Tag Archives: Bob Harvey

Tammy 6 January 1979 – Christmas issue

1979, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cover artist: John Richardson

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming) – final episode

Bessie Bunter (artist Cecil Orr)

Dancer Entranced (artist Angeles Felices) – final episode

The Upper Crust (artist Giorgio Giorgetti)

Bella – Winning Letters

Edie (artist Joe Collins)

Giftorama – final part

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

The Christmas Fairy (artist Bob Harvey) – Strange Story

Wee Sue (artist Robert MacGillivray)

TEAM in Action (artist Carmona)

Greetings to All of Our Readers (artist Robert MacGillivray) – Christmas feature

Comparing Tammy to Jinty during the IPC strike in December 1978, it’s really weird to see how the titles were affected. This is Tammy’s full-on Christmas issue, but it’s dated 6 January 1979, and her previous issue was dated 23 December. What happened to the 30 December 1978 issue? We can only assume Tammy lost it because of the strike. Yet Jinty had her 30 December issue, with a cover caption celebrating the end of the strike. “Yippee! Your favourite paper is back!” But during the three previous weeks, there were no Jintys while the Tammys continued, although not in full size (not that you’d notice as the essentials were there). A note from the editor in this issue says Tammy is back to full size after three weeks of thinner Tammys. 

Christmas does not normally feature in Bella as her stories usually finish before the festive season starts. But this time, she goes right up to the Christmas issue and finishes her story with a Christmas feast in Australia. She sure is surprised to have Christmas in the heat of summer. Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere, Bella.  

Bella also gets a spread of letters on “We all love Bella because…” It’s reproduced here for insights on why Bella was so popular. No mention of what really sold Bella for me, though – how John Armstrong made those gymnastics moves so realistically anatomical it was mouthwatering. To this day, it remains unmatched. 

Molly Mills incorporates Christmas into the final episode of her story by having the TV pioneer help her make a special Christmas film for her family. In the days before home movies and Skype this must have been incredible for them.

Bessie and Mary Moldsworth go carol singing and fall foul of forgers, but they escape – thanks to Bessie’s hefty weight – and raise the alarm. The capture of the criminals is a relief for the police, as they were dreading having to sacrifice their Christmas hunting them. Bessie and Mary get a Christmas reward and Bessie gets the best present she could possibly have – food. 

Wee Sue also falls foul of criminals in her Christmas story. It’s a racket where crooks set themselves up as Store Santas to rob stores by hiding the loot in their Santa sacks. But the worst of it is how they give Santa a bad name by bullying the kids and giving them broken toys. 

In “The Upper Crust”, giving the kids at the orphanage broken toys thrown out of their homes is how the super-snobs of High Hills “do their best to brighten up the festive time for others”. Seeing this, Clarinda shows up with better presents for the kids. All of a sudden, the snobs are off to buy equally nice presents – they’re not going to be upstaged by her. 

The Storyteller brings us “The Christmas Fairy”, a fairy ornament of gypsy origin said to bring good luck and happiness each festive season. It must be said the family have had fantastic Christmases since they got the fairy, but this year the fairy is really put to the test when sister Kathy is in hospital in a coma just days before Christmas. Come Christmas Eve, her condition remains unchanged. Someone – or something – really needs to wave a magic wand, or the family will have an Unmerry Christmas.

Finally, on the back cover we have the Tammy gang all together for a Christmas feature (below), brought to us by the ever-popular Robert MacGillivray. 

It’s the final episode of “Dancer Entranced”, where Mesmeri’s metronome gives Trina Carr, a hopeless ballerina, the power to dance brilliantly via hypnotism, but being dependent on the metronome to dance has caused problems. She has to lose that dependency, something the final episode must resolve. Mesmeri himself provides the answer, and it’s one that takes Trina by surprise.

It looks like “TEAM in Action” is approaching its final episode as well. The girls finally have the school paper ready for binding and publication, but disaster strikes – cleaners sprucing up the school for inspection have chucked all their work in the trash!

Characters: Wee Sue, older Cover Girl (Tammy), Miss Bigger, younger Cover Girl (June), Edie, Bessie, Bella, Mary Moldsworth, Court House pupil.

Tammy 9 December 1978

1978, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cover artist: John Richardson

Bella (John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
The Upper Crust (artist Giorgio Giorgetti)
Dancer Entranced (artist Angeles Felices)
Molly Mills and the TV Pioneer (artist Douglas Perry, writer Maureen Spurgeon)
Giftorama – part one
The Trysting Tree (artist Bob Harvey) – Strange Story
Bessie Bunter (artist Arthur Martin)
Wee Sue
Team in Action (artist Carmona)
Tuck-In with Tammy – feature

One of the most interesting aspects of the strikes that bedevilled IPC was how they affected the titles. Apparently, the effects were not always the same. Take the December 1978 strike, for example. It caused Jinty to lose three issues that month, from 9 to 23 December. Tammy retained her issues, starting with this one, but she did not go entirely unaffected. The 30 December issue informs us that due to the strike, those issues were smaller than usual. Well, at least she had them and Tammy readers were not deprived over that period. This issue also begins Tammy’s countdown to Christmas 1978 with part one of Giftorama, a four-part feature on making Christmas gifts and decorations, plus a New Year calendar.

Bella’s new job in Australia is more friendly than the one that brought her to Australia, but it’s not without its difficulties. This week, she has to deal with an Indigenous tribe who have taken a superstitious view of the gym apparatus she’s required to demonstrate for a company. They’ve stolen it – and they’re going to sacrifice it!

A lesson on ancient Rome gives Bessie dreams of that place, but they turn into horrible nightmares of being thrown to the lions. A misunderstanding gets Sue into awesome trouble with Miss Bigger, but it is eventually sorted out, and everything ends happily for them both. Molly is into TV pioneering with Lord Stanton’s cousin Iggy, but his production keeps hitting problems. However, there’s a hilarious moment in this episode (below) when the staff catch bully butler Pickering on candid camera.

The trouble with miracle objects that seem to give protagonists the power to perform brilliantly when they were hopeless before is that they grow too dependent on them, and without them, they’re screwed. Such is the case of the hypnotist’s metronome that gives Trine Carr, “Dancer Entranced”, the power to dance brilliantly, but only when it’s ticking. She herself says as much by the end of the episode that she has realised the dependency problem. And she has the added problem of a jealous rival. What if she discovers Trine’s dependency on the metronome?

If you’ve got interfering parents who keep pushing you into what they want and not listening to what you want, this week’s Strange Story (below) is for you. It’s one of my favourites, and it has an extra mystery: the Storyteller, who has no given name, leaves us with his initials and us wondering what they stand for (does Man of Mystery spring to mind?).

Anthea, the “A” in “TEAM in Action”, has a track record of sticking her foot in it with bright ideas. It’s already got her expelled from one school, and she’s in trouble again when she arranges for a band to play at the school festival without checking them out first. She just assumed they were an old-style band, ideal for the school staff and governors, but she discovers too late that they are a punk rock band! Never assume, Anthea.

Clarinda Carrington-Crust has ruffled a lot of feathers and left a lot of people scratching their heads ever since she and her parents moved into super-snobby High Hills. Nobody really knows what to make of her. She seems to be a snob like everyone else in school. But we’re progressively getting hints of Clarinda being the secret helper of ordinary people against the snobs. This week, she secretly helps elderly people avoid the grotty snobs who have been roped by the school into an old people’s help programme. But Clarinda’s arch-enemy, Mavis Blunt, is getting increasingly suspicious of her, and by the end of this week’s episode, she’s really out to bring her down.

Tammy 19 April 1980

1980, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

1980, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

1980, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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 7 January 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

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

Foul Play (artist John Armstrong, writer Ian Mennell) – first episode

Happy New Year Fun Time

Your Button Box Calendar (Chris Lloyd)

The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Ian Mennell)

Good as New (artist Maria Dembilio but credited as “Mary”, writer Maureen Spurgeon)

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

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

The Crayzees (artist Joe Collins)

For New Year we present the last New Year issue from Tammy, in which Tammy starts a new story, provides a Button Box New Year calendar, makes the less-than-happy Happy New Year announcement that her price has gone up to 20p, and presents a coupon that could win 25 readers a signed copy of “Queen Rider”, one of the adaptations Tammy is currently running. “Room for Rosie” finishes her run with her own New Year story, in which she has a last-minute save from the scrap heap on New Year’s Day and starts off her new year with a new life in a fun fair. The Crayzees (below) present a surprisingly sobering story for New Year, and it’s one of their best. Both “Queen Rider” and “First Term at Trebizon” hit their climaxes this week, which means their resolutions aren’t far off and more new stories are on the way.

What is the new story for the New Year issue? John Armstrong has a change from Bella and is illustrating “Foul Play”, a new hockey story that’s got a mystery attached. Katie Johnson has suffered a badly injured hand from an ill-fated hockey match. Was it an accident as she believes or a foul from her own team (who viewed and resented her as an usurper) as everyone else believes – including the person who looks like they’re about to conduct a vendetta against the team? Like Carol-Anne Brabazon of Bunty’s “Down with St Desmond’s!”, they’ve even got a photograph of the team they’re going strike against, crossing out the faces of each member as they go. 

New Year was a popular time for new stories, and next week we are promised another new story, “Julie’s Jinx”, drawn by Julian Vivas. 

Pam of Pond Hill also starts a new story for New Year, but it’s anything but happy. She is less than thrilled to come back to school after the revelries of Christmas and New Year, and it seems things only get worse from there: grotty weather, grumpy winter blues staff, a flu bug that seems to be everywhere, and a classmate’s big-headed sister is unwisely appointed prefect, which provides her with the opportunity to throw her weight around, especially with Pam’s class. And so the plot threads are established for the rest of the story to follow. 

The New Year itself is 1984, so two things are expected: George Orwell’s “1984” and leap year. We read on in anticipation to see how Tammy honours both of these.

But no reader would have guessed that new year 1984 ultimately proved to be Tammy’s annus horribilis. This was the year of Tammy’s cancellation and go into what surely would have been the most incompatible merger in comic book history with the photo comic Girl. But even worse, Tammy was cut off by a strike before any of that even happened and never given a chance to finish her stories or say a proper goodbye.

Tammy 31 December 1983

Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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. 

Tammy 17 March 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cover artist: Maria Barrera 

  • Dear Diary – I Hate You! (artist Maria Barrera) – part one
  • Cassie’s Coach (artist Tony Coleman, writer Alison Christie)
  • Guiding Hand (artist Phil Townsend) – Complete Story
  • Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)
  • Put a Spring in Your Step! (artist John Johnston, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – Quiz
  • Angela Angel-Face (artist Rodrigo Comos) – first episode
  • The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)
  • My Terrible Twin (artist Juliana Buch) – final episode
  • Dear Diary – I Hate You! (artist Maria Barrera) – part two
  • Out in the Open – Feature

We have been looking at how Princess built up towards her merger with Tammy in 1984. Now we take a glimpse at how Tammy was doing the same during the final weeks before the merger.

Giving serials double episodes to finish them off fast was a common thing in a buildup towards a merger (or a special issue). This falls to “Dear Diary – I Hate You!”, which has been given double episodes of late. It also had a lot of cover spots.

One of the curious differences between DCT and IPC was how often they used the blackmail serial. DCT cranked them out in such quantity it created a semi-regular blackmailer, “The Honourable S.J.” from Judy. By contrast, IPC didn’t seem to bother much with blackmail serials (though some IPC stories had blackmail elements; Bella, for example, had her share of blackmailers over the years), so “Dear Diary – I Hate You!” is an exception for being one. The cause of the blackmail is an incriminating diary, which our protagonist packed by mistake when she went to boarding school. As with many blackmail stories at DCT, the blackmail is making the unfortunate protagonist unpopular with her classmates because the blackmailer, who is disliked by everyone, is forcing her to be her toady. Perhaps the writer wrote blackmail stories for DCT or was inspired by the DCT example. Tammy had stopped running credits, so we don’t know who wrote this one. But I have wondered if it was Ian Mennell, as it has an extremely nosy girl as the antagonist of the story and a powerful plot device, as with an earlier Ian Mennell story also set in a boarding school, “Cuckoo in the Nest”. If so, the nosy antagonist is a big step up from the one in CITN; she is the outright villainess of the piece, whereas the other was not.

Stories reaching their conclusions were also another common feature in a merger buildup. This week it is “My Terrible Twin”, a 1979 Tammy story that was reprinted by popular demand. 

Pam also finishes her current story, where a big-headed, bragging ballroom champion classmate finally gets her well-deserved humbling, one that leaves her floored – literally – on the dance floor. Pam’s next story is a two-part filler before the merger with Princess. Sadly, it was one that was crying out for more development with more episodes. It is about a new pupil in Pam’s class who is kept under such tight apron strings that she is a virtual prisoner in her own home, her parents walk her to and from school, and they even want the headmaster to keep her separated from her classmates during breaks, but he refuses to do so. It turns out their conduct is an overreaction to big trouble when she fell in with a bad crowd, and not giving her even half a chance to earn back their trust.

Fillers, another feature in a merger buildup, appear as well. This week it is another reprint of “Angela Angel-Face”, a story from Sandie that was reprinted as a filler in Jinty in 1980. This one is not regarded as one of Jinty’s best moments, and it’s not one of Tammy’s either. As Angela is a five-parter, she will be the one to have double episodes over the next two issues of Tammy before the merger. Another filler is a complete story, “Guiding Hand”, about a tomboy who thinks she knows it all and everyone else is soft until she meets her match in a Girl Guides challenge.

What is set to go into the merger lineup? We are promised that a new Bella story is starting soon, so she has to be one. The Button Box is another, and so is Tammy’s other serial, “Cassie’s Coach”, a period story about Victorian children who find an unusual home in a coach on the scrap heap after their mother is falsely imprisoned and they are evicted from their home.

Princess #24, 3 March 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • The Saddest Dog in Town (artist Eduardo Feito) – final episode
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • Laura in the Lyon’s Den! (artist Bob Harvey) – final episode
  • Horse from the Sea (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • The Runaway Clown (artist José Canovas? or Miguel Faster?)
  • Sheena and the Treetoppers (artist Rodrigo Comos) – final episode
  • How Much Do You Know about Your Favourite Princess? – quiz 
  • Rowena of the Doves (artist Peter Wilkes) – final episode
  • The Dream House (artist Mike White)
  • Flight from the Romanys (artist Maria Dembilio) 
  • Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)

Princess has four issues to go before she merges with Tammy and is on the countdown towards it. Four stories finish this week. “The Dream House”, a reprint from Tammy, is being reprinted as a filler. New stories are set to start in the next issue, to be used as fillers for the remaining issues or carryovers into the merger. But Princess isn’t forgetting her biggest selling point from her earlier issues: Princess Diana. This week she runs a Princess Diana quiz.

The Runaway Clown is on its penultimate episode, with our runaway clown now finding a clue as to who her father is when she finds a locket matching her own after an accident at the circus. Is it Mr Brunelli the high wire artist? If so, what a terrible time to discover it. Brunelli has finally paid the price for refusing to use a safety net. He’s now in hospital, and it looks so bad his circus career seems finished. But she’s forgetting someone else was injured in that accident – a circus hand called Nobody. So it could be either of them, but which one is it?

In “Flight from the Romanys”, Lydia finally makes her flight from the gypsies who kidnapped her. Jacob, who helped her, says it’s not the first time they’ve done that kind of thing. But Lydia soon finds that escape is only the first part. Now there’s the matter of finding her way back and getting help, plus getting through a forest in the dead of night! And we know forests can be dangerous at that hour. 

“Stefa’s Heart of Stone” is a reprint from Jinty and was one of Jinty’s most popular stories. This week Stefa runs away to her aunt’s, just to get away from Ruth, who is a near double of Joy, the girl she grieves for – only to come crawling back because she missed her precious statue too much. Thought you had a heart of stone, Stefa, to avoid being hurt again after losing your friend? A head of stupidity more like! She doesn’t give a hoot about the trouble she caused back home or worrying her parents, and they are furious when they hear what happened.

Sadie in Waiting sees Grovel grumbling at Cook for not keeping the kitchen clean enough, but it ends up in an even worse state after his lousy fly-swatting. He is the one who has to clean up the kitchen now, with a bashed nose and a lump on his head from all his swatting hijinks. He didn’t even get the fly. Cook had to do it – right on top of Grovel’s head.

Princess #22, 18 February 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • Sheena and the Treetoppers (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • The Saddest Dog in Town (artist Eduardo Feito)
  • Rowena of the Doves (artist Peter Wilkes)
  • Flight from the Romanys (artist Maria Dembilio) – first episode
  • How Trendy are You? Quiz
  • Horse from the Sea (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • The Runaway Clown (artist José Canovas? or Miguel Faster?)
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)
  • Laura in the Lyon’s Den! (artist Bob Harvey)

Princess is now running on the same print as Tammy, and her stories are a mix of her own and reprints from Tammy and Jinty. Former Jinty readers would have been crying if they knew “Stefa’s Heart of Stone” was being reprinted here, as she was one of Jinty’s most popular stories and there was huge demand for a reprint in the 1980 Pam’s Poll. As Stefa, a long serial, is still in her early episodes in a title that will merge with Tammy in six issues, it is no wonder she carried over into the merger. Other reprints are Jinty’s Horse from the Sea (which enabled some of the original artwork to survive) and Tammy’s Rowena of the Doves. 

Sheena has a lead to save her treehouse from being demolished. It’s the old lost will scenario that could save the property if found, but where the %#$*!@ is it? Sheena decides to go and check the old mansion on the property, but what a spooky place it is. It’s a test of nerves.

Sammy, the saddest dog in town, can’t find his original owners. He has good friends to help, but their hopes of finding Sammy’s owners are dashed again this week. 

Spoiled, rebellious Laura is put to work in the kitchen of Mrs Lyon’s store. She is beginning to surprise herself in enjoying the work and even defending old battle-axe Lyon. 

The Runaway Clown is now training as a wire walker. But her trainer won’t let her use a safety net and she’s only a beginner. Yikes! 

An upcoming merger isn’t stopping Princess from starting new stories. This week it’s Flight from the Romanys, where a high-class girl, Lydia Parks, gets kidnapped by gypsies to be their slave. What a shock to the system for such a sheltered, pampered girl. At least Lydia is not a spoiled brat, so she’s an instant sympathetic character. 

In Sadie in Waiting, Grovel the grovelling butler tries his hand at cooking because Princess Bee is entertaining an Eastern princess. Desert rat stew, scorpion soup, sheep’s eyes and camel steak are on his menu and the gags for the story (including the gagging we readers are doing already).