Category Archives: 1980

Tammy 20 September 1980

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Cover artist: John Richardson

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

Running Rosie Lee (artist José Casanovas)

Dulcie Wears the Dunce’s Hat (artist Mario Capaldi)

The Face of a Cat (artist Tony Higham) – The Strange Story

Plain as Pearl (Artist Juliana Buch)

Wee Sue (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Cut-Glass Crystal (artist Tony Coleman)

The Loneliest Girl in the World (artist Jaume Rumeu)

New additions to the collection.

“Eek!” goes the Cover Girls cover this week. Little sis cops the joke this week rather than big sis, who usually does. It’s probably because big sis doesn’t have those pigtails that fly up cartoon style in fright. 

Inside, Bella is discharged from hospital, and she seeks out Uncle Jed and Aunt Gert for the first time in years. They’ve abused and exploited her since episode one, but in her opinion, better them than a children’s home. She hasn’t reached them yet, and already she’s in trouble. She chose to walk 25 miles instead of using the money she was given for fares, but now she regrets it. Her weak ankle can’t handle the distance, she’s run into trouble with crooks, and now she’s falling foul of scheming gypsies. And at the end – if she gets there – will it be the same old drudgery again? She has been out of touch with Jed and Gert for years, so things must have changed in the interim, but we doubt leopard’s spots will be among them.

Poor Dulcie Dobbs is forced to wear the dunce’s hat, not just at school but all the way home as well, so her father can see her shame (luckily for her, he keeps missing the dunce’s hat and remains unaware of her shame). This week, Dulcie gets an independent opinion on her academic ability, which informs her that she is not a dunce at all. Indeed, it shows that if it weren’t for those spiteful girls who keep sabotaging her school work because they get a kick out her wearing the dunce’s hat, she would be top of the class. But as long as they keep doing so, she’s got no chance to prove it or be free of the hat.

This week’s Strange Story, “The Power of the Cat”, is about an evil cat brooch. But as all it takes to break its power over is to throw it out of the window (for maybe someone else to find), it can’t be all that powerful. 

Karen Chalmers, “The Loneliest Girl in the World”, thinks a mad scientist was behind the robot doubles of her parents, but now her real parents are back and her nightmare is over. Yeah, right. At the end of the previous episode it was stated that she was fooled into believing all that, but it can only be a matter of time before she finds out, as whoever (or whatever?) is behind the façade keeps making mistakes with it. Sure enough, they made more slip-ups that Karen quickly detects, but there’s worse to come. Karen now finds her best friend is a robot double! Here we go again. 

Noise pollution is the problem facing Wee Sue this week. An inconsiderate teen keeps riding his new motorbike up and down the street where she lives, driving everyone mad with the racket he’s making. His father won’t listen to complaints or stop his son making the racket, but he says something that gives Wee Sue one of her famous brainstorms for comeuppance as well as stop the noise.

An editor’s comment on “Plain as Pearl” says it was a very popular story. There certainly is much in it to make it popular. Pearl Kent thinks she is plain until she finds out she has what it takes to be a model. She’s using her new modelling job to save up to buy her sick mother a holiday, but she keeps it a secret because she fears the jealousy of Claire Myles, the vain daughter of the family she is staying with. But of course secrecy and deceit cause complications for her. Worse, Mum keeps having relapses because she won’t stop stressing over the money problems that made her ill. If only she knew, but Pearl can’t risk telling her because shock isn’t good for her. Will she ever recover enough to go on Pearl’s surprise holiday?

Cut-Glass Crystal, a girl from a posh background, is having problems fitting into a working-class mining town after her father comes down in the world. Poor Crystal is trying so hard to be helpful this week, but it seems she can’t do anything right.

Running Rosie Lee is a school/sports story played for light relief. It may be a bit on the silly side, but it has the ever-popular José Casanovas artwork. Rosie Lee turns into the bionic woman at sport every time she has a cup of tea. Snobs at her school don’t like her and pull tricks on her, but in the end it always blows up in their faces and Rosie comes out on top after a good cuppa. 

Tammy 19 April 1980

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Cover artist: John Richardson

Lucky by Name (artist Julian Vivas) 

The Stone Curse (part 3 of a 3-part Strange Story) – artist Bob Harvey

Peggy in the Middle (artist Tony Coleman) – first episode

The Sea Witches (artist Mario Capaldi) 

Edie (Joe Collins)

My Shining Sister (artist Douglas Perry, writer Alison Christie)

Living in the Past (Strange Story from the Mists) – artist P. Montero

Tasty Tuck-In (feature)

My “Brother” George (artist Mario Capaldi) – first episode

Donna Ducks Out (artist Diane Gabbot(t))

This is one of my favourite Tammy covers. Let’s hear it for ageism with this one!

Inside is another of my favourite Strange Stories from the Mist, “Living in the Past” (appearing below), with a clear message that you’d be wiser not to do so. The “good old days” are not all they’re cracked up to be, and some people, like the protagonist in the story, prefer to live in the present. The creepy flip side of “The Good Life” in the story is brought eerily and ominously to life with the atmospheric artwork of P. Montero. 

Tammy’s recipe feature, “Tuck-In with Tammy”, makes a reappearance this week as “Tasty Tuck-In”. Tuck-In had been appearing since 1978 until the Misty merger, but on occasion it made an appearance as a filler.

Edie and Miss T have combined forces as Tammy’s Joe Collins strip since Misty joined, but the title of the strip is uneven. Sometimes it’s “Edie”, sometimes it’s “Miss T”, but eventually it lists both names.

Two new stories start. The first is “Peggy in the Middle”, using a theme not seen much in Tammy – custody disputes. This one must have been popular as thousands of readers with estranged parents could relate to it all too well. The second is “My ‘Brother’ George”, with wacky hijinks from a gorilla that has been humanised and thinks he’s the kid brother of the family (not that it stops his taste for bananas or swinging around like he’s in the jungle). George was a really fun read, but it regrettably only lasted six episodes. Tammy invited readers to bring George back by popular demand, but the humanised primate never returned.

“The Stone Curse” concludes this week. Its replacement next week is Bella’s new story, where she makes her second bid for the Olympics. Her first bid only got her as far as participating in the opening ceremony, but will she have better luck this time?

“My Shining Sister” keeps causing trouble and embarrassment for Marnie because of her obsession with the number 6, as six is the number of her missing sisters (which we suspect are the missing Pleaides, which vanished after a meteorite shower). Are you quite sure you want this girl as your sister forever, Marnie?

Lucky’s first bid to win money for her cash-strapped family with show-jumping is a success, but the second is not. Clearly, show-jumping is not a guaranteed way of bringing money in. Also, Lucky’s rising success as a show-jumper has introduced the story’s antagonist, Hughie Morris, a syndicate talent-spotter who wants to buy her beloved pony and won’t take no for an answer. 

Despite the difficulties, Donna is still managing to secretly borrow and return the bathroom duck that gives her the power to swim. As if that difficulty weren’t bad enough, there’s also the problem of being too dependent on the duck. Donna discovers this when she uses the duck’s power to go to the rescue of a drowning child – but then the duck is removed from the water. What test will this be for her? 

In “The Sea Witches” the air base colonel is unmoved by pleas and protests to stop disrupting the nesting grounds in the swamps with his jets. But Katie sees the Sea Witches on the air force base with plans of their own to stop the disruption. Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble…

Tammy 12 April 1980

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Cover artist: John Richardson

My Shining Sister (artist Douglas Perry, writer Alison Christie)

The Stone Curse (part 2 of a 3-part Strange Story) – artist Bob Harvey

Sour Grapes for Sophie (artist Tony Coleman) – final episode

Easter Gifts to Make – Feature

The Sea Witches (artist Mario Capaldi) 

Wee Sue (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Lucky by Name (artist Julian Vivas) 

The Take-Over (Strange Story from the Mists) – artist Peter Wilkes

Miss T (Joe Collins)

Donna Ducks Out (artist Diane Gabbot(t))

One of my favourite things about Tammy was when her characters came together for a commemorative feature. These included Christmas, the 10th birthday issue and, in this case, the 1980 Easter issue cover. John Richardson used to be a Wee Sue artist, so he must have enjoyed drawing her again. Wee Sue shares the Easter cover with the Cover Girls, Bessie Bunter and Bella. 

Inside, we have a Wee Sue Easter story (which even pays homage to the 1979 Wee Sue Easter story), a feature on making Easter gifts, and Miss T selling chocolate Easter eggs. Sadly, there are none for Edie because the chocolate chicken is exhausted. Cluuckkk…

It’s the final episode of “Sour Grapes for Sophie”. Nobody ever thought to actually speak to Sophie’s father about how his nonstop moving around is making her miserable until Sophie’s friend Jackie asks her father (who used to be the same) to do so. And so the story is resolved. 

Next week we have two new stories. The first is another Tony Coleman story, “Peggy in the Middle”, where Peggy Morrow becomes the focus of a custody battle. The second is “My ‘Brother’ George”, a Mario Capaldi story, and Capaldi’s already doing “The Sea Witches”. Talk about double duty. In part 2 of the story, although the locals are clearly scared of the Sea Witches, who migrate from Siberia in goose form, we are introduced to the true menace of the story, and it’s an ecological one – those pesky American Air Force jets that keep disrupting the nesting grounds. A jet has already hurt one Sea Witch while she was in goose form. Now that’s really going to get the Sea Witches’ feathers ruffled, and that spells trouble.

“My Shining Sister” continues to develop the characters of Marnie and Stella, but not in an endearing way. Marnie is possessive in keeping Stella as her sister, and Stella is annoying. Hopefully the girls will sort things out in the end, but we know Stella will not be Marnie’s sister on a permanent basis. She’s clearly one of the Pleaides, which disappeared after a meteorite shower, and she has to go back where she belongs. 

Despite a close call, Donna manages to get away with breaking and entering to get the bathroom duck that gives her the power to swim and return it without anyone realising it was gone – this time. But can she keep it up?

This week’s Strange Story has two sports rivals (one brilliant at sport, one not) in a road accident. Weird things happen in the hospital room where they are kept together that leaves the story on an ominous hint they switched bodies. 

The climax of the three-part Strange Story “The Stone Menace” feels like it’s too soon. The story could easily have done with more episodes. 

In “Lucky by Name”, Lucky, blaming herself for the accident that put her dad out of work, faces another problem – she may lose her pony Fortune because the family are now on sickness benefit and can’t afford him. She turns to show-jumping to raise the money to keep him, but the course is one heck of a toughie, and it’s her first event. Will it pay off?

Tammy 5 April 1980

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Cover artist: John Richardson

My Shining Sister (artist Douglas Perry, writer Alison Christie)

The Stone Curse (part 1 of a 3-part Strange Story) – artist Bob Harvey

Sour Grapes for Sophie (artist Tony Coleman)

The Sea Witches (artist Mario Capaldi) – first episode

Wee Sue (artist Joe MacGillivray)

Lucky by Name (artist Julian Vivas) – first episode

Edie (Joe Collins)

Flight (Strange Story from the Mists) – artist John Armstrong

Bessie Bunter – Arthur Martin

Donna Ducks Out (artist Diane Gabbot(t))

It’s the April Fool’s issue. The Cover Girls and Wee Sue commemorate the event, but in the case of Wee Sue, April fooling rebounds on her in the end.

Inside, three new stories start: The Sea Witches (migrating geese who are actually witches from Siberia); Lucky by Name (Lucky Starr blames herself for the accident that put her father out of work and turns to her show-jumping to raise money to cover the family’s financial shortfall from his redundancy, but finds herself dogged by fickle fortune); and a three-part Strange Story, The Stone Curse (about a Medusa statue with the power to turn people into stone).

This week’s complete Strange Story concerns Joanna May, who is so obsessed with flying like a bird she doesn’t think of anything else. Her schoolwork is full of drawings of birds flying. Will the story end with Joanna learning not be so obsessed or having her wish to fly?

My Shining Sister is on its second episode. Marnie thinks Stella, the mysterious amnesic girl she found, who has the power to glow in the dark and knock people flying with mysterious flashes when she’s annoyed, is the one to become her longed-for sister. But by the end of the episode she’s becoming possessive about keeping Stella that way, which is not making her very sisterly to Stella. 

Donna Ducks Out strikes further complications in which Donna now has to resort to breaking and entering to get the bathroom duck that gives her the power to swim. And she could be caught if she doesn’t think of something fast. 

Bessie makes one of the filler appearances she has been delegated to since Misty merged with Tammy. Edie appears solo this week, with no mention of Miss T.

Sour Grapes for Sophie has reached its climax. Sophie is tired of being constantly uprooted and dragged around because her father changes locations so much, and now he’s set for another. Here we go again, groan, groan…unless something happens. 

Tammy and Misty 22 November 1980

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Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
The Black Stallion (text story adaptation)
Sandy and Steve (artist Juliana Buch)
Tune-in (feature)
Wee Sue (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue (artist Tony Coleman) – final episode
Gipsy – Strange Story from the Mists (artist P. Montero)
Jolly’s Hockey Stick (artist Giorgio Giorgetti)
Edie and Miss T (artist Joe Collins) 
Bessie Bunter (artist Arthur Martin)
Rosie of Ragged Row (artist Diane Gabbot(t))
 
One of Tammy’s frequent messages was decrying anti-Roma prejudice and warning of dire consequences when you pick on gypsies. This week’s Strange Story from the Mist (below) must be the most frightening example of this that Tammy ever published, and it’s worthy of Misty herself. The artist drew a number of Strange Stories from the Mist for Tammy. Sadly, they drew nothing for Misty; the style is brilliant for dark stories and would have made plenty of Misty stories come to life. Can anyone identify the artist? Update: David Roach has identified the artist as P. Montero, a 2000AD artist. Thank you, David!
 
Bessie Bunter makes an appearance this week (she’s been reduced to filler since the merger). Miss Stackpole clamps down on noise at the school to the extent that the pupils are forced into silence. It’s a relief for everyone when “Stackers” decides it’s too damn quiet and rescinds her order. Meanwhile, Wee Sue is roped into helping Miss Bigger at the stables when she wants to go to a rodeo. Surprisingly, it’s not one of Sue’s trademark brainstorms that helps her out of this dilemma but Miss Bigger’s lousy horsewomanship.
 
The Tony Coleman story (the title is now too long to repeat) finishes this week. Its replacement next week is “Two Leads for Luther”, a tale that shows the old saying that a man cannot have two masters is the same for dogs as well, but it’s a wrangle between two girls to decide the ultimate ownership of Luther. 
 
The power of the music box returns and pulls Rosie back to the ballet school of the past. But now the pianist who plays the magic tune has gone walkabout, leaving Rosie trapped in that time period. In her own time she heard that the whole ballet school will ultimately perish in a plane crash, so what does this mean for her?
 
The power of Jolly’s hockey stick has the school bus rushing to the wood where it originated because there’s a fire and it wants to bring in help to save the trees. It’s making the bus go a bit fast and Jolly’s worried. However, we’re sure the stick knows what it’s doing.
 
Bella does well at a gymnastics competition, but before she can claim her medal there’s an urgent phone call for her. We have a horrible suspicion it’s about that tough gang she’s trying to turn around with gymnastics.
 
In Sandy and Steve, Sandy and Richard lose their loved ones, who have finally been evicted and forced to move on. Is it goodbye forever? 

Tammy 8 November 1980

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  • Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
  • The Black Stallion (text story adaptation)
  • Sandy and Steve (artist Juliana Buch)
  • Tune-In (feature)
  • Rosie of Ragged Row (artist Diane Gabbot(t))
  • The Sisters of Slyneham (artist Peter Wilkes) – Strange Story from the Mists
  • Edie and Miss T (artist Joe Collins)
  • Jolly’s Hockey Stick (artist Giorgio Giorgetti)
  • Bessie Bunter (artist Arthur Martin)
  • Something Old, Something New… (artist Tony Coleman)

Although this is a November issue it appears for the Halloween season as the Strange Story from the Mists (below) is perfect for it. Pity Tammy didn’t publish the story in October. Could the story have been originally written for Misty? It has a four-page spread, just as the Misty completes did. The story concerns two witches who hide their spell book before they face the stake so they can rise again when someone finds it. Now, you might ask: if they’ve got the power to do that, why can’t these dumb witches do something to save themselves from the stake in the first place? Like hop on their broomsticks and fly off when they see the witch burners coming for them? Well, this kind of enigma is something you see a lot in girls’ comics. And here’s another question to ponder: is the man who tries to warn the girls about Slyneham a descendant of Dying Thomas or his friend Jethro? We’re not told, but it wouldn’t be surprising.

We no longer have the Cover Girls to commemorate Guy Fawkes, so Miss T and Edie do the honours although Miss T hints she does not like fireworks. This is a gag that will appear again in the cartoon. 

Can Rosie of Ragged Row dance without the power of the music box? It’s a challenge she faces this week when an upcoming demolition of the old ballet school negates its power. And it comes just when Rosie badly needs a dance routine to help her win a talent contest to help her father out. 

Jolly faces a different sort of challenge this week with her magic hockey stick – it plays up during the first round of a hockey match, which causes Jolly’s team to lose badly. 

Sandy resorts to one of the oldest tricks in the book to stop her father delivering the eviction order that will cause her to lose Steve – she throws a faint. It works a bit too well; her parents are so alarmed they pack her off to hospital for a checkup, but it saves Steve from eviction. For now, anyway. There are those out there who still want Steve and his labouring gang gone, especially Sandy’s father. 

Bella gets back into a gym club and proper training, but she’s still got to train the tough gang and she’s got window cleaning. That sounds like a lot. 

Tammy 1 November 1980

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Bella (artist John Armstrong)

The Black Stallion (text story)

Sandy and Steve (Juliana Buch)

Tune-In – feature 

30 Kodak ‘Brownie’ Cameras to be won! (competition)

Something Old… (artist Tony Coleman) – first episode

Cut-out booklet (feature)

Blackberry Panic (artist Douglas Perry) – Strange Story from the Mists

Meet the Tammy Gymnast of the Month – feature

Jolly’s Hockey Stick (artist Giorgio Giorgetti)

Edie and Miss T (artist Joe Collins) – cartoon 

Rosie of Ragged Row (artist Diane Gabbot(t))

Since 1974 the Cover Girls have done the main Halloween honours for Tammy with Halloween-themed covers. But on 11 October 1980 they were canned, and the new Tammy cover format does not really lend itself much to commemorating special occasions. So what can Tammy do to honour Halloween in this issue? Only Edie and Miss T mark the event itself, but we do get a Strange Story from the Mists (below) that is certainly scary enough for Halloween, what with Old Nick himself as the heavy. The story profiles an old superstition in the British Isles that Old Nick makes it unlucky to pick blackberries after Michaelmas because he landed in a blackberry bush when St Michael kicked him out of Heaven. Too bad for Old Nick that wouldn’t apply to blackberries grown in the Southern Hemisphere, then. 

A new story starts this week, but it’s clearly a filler as it’s based on the old rhyme “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”, with each section of the rhyme appearing each week. The story is about an upcoming wedding where fickle fortune plagues the road to the altar and little sis believes the old rhyme will bring some much-needed luck. Each week she goes in search of a component to make up the rhyme.  

Tammy’s current ballet story, “Rosie of Ragged Row”, is a bit confused on whether Rosie Fields’ ballet talent is genuine and she just needs confidence and training or if she can’t dance at all without the power of a ballerina music box she has acquired. This week could be the first test of that when her stepbrothers sell the music box without her permission and she has to resort to stealing to get it back.

Jolly’s Hockey Stick, on the other hand, is definitely clear that the stick, containing a piece of magical mountain ash, is giving Jolly James the power to play brilliant hockey. But of course that raises a question that has to be addressed sooner or later – how will Jolly fare without the stick?

Snob Dad’s interference with Sandy and Steve takes another turn, and this time it’s threatening to end their relationship for good. Sandy finally tracks down where Steve lives, but Dad’s got an eviction order to remove him and his fellow labourers. Sandy has to think of something fast to stop him, but what?

Bella continues to teach a rough gang gymnastics to turn them around, not realising they intend to use the gymnastics to make more trouble. After getting one of them out of a scrape this week, she gets suspicious, and now there’s another problem – a bunch of snobby gymnasts wants the gang out of the gym. 

Tammy 25 October 1980

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Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

The Black Stallion (text story) – adaptation

Sandy and Steve (artist Juliana Buch)

Tune-In! (feature)

Win a Weekend in London! – competition

Wee Sue (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Undercover Story – cutout feature

Rosie of Ragged Row (artist Diane Gabbot(t))

Edie and Miss T (artist Joe Collins)

Jolly’s Hockey Stick (artist Giorgio Giorgetti) – first episode

Dulcie Wears the Dunce’s Hat (artist Mario Capaldi) – final episode

As part of our October/Halloween theme, we bring out Tammy’s 500th issue, which was published in October 1980. Inside, Tammy celebrates with a competition for a trip to London, and Edie and Miss T bring out a celebratory cartoon, complete with a cake with 500 candles. Wee Sue also touches on the subject of anniversaries when she helps the local swimming baths with their centenary celebration. Tammy is also having another competition, one for winning 25 Subbuteo Hockey Games. Now that goes nicely with the new hockey serial starting this week. 

Bella mistakenly thinks that teaching a gang of tough kids gymnastics will keep them out of trouble. Little does she know that they are planning to use their new gymnastics skills to make more trouble. But it could be getting them into trouble instead – Bella has received an alert that one of the gang is in “dead trouble”.

“Sandy and Steve” takes the then revolutionary approach in Tammy of having a boyfriend theme. Dad starts the trouble by pushing Sandy, whom he still treats like a child, towards a boy of his choice instead of respecting hers. They’re incompatible, but both use it as a cover to date the people of their choice. Dating behind the folks’ backs is always risky business, but doing it double can only mean double trouble. It’s causing complications already. Sandy proved so popular she spawned two sequels.

“Rosie of Ragged Row” acquires a music box that not only unlocks her hidden ballet talent but also takes her back in time to a famous ballet school to learn ballet. Rosie also spawned a sequel, “Rosie at the Royalty”, which was Diane Gabbot(t)’s last serial for Tammy. In the sequel, Rosie has to do without the power of the music box in her battle to keep her ballet going against the odds and obstacles.

“Dulcie Wears the Dunce’s Hat” finishes this week. It takes a fire for Dulcie to prove to her teacher that she’s not stupid and clear her name after spiteful Annie Archer tries to get her expelled. The dunce’s hat is destroyed in the fire, but Dulcie is rather startled to be given another pointed hat. Oh wait, it’s a princess’s hat, for her to wear at the town carnival in honour of her heroism. Trust that dunce’s hat to have one last echo, but we have a hunch it’s the end of the dunce’s hat at that school (yay!).

Tammy 14 June 1980

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Cover artist: John Richardson

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

Lucky By Name (artist Julian Vivas)

My “Brother” George (artist Mario Capaldi) – final episode

This is Your Life (artist John Richardson) – Strange Story from the Mists

My Shining Sister (artist Douglas Perry, writer Alison Christie) – final episode

Edie and Miss T (artist Joe Collins)

Donna Ducks Out (artist Diane Gabbot(t))

Bessie Bunter (artist Arthur Martin)

Peggy in the Middle (artist Tony Coleman)

The Sea Witches (artist Mario Capaldi)

One of the most impressive things about Bella is how unwavering her dedication to gymnastics is. However, there are times when something misdirects her from her mission in life. This week it’s a bit of luxury, which Bella is lapping up. But she is sharply reminded of where her path lies when she sees her favourite gymnast, Nelli Kim, on television. 

Two stories finish in this issue: “My ‘Brother’ George” and “My Shining Sister”. There is an open invitation from Tammy herself for readers to bring George back by popular demand, but George never returned to Tammy. Perhaps the demand just wasn’t high enough or ye Editor decided against a George sequel. Wee Sue, who has been absent from the merger since it started, will replace George next week, and a Georgio Giorgetti story, “Tina’s Telly Mum”, will replace the Douglas Perry story, “My Shining Sister”. So no return of Molly Mills just yet. However, Bessie, who was reduced to filler status with the merger, makes an appearance this week. 

“Lucky By Name” is now heading for its conclusion, for this week it hits its climax. Lucky, in tears at the thought that her father is about to sell her pony Fortune to make ends meet, desperately runs off with him. She and Fortune can’t possibly stay on the run for long of course, but this act is clearly going to lead to the resolution of the story.

“Donna Ducks Out” is also nearing its climax. Donna has to travel up north to retrieve the bathroom duck that somehow gives her the power to swim. She’s got a feeling it’s going to be her longest day ever, so now we really know the climax is about to start. 

“The Sea Witches” has not yet reached its climax, but this week it takes a step further towards it. The Sea Witches, who have the power to transform into geese and winter in the nesting grounds, are hitting back at thoughtless jet manoeuvres from an Airforce base, which are disturbing the nesting grounds. They’ve been using witchcraft to strike down the pilots, and this week they up the ante – witchcraft against the Base Commander’s daughter Amy. As Amy is an obnoxious spoiled brat, this might actually set her on a redemption path. 

Peggy, caught between her divorced parents who are fighting for custody of her, overhears something that she mustn’t be told. What bearing does this have on the upcoming custody battle?

This week’s Strange Story from the Mists looks like it was written for Misty (although it’s brought to us by the Storyteller). It’s one of the best, and it’s drawn by the ever-popular John Richardson. It appears below.

Tammy 7 June 1980

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Cover artist: John Richardson
 
Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
Lucky By Name (artist Julian Vivas)
My “Brother” George (artist Mario Capaldi)
The Puppet Master (artist Peter Wilkes) – Strange Story from the Mists
My Shining Sister (artist Douglas Perry, writer Alison Christie)
Donna Ducks Out (artist Diane Gabbot(t))
Edie and Miss T (artist Joe Collins)
Peggy in the Middle (artist Tony Coleman)
The Sea Witches (artist Mario Capaldi)
 
On the cover, it’s nice to see big sis getting one up over little sis. More often it was the other way around with the Cover Girl covers.

It’s been around six months since Misty merged with Tammy. Stories clearly scripted for Misty (The Sea Witches, The Puppet Master), as evidenced by their four-page spreads, are seeing publication, but Tammy stories (currently My Shining Sister, My “Brother” George, Lucky By Name, Donna Ducks Out and Peggy in the Middle) still outnumber the Misty ones. Misty was never given a fair presence in the merger, which was disappointing. Still, at least she had a long-lasting effect on Tammy, which lasted well into 1982. 
 
Bessie now appears intermittently, and Molly and Sue are on holiday. This allows room for more serials, so their presence is high. Bella is on her second bid for the Olympics, but as with the first, it is questionable as to whether she will even get there. She is stranded in Texas, desperately trying to raise money for fares, and she can’t find any apparatus to train on.