Jinty 15 July 1978

• Dance into Darkness (unknown Concrete Surfer artist)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thorton-Jones)
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
• Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)
• Knight and Day
• The Zodiac Prince – final episode (artist Trini Tinturé)
• Rinty ‘n’ Jinty
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden)
• The Lowdown on Showaddywaddy – feature
• Slave of the Swan (artist Guy Peeters)
• Sand in Your Shoes? – Feature
• Cathy’s Casebook (artist Terry Aspin)

“Dance into Darkness” featured on a lot of Jinty covers and this week’s one is no exception. This week Della can’t stop dancing when she hears disco music, and it’s kept her out so late that her parents have called the police.

“The Zodiac Prince” ends his run this week. He’s down to his last astral gift, and this time he really must choose wisely in terms of recipient and the type of gift. Well, he can’t think of anyone more deserving than Shrimp, and we certainly agree. Talk about a parting gift! Next week sees the return of Phil Gascoine, whose artwork has been uncharacteristically missing from Jinty for weeks, as he starts on “The Changeling”.

Dorrie and Max are on the run as they make their way to the home in Scotland that they believe will give them happiness. This week they sneak a lift aboard a lorry to get out of London.

Pat does some running away too – away from her mother’s abusive household and back to the foster family who looked after her properly. However, Mum sends the police to get her back. Will they do so or will they listen to Pat’s side of things?

The kids at Berkeley Comprehensive are softening towards Clancy and she begins to make friends with them. But grandfather tells Clancy she must replace the bicycle Sandra sold to get the tandem, which means job-hunting for the girl who’s already got so much on her plate with trying to walk again.

Cathy’s father agrees to run some medical tests on Denis to see if there is a medical cause for his slowness. Finally, someone is listening to Cathy’s insistence that Denis is not as daft as everyone assumes. Meanwhile, the old trouble with Diane’s horse resurfaces as he goes out of control at the races.

The Swan well and truly shows just how evil she has become in the name of revenge against Katrina’s mother. She tricks Katrina into going into a rusty old tub that she will drown in once the tide rises. But it’s not just to protect herself from the police – the murder she is plotting is more revenge against Katrina’s mother, and she wants to play it out as slowly as possible to savour every minute of it. Katrina does not wake up to the danger she is in until the tide does rise…but is it too late?

Sue tells Henrietta that standing on her head is good therapy and sets Henrietta upside-down to prove her point. Naturally, that’s an open invitation for Henrietta mischief.

Jinty 1 July 1978

• Dance into Darkness (unknown Concrete Surfer artist)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thorton-Jones)
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
• Andy Gibb Talks to You – Feature
• Knight and Day
• The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
• Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden)
• Slave of the Swan (artist Guy Peeters)
• Rinty ‘n’ Jinty
• Cathy’s Casebook (artist Terry Aspin)
• Not to be Sniffed At! Ways with Hankies – Feature

 

Whatever is happening to Della gets weirder, and she is surprised to find some of it is positive. She can see much better in the dark, and night itself seems much more comfortable. Oddly, cats are following her around at night.

Sue takes Henrietta on a London trip. But Henrietta doesn’t quite understand that the name Piccadilly Circus does not mean a three-ring circus. Or that waxworks are not meant to be that lifelike. Or that changing the guard does not mean changing his nappies! Oh, dear…

Dorrie and Max have been put in separate homes, but at least Dorrie can visit Max and they are still looking for the end of the rainbow. Max is taking that bit about the end of the rainbow a bit literally, though.

Janet is finding out the pitfalls of the paper round she is now lumbered with instead of Pat. Then the sneaky girl steals the swimsuit that was meant to be a present for Pat from her foster parents.

The Zodiac Prince has got real trouble this time – his chain has snapped and he’s lost his medallion! The Prince and Shrimp find a little girl has it, and they have to get it back quick.

“The Slave of the Swan” is really disturbed to find that new girl Rita Hayes is watching her and asking probing questions about her. And someone is definitely messing around with that Swan costume, which is supposed to be hidden away in Miss Kachinsky’s secret room. Katrina finds somebody wearing the costume and trying to recreate “The Swan” ballet.

In “Cathy’s Casebook” Diane, who was supposed to have a limp, is suddenly running. She had been faking because her father is pushing her into riding in the races, but she’s too frightened of her horse to do so. And then Denis runs away from home. Cathy hits on a way to tackle both problems at once.

Clancy enrols herself at Berkeley Comprehensive, the school her grandfather looks down upon (with some justification, as it is riddled with vandalism). The kids there don’t think much of grandfather either. They say he’s a skinflint and a snob who never does anything for anybody. So when they find out he is Clancy’s grandfather, they look set to give her a bad time.

 

Jinty 24 June 1978

• Dance into Darkness (unknown Concrete Surfer artist)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thorton-Jones)
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
• Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)
• Knight and Day
• The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden)
• Talking Personally to Travolta… (feature)
• Slave of the Swan (artist Guy Peeters)
• Cathy’s Casebook (artist Terry Aspin)

Weird things are happening to Della that she can’t explain. She has suddenly woken up with all light blinding her and she has to wear dark glasses, and she can’t stop dancing when she hears disco music. People think she’s putting it on, but Della realises it must have something to do with that girl in the disco. And it has to be, because the girl is waiting for her outside the school gates.

Sue tries out the trumpet, much to Henrietta’s consternation. However, Henrietta’s spells to stop Sue playing are rebounding a bit on her. She gets scratched by a terrified cat and then gets mud splattered all over her.

In “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” Dorrie and Max are liberated from the cruel Mrs Soper when she dumps them back on the welfare office. But now Dorrie and Max are being split up because the children’s home they are being sent to segregates the sexes. If it’s not one thing it’s something else…

One of the girls at school begins to realise how badly Janet is treating Pat though the other girls still won’t have anything to do with Pat because Janet poisoned them against her. Then the tables get turned on Janet when she’s lumbered with the paper round Mum lumbered Pat with before!

The Zodiac Prince’s in trouble again because he is still not thinking before he hands out his astral gifts. Dad gives him a real telling off over it, but says he still has to stay put until he finishes the job set for him.

“The Slave of the Swan” saves her only friend Sarah from being badly burned, but everyone thinks she caused it because of all the lies the Swan has spread about her being an arsonist. Now it’s all getting to Katrina so much that she sees police pursuing her everywhere – including a strange woman who has turned up at the school.

Cathy is still pursuing the cases of Denis, whom she does not believe is as dim as everyone thinks, and Diane, who is still limping although her X-ray says her leg is fine. Now both cases could come to a head when Denis walks into the path of a runaway horse.

Clancy’s still walking with sticks and is having trouble enrolling at a new school because of it. She won’t hear of a disabled school and St Catherine’s, the school cousin Sandra goes to, won’t take her because of her disability. So she decides it has to be the ill-reputed Berkeley Comprehensive or nothing. But grandfather is going to have a fit when he hears that!

Jinty 27 May 1978

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

The panel from “Slave of the Swan” actually appeared in the story some weeks ago, which is a bit irregular. Usually Jinty used panels from the current episode of a story for a cover. The depiction of Katrina’s apron is reminiscent of a tutu, which is very clever and also fitting for the ballet theme. And in this week’s episode of “Slave of the Swan”, the Swan’s lies get even crueller. Now she’s got poor Katrina thinking she’s an arsonist and a murderer who burned down an orphanage in revenge and killed someone in the flames!

Last week “Concrete Surfer” was pushed off its usual slot of leading story, but it’s back there this week. Carol freely admits to Jean how she had played Jean for a fool. Belatedly, Jean wishes she had had a tape recorder on hand so she could prove it to everyone else. They all think Carol is a sweet girl and Jean bullies her. The skateboard contest gets underway and Jean is thinking up her own lyrics to the piece of music Carol has chosen: “Isn’t she sickening…? Isn’t she spiteful…? I never thought what a cat she could be…”

In part two of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” the war ends in victory for the Allies, but the Peters children have no heart for celebrating because their father was KIA. They cheer up when Mum gets complimentary tickets for them to see a “Wizard of Oz” production. This introduces the Wizard of Oz theme that will resonate throughout the rest of the serial.

In “Knight and Day”, Pat meets her stepsister Janet, who’s a very nasty piece of work and bullies Pat. At least she reveals the real reason why Mum reclaimed the daughter she had always neglected: it was so they could get a council flat. Well, well, well!

“Clancy on Trial” impresses her grandfather by standing up to him (the only one who does), especially when he expresses his long-standing disapproval of her mother’s marriage to a bus driver. Meanwhile, Sandra continues to help Clancy to learn to walk again.

Last week “The Zodiac Prince” and his gift of balance to Julie unwittingly made another circus performer jealous. Now she’s putting herself in danger trying to prove herself on the high wire. Fortunately Julie is able to come to the rescue and everything is sorted out. Fresh trouble isn’t far away though, and it comes when the Zodiac Prince sees a girl mistreating a donkey and decides it’s time for another astral gift. However, next week’s blurb informs us that he’s about to make a big mistake.

There are double emergencies in “Cathy’s Casebook” this week. Mr Shaw’s daughter gets injured after being thrown from her horse and loses her nerve, and a café owner collapses from a perforated ulcer.

 

Jinty 20 May 1978

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

The advertising for Jinty’s new competition and her A-to-Z of things to do has pushed the story panels right off the cover. There’s only a blurb at the bottom to say that three new stories have started. It looks like the pull-out feature, competition and stories have pushed out “Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag!” and “Alley Cat” out of the issue; neither appears this week.

The first new story, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, pushes “Concrete Surfer” out of her usual slot as leading story. The episode is also a four-pager, which gets it off to quite a start. It seems fitting as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” went on to be one of Jinty’s most enduring and longest stories. It was the last of the three Jinty serials to be set in World War II. As the story opens, the war is drawing to a close. VE Day is in sight, wartime restrictions are easing a bit, and the Peters family are looking forward to the day when Dad comes home from the war. But of a sudden Mum gets the dreaded envelope that means KIA.

The second new story is “Knight and Day” (a popular play on one girl being named Day and the other Knight in a serial). Pat Day’s mother has always neglected her and she is now happily fostered out to the Hargreaves. But now, all of a sudden, the neglectful mother (now Mrs Knight under her new marriage) has successfully applied to get her back. But why would she even bother?

The artist for the third new story, “Clancy on Trial”, is a surprise. It’s Ron Lumsden, who is best remembered for being the first artist on “The Comp”. Clancy Clarke is determined to walk again after being crippled in an accident and is getting help from her cousin Sandra. All of a sudden, Clancy’s grandfather, who had ignored her before, suddenly takes an interest in her. As with Pat’s mother it sounds suspicious, but at least we get an inkling of his motives – to put her to some sort of test.

In the other stories, “The Zodiac Prince” hands out another astral gift, and this time it works out. Julie is now happily reunited with her father and, thanks to the astral gift, is now joining him at the circus. Unfortunately it pushed out another performer and now she’s jealous.

“The Slave of the Swan” is finally beginning to remember bits of her past. But the Swan is getting set to ensnare her again, and she’s already pulled the wool over the eyes of the police who were getting on her trail at last.

In “Cathy’s Casebook” Dad is hauled up before the medical board on an unfair charge of neglecting a patient, thanks to the old trout of a district nurse who judged him too harshly and wouldn’t listen to pleas that Dad was overworked and feeling unwell. But Cathy makes sure the medical board listens to her over them! The nurse looks veerry sour indeed when Cathy gets the charge against her father dismissed.

“Concrete Surfer” finally catches creepy Carol out once and for all. She tricks Carol into admitting that she stole her skateboard. Not that it would do much good in the competition – Jean can’t compete unless she finds the skateboard.

 

Jinty 8 July 1978

Stories in this issue:

• Dance into Darkness (artist Christine Ellingham unknown artist Concrete Surfer)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Somewhere over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
• Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)
• Knight and Day
• The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden)
• Slave of the Swan (artist Guy Peeters)
• Cathy’s Casebook (artist Terry Aspin)

The cover image isn’t taken from an image inside this week’s episode of “Dance Into Darkness” – I am not sure without checking whether it is actually from next week’s episode, though I think it must be. It makes a fine spooky, gothic cover, and I love the little black cats winding their way around Della’s ankles.

Della Benson is starting to find out where her mysterious dancing skills have come from – along with her love of the dark and of the creatures of the night, such as the cats. What secret does the strange lady and her daughter hold?

Dorrie and Max run away from the grim chidren’s homes they have been placed in – they have found out that there is a place called “Rainbow’s End”, in Scotland, and they think it must be a sign that they will find their happiness there. It’s a rainy start, but they feel sure they can manage the long trek north.

“Knight and Day” is one of the grimmest, most realistic stories ever printed in Jinty. Pat Day was fostered to a loving couple but when her mother tried to get her back then she had to go – even though it all turned out to be a scam. Her mother and stepfather are abusive and uncaring, and Pat’s new stepsister is a bully and a thief.

“The Zodiac Prince” is a rare strip featuring a male lead character – though you could argue that his friend and sidekick Shrimp is the real lead, in some ways. It’s a light-hearted romp but it is coming to an end – this is the penultimate episode and Shrimp is nearly due to find out who the Prince really is and where he comes from.

In “Clancy on Trial”, Clancy has enrolled herself in the local comprehensive school, to force her grandfather to see that she can live as independent a life as possible without relying on him and his money. The schoolkids are not that friendly though.

“Slave of the Swan” is a pretty nasty slave story – Katrina Vale has lost her memory and is being very badly treated by Miss Kachinsky, who hated Katrina’s mother with great passion. Katrina is now in great danger as Miss Kachinsky tries to cover her tracks!

“Cathy’s Casebook” has doctor’s daughter Cathy cure Diana of her nerves when riding a particular horse she’d started to get afraid of. Next on Cathy’s list is wild runaway Denis. Will she find out what ails him, too?

—

Following my recent post on “The Mighty One”, where Steve MacManus mentioned the fact that editors of the time often thought in terms of stories filling a certain number of panels / frames / pictures, I thought I would count up the number of panels in a sample issue of Misty and one of Jinty, for comparison. (If I can also do the same for a typical issue of 2000AD from the time then I will, but right now it’s hard for me to dig out my old copies of other titles.)

Of the stories in this issue, this is how the panel count breaks down:

• Dance Into Darkness – pg 1 8 panels, pg 2 8 panels, pg 3 9 panels (25 panels)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! – pg 1 8 panels, pg 2 9 panels (17 panels)
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow – pg 1 7 panels, pg 2 10 panels, pg 3 7 panels (24 panels)
• Alley Cat – pg 1 12 panels (12 panels)
• Knight and Day – pg 1 8 panels, pg 2 9 panels, pg 3 8 panels (25 panels)
• The Zodiac Prince – pg 1 8 panels, pg 2 9 panels, pg 3 9 panels (26 panels)
• Clancy on Trial – pg 1 6 panels, pg 2 10 panels, pg 3 10 panels (26 panels)
• Slave of the Swan – pg 1 7 panels, pg 2 9 panels, pg 3 9 panels (25 panels)
• Cathy’s Casebook – pg 1 6 panels, pg 2 9 panels, pg 3 9 panels (24 panels)
• = 24 pages of comics, 9 stories. Minimum number of panels = 6, max = 10 on a serial or 12 on a gag strip

I know this is not a huge sample to use, but I have compared to the issue of Misty with the same cover date of 8 July 1978

• The Four Faces of Eve… – pg 1 3 panels, pg 2 6 panels, pg 3 7 panels, pg 4 10 panels (serial) (25 panels)
• Nightmare – ‘Master-Stroke’ pg 1 3 panels, pg 2 8 panels, pg 3 7 panels, pg 4 2 panels (complete story) (20 panels)
• Journey Into Fear – pg 1 4 panels, pg 2 7 panels, pg 3 8 panels, pg 4 6 panels (serial) (25 panels)
• Wrong Station – pg 1 4 panels, pg 2 7 panels,  pg 3 7 panels, pg 4 7 panels (complete) (25 panels)
• Beasts – ‘Where There’s a Will…’ – pg 1 4 panels, pg 2 8 panels, pg 3 7 panels, pg 4 7 panels (complete) (26 panels)
• The Black Widow – pg 1 2 panels, pg 2 8 panels, pg 3 8 panels, pg 4 8 panels (serial) (26 panels)
• = 24 pages of comics, 6 stories. Minimum number of panels = 2, max = 10

All the stories in Misty, whether they are serials or complete stories, are 4 pages long rather than just 3. There are fewer stories but it adds up to the same number of pages of comics. Each story has pretty much the same number of panels whether it is a 3 page Jinty story or a 4 page Misty one (though in Jinty the single page gag strip and the two page complete stories are certainly shorter in panel count). And the pattern in Misty is pretty striking and consistent, in this issue at least – the first page of each story has a considerably reduced panel count (so that the panels that are left can be large and visually striking) whereas subsequent pages are only very slightly shorter than a typical Jinty page in terms of the average number of panels used (and therefore the size of each one).

Jinty 21 October 1978

Stories in this issue:

• 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)
• No Cheers for Cherry (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Wild Rose (artist Jim Baikie)
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden) – last episode
• Fran’ll Fix It! (artist Jim Baikie)
• Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)
• The Human Zoo (artist Guy Peeters)

The cover image on this issue is a memorable one – Mistyfan says it has stuck with her for years, since she first saw it. The colours are vivid and the picture of Fran as an Arabian ravin’ beauty could hardly be bettered! Poor Cherry is skivvying away – and to my mind, taking a back seat to dressed-up Fran, to boot.

Tina is finding out how the world that Salina landed her in differs from her own. Is it only this sorceress (or rather, Professor Salina PhD, Head of Sorcery Department at Benford University) who has mysterious powers? That’s what Tina persuades herself of, and with Salina out of sight, she thinks she has no very strong motive to mend her selfish ways. Cue complaints about her parallel universe parents’ cooking, and a forceful demand to have all the clothes and knick-knacks that she is used to back in her own world. At the start of the week, Tina is looking forward to starting school and showing everyone how much better she is than everyone else – but she is in for some nasty surprises, because everyone else is surprised ‘that new girl didn’t use any magic against Lindy when Lindy was swimming!’. What will she come up against in the next episode?

Dorrie and Max in “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” are stuck on a train that is blocked by snow – they entertain the passengers while the train is stopped, and earn their passage that way. The weather is against them as they continue their journey, and it is difficult to find shelter anywhere.

Cherry is being abused both emotionally and now physically – none of her family have thanked her for stepping in so successfully when her cousin wasn’t there for the play, and when a nosy parker Child Welfare officer starts asking questions, the family do a quick bunk. The aunt even slaps Cherry when she asks why they’re ‘rushing off like crooks’ and the smooth-talking uncle says ‘Your aunt didn’t mean to hurt you. She often lands our two a crack… forgot you weren’t one of our brood, y’see! Beginning to think of you as real family.’ What a lot of charmers!

“Wild Rose” hears the story of the mysterious gypsy lady – who turns out to be not her long-lost mother, but the mother of Susanne, the girl that Lady Vere thinks is her own daughter! How will this tangle be cleared up? Next week we are promised the ending of this story, so we will find out soon.

This is the last episode of “Clancy on Trial”. Her uncle, aunt, and cousin Sandra stand accused of trying to poison Clancy, and her parents are trying to keep them apart while the police come and take the accused away. The maker of the herbal tonic says she is sure nothing harmful is in it, as it all comes from her own garden – oh, apart from the odd bit taken from local hedgerows… and it turns out that this is the answer, and everyone is innocent. Things are back to how they were earlier, except that Clancy is determined that her grandfather should make her and Sandra joint heirs: ‘You made me your heir because you admired my courage in learning to walk again. But I didn’t do it alone. Sandra and I worked at it together, so you’ll have to make us joint heirs!’

Fran has disguised herself as an Arabian princess, complete with yashmak, to hide the fact that she still hasn’t managed to unstick her fake beard! But before she can sort that out, she is kidnapped by the guards sent by Sheik Abbis, who think she is Princess Natisha… Fran can always wriggle out of that sort of tight corner, though, with her skills at ventriloquy and perhaps more importantly her willingness to jump into the nearest duck pond to do a disappearing act. Luckily the duck pond turns out to be the answer to the beard glue, which the other bearded girls will be happy to learn! (Perhaps they won’t be so happy at having to jump into the pond, mind you.)

[Edited to add: at Mistyfan’s request, here are the pages from this week’s episode of Fran]

Fran the Fixer (with false beard) vs Sheikh Abbis. Jinty 21 October 1978.

Alley Cat is a light-hearted, light-weight gag strip that we don’t typically describe in these story posts. We have found out, via the Great News For All Readers blog, that the artist to credit is Rob Lee, so we will be indicating that from now on.

Shona is worried that she will soon die ‘on a planet millions of miles from home… and alone’! She has been rescued from the cruel circus but left in the harsh outlands and abandoned by the two-headed goat that has befriended her. Soon her friend returns, though, along with a whole herd – who cluster around her and warm her up. The herd leads her to another part of the outlands, where she can contact people who look human, like her. What will she find, once she makes that contact?

Jinty 14 October 1978

Stories in this issue:

• 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)
• No Cheers for Cherry (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Wild Rose (artist Jim Baikie)
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden)
• Fran’ll Fix It! (artist Jim Baikie)
• Alley Cat
• The Human Zoo (artist Guy Peeters)

Stuck-up Tina is finding out the fix she’s in – her parents aren’t really her parents, because Salina the Sorceress has sent her to a parallel world where she was never born – and where people can do magic! And Salina is just leaving her to it, to boot – clearly to teach her a lesson, because she disapproves of Tina’s ‘conceited and self-centred’ ways.

Sue and her magic bag Henrietta weren’t in the last issue, presumably to make room for the special International Velvet pull-out. (Nor was Alley Cat, also returning in this issue.) Sue’s neighbour is boring on about his big game hunting days, and of course Henrietta obliges in making them all too real! This is the first part of a two-parter.

In “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, Dorrie’s little brother Max gradually recovers from his pneumonia. Their kind temporary guardian, Mr Harris, is sending them back to London and the children’s home they escaped from, for their own good – but they give him the slip at the train station and head on their way again.

Cherry is keen to make the most of her big break when one of her cousins fails to turn up for the evening’s performance – but it means her dressing up as a man. Can she turn in a compelling performance? Yes – but by turning it into a comedy! Not everyone is happy, but the audience love it, and the dodgy uncle likewise. Not that anyone says as much as a thank you to her, mind…

Rose is finding out more about her mysterious past, while at the same time her graceful gymnastics gives us a beautiful cover image.

“Clancy on Trial” is reaching its penultimate episode – her kind cousin Sandra, and her uncle and aunt, are looking like they are going to be put on trial for attempted poisoning of Clancy. It turns out that the herbal medicine that Clancy has been glugging contains some dodgy ingredients! Are they innocent or guilty – with an inheritance at stake?

I love Fran and her fixing! Part of what I always love is the background gags, presumably put in by Baikie himself. Fran and her chums still have beards on from pretending to be a gang of window cleaners – they’ve managed everything else quite neatly, from being paid good money for their work to dealing with the school porter, Joggers (by pushing him into the back of the butcher’s van – said van being labelled with the name ‘T Bone’). Here are the last couple of panels of that story, showing Fran’s ingenuity and one of Jim Baikie’s little side-jokes:

In the Human Zoo, Shona’s rescued from the cruel circus owner who is happy to let her nearly drown every night. Her previous owner, the alien girl Tamsha, rescues her with help from a group of like-minded animal activists. It seems wonderful to be free in the wilderness, at first – but then the cold wind begins to blow. Will Shona just be left to die in the cold, even though at least she is free?

Jinty 7 October 1978

Stories in this issue:

• The Girl Who Never Was – first episode (artist Terry Aspin)
• Wild Rose (artist Jim Baikie)
• Somewhere over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
• No Cheers for Cherry (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Pullout “International Velvet” souvenir
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden)
• Fran’ll Fix It! (artist Jim Baikie)
• The Human Zoo (artist Guy Peeters)

After a little hiatus due to the summer holidays (on my part, at least – of course Mistyfan has posted her article on Cliffhangers versus non-cliffhanger endings), I have dug out a number of consecutive issues for a part of Jinty‘s run that we haven’t done much on. I should hopefully be able to write some posts on stories from this time period, too.

Fran’ll Fix It returns in this issue – one of the very few Jinty characters given a sequel. She leads on the cover but the first story inside is an entirely new one, “The Girl Who Never Was”. This is a favourite of mine: it has magic, a parallel universe, an annoying anti-heroine who is taken down several pegs in the story, and beautiful art by Terry Aspin. Tina Williams is a conceited know-it-all who has some grounds for being big-headed: she is clearly actually very talented at everything she does, but far too full of herself as a result. In the opening four pages we get plenty of evidence for how annoying she is, including making enough of a nuisance of herself at the end of term treat – a magical spectacle by entertainer Salina the Sorceress – that Salina threatens to make her disappear and perhaps never return… or ‘not to this world, anyway’. Of course Tina thinks it’s all just Magic Circle trickery that she can see right through – but her conceit is punctured when she opens her eyes in a deserted theatre that has been closed for months, and has to walk home to parents who fail to recognize her and say they don’t even have a daughter…!

“Wild Rose” is a relatively run-of-the-mill story of a runaway with a hidden past and a special talent, though I always have a soft spot for Jim Baikie’s art, which is striking and strongly-drawn at this point in time. Rose Harding left the circus life to find out who her real mother is: the search seems to be leading her to famous gymnast Lady Vere. Could her gymnastic ability be inherited? What will Rose find out now that she is living in Lady Vere’s gymnastics school? and what secrets will the gypsy with the mysterious moon-shaped scar eventually tell her?

“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” was such a popular story that it stretched for 36 episodes, and at this point it is only reaching about the half-way mark. Little brother Max is terrifyingly ill with pneumonia, Dorrie has had to tell her story to Mr Harris, the producer of the version of the show she has been starring in, and at the end of this episode Max is lying in an oxygen tent and may not recover. Anyone would think this might be the cliffhanger for the penultimate episode… but no.

“No Cheers for Cherry” has stage-struck Cherry Campbell dreaming optimistically of making it big on the stage, or at least impressing her uncle, aunt, and cousins with her abilities to learn a script and to step in if necessary to save the show. Her family are clearly happy to exploit Cherry’s good nature and naivete, but it doesn’t have the truly nasty edge of a full-on Cinderella story.

This issue has a four-page pull-out, about the film “International Velvet”. If anyone is interested in the teenage Tatum O’Neal, there are some interview quotes and rather striking photos, though of course the poor-quality newsprint paper makes the print reproduction a bit muddy.

Clancy is no longer on trial, at least in some ways – her grandfather has announced that he likes her spirit so much that he is making her his business heir. This has understandably upset her cousin and family, who have been trying hard to make sure Clancy recovers from the effects of her serious accident. Now Grandfather has organized a big party to make the announcement, but cousin Sandra and family are going out for the day and leaving them to it. The tonic that Clancy has been taking to help boost her confidence is really needed now, but all that happens is that she falls down in a faint and may be worse off than ever…

Fran kicks off her return by talking to the readers, as ever – she is quickly drawn into the usual mad scrape of a story. This time, she is sent to the Headmistress’s office for larking about but immediately hatches a plan to replace the current window cleaners with a cut-price replacement – herself, and three school friends, dressed up as cleaners. Won’t the staff recognize them right away? Not with the cunning addition of specially-glued on beards… which is all very well, but Fran did say “don’t worry about them coming off”…

The final story in the issue is “The Human Zoo” – a piece of classic SF taking on alien abduction and animal rights, with the addition of great scene-setting like two-headed animals and telepathic aliens with big domed heads. Shona is made to be part of a cruel circus act as the aliens watch and laugh. How long can she survive it, when it involves her being nearly drowned night after night?

Jinty 30 September 1978

• Dance into Darkness – last episode (artist Christine Ellingham unknown Concrete Surfer artist)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Somewhere over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
• No Cheers for Cherry (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Wild Rose – (artist Jim Baikie)
• Clancy on Trial (artist Ron Lumsden)
• Rinty ‘n’ Jinty
• Tim Curry – feature
• The Human Zoo – (artist Guy Peeters)
• 7 Steps to the Sisterhood – last episode (artist Ron Smith)

Jinty is about to honour her promise to bring back “Fran’ll Fix It!”. There is an announcement saying that Fran will return in the next issue, and there will also be a new story called “The Girl Who Never Was”. They are replacing “Dance into Darkness” and “7 Steps to the Sisterhood”. The return of Fran means a double workload for Jim Baikie, who is still working on “Wild Rose”. But Rose has tracked down the woman in her locket now (Lady Vere), so maybe the ending to the story isn’t too far away.

Meanwhile “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is still going strong, despite Max falling dangerously ill and getting buried in snow. So is Clancy, who has now been named grandfather’s heir. But this is causing a rift with her cousin Sandra. Aunt and Uncle are understandably upset too; they have helped with grandfather’s business for years and must feel like they’ve been stabbed in the back.

Cherry still hasn’t caught on to how her relatives are taking advantage of her. They are very slick at pulling the wool over her eyes (they are actors, after all), and Cherry is by nature trusting and naïve, just like her mother.

Shona narrowly escapes being turned into food at the aliens’ slaughterhouse – a circus owner buys her in the nick of time. But now she is about to be forced into a cruel circus act where she is brought to the brink of drowning each time she performs it. And all because she can’t swim (like the aliens themselves, as it turns out).