IPC)