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 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. 

Jinty 14 January 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

Willy de Ville – feature 

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

Darling Clementine – artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie

Susanna’s Snowstorm (Gypsy Rose story) – artist Keith Robson 

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

Race for a Fortune – artist Christine Ellingham

The Wild Horse – feature 

Jody has become evil thanks to an additional spell from the witch Mother Heggerty. She now believes she is capable of anything, regardless of how terrible it is, and is loving every minute of it. How is she going to break free of Mother Heggerty’s power when right now she doesn’t even want to?

Cassy gets even more of a taste of how totalitarian this Land of No Tears is. She learns the Hive Inspector, who’s about to pay a visit, has powers to take you away: “No one knows where to, but you never return!” Shades of the Gestapo! Miranda is terrified she will meet this fate if the Inspector finds out she is secretly seeing her mother, and she breaks off with Cassy. Meanwhile, the ruthless Perfecta breaks off with her own friend to train every waking hour for the Golden Girl Award. Cassy is shocked to see the former bosom pals “walking away from each other like robots!” 

Ella bravely sets out to learn to waterski to win the competition for Clem, in the face of everyone who’s against her because they think she deliberately caused Clem’s accident. But her first attempt at waterskiing is such a disaster she’s lucky she didn’t hurt herself.

The same can also be said for sneaky cousin Rodney when he steals Katie’s roller skates to overtake her in the “Race for a Fortune”. But he soon finds he’s nowhere near as good on them as she is. He goes careering down a hill and lands on the back of a rodeo steer with her! Roller skating is back in the hands of the expert by the end of the episode. Thanks to his little stunt she has taken the lead again, and she’s gotten a lot of money out of it as well. 

In “Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag!”, a thief breaks into the school, his first attempt at crime. But his remark that he could become the world’s leading cat burglar really is asking for it with Henrietta around, especially when she’s the first thing he tries to steal. Needless to say, his first attempt at crime is his last by the end of the episode.

In the Gypsy Rose story, Susanna is given a snowstorm and finds it has a tale to tell, with each instalment appearing every time she shakes it. The trouble is, the tale is scaring her to death. Gypsy Rose tells Susanna that she must either follow it through to know how the tale ended or put the snowstorm away. Susanna decides to follow through because she must know (not to mention us readers) what the ending is, but what will the final shake of the snowstorm reveal?

Maggie’s sleazy stepfather shows what an abuser he is when he gets so mad he locks her in the coal shed without food or water. Then he refuses to let her see her TV debut, so she has to go to a TV shop in pouring rain to see it. Maggie has a good mind to tell Miss Keyes about the abuse, but she’s staying quiet because Mum doesn’t want word to get around.

Alley Cat is back. Arch-enemy Spotty Muchloot picks on him for first aid practice, and now poor Alley Cat looks like an oversized cocoon. But can he still turn things around?

Phil finds out the girl she saw being bundled off in the middle of the night is named Carol, and her mother is clearly not telling the truth about things. Phil manages to wheedle Carol’s current address out of the mother, enabling her to write to Carol. Carol’s reply is a coded message for help. The plot thickens!

Jinty 7 January 1978

Come Into My Parlour – artist Douglas Perry

Darling Clementine – artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie

Two Mothers for Maggie – Jim Baikie

Waking Nightmare (first episode) – Phil Townsend

Superstars ‘78 – feature 

Calendar 1978 – feature 

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

Mark Hamill of “Star Wars” – feature 

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

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

Race for a Fortune – artist Christine Ellingham

A Box of Silken Flowers – feature

This is Jinty’s first issue for 1978. It’s not her New Year issue, which took the odd turn of being on the last day of the old year 1977, but there are still New Year themes. We also get a delightful feature about Mark Hamill of Star Wars.

Jinty starts her first story for 1978, “Waking Nightmare”. The nightmare begins when Phil Carey is woken up by toothache and sees a girl being dragged off in the middle of the night. Her parents don’t believe her, and at the house where Phil saw the girl being taken, the mother denies everything – but she does make odd remarks about a secret and trouble she hoped to leave behind. We’re suspicious already.

Sue’s new year’s resolution is to be extra-nice to people, and she urges her fun-bag to hold her to it. But she soon finds her excessive niceness is turning her into a nuisance and now she’s in trouble with a lot of people. We suggest your resolution should just be yourself, Sue. 

On the subject of niceness, Mother Heggerty has found the Saxtons and wants revenge on them, but she finds her slave Jody is too nice for that. So she casts an additional spell to make Jody evil. Now why the silly old witch couldn’t have picked an evil girl like Stacey from Jinty’s Slave of Form 3B in the first place we’ll never know, but we’re deeply worried. The spell is bound to make Jody far more evil than any genuinely bad girl we’ve seen in Jinty.

In the Land of No Tears, the cold-hearted residents get a real surprise when the “reject” Gamma Girls beat the odds and are through to the finals of the Golden Girl Award. It should be a victory celebration for Cassy, but security have put the damper on everything by saying they will be sending the Hive Inspector over to make enquiries. And judging from the way Miranda’s mystery mother is reacting, this Inspector is kind of like the Gestapo.

In part two of “Darling Clementine”, Clementine (Clem) is in a coma after some horrible girl knocks her into the river. Worse, her cousin Ella is being accused of it instead, and everyone, including her own Uncle, turns against her. Poor Ella is not even allowed to visit Clem in hospital. Not knowing what else to do, Ella bravely decides to train herself up for the water-ski event that Clem was going to enter.

“Race for a Fortune” takes a spooky turn, but a hilarious one. Katie thinks her cousins’ latest trick is to play Roman ghosts on her at an old barn. So when a pair of glowing Romans does appear, she thinks it’s a huge joke and plays along with it. But she learns later that the glowing Romans weren’t her cousins. In fact, they scared those cheating cousins off. Unfortunately, not right back to the beginning of the race. 

The strife over “Two Mothers for Maggie” takes a very bad turn this week. Mum forbade Maggie to go to Miss Keyes’ party, where she could be on the rise as a star. Maggie goes there anyway and soon she is on the rise after saving Miss Keyes’ dog. Then Mum comes along in a terrible temper and drags her out in front of everyone. How embarrassing! And it’s not over. Poor Maggie has to face the wrath of her unfit guardian stepfather next week. 

Jinty 17 December 1977

Come Into My Parlour – artist Douglas Perry

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

A Jinty Christmas Poem: The Story of the Mince Pie

Two Mothers for Maggie – Jim Baikie

My Favourite Thing! – Competition results

Guardian of White Horse Hill – artist Julian Vivas, writer Pat Mills

Stage Fright! (final episode) – artist Phil Townsend

“The Yew Walk” (Gypsy Rose story) – artist unknown

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

Alley Cat – artist Rob Lee 

Race for a Fortune – artist Christine Ellingham

Fruity Sweets for Christmas – Feature 

Jinty’s gearing us all up for Christmas with Christmas covers, Christmas features, Christmas jokes, and a Christmas party story from Sue and her Fantastic Fun-Bag. 

There is a dash of Christmas with a yew tree walk in this week’s Gypsy Rose story, but definitely not in the Christmas spirit. New owners are warned not to cut down the yew trees or they will evoke a druid’s curse. Of course they do precisely that, and if they can’t find a way to lift the curse their very lives could be danger. 

“Race for a Fortune” also gives a hint of Christmas, because it’s party time this week. Katie drops in on the Larrup Stick Dance and takes the opportunity to give her cheating cousins some “stick” after that dirty trick they played on her in the last issue. 

It may not be Christmas in “Land of No Tears” – something we highly doubt is celebrated in that cold-hearted world where all emotion is banned. Still, it is as good as Christmas when Miranda’s mysterious mother offers to train the Gamma girls for the Golden Girl Award after Cassy takes a brunt to protect her and Miranda from being caught by the ruthless Perfecta. 

What about presents? Maggie gets presents, in the form of lovely dresses, from both her real mother and her TV mother. Unfortunately the presents are creating conflicting loyalties.

In Alley Cat it’s Christmas stockings. Spotty is unravelling people’s sweaters and pinching the wool right off their backs, in order to knit his own giant Christmas stocking. What a grinch! We can imagine what his stocking will be filled with on Christmas Day.

In the last episode of “Stage Fright!” it takes a fire and the loss of his mansion because of the deranged Lady Alice to make Lord Banbury realise all he had cared about was the acting trophy and not enough about his family. Granddaughter Melanie is not quite ready to forgive him, but the story ends on a hopeful note that a better relationship will build between them. 

Not much happens this week to advance the plot in “Come Into My Parlour”, except wait for the full moon in order to cast the spell to help unravel the mystery of the vanished Saxtons. But bullies get a surprise when the power of Mother Heggerty’s necklace enables Jody to give them a good walloping! 

So the mysterious white horse is a mare! After a time trip to the past, Janey realises the white horse is Epona, the horse goddess, and it is a power that has awakened in response to the threat of the motorway. She returns to her own time with the sword she has taken as a symbol of Epona’s strength and compassion, and finds Epona has gathered a horse army. Now what can Epona have in mind? Let’s not forget she’s a goddess, and not even bulldozers are a match for a goddess.

Jinty 10 December 1977

Come Into My Parlour  – artist Douglas Perry

Christmas Mobile part 4 – feature

Give a Victorian Party! Feature

Two Mothers for Maggie – Jim Baikie

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

Guardian of White Horse Hill – artist Julian Vivas, writer Pat Mills

Stage Fright! – artist Phil Townsend

Eddie Kidd – feature 

The Runaway Bride (Gypsy Rose’s Tales of Mystery and Magic) – artist Keith Robson

My Favourite Thing! – Competition results

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

Alley Cat – artist Rob Lee 

Race for a Fortune – artist Christine Ellingham

Topping Ideas! – Feature 

It’s the final part of Jinty’s Christmas mobile. Jinty readers should be feeling more Christmassy now. 

In “Land of No Tears”, the mystery of Miranda’s mother deepens, but some things are unravelling about it. Cassy finds out Miranda and her mother are secretly meeting each other, an illegal thing in a world where all emotion and normal human contact are forbidden. One is reminded of the Orwellian “Imagine a boot stamping on the human face – forever.” But who is the woman anyway? Why does she turn up in disguise? And why can’t she come up with a better disguise than a ridiculous wig and heavy makeup that would immediately draw attention and put her secret even more at risk?

Sue asks Henrietta to put a stamp on it – meaning on a letter. But, as is so often the case, Henrietta misunderstands and gives Sue a foot that stamps on anything – and with the force of an elephant. 

Katie’s sneaky cousins pull the old signpost switch on her. This causes her to bump into a band of smugglers, and she has to find a way to escape from them. We are informed Katie will get revenge on her cousins next week. 

“Stage Fright!” reaches its penultimate episode. The deranged Lady Alice has been blocking Linda and Melanie from acting because she stands to gain Banbury Manor out of it. But upon hearing Linda has foiled her attempt to stop Melanie entering the acting trophy, she decides that if she can’t have the manor, nobody else will. She’s going to burn it down – with Linda locked inside!

In the Gypsy Rose story, Dee also falls foul of a deranged woman who locks her in. The nutty old woman thinks Dee’s her lost daughter Celia, who eloped to marry the man she loved, not the man her mother chose. She does not realise Celia died before she got the chance to reconcile with her. Fortunately, Celia’s ghost is on hand to help. 

Maggie’s first TV rehearsal is ruined because Mum lumbered her with babysitting. Miss Keyes, her TV mother, is the only bright spot in her life now. Why is it that the make-believe mother she has on the set is far more desirable than the real one who married an unsuitable stepfather?

Mother Heggerty forces Jody to search for the Saxton family she wants revenge on. The search leads Jody to the remains of their old home, and the next step is a spell cast there to find out what happened to them.

Janey goes time travelling to the time of the ancient Celts, where she becomes the chosen one of Epona the horse goddess. In this time period the villagers face a threat, just like the 20th century ones, though the threats are of very different sorts. Is this why Janey keeps seeing this white horse? Is she some sort of chosen one or a reincarnation?

Alley Cat makes a new home in a pipe after Spotty blows up his bin. Spotty sends it rolling downhill, and right where it foils a bank robbery. Alley Cat spends his reward money on a new home that Spotty can’t blow up. Foiled again, Spotty!

Jinty 19 November 1977

Cover: Christine Ellingham

Come Into My Parlour (first episode) – artist Douglas Perry

Christmas Mobile part 1 – feature

Give a Victorian Party! Feature

Two Mothers for Maggie (first episode) – Jim Baikie

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

Guardian of White Horse Hill – artist Julian Vivas, writer Pat Mills

Stage Fright! – artist Phil Townsend

The Secret World (Gypsy Rose’s Tales of Mystery and Magic) – artist Keith Robson

Patrick Duffy – feature 

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

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

Race for a Fortune (first episode) – artist Christine Ellingham

Paper Flowers – Feature

In this issue, Jinty starts her buildup to Christmas with a four-part Christmas tree mobile. It’s got us thinking about Christmas already, eh? She also starts a four-part feature on how to throw original parties. The first is a Victorian-themed party.

Phil Gascoine’s artwork is taking a break from Jinty. It turns out to be an uncharacteristically long one that lasts well into the new year. His artwork is not seen again in Jinty until July 1978, with “The Changeling“. Now this is puzzling, given that periods between Gascoine serials were usually short in Jinty.

Three new stories start. The first is “Come Into My Parlour”, where Jody Sinclair falls under the spell of an evil witch, Mother Heggerty. The second is “Two Mothers for Maggie”, where Maggie Jones launches on an acting career after nothing but doing chores at home for her sleazy stepfather, only to find herself torn between her real mother and a make-believe mother on the set. The last is “Race for a Fortune”, where Katie McNab really has to get her skates on when her miserly Uncle Ebenezer’s will dictates that the first of his young relatives to reach Yuckiemuckle under their own steam and without money will inherit his fortune. Of course Katie’s rivals Rodney and Caroline are not playing fair or obeying the conditions of the will. 

In “Land of No Tears”, Cassy is learning – the hard way – more about the harshness of the dystopian world of the future she has landed in. Perfecta’s idea of teaching Cassy disclipine is to force her to stand under a sub-zero shower for 15 minutes, then says she does the same thing herself for 30 minutes each day. Then Cassy is shocked to see girls who are deemed rejects like herself and relegated to the “inferior” Gamma class to do slave work are not even disabled by our standards. Wearing glasses, having clumsy thumbs or bearing a scar from a childhood accident are enough. What can Cassy do about this? She’s already come up with something to show the Gammas the Alphas are not so perfect: a practical joke on Perfecta to make her lose her temper in front of the Gammas, something Perfecta is not supposed to do because Alphas have to repress their emotions. And boy, is Perfecta steaming! She definitely is not one to joke with. We know Perfecta will make Cassy suffer for this, but Cassy’s plan pay off?

Beryl is a pain in the neck who sometimes appears in “Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag!”. This week she’s a tattle-tale with a superior attitude. She boasts she always tells the truth. Henrietta decides to take Beryl at her word and put a spell on her to make her always tell the truth – literally. This soon reveals that Beryl is not as perfect or honest as she likes to have everyone think.

The moral of this week’s Gypsy Rose story is to listen if you’re warned about dangers. Kay disobeys her brother Bruce’s warning not to attempt a piece of pot-holing that’s too tricky and advanced for her, and naturally she runs into big trouble. Then she is surprised to get help from the Little People. An additional moral might be to do some research about pot-holing, as none of the pot-holers are wearing helmets.

Janey discovers the council has plans to bulldoze the village and part of White Horse Hill for a motorway. Could this have something to do with why she keeps seeing that white horse when nobody else can? 

In “Stage Fright!”, Linda is teaching mute Melanie to be a mime, and she’s got a real talent for it. Then she discovers the frosty Lady Alice is out to crush Melanie’s talent, and she’s done a really good job of turning Melanie against her. But why is Lady Alice doing this anyway? Another mystery to unravel about the Banbury family. 

Jinty 26 November 1977

• Come into My Parlour (artist Douglas Perry)
• Christmas mobile part 2 – feature
• Two Mothers for Maggie (artist Jim Baikie)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Guardian of White Horse Hill (artist Julian Vivas)
• Stage Fright! (artist Phil Townsend)
• Jinty Pops the Question! (quiz)
• The Scarecrow of Dread – Gypsy Rose story (artist Terry Aspin)
• Land of No Tears (artist Guy Peeters, writer Pat Mills)
• Race for a Fortune (artist Christine Ellingham unknown Concrete Surfer artist)
• More Flowery Fun (feature)

Jinty is gearing up for Christmas with her Christmas mobiles. And things gear up elsewhere in the issue as well. In Land of No Tears, Cassy’s getting her ideas together to liberate the Gamma girls. And her plan is to train them up to win a top sports award. In part two of Race for a Fortune, Katie has to get her thinking cap on to raise money because under the terms of her Uncle’s will, both she and her scheming cousins had to set off without money. In Stage Fright, a doctor is called in and Linda tries to get him to help Melanie. Can he help Melanie to remember her past and break her free from the scheming Lady Alice? Janey learns that her Guardian of White Horse Hill was a Celtic goddess! And in Two Mothers for Maggie, step-dad still thinks acting is a waste of time for Maggie, and he gets abusive when he finds out she has gotten a job on television.

Douglas Perry is drawing his first serial for Jinty, Come into My Parlour, about an evil witch who enslaves a girl with a spider-like necklace. It’s strange that both serials Perry drew for Jinty had witch themes. The first features the typical evil crone who is out to cause trouble with her evil magic, while the pendulum swings to the other end with the second, Shadow on the Fen, which depicts witches as they really were – wise women who helped people with folk magic and the real evil lay with the people who persecuted them. Maybe it’s Perry’s style that made him the choice for drawing these serials?

Although Halloween was a month ago, there is a distinctive Halloween flavour with this week’s Gypsy Rose story. A terrifying scarecrow and horrible turnip faces are scaring Oonah Jack at the farm she is trying to run. Fortunately for her, she has Gypsy Rose for company.

Jinty 3 December 1977

Stories in this issue:

• Come Into My Parlour (artist Douglas Perry)
• Two Mothers for Maggie (artist Jim Baikie)
• Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Guardian of White Horse Hill (artist Julian Vivas)
• Stage Fright! (artist Phil Townsend)
• Gypsy Rose: A Picture of the Past (artist and writer Keith Robson)
• Alley Cat
• Land of No Tears (artist Guy Peeters, writer Pat Mills)
• Race for a Fortune

I got this issue out to scan the Gypsy Rose story for the Keith Robson interview, as it is the first script he wrote as well as being drawn by him. It’s a cool time-travel story with a twist, and one that I found memorable; it came to mind many years later when I visited Lacock Abbey where the inventor of photography, Fox Talbot, lived.

“Come Into My Parlour” is spooky: I find Douglas Perry’s artwork very atmospheric for this sort of thing. Evil old Mother Heggerty is proper creepy! She forces Jody Sinclair to be her slave, her literal cat’s-paw, to get revenge on a family called Saxton – and when Jody tries to rebel, she is reminded of how under the spell she is as she can’t even take off the cat’s-paw necklace that binds her to the old witch…

“Two Mothers for Maggie” contrasts Maggie Jones’ glamorous role in a tv soap opera with her humdrum life in a house full of poverty and hard work: she tries to do her homework and instead has to help the kids with breakfast while her slobby stepfather gobbles down his full English. The whole story is Maggie being tugged between her family – especially her mother, who she dearly loves – and her exciting life in tv and the luxury of her telly mother’s home.

“Guardian of White Horse Hill” has runaway Janey finding out that her mysterious white horse is actually Epona, the Celtic horse goddess! No wonder when she gets on the horse’s back she is invisible – an easy task for a goddess presumably. Powerful beings like that have a habit of wanting something in return, and Janey starts to find out more as she is dragged back into Celtic times…

“Stage Fright!” is a thriller mystery based around a girl with amnesia and another girl who is being made to win an acting trophy, otherwise her father will lose his job. (Of course this sort of blackmail is hardly unusual in girls’ comics, as you have gathered by now!) Protagonist Linda has taken her new friend Melanie to be hypotised, hoping it will bring back her memory and even the voice that she lost in the same accident that made her amnesiac. It works, but reveals a greater threat at the house they both live in: Melanie’s aunt is a scheming murderess who caused the death of Melanie’s father and mother in a boating accident – yes, it’s rather melodramatic as a plot item but the scene is drawn beautifully by Phil Townsend. Can the two girls secretly work against the aunt?

“Land of No Tears” is still at an early stage at this point, but Cassie already has a plan to get back at the bitchy Alpha girls in the dystopian world she has landed in: she will lead her pack of Gamma girls to win the Golden Girl trophy! It would be a hopeless task except that one of them turns out to be superb at gymnastics. Hmm, now what secret is Miranda hiding?

“Race for a Fortune” is a light-weight amusing comedy story with a scruffs-vs-snobs theme: Katie is up against her two posh cousins in a race to get to the Scottish ancestral land of their late grandfather, starting off with nothing in their pockets. Katie is clearly far more resourceful than the two poshos; it doesn’t always work out for her but this week she manages to get her cousins stuck in a medical research facility, being well-paid to help science by trying to catch a cold! And of course in the meantime Katie gets a few days’ head start, grinning as she goes… This is drawn by the same unknown artist who drew one of my favourite stories, “Concrete Surfer“.