Jinty 15 September 1979

Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)

Bizzie Bet and the Easies (artist Richard Neillands)

Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)

Mike and Terry (artist Peter Wilkes)

Gwynne’s Quiz Show

Your Pet Hates – Results

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

Combing Her Golden Hair (artist Phil Townsend)

Miss Make-Believe (artist “B. Jackson”) – first episode

Upsy Downsy Mascot – feature 

Pandora’s Box (artist Guy Peeters)

In this issue, Jinty publishes the results of a pet loves and hates competition, and there appears to be more emphasis on the hates. Pet peeves included squeaky chalk, mushy peas, bullies, vandalism, spiders, litter, glib expressions and coat hangers. Some of the replies about pet peeves were put into verse, which was very imaginative.

As we’ve got a pet peeve theme going, let’s look at other peeves in the issue.

In “Pandora’s Box”, everyone, including the headmistress, is peeved with Pandora for jumping queue on the audition for “Alice in Jazzland” when she had no right to even enter it. The girls have turned cold towards her. She uses a spell for “melting hearts of ice” to make them nice to her again. Pandora would have been better to cast that spell on herself; she had little regard for her cat Scruffy being peeved at having to sit on ice blocks and shivering while she cast the spell. Now poor Scruffy has caught a bad chill because of it.

In “Combing Her Golden Hair”, Gran’s peeves are vanity and Tamsin trying to swim. So Gran goes absolutely bonkers when Tasmin tries to swim in the new pool at a classmate’s party. Tamsin’s also suspicious at gran’s claims she isn’t allowed to swim because chlorine’s bad for her asthma, especially as there is no evidence to support this and Gran won’t even allow a doctor to look into it. So Tasmin’s delighted when a new teacher demands medical certification before any pupil can be excused swimming. Now gran’s claims will be put to the test. 

Spotty Muchloot’s pet peeve, as always, is Alley Cat. He goes to extreme lengths to keep Alley Car out of his house and away from his grub while his folks are away, but Alley Cat turns the tables, as usual.

We are informed that “Bizzie Bet and the Easies” will not appear next week. This week, Bizzie Bet and Kate Easie’s peeve is a school bully named Erica and both agree that something’s got to be done about her. They do it themselves – without realising – with Erica constantly getting on the wrong end of their respective Bizzie and Easie ways. Erica emerges bruised, battered, drenched, and given the fright of her life. And after all that, when they see the state Erica’s in, they think someone else has saved them the job of sorting her out. 

In “Miss Make-Believe”, the sequel to “Daughter of Dreams”, shy Sally Carter is peeved that everyone is treating her as courageous when she is not. It was her imaginary friend Pauline, come to life, who was behind it all, by entering Sally for a bravery-testing contest at Playne Towers. The test? A six-month safari. Meanwhile, Pauline discovers the servants are up to no good. Could this be the real test?

In “Village of Fame”, Sue’s peeves are Mr Grand and her inability to prove he’s up to no good in the name of TV ratings. This week, teacher Miss Pebblestone is accused of accidentally starting a fire at school. The evidence looks black against her, though Sue and Mandy suspect Mr Grand faked it, and poor Miss Pebblestone is forced to leave the village. Now Sue’s brother Jason goes missing, and Sue and Mandy suspect Mr Grand engineered it for yet more ratings.

In “Almost Human”, Xenia’s peeve is her alien touch, which is deadly to Earth life, so she can’t touch anything living on Earth. Some gypsies discover Xenia’s secret and are willing to let her stay after she saved them from a poisonous snake. But Xenia goes on the run again because of her alien touch. We are informed a thunderstrom is going to have “extraordinary effects” next week. Will this be good or bad for Xenia?

“Mike and Terry” must be peeved they failed to stop the Shadow again. He’s also after an escaped convict – who turns up in Mike and Terry’s car! The common denominator is a theatre show from 1976: the Shadow is kidnapping everyone involved in it. But why? Let’s hope the escaped convict can shed some light on the matter. 

Mainstay Jinty artist Phil Gascoine takes a holiday this issue, but he’s back next week with “Waves of Fear”. From the looks of the blurb, the protagonist is going to have worse things than peeves; she’s on “the crest of a wave…that was suddenly to smash her life into a thousand, terrifying pieces!”.

Jinty 8 September 1979

Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)

Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)

Bizzie Bet and the Easies (artist Richard Neillands)

Mike and Terry (artist Peter Wilkes)

Gwynne’s Quiz Show

Super fun-time Competition!

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Horse and Rider Crossword

Combing Her Golden Hair (artist Phil Townsend)

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty

A Girl Called Gulliver (artist Phil Gascoine) – final episode

Pandora’s Box (artist Guy Peeters)

Pining for Something New? – craft feature

We continue our September theme with some September Jinty issues. This one from 8 September 1979 is a competition issue, with five stereo record players up for grabs as the grand prizes.

It’s the final episode of “A Girl Called Gulliver”. The Lilliputians take their leave of Gwenny, saying they’ve found a new home. Sadly, it was a white lie. The Lilliputians have realised the responsibility of looking after them was too heavy for Gwenny, so they will continue wandering on their own. Dad Lilliput is confident they will find a home soon anyway. Its replacement next week is “Miss Make-Believe”, a sequel to “Daughter of Dreams”.

In “Almost Human”, Xenia has fallen in with some friendly gypsy children, but her inability to touch them because her alien touch is deadly to Earth life is causing misunderstandings. Plus, she gets a taste of human prejudice against gypsies. She’s still with the gypsies, trudging onwards and hoping things will get better. 

In “Village of Fame”, Mandy helps her uncle Mr Grand with a trick on Sue Parker, but then he reneges on her, refusing to keep his end of the bargain. Now Mandy wants revenge and turns to Sue, but after that trick Mandy pulled, Sue is in no mood to be any ally with her. Mr Grand also has plans for teacher Miss Pebblestone – and it looks like making sure she’s blamed when the school gets partially burned down. 

Bizzie Bet tries to clean up the Easies’ garden, which the loafers have left to turn into a jungle. But then it has to be left intact after rare flora and fauna are discovered there. The Easies win again.

The trail of the Shadow, a criminal mastermind, has led Mike and Terry to a funfair, where the Shadow has plans to kidnap a trick cyclist named Dirk Dare (now what can he want with a trick cyclist?). Some very amusing hijinks ensue at the fair as Terry and Mike outwit the Shadow’s thugs. To make things even more complicated, Mike and Terry discover Dirk has swapped places with the human cannonball. Now, the Shadow doesn’t know about the switch, so could this lead to his thugs grabbing the wrong man?

Alley Cat’s annoyed to find Spotty Muchloot having a picnic all to himself, but Spotty has come prepared for any food snatching from Alley Cat. In the end, though, it backfires on Spotty and Alley Cat gets Spotty’s grub.

In “Combing Her Golden Hair”, Tamsin is surprised when Gran allows her to go to a party. But Gran won’t allow a party dress (no money, she says). Tamsin has to go in school uniform and still wear her hair in those awful plaits Gran always tells her to wear. Gran’s got a real thing about vanity, but this week she goes too far. She finds Tasmin combing her hair with that strange silver comb and goes so mad she almost cuts Tamsin’s hair off. Tamsin’s friend Ellen steps in to pretty her up for the party, and that strange comb is taking effect again. Now it is tempting Tamsin to go swimming, something her gran has always banned.

In “Pandora’s Box”, Pandora wins the audition for “Alice in Jazzland”, and for once she’s using stuff she’s learned instead of taking shortcuts with that box of witchcraft. But when she plans a surprise party to celebrate, it’s back to the box to get it set up quick and easy.

Jinty 18 August 1979

• Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)
• Bizzie Bet and the Easies (artist Richard Neillands)
• Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)
• Tom Baker – Doctor Who feature
• Mike and Terry (artist Peter Wilkes)
• The Disappearing Dolphin (artist Trini Tinturé)
• Be a Private Eye! (text story with deliberate mistakes to spot)
• Rinty ‘n’ Jinty
• Nothing to Sing About (artist Phil Townsend)
• A Girl Called Gulliver (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Pandora’s Box (artist Guy Peeters)
• Harvest Crossword – Feature
• Crumbs! That’s a Good Idea! – Feature

The indignity the Lilliputians suffer in this issue makes the cover, and the complementary use of orange and green on the cover makes it even more striking. The silly things thought a sandcastle was for living in, and have been hung up to dry after the soaking they got from the sea. This Gascoine story certainly had several cover slots, no doubt because it was such a fun, upbeat story (unlike the next story Gascoine will draw – “Waves of Fear” –  which is one of Jinty’s most disturbing stories).

This issue is one for Doctor Who fans because it has an exclusive interview with Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor. The text story is unusual too. There are deliberate mistakes in it, and the challenge is to see how good a sleuth you are by picking up as many of the mistakes as you can.

Xenia’s inability to touch Earthlings without killing them causes real problems as she tries to help some people with an accident. The district nurse is getting suspicious.

Sue does not trust Mr Grand’s scheme to use her village as a location for a television serial. And when she discovers just how he is filming it (cameras everywhere and stirring things up to create action), she declares war on him.

Mike and Terry are out to stop a plot to kidnap a ventriloquist, and Mike is turning conjurer to do it. But at the end of the episode he looks like he could do with a disappearing trick when the kidnappers accost him.

In “The Disappearing Dolphin”, Paula and Chris think they’ve worked out who is plotting against them – Mrs Ormerod-Keynes. But now they need to work out why and how.

It’s the penultimate episode of “Nothing to Sing About”. Linette has now been put straight about the cause of her father’s death and realises she was wrong to blame the fans. But her bitter behaviour beforehand has had serious consequences – it wrecked her mother’s new engagement.

Pandora works another spell to get what she wants – a job in a commercial. But she finds a conscience when she discovers it cost Ruth her chance of getting it, and she badly needed the money because her father can’t pay the school fees.

Stories translated into Dutch

Following up on the previous post on European Translations, Sleuth from Catawiki has kindly sent me a list she has prepared of Jinty stories which were translated into Dutch. (See also some comments from her in that post, about Dutch translations.) They were mostly published in the weekly comic Tina and/or in the reprint album format Tina Topstrip. The list below shows the original title, followed by the title in the Dutch translation, with a literal translation in [square brackets] where appropriate, and then the details of the publication that the translation appeared in. It is ordered by date of original publication.

• Gwen’s Stolen Glory (1974): De droom van een ander [Someone else’s dream] (in: Tina Club 1975-2)
• Dora Dogsbody (1974-76): Hilda Hondemoppie (in: Tina 1974)
• Gail’s Indian Necklace (1974): Anak-Har-Li [the name of the Indian deity on the necklace] (in: Tina Club 1975-01)
• Always Together (1974): Voor altijd samen (in: Tina 1985/86)
• Wild Horse Summer (1974): De zomer van het witte paard [White Horse Summer] (in: Tina 1976, Tina Topstrip 15 (1980))
• Left-Out Linda (1974): Linda (in: Tina 1975/76)
• Wenna the Witch (1974): Wenna de heks (in: Tina 1976, Tina Topstrip 34, 1981)
• Slave of the Mirror (1975): De spiegel met de slangen [The Snakes Mirror] (in: Tina 1976)
• The Kat and Mouse Game (1975): Als kat en muis [Like cat and mouse] (in: Tina 1985)
• Tricia’s Tragedy (1975): Tineke – Strijd om de Lankman-trofee [Tineke – Fighting for the Lankman Trophy] (in: Tina 1975/76, Tina Topstrip 18 (1980)).
• The Valley of the Shining Mist (1975): Het dal van de glanzende nevel (in: Tina 1977)
• Barracuda Bay (1975): Susan Stevens – Barracudabaai (in: Tina 1971); reprint from June & School Friend 1970.
• The Haunting of Hazel: Hazel en haar berggeest [Hazel and her Mountain Ghost] (in: Tina 1976/77, Tina Topstrip 27 (1981))
• For Peter’s Sake! (1976): De opdracht van Josefien [Josephine’s Assignment] (in: Tina Boelboek 5 (1985))
• The Slave of Form 3B (1976): In de ban van Isabel [Under Isabel’s Spell] (in: Groot Tina Zomerboek 1984-2)
• Then there were 3 … (1976): Toen waren er nog maar drie (in: Groot Tina Lenteboek 1982-1
• Horse from the Sea (1976): De legende van het witte paard [The Legend of the White Horse] (in: Tina 1985)
• Snobby Shirl the Shoeshine Girl! (1976): Freule Frederique [Lady Frederique] (in: Tina 1979)
• Stefa’s Heart of Stone (1976): Steffie’s hart van steen (in: Tina 1986). Reprint in Tammy 1984
• Girl in a Bubble (1976): Gevangen in een luchtbel [Prisoner in a Bubble] (in: Tina 1977, Tina Topstrip 29, 1981).
• Sceptre of the Toltecs (1977): De scepter van de Tolteken (in: Tina 1978; Tina Topstrip 44, 1982)
• The Mystery of Martine (1976-77): De dubbelrol van Martine [Martine’s Double Role] (in: Tina 1978).
• Mark of the Witch! (1977): Het teken van de heks (in: Tina 1982/83)
• Freda, False Friend (1977): Frieda, de valse vriendin (in: Tina 1978/79)
• Spell of the Spinning Wheel (1977): De betovering van het spinnewiel (in: Tina 1978; Tina Topstrip 42, 1982)
• The Darkening Journey (1977): Samen door het duister [Through the Darkness Together] (in: Tina 1981/82)
• Creepy Crawley (1977): In de macht/ban van een broche [Under the Spell of a Brooch] (In: Tina 1979; Tina Topstrip 60, 1984)
• Kerry in the Clouds (1977): Klaartje in de wolken (in: Tina 1978)
• The Robot Who Cried (1977): Robot L4A ontsnapt! [Robot Elvira Gets Away] (in: Tina 1985/86).
• Curtain of Silence (1977): Achter het stille gordijn [Behind the Silent Curtain] (in: Tina 1978/79, Tina Topstrip 52, 1983)
• Fran’ll Fix it! (1977; 1978-79): short story 3/4; Annabel versiert ‘t wel [Annabel will fix it]; episodes in Tina from 1983 till 1994; there were also “Dutch” episodes written by Bas van der Horst and drawn by Comos, and there is an episode in 1994 written by Ian Mennell and drawn by Comos.
• Who’s That in My Mirror? (1977): Het spookbeeld in de spiegel [The Ghost in the Mirror] (in: Tina 1980)
• Cursed to be a Coward! (1977): Zoals de waarzegster voorspelde [Like the Fortune-Teller Predicted] (in: Tina 1979, Tina Topstrip 49, 1983)
• Destiny Brown (1977): De vreemde visioenen van Seventa Smit [Seventa Smit’s Strange Visions] (in: Tina 1980)
• The Goose Girl (1977): not translated directly but the storyline was probably used for Maartje, het ganzenmeisje [Marge, the Goose Girl] in Tina 1979, art by Piet Wijn; Tina Topstrip 40, 1982).
• Stage Fright! (1977): De gevangene van Valckensteyn [Prisoner of Valckensteyn/Falconstone] (in: Tina 1981)
• Guardian of White Horse Hill (1977): Epona, wachter van de paardenvallei [Epona, Guardian of the Horse Valley] (in: Tina 1978; Tina Topstrip 37, 1982)
• Land of No Tears (1977-78): Wereld zonder tranen [World of No Tears] (in: Groot Tina Lenteboek 1983-1)
• Come into My Parlour (1977-78): Kom maar in mijn web [Just Come into My Web] (in: Groot Tina Boek 1981-3)
• Race for a Fortune (1977-78): Om het fortuin van oom Archibald [Race for Uncle Archibald’s Fortune] (in: Tina 1980)
• Concrete Surfer (1977-78): Ik heb altijd m’n skateboard nog! [At least I’ve still got my skateboard] (in: Tina 1980)
• Paula’s Puppets (1978): De poppen van Petra [Petra’s Puppets] (in: Tina 1979, Tina Topstrip 54, 1983). Perhaps they changed the name because there was a Stewardess Paula strip in Tina at the time.
• Slave of the Swan (1978): De wraak van de Zwaan [Revenge of the Swan] (in: Tina 1980)
• The Birds (1978): De vogels (in: Groot Tina Boek 1978 winter).
• Clancy on Trial (1978): Nancy op proef [Nancy on Trial – the name Clancy is highly unusual in the Netherlands] (in: Tina 1979)
• Wild Rose (1978): Waar hoor ik thuis? [Where do I belong?] (in: Tina 1980)
• 7 Steps to the Sisterhood (1978): Gevaar loert op Lansdael [Danger at Lansdael] (in: Tina 1980)
• The Human Zoo (1978): Als beesten in een kooi [Like Animals in a Cage] (in: Tina 1986). Reprint in Tammy 1982.
• No Cheers for Cherry (1978): Geen applaus voor Sandra [No Applause for Sandra] (in: Groot Tina Zomerboek 1983-2)
• The Girl Who Never Was (1979): De verbanning van Irma Ijsinga [Irma Ijsinga’s Banishment] (in: Tina 1981)
• Sea-Sister (1979): Gevangene van de zee [Prisoner of the Sea] (in: Tina 1989)
• The Forbidden Garden (1979): De verboden tuin (in: Tina 1982/83). Reprint in Tammy 1984
• Bizzie Bet and the Easies (1979): Dina Doe douwt door [Dinah Do Pushes Through] (just one episode, in: Groot Tina Lenteboek 1982-1).
• Almost Human (1979): De verloren planeet [The Lost Planet] (in: Tina 1984)
• Village of Fame (1979): Het dorp waar nooit ‘ns iets gebeurde [The Village Where Nothing Ever Happened] (in: Tina 1982)
• Combing Her Golden Hair (1979): Kirsten, kam je gouden lokken [Kirsten, Comb Your Golden Locks] (in: Tina 1981, Tina Topstrip 64, 1985: Kam je gouden lokken)
• Waves of Fear (1979): In een golf van angst [In a Wave of Fear] (in: Tina 1983)
• White Water (1979-80): Wild Water [Wild Water] (in: Tina 1984)
• When Statues Walk… (1979-80): De wachters van Thor [Thor’s Guardians] (in: Tina 1981/82, Tina Topstrip 71, 1985)
• The Venetian Looking Glass (1980): Het gezicht in de spiegel [The Face in the Mirror] (in: Tina 1983)
• Seulah the Seal (1979-80): Sjoela de zeehond (in: Tina 1980/81, little booklets in black and white that came as a free gift, stapled in the middle of a Tina).
• A Spell of Trouble (1980): Anne Tanne Toverheks [Anne Tanne Sorceress, a sort of nursery rhyme name] (in: Tina 1984/85)
• Girl the World Forgot (1980): Door iedereen vergeten [Forgotten by everyone] (in: Tina 1987)
• The Ghost Dancer (1981): Dansen in het maanlicht [Dancing in the Moonlight] (in: Tina 1983)
• Holiday Hideaway (1981): Wie niet weg is, is gezien [If you’re not gone, you’re seen – a sentence children use in hide-and-seek] (in: Tina 1982)
• Freda’s Fortune (1981): Could be: Fortuin voor Floortje [A Fortune for Florrie] (in: Groot Tina Herfstboek 1983-3)
• Airgirl Emma’s Adventure (reprint from June 1969, in Jinty Holiday Special 1975): Short story 16; Emma zoekt het hogerop [Emma takes it higher up] (in: Tina 1970)

Various of the stories translated in Tina were also reprinted in the Indonesian title Nina (of course Indonesia is a former Dutch colony, making for a clear link). These will be listed on a new reference page for Translations into Indonesian.

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This long list enables us to see how very popular some creators were – for instance, a large number of Jim Baikie and Phil Gascoine stories are included (though not all, by any means). Of course, these were also the most prolific of Jinty artists too.

Many stories were translated very shortly after initial publication, and then reprinted in album form some time later. There was also a ‘second round’ of translation work done after Jinty ceased publication, to go back and pick some of the earlier stories that had not been selected earlier. This was the case with “Always Together” and “The Kat and Mouse Game”, for instance.

Many but by no means all of the story titles were translated fairly literally or exactly, though the main character’s name was almost invariably exchanged for another one. Some titles ended up particularly poetical or neat in translation: “A Spell of Trouble” and “Holiday Hideaway” perhaps benefit most from their translated titles. Of course, there are also some losers: I think “The Human Zoo” and “The Girl Who Never Was” ended up with less resonant titles through the process.

A wide range of stories were translated: spooky stories, humour stories, science fiction, adventure, sports stories. There are some omissions that I’m surprised by, though of course the editors had to pick and choose from so much that was available. “Fran of the Floods” was probably too long (see Marc’s comment about the length of stories selected for translation). No Gypsy Rose stories were selected – maybe they didn’t want a storyteller, ‘grab-bag’ approach? I am however quite surprised at the omission of the excellent “Children of Edenford” (1979). Could it have been too subversive a story, with its underlying theme of adults undermining their position of trust by hypnotizing children in order to control their moral development? The similarly-themed “Prisoner of the Bell” was also not translated. Of course this is rather a guess! At the end of the day I’m sure there were just more stories to choose from than there were spaces for publication.

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For reference, I also include a complete list of stories published in the album format Tina Topstrip (71 albums in total). This gives us a view of how many of the reprinted stories deemed worthy of collection came from which original title. Note that some of the stories in this album format were themselves originally written in Dutch as they are credited to a Dutch writer. (NB I will add this to the new page created for Translations into Dutch)

1. Becky Never Saw The Ball
2. Twinkle, Twinkle, Daisy Star
3. Wee Sue
4. Het geheim van oom Robert (original story in Dutch)
5. Kimmy op de modetoer (original title unknown)
6. Marcella het circuskind (original title unknown)
7. Moses and Me
8. Peggy en Jeroen (Patty’s World story)
9. Anja – Dorp in gevaar (original title unknown)
10. Het lied van de rivier (Patty and the Big Silver Bull Band story, original in Dutch)
11. Sonja en de mysterieuze zwemcoach (I suspect this is a translation as no writer is given)
12. De man in het koetshuis (original story in Dutch)
13. Linda’s verdriet (original title unknown, from Tammy)
14. Het circus komt (original story in Dutch)
15. Wild Horse Summer
16. Noortje (original story in Dutch)
17. Ruzie om Jeroen (Patty’s World story)
18. Tricia’s Tragedy
19. Het lied van de angst (Patty and the Big Silver Bull Band story, original in Dutch)
20. Silver Is A Star (from Sandie)

Jinty 29 September 1979

click thru

Stories in this issue:

• Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)
• Alley Cat
• Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)
• Mike and Terry (artist Peter Wilkes) – final episode
• Waves of Fear (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Combing Her Golden Hair (artist Phil Townsend)
• Miss Make-Believe (unknown artist ‘Merry’)
• Pandora’s Box (artist Guy Peeters) – final episode

“Almost Human” Xenia is happy that the lightning strike from last episode has drained enough of her life force that she does not kill earth creatures that she touches – just as well, as a kindly couple take her to the local hospital to have her burned hands treated. But it’s not only her extraordinary strength that still marks her out as an alien: she is also not able to be x-rayed, which raises enough suspicions in the minds of the medical staff that Xenia needs to run away again – this time by jumping out of a window and down several stories! She is still super-powered enough to be able to this easily, though in future episodes this will not be the case.

In “Village of Fame“, developments are afoot. Mr Grand has had all the schoolgirls in Sue’s class hypnotised, apart from snob Angela Grenfield; Sue and ex-spy Mandy are pretending they were also caught by the hypnotist. The fact he missed one girl to his knowledge is infuriating Mr Grand, who clearly has something up his sleeve to make his serial more exciting. The pacing is neat though – the weeks are shown going by with nothing happening, until finally some lever is pulled to get Angela out of the way. Come Monday morning, only the hypnotised girls are in the class: cue the permanent replacement teacher arriving, in the form of… Marvo the hypnotist, looking as sinister as you like!

It’s the last episode of “Terry and Mike”, the girl assistant who is lauded as the person who gets all her best ideas at just the right moments. The master criminal gets away, having been revealed as the person they least expected (he was dressed up as unassuming Cornelius Mumble, the caretaker), but the detective duo managed to free all the kidnapped entertainers and rescue the necklace that was the point of the whole caper. (The villain was reenacting the night of a show when thief Jed Adams hid the stolen necklace, just before some scenery fell on him and made him lose his memory – the idea being that re-staging the night would trigger his memory, as indeed it did.) Next week we are promised the new story “My Heart Belongs to Buttons”, drawn by the same artist.

“Waves of Fear” has Clare’s claustrophobia kicking in to such a degree that she runs out of her school assembly and even bites a teacher in order to get free of him as he attempts to prevent her! In “Combing Her Golden Hair”, Tamsin has smuggled a swimming costume out of the house despite her gran’s bag-checking habits. Sadly her silver comb gets mislaid in the changing room (a spot of minor bullying by classmates) and she loses her nerve as the time comes to swim. More bullying in the pool itself doesn’t help. At least by the end she has found her comb again, which encourages her to try again next time… if there is a next time.

It’s also the last episode of “Pandora’s Box”, where we’ve seen the conceited Pandora become softer-hearted as she realises how much she loves her enchanted cat, Scruffy. To save his life (he became ill while helping her cast a spell), she has to give up her heart’s desire – her part in the London musical ‘Alice in Jazzland’. Interestingly, although a lot of the imagery around Pandora and her aunt is that of stereotypical black magic – devilish statues in a circle, for instance – the spell to cure Scruffy is based around the sun, which is life. Pandora and her aunt are portrayed perhaps more like Wiccans than evil witches: they may use their magic for their own advancement but it is not clearly black or white in itself. Pandora does indeed lose her part in ‘Alice’ – and refuses to be just an understudy (more fool her in her unprofessional attitude). But actually that is the last flash of the old Pandora that we see – prompted by Scruffy, she gets her next part through proper hard work and determination, in much more the spirit that will see her have a career in show biz. Good for her! Next week we will see a different kind of pig-headedness in this slot – Bev Barton in “Black Sheep of the Bartons”, drawn by the same artist and written by Alison Christie.

Jinty 10 November 1979

• Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)
• Bizzie Bet and the Easies (artist Richard Neillands)
• Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)
• Kite Crossword
• My Heart Belongs to Buttons (artist Peter Wilkes)
• Pony Poster part 2
• Combing Her Golden Hair (artist Phil Townsend)
• Miss Make-Believe (unknown artist – Merry)
• Waves of Fear (Phil Gascoine)
• Black Sheep of the Bartons (artist Guy Peeters; writer Alison Christie)
• Bakes a Change! (Feature)

It is the theme that provides the contrast between the two panels on this cover. One is dark and spooky and the other is cute and appealing, although tinged with apprehension as we are not sure if those cute doggy eyes will melt Julie’s heart.

After being drawn by a filler artist and then briefly disappearing from Jinty, “Bizzie Bet and the Easies” are back, with their regular artist.

The tension to the climax builds in “Almost Human”. Xenia is not recharging her life force because it will make her touch deadly again, but it is taking its toll. She is too tired to wake up when her mother calls with vital news. But we are told that next week someone from Xenia’s past will call with news of her home planet, so it must be to do with that. But is the news good or bad?

In “Combing Her Golden Hair”, Tamsin is on her way to Redruthan, so the mystery is finally unravelling. But so is Gran’s health, and Tamsin has left her behind when Gran needs her.

Clare finally gets what she needs in “Waves of Fear” – someone to support her and offer understanding, not be over-judgemental and harsh, and stick up for her against the bullying. Unfortunately Clare doesn’t get the same thing from anyone in authority, not even her parents, because they think she’s a coward like the rest of the people who hate her. So she has no protection from the trick Jean pulls in this issue to get her expelled. And it looks like it’s going to succeed, unfortunately. But even if it does, surely it can’t last for long. Sooner or later the truth will out. It always does in girls’ comics.

“The Black Sheep of the Bartons” takes one step closer to being expelled in this issue as well. The headmistress is furious that Bev failed her exams because she was sneaking off to judo instead of swotting! If Bev doesn’t turn around fast she could be out on her ear. But will she?

In “My Heart Belongs to Buttons”, Julie is finally getting close to Buttons II. But naughty Buttons chews up the rosettes Julie won with Buttons I. This could set things back in the next issue….

And in “Village of Fame”, spoilt Angela finds out that it’s no good running away if you can’t do basics like fixing up food because everything’s always been done for you. But there’s one silver lining – Angela knows a secret passage that can help Mandy and Sue to get one up on the villains. And it gives us the nice spooky panel for the cover.

Jinty 3 November 1979

• Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)
• Alley Cat
• Hallowe’en Crossword
• Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)
• Competition pages
• My Heart Belongs to Buttons (artist Peter Wilkes)
• Pony Parade Poster part 1
• Combing Her Golden Hair (artist Phil Townsend)
• Miss Make-Believe (unknown artist – Merry)
• Jinty Fashion Contest – more winners
• Waves of Fear (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Black Sheep of the Bartons (artist Guy Peeters, writer Alison Christie)

Jinty’s new competition and part 1 of her four-part pony poster knock all serials or Halloween/Guy Fawkes celebrations off the cover in this issue. The only thing honouring Halloween is the crossword; there are no regulars strips (Jinx from St Jonah’s, Fran’ll Fix It or even Bizzie Bet and the Easies) that could be used to commemorate Halloween or Guy Fawkes. There is no Gypsy Rose either to bring us a spooky story to celebrate Halloween at least. Even Alley Cat is up to business as usual.

And what drama in the stories have been pushed off the cover this week? Xenia, the “Almost Human”, finds herself in a life-or-death dilemma. She discovers that the lightning strike is draining her life force. She will die if she does not recharge herself with her medikit. But if she does, her touch will be deadly to Earth life again!

In “Village of Fame”, spoilt Angela is causing even more problems for our heroines because she wants revenge on her grandfather and blackmails them into helping her with it. Worse, Mr Grand announces that he is going to produce evidence that his TV serial is not harmful for the village of Fame. That can mean only one thing – something harmful! And from the sound of it, it’s going to be the climax of the story as well.

Julie begins to take to Buttons II after the dog runs away, but she feels disloyal to Buttons I.

In “Combing Her Golden Hair”, the mystery of Redruthan begins to unravel slightly, while Gran suddenly falls ill. We are told that Tamsin is off to Redruthan next week, so another climax is clearly approaching.

In “Waves of Fear”, Clare the outcast finally finds a friend and some respite from her ordeal in the form of orienteering. But Clare’s enemies are putting on the pressure to get her expelled, and spiteful Jean has a plan to do just that.

“The Black Sheep of the Bartons” finally does something right – she uses her judo to foil some burglars out to steal the school trophies. This becomes the only thing standing between her and expulsion. But what with Bev bunking off to judo when she should be swotting for exams and still needing to change her selfish attitude, expulsion may only be a matter of time. So we have two girls in danger of expulsion in the same issue! We shall be following their stories to see if that happens.

Jinty 20 October 1979

• Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)
• Bizzie Bet and the Easies (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)
• Great Fashion Contest! The Winners are Here! (competition results)
• My Heart Belongs to Buttons  (artist Peter Wilkes)
• Hedgehog Cake (feature)
• Waves of Fear (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Combing Her Golden Hair (artist Phil Townsend)
• Miss Make-Believe (unknown artist – Merry)
• Black Sheep of the Bartons (artist Guy Peeters, writer Alison Christie)

As the cover shows, Xenia tries her hand at horse riding and the results are not smooth. Xenia also adjusts a telescope so she can see her home world. But this means she has given herself away to the astronomy family she is staying with. She takes off, not hearing their shouts that they are the best people to help her. Oh well, let’s see if they will help later in the story.

In “Waves of Fear“, Clare’s parents are definitely not the best people to help her. She has escaped certain death in the cave, but even this does not cut any ice with them. They’re treating her more harshly than ever instead of hugging her and saying, “Oh, it’s a miracle, thank God you’re all right.” The headmistress isn’t much better; she calls the bullies who were responsible for nearly killing Clare “poor girls”! However, we get a hint that the person who is the best one to help Clare has finally shown up – a woman who saw the terrified state Clare was in when she fled the cave and was deeply concerned. Unfortunately, we are also warned that things will get even worse for Clare next week.  Will this new character be able to help Clare enough against it?

The school staff in “My Heart Belongs to Buttons” aren’t any more professional than Clare’s headmistress. They put Julie in a lower form because her schoolwork has deteriorated since her dog’s death. They know about Julie being in grief, but they don’t show her any sympathy or understanding: “Excuses can’t make up for slack and lazy behaviour. You’ve let us all down, Julie.”

“The Black Sheep of the Bartons” discovers judo and her vocation in life. But her irresponsible behaviour has caused her parents to take a hostile attitude to her judo. Not the best of starts, and Bev can’t see that it’s her own fault for being so selfish and not thinking of others more.

In “Combing Her Golden Hair”, Tamsin confronts her gran and father over the way she has been forced into plaits, unnecessary glasses and hand-me-down clothes. But it just seems to make things worse – gran confiscates all the mirrors in the house. But of course gran has reckoned without the comb, and now it is dropping more clues about the mystery of Tamsin’s origins.

“Village of Fame” is now being told that they’re being visited by flying saucers. Sue finds out that Grand and Marvo are setting the stage for faking a UFO abduction, but how can she stop them? She has lost her only ally, Mandy, because her uncle has sent her back to London.

 

Jinty 13 October 1979

• Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)
• Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)
• My Heart Belongs to Buttons – (artist Peter Wilkes)
• Gwen’s Quiz Show (feature)
• Bizzie Bet and the Easies (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Can You Put Down Miss Know-All? (Quiz)
• Waves of Fear (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Combing Her Golden Hair (artist Phil Townsend)
• Miss Make-Believe (unknown artist – Merry)
• Black Sheep of the Bartons – (artist Guy Peeters, writer Alison Christie)
• Autumn Leaves Brooch (feature)

“Full of gripping fiction of all kinds!” says the cover, and it starts off with a disturbing imminent image of child abuse – Gran is about to cut off Tamsin’s hair. Fortunately Dad has gotten home on shore leave in the nick of time and stops her. Tamsin finds out he knows the reason for Gran’s conduct, but he won’t tell her. Meanwhile, Tamsin goes into open rebellion against her Gran by smashing the glasses Gran forces her to wear now she has realised they are just plain glass. The mystery is deepening in all directions. And we are told it is going to get even deeper next week when Tamsin confronts her gran.

In “Waves of Fear”, Clare’s parents have become so harsh with her that they say they don’t have a daughter anymore. Their words seem more prophetic than they realise because in this episode it looks like they are about to lose Clare altogether. Not knowing what else to do, Clare heads back to the cave to understand her panic. But she becomes overwhelmed by it again, and then by the bullies at school, who throw her into the cave pool. But they didn’t know there was an extremely powerful current below, and now it looks like Clare is going to drown. More gripping stuff here too!

It’s part two of “The Black Sheep of the Bartons”. Bev finds that the academy is not bringing her the freedom she expected – the school has its rules too, and they’re even more maddening for Bev than her parents’ rules. She’s up in rebellion against them, happy to be the black sheep of the school, and is oblivious to the fact that she is putting herself on the road to expulsion. Something needs to happen, and the blurb for the next issue tells us it’s going to be judo. Will judo save Bev from expulsion? And in part two of “My Heart Belongs to Buttons”, Julie is having a hard time with the new dog. Clearly it has been too soon and the new dog has reopened Julie’s grief.

In “Village of Fame”, Mandy begins to transcend her selfishness and agrees to help Sue. But the baddies are keeping one step ahead of them and have destroyed a vital piece of evidence. Next week we are told that Mandy is going to disappear. Yikes! How far is Mandy’s crooked uncle going to go there?

We have a very interesting quiz in this issue – do you know enough to take on Miss Know-All? You know, the sanctimonious know-all who is constantly showing off his/her knowledge and putting everyone else down with it? This quiz certainly tests your general knowledge, and don’t we wish we could put down a know-all? But they’re not easy because they always like to come up with some new knowledge to show off with.

Jinty 6 October 1979

• Almost Human (artist Terry Aspin)
• Bizzie Bet and the Easies (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
• Village of Fame (artist Jim Baikie)
• Rinty ‘n’ Jinty
• My Heart Belongs to Buttons – first episode (artist Peter Wilkes)
• Jinty Meets a Puppy-Walker – feature
• Are You in Good Shape? Quiz
• Waves of Fear (artist Phil Gascoine)
• Combing Her Golden Hair (artist Phil Townsend)
• Miss Make-Believe (unknown artist – Merry)
• Black Sheep of the Bartons – first episode (artist Guy Peeters, writer Alison Christie)

This issue of Jinty begins two new stories, “Black Sheep of the Bartons” and “My Heart Belongs to Buttons”. The first is about Bev Barton, a rebel without a cause who styles herself as the black sheep of the family. She hates living on her parents’ “boring” farm, chafes under their rules, and wants more freedom. She thinks the academy is the answer to her quest for freedom and is now taking the scholarship exam for it. Boy, is she going to find out!  This story was written by Alison Christie. Christie has not claimed authorship of the other new story, “My Heart Belongs to Buttons”, but it ought to be one of her stories, because it’s a tear-jerker story about a girl who is not coping with loss of her dog well, and she keeps rejecting the new dog.

Meanwhile, people are beginning to notice Xenia’s strange powers in “Almost Human”, and policemen are among those taking an interest – uh, oh…. She manages to save a boy’s life without touching him, but is on the run again, and the interest in her is intensifying.

Clare’s “Waves of Fear” are getting worse and worse, as Clare discovers when she desperately tries to visit Rachel in hospital, but the waves of fear drive her off. And it’s not just the waves of fear that are getting worse – the same goes for the trouble at school and the community hatred against Clare because everyone thinks it’s cowardice and they treat her like a criminal. People are giving her funny glances in the street now and refusing to serve her in the market. Even Clare’s parents are part of the crowd; the final panel has Dad saying, “I don’t think we’ve got a daughter anymore.” What does that mean – they’ve disowned her or something? As if that wasn’t bad enough, it looks like worse is to follow next week, and we are told that this will take the form of a “cruel reward” for Clare.

In “Combing Her Golden Hair”, Gran finds Tamsin combing her golden hair and goes so wild that she’s about to cut Tamsin’s hair off!

In “Village of Fame“, Marvo’s hypnotic powers over the class has them throwing a hockey match, and nobody is listening to Sue when she tries to tell them what is going on. This is the price she is paying for spinning so many tall tales in the past. Mandy, the only other person to know what is going on, is currently not willing to help. Something has to change her mind because she looks like the only hope Sue has right now.

Jinty has used Hugh Thornton-Jones as a filler artist before; he took over two of her serials originally drawn by Mario Capaldi. Here he takes over from Richard Neillands for “Bizzie Bet and the Easies”. But in a couple of months he will start a Jinty story of his very own – “Gaye’s Gloomy Ghost” – and will draw it right up to Jinty’s final issue in 1981.