Tag Archives: Mario Capaldi

Tammy 13 January 1979

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Cover artist: John Richardson

Mouse (artist Maria Dembilio) – first episode

One Girl and Her Dog (artist Mario Capaldi) – return

My Terrible Twin (artist Juliana Buch) – first episode

The Moon Stallion (artist Mario Capaldi) – adaptation

The Upper Crust (artist Giorgio Giorgetti)

Bessie Bunter (artist Arthur Martin)

Molly Mills and the Haunted Hall (artist Douglas Perry, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – first episode

The Silent Swimmer – Strange Story

Wee Sue (artist Robert MacGillivray)

TEAM in Action (artist Carmona) – final episode

Tammy’s New Year’s issue, like her Christmas issue, came out a week later than scheduled because she lost an issue on 30 December 1978, presumably because of the 1978 strike. But it’s kudos to Tammy that she put out her Christmas and New Year issues all the same. Perhaps readers didn’t mind too much that things were a little late.

Molly, Wee Sue and Bessie Bunter honour the New Year, but as usual for Molly, the New Year isn’t all that promising. She’s lumbered with her kid brother Billy, who she has to mind for a bit, and there’s nowhere to hide him but Stanton Hall. She manages to smuggle him in during a New Year’s party, but she’ll get the sack if she’s found out. Billy’s high spirits and boyish mischief aren’t making it easy to hide him, and it’s already put bully butler Pickering on the alert that something’s fishy. “The Upper Crust” also has a New Year theme when Clarinda gatecrashes arch-enemy Mavis’ New Year’s party, but she made one mistake – she left her glove behind. When Mavis finds it, she’s all set to expose Clarinda’s gatecrashing, but her father has a better idea, for he knows Clarinda’s dad slipped into the party too and has a pretty good idea why. Is he right? Clearly, the approaching climax and resolution of the story will tell.

The Strange Story doesn’t have a New Year theme this time. It’s about a swimmer who gets overconfident and swims in a dangerous current. She nearly drowns and loses her nerve, just as she’s needed for a vital swimming event. But then help comes…from a mermaid?

As always with her New Year issues, Tammy was clearing out old serials and starting new ones for New Year. The serial being cleared out for New Year is “TEAM in Action”, and it’s a finale that delivers as much on the action as its title suggests. “One Girl and Her Dog” returns after being on hiatus, but the ending can’t be far away. Mario Capaldi is doing double duty on this serial and “The Moon Stallion” adaptation.

For the New Year lineup, we have “Mouse”, a serial ahead of its time for highlighting the issues of custody disputes and international parental kidnapping, and “My Terrible Twin”, about fraternal twin sisters as different as looks as they are in personality. Moira is hardly a beauty, but she is the responsible one, and Lindy is the red-hot looker but a delinquent who’s just been paroled from a remand home. But her time inside hasn’t changed her much. Moira gets Lindy a job at the department store where she works, and Lindy’s already into shoplifting. This serial was so popular that it spawned a sequel later in 1979 and a reprint by popular demand in 1984.

Tammy 2 December 1978

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Cover artist: John Richardson

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

The Upper Crust (artist Giorgio Giorgetti)

Dancer Entranced (artist Angeles Felices)

One Girl and Her Dog… (artist Mario Capaldi)

The Moon Stallion (artist Mario Capaldi) – adaptation

Molly Mills and the TV Pioneer (artist Douglas Perry, writer Maureen Spurgeon)

Face at the Window (artist Hugo D’Adderio) – Strange Story

Wee Sue (artist Mike White)

TEAM in Action (artist Carmona)

A Horse for Your Hobby – Feature 

It’s December, so we are having a countdown to Christmas with Tammy issues from December 1978. There is no hint of Christmas yet in Tammy, either on the cover or inside with Christmas how-to-make features. Everything is pretty much business as usual, except that there is no Bessie Bunter this week.

Mario Capaldi does double duty with “One Girl and Her Dog” and “The Moon Stallion”. But the former goes on hiatus with the next issue, which must have made things easier for Capaldi.

Bella battles a venomous snake in the Australian Outback, but it’s already bitten one of her friends, and they are miles from the nearest hospital. Luckily, they have an Aborigine friend on hand who soon proves Aborigine know-how can do the job just as well.

In “The Upper Crust”, Clarinda Carrington-Crust, a newcomer to snobby High Hills, is disliked by even the snobs at her school for her super-snobby ways. But there have been more and more and more hints that Clarinda is really a secret helper for people who get picked on by the snobs for not being posh. This week, she seems to be secretly helping a girl on the road to stage stardom.

An unusually excessive number of rejects from the clothes factory is pushing up fashion prices in Milltown. By the time Wee Sue discovers why, she’s become the fall guy for a clothes racket and has an angry mob and the police chasing after her. She needs to prove who the real racketeers are, and fast!

The TV Pioneer is almost sent packing from Stanton Hall, but Molly finds a way for him to stay. However, she soon finds that pioneering has its difficulties for even a relative of Lord Stanton – and the latest is him in danger of falling off the roof. 

In this week’s Strange Story, Mary finds the manor she inherited from her uncle is not exactly welcoming. It’s rotting and rundown, the staff warn her of a curse that could threaten her life and urge her to leave, and then it looks like the curse is coming true when she refuses to do so. In the end, it turns out the curse was just a ruse – but there is a final twist that indicates there was something spooky going on after all.

Jealous Dora tries to put Trina Carr, “Dancer Entranced”, out of an upcoming dance show by trying to get her hurt. Good thing she hasn’t discovered Trina’s dependency on the metronome to dance. But now, well-meaning meddling from Trina’s aunt could succeed where Dora’s trickery has failed.

The entertainment abilities of “TEAM in Action” get them out of trouble when they unwittingly crash Sir Reginald’s party. But fresh trouble is never far away for TEAM, and this time it starts with one of Anthea’s bright ideas – ideas that have gotten her expelled in the past.

Tammy 17 January 1981

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Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

Wee Sue (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Push-along, Patti (artist Juliana Buch)

Two Leads for Luther (artist Mario Capaldi) – final episode

Tune-In – feature 

Belinda Bookworm (artist Giorgio Giorgetti) – first episode

Molly Mills and the Winter of Discontent (artist Douglas Perry, writer Maureen Spurgeon)

Behind the Locked Door! (artist Peter Wilkes) – Strange Story from the Mists

Edie and Miss T (artist Joe Collins)

Bessie Bunter (artist Arthur Martin)

Rita, My Robot Friend (artist Tony Coleman)

Four stories – Bessie, Wee Sue, Molly Mills and the Winter of Discontent, and Edie and Miss T – remind us that it’s still the freezing winter season. For Molly & Co, it’s an outright fight for survival when the snow cuts Stanton Hall off from the outside world. They’re on their own, but how long can they keep it up, and how can they get help? To add to Molly’s problems, the crisis doesn’t stop Pickering picking on her. Wee Sue & Co have a winter battle on their hands as well. They are up against meanie Miss Bigger’s economy drive, which entails cutting off the school heating in winter cold, leaving them to freeze in class while she keeps herself warm with secret thermals. While Bigger’s back is turned, the girls turn to disco dancing and loud music-making to keep warm, but the noise soon leads to discovery. Things are about to get hot for the girls, but it’s the winter snow to the rescue. It also puts the freeze on Miss Bigger’s economy drive and gives the girls the rest of the day off school. Hooray!

A disastrous talent contest for Bella has an unexpected result – a gymnastics coach named Mrs Carne spots her and offers to train her. But from the start, there is definitely something strange about this woman. It’s unsettling, and it has us worried about what Bella might be getting herself into. 

This week’s Strange Story is a “curiosity killed the cat” tale, featuring maidservant Poppy Higgs at a Victorian lodging house. Poppy won’t stop snooping into the lodgers’ belongings despite the warnings, clips around the ear and now threats of dismissal from her angry mistress. One guest in particular rouses her curiosity – but she is soon cured of her curiosity when it leads to a bad fright at “some horror from the grave!”, a fall downstairs and a dislocated arm (which is quickly treated). And what was that horror from the grave, you ask? Just a doctor’s skeleton.

They say a man can’t have two masters. Neither can a dog, as “Two Leads for Luther” shows. Two friends, Kim and Lisa, inherit a dog, Luther, but it’s led to constant arguments, heaps of trouble and a strain on their friendship because they have opposing views on how to take care of him. Luther’s had enough of the bickering and runs off, leaving them both in tears. The story ends with the girls making a deal that if they find him, only one of them will be his mistress. The clincher will be whoever he runs to first. They succeed in finding him, and now it’s the moment of decision. Will Luther choose Kim or Lisa, and what about the girl he doesn’t choose?

We now have three stories where girls are made miserable and friendless at school by mean classmates. For “Push-along Patti”, it’s just because she has no bike. When all she can get is a push bike, the school bikers turn up their noses at it and her. What a bunch of snobs. You’re too nice for them, Patti. Angelina keeps Jenny James ostracised at school, just because she doesn’t like her grandfather, so Jenny has turned to “Rita, My Robot Friend” for companionship. This week, there’s a new problem for Jenny in keeping the secret of Rita from Angelina: the science teacher turns on a huge magnet and unwittingly starts magnetising Rita’s metal parts. And in new story “Belinda Bookworm”, Belinda Binder is scorned by everyone at school, and also picked on by the school sports stars, because she is a bookworm and apparently hopeless at sport. But when she discovers she might have a sports talent after all and just needs confidence, training and a chance to prove it, she sets out to secretly train as an athlete – in the school library of all places – when she is dropped from games at school.

Tammy 2 March 1974

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Cover artist: John Richardson

The Clothes Make Carol (artist John Armstrong)

Wee Sue (artist Mario Capaldi)

School for Snobs (artist J. Badesa, writer Pat Mills)

The Duchess of Dead-End Drive (artist John Richardson) – first episode

Little Lady Jane – cartoon

Leader of the Pack (artist Douglas Perry) – first episode

Jeannie and Her Uncle Meanie (artist Robert MacGillivray)

No Tears for Molly (artist Tony Thewenetti, writer Maureen Spurgeon)

Two new stories start this week. John Richardson didn’t draw many serials for girls’ comics, but he draws one of them, “The Duchess of Dead-End Drive”. Not a real duchess – it’s a comedy serial starring a lady who styles herself as an aristocrat in a slum area, and it’s off to an impressive start with a four-page spread instead of the usual three. The other is a Douglas Perry story, “Leader of the Pack”, about a dog who seems to have strange abilities.

If there’s one thing “School for Snobs” has shown us, it’s just about anything can make a snob out of someone. We’ve seen antique snobs and military snobs among others. This week, it’s a music snob who only cares about classical music. After the Hermione Snoot treatment, she’s happily playing bagpipes.

Poor Sue saves Miss Bigger from trouble twice this week, but all she gets is a ticking-off from her in front of the class. At least Sue takes it philosophically: “Ah, well – life’s full of ups and downs – ‘specially with Miss Bigger around!”

“The Clothes Make Carol” gets a six-page spread this week. Carol has grown more confident in standing up to her abusive family when she gets a mysterious blazer that seems to have magic powers. The family have caught on about the blazer and apparently destroy it, at which Carol reverts to her old mousy self. But her confidence is on the rise again when the blazer turns up, perfectly intact.

Uncle Meanie gets into more of his dodgy penny-pinching schemes when an encyclopaedia salesman comes calling. And for once, he gets away with it.

One of the weirdest Molly stories concludes this week, and it leaves more questions than answers. Bully butler Pickering thinks he is being haunted by the ghost of a labourer who had an accident because of him. He becomes so terrified he almost throws himself to his death and then jumps out of a window in fright when he sees the man in hospital. However, it turns out the man is not dead and been in the hospital the whole time. So who – or what – was haunting Pickering? One thing’s for sure: the bully butler remains as bad as ever. For the moment, Molly is safe from him as the haunting saga has left him all banged up, but he warns her to watch out when he recovers. We suppose he’s taking it out on her, as usual.

Tammy 15 February 1975

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Cover artist: John Richardson

The Gypsy Gymnast (John Armstrong)

Rona’s Rainstones (artist Douglas Perry)

Nell Nobody (artist Miguel Quesada)

All Eyes on 3E (artist Mario Capaldi)

Hetty Horse Hater

Bessie Bunter (Arthur Martin)

Tess on Tap

Tumble in Time – Strange Story

Wee Sue – John Richardson

No Tears for Molly (artist Tony Thewenetti, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – new story

What is a Starlet? – Competition

Is the tramp on the cover at a low point or a high? Being down-and-out might be a real low point, but with all those Tammys covering him, you’d think he’d be on a high. Meanwhile, inside the issue, there are a lot of low points for Tammy progatonists this week, though some of them indicate climaxes and approaching resolutions. 

First, it’s the climax of “The Gypsy Gymnast” this week when Ann Rudge hits her lowest point and runs away from home. But now she finds herself leaping from the frying pan into the fire when she takes refuge with her mysterious gymnastics coach, only to discover she has a criminal past. Now she’s a prisoner, to be forced into crime. The police have heard Ann’s cries for help, but will they rescue her?

Next is “Nell Nobody”, who follows in the footsteps of the groundbreaking “Little Miss Nothing”. Nell Ewart is yanked out of school to slog at a hot dog stand to raise the money for her spoiled cousin Rosie’s acting school fees. The great irony of the story is that Nell is the one with the talent for showbiz, not Rosie. Nell’s skill with puppetry gives her a break at a TV studio, but this week she hits her lowest point when Rosie pulls a trick that gets her sacked from the studio. Poor Nell is back to the hot dog stand while Rosie worms her way into the TV studio for an audition. 

“Rona’s Rainstones” hits another low in finding the Rainstones, which will not stop causing water-related disasters until they are restored to their rightful home. Antagonist Karen has pinched one and refuses to return it, and others have been mistakenly thrown into the trash and are on their way to the landfill.

And talking of water-related disasters, that’s the new trick Form 3E pulls on Muriel this week, whose TV shoot threatens to expose their classwork-dodging tactics. They tamper with the school sprinkling system, sending a downpour down on the shoot.

Next is Wee Sue, who takes the unusual step of being in a 2-part story. She hopes to represent the school as a hurdler and scores a win, but Miss Bigger says it doesn’t count because she didn’t run in the qualifying heats. Are Sue’s hurdling hopes dashed? Stay tuned for part 2 next week.

In Bessie Bunter, Stackers is low this week because of illness, but it’s Bessie who’s on the low end in the final panel. 

If you find yourself feeling low while waiting for your washing to finish its round at the laundrette, it’s better than slaving in an old-fashioned laundry, as our heroine in this week’s Strange Story (below) discovers. Her name, Pat Mills, is noteworthy, as Pat Mills was one of the biggest names in Tammy history. Tammy never could resist those in-references. 

Linda, who is out to sabotage Hetty’s bid to regain her riding nerve in “Hetty Horse Hater” because her boyfriend’s family will gain from it, really stoops low to do so. She tries to frame Robby Adams, who is helping Hetty to ride again, for arson, and he is arrested. Fortunately, the forensic report on the fire clears him and he is released. 

Highs and lows for “Tess on Tap”, who becomes a drudge in her own home when her dad goes abroad and Mrs Willis, the housekeeper who’s supposed to be looking after her, makes her slave for her spoiled daughters. Worse, Mrs Willis is interfering with Tess’s passion for tap dancing, including getting money out of her, to feed her daughter Vanessa’s passion for the same thing.  

Finally, there’s Molly. She starts a new story that has attracted comment among her internet fans. They’ve given it the title “Molly’s Demotion” (Molly stories did not have collective titles at this stage). It begins with Pickering suddenly being all nice to Molly. What’s come over the bully butler who has always made her life a misery? “Beware the Greeks, even when they offer gifts” might spring to mind, but it doesn’t until Molly discovers too late it was all part of Pickering’s scheme to steal her job for his niece Ruby, leaving her in a lower-paid job. And that job will entail doing all the work that Ruby is supposed to be doing in Molly’s old job. Talk about adding insult to injury. 

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 4 February 1984

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Foul Play (artist John Armstrong, writer Ian Mennell)

Julie’s Jinx (artist Julian Vivas, writer Nick Allen)

Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)

First Term at Trebizon (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Anne Digby) – final episode

The Crayzees (artist Joe Collins)

The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, (sub)writer Linda Stephenson)

The Last Rider (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Chris Harris) – Pony Tale

Fun Time

Queen Rider (artist Eduardo Feito, writer A. D. Langholm)

My Terrible Twin (artist Juliana Buch)

Work Out! (Mari L’Anson) – feature 

Over at the forum at comics.co.uk there has been discussion about recipe features in girls’ comics and annuals. So in this entry we take a look at a recipe feature Tammy ran during this period called “Tammy’s Tasties”, a sample of which appears below. Readers could make their own contributions to this feature, with presumably some money in return. Recipe features were nothing new in Tammy. Around 1978-1980 she ran “Tuck-in with Tammy”, a full page recipe feature. The feature did not always appear, but as it was page length it could serve as a filler or handy reprint.

In the stories, we have a whodunnit story, “Foul Play”, where Katie Johnson has a treble mystery to solve. The first is trying to unravel who is conducting a vendetta against her team for a foul she received at a hockey match, the second is trying to discover who fouled her, and the third is whether it really was a foul or just an accident. Now that shows just how much investigation anyone ever put into the incident in the first place.

Tammy has three horse stories this week. The “Julie’s Jinx”, where Julie Lee is faced with a mystery of her own: is a Romany doll she gave her friend Gloria a jinx as spiteful Cindy claims, or is there some other explanation as to why Gloria’s pony has been acting strangely ever since he started wearing it? The second is one of my favourite Pony Tales and Jesus Redondo stories. It features the famous Pony Express, and it appears below. Its title is “The Last Rider”, but its title might as well be “The Pony Wrecker” because of the way Pony Express rider Reuben Stone treats his mounts. Cindy Hubble, at the last staging post of the Pony Express, constantly rages at this and not being able to do much about it. Crunch time comes when Cindy faces her worst dread – Reuben riding her own pony. The third is the penultimate episode of Tammy’s adaptation of “Queen Rider”.

Tammy’s other book adaptation, “First Term at Trebizon”, ends this week. Its replacement next issue is the last Tammy story crediting Alison Christie, “Cassie’s Coach”. The artist bringing this Victorian period story to life is a surprising one: Tony Coleman. Perhaps his style is being used because the story has lighter moments as well as dark ones as Cassie Lord and her siblings face surviving on their own when their mother is falsely imprisoned and they are evicted from their home. 

By popular demand, Tammy is reprinting a 1979 story, “My Terrible Twin”. Parole doesn’t often feature in redemption narratives, but that is the case here. Lindy is on parole after serving time in a remand home for shoplifting, which hasn’t done much to change her. It’s an uphill battle for Lindy’s sister Moira to improve her character. Worse, Lindy’s irresponsibility constantly gets poor Moira into trouble while Lindy emerges smelling like roses.

In Pam of Pond Hill, bossyboots Cherry Laurence has been pure aggravation since she was made prefect, but when she takes the lead in having the class help out in a flu epidemic she becomes more endearing. Has this solved the prefect problem, or do we still have to wait and see? 

This week’s Button Box story is a feminist one, with women golfers demanding the right to use the same golfing course as men, in a period where mixed golfing is not accepted. It is agreed that a golfing match will decide the matter, between the owner of the golfing course and his granddaughter. The match ends in a draw (talk about equality between the sexes) and the first mixed golfing course. Mixed golfing still takes a while to be accepted, but the granddaughter becomes a golfing champion!

Tammy 31 December 1983

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Cover artist: Trini Tinturé

Queen Rider (artist Eduardo Feito, writer A. D. Langholm)

Christmas Chuckles

Bethlehem’s Come to Us (artist Maria Dembilio but credited as “Julian”, writer Alison Christie)

The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)

Christmas Chuckles

A Christmas Mystery (artist John Johnston, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – Quiz

First Term at Trebizon (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Anne Digby)

Ralph Roisterham’s “Tiger” – a Pony Tale (artist Veronica Weir, writer Chris Harris)

Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)

Room for Rosie (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Alison Christie)

The Crayzees (artist Joe Collins)

For the Christmas season we present the last Christmas issue of Tammy ever published. Inside, we have “Christmas Chuckles”; a Christmas story from the Crayzees where Miss T saves Christmas by helping to cure Santa of a cold; a special Christmas story from “Room for Rosie” (scans here), which ye Editor put on hiatus but informed us would return at Christmas; a Christmas story from Pam of Pond Hill in which we have morals about being organised for Christmas, but don’t be a power-driver over it; a Christmas quiz; and one of my favourite Tammy stories, “Bethlehem’s Come to Us…”, which is reproduced below. What can the Christmas spirit do for a family who are constantly quarrelling and back-biting because of the stress over Dad’s redundancy? So far, not much, and now it’s Christmas Eve. Is there hope yet? As Tammy would say – read on and see.

The Button Box does not have a Christmas story as it did in Tammy’s 1982 Christmas issue, but it has a story about the value of kindness, which is related to Christmas. It is the only Button story to have a foreshadowing, in which the button itself was shown in an earlier story but its story was not told at the time. Instead, its story is revealed at Christmas. 

An interesting note about Tammy artist John Johnston is that whenever he does spot illustrations for Tammy’s quizzes he uses a style based on Mad artist Paul Coker Jr., even using Coker panels from Mad as templates for some of the spot illustrations. One appears in the aforementioned Christmas quiz.

Tammy was big on adaptations, and it is currently running two: “Queen Rider” by A. D. Langholm and “First Term at Trebizon” by Anne Digby. There is evidence that “Queen Rider” was another book to start life as a girls’ serial, as “Bad Bella” from Tammy annual 1976 has a very similar plot (no, not Bella Barlow, whose title in the same annual has been changed to the once-only “That Barlow Kid” to avoid confusion). “Bad Bella” is no doubt a reprint from somewhere. Update: we have received information that “Bad Bella” is reprinted from Sally.

This week’s Pony Tale has a decidedly feminist slant to it, where Jane Dunnet disguises herself a boy to take over her brother’s “Tiger” job to an aristocrat, as the family badly need the wages. Of course she is discovered in the end, but she has conducted herself so incredibly well that everyone is all the more impressed at her being a girl.