Sara’s Kingdom (artist Bill Mainwaring) – from Sally
Glen a Dog on a Lonely Quest (artist Jim Baikie)
Castaways on Voodoo Island (artist Ken Houghton)
No Tears for Molly (artist Tony Thewenetti, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – new story
Tammy was barely out of the starting gate herself when she absorbed her first title, Sally, on 3 April 1971. It was unusual for a longer-running title (which was itself less than two years old) to be swallowed by a much newer one that hadn’t even finished its first lineup of stories. Usually it was the other way around, so there has been speculation as to what brought this on.
Sally had gotten off to a promising start, with a high flavour of autonomous heroines and adventure. Some of them were even costumed super-heroines, most notably “The Cat Girl”. Cat Girl is still fondly remembered today and has now spawned her own reprint volume. So, what happened?
Anything is possible, but it has been speculated that the answer may lie in one of IPC’s notorious strikes. It was a long one for Sally, and when she came back her cover actually celebrated her return. However, it is thought that Sally took a hit from the strike and failed to recover, and she was soon approaching cancellation. But if so, why didn’t she merge into June, the longest-running girls IPC title at that stage? Did something prevent another June merger? Or did the editors think that Sally would bring some new elements and readership into the new Tammy? Most certainly, the biggest flaw with the early Tammy was that she was disproportionately high on stories laden with dark and cruel elements, ill-used heroines, and misery guts such as abusive guardians, employers and racketeers. It made Tammy a hot-selling pioneer at the time, but there was very little lightweight material and absolutely no humour to add relief. When Sally was incorporated into Tammy, that changed somewhat. We got some adventure elements, humour and laughs with “Maisie’s Magic Eye” (Tammy’s first humour strip, with the ever-popular Robert MacGillivray artwork to add further delight), a royal adventure with “Sara’s Kingdom”, and Tammy’s first superheroine, Cat Girl, who brought in an enthralling blend of adventure, mystery, excitement, and humour with Giorgio Giorgetti’s eccentric style. So Tammy’s first merger was one that she benefitted highly from.
Molly has started a new story for the merger. Her mum is taken ill, and that’s just the start of her problems. Bully butler Pickering refuses her permission to go home, but she goes off anyway, leading to her losing her job when he finds out. When she arrives back home, her family’s on the verge of being evicted because they weren’t able to pay the rent. The landlord grants them a brief stay of execution, but Molly’s at a loss as to how to come up with the money. Elsewhere in the issue, the remaining serials from Tammy’s first lineup continue unabated, but Voodoo Island, Secret of Trebaran and Glen give the impression they are approaching their climaxes.
The merger has also brought in a new character, “Beattie Beats ‘Em All!”, which may have been written for Sally. The premise feels like an early forerunner to Bella Barlow. Like Bella, Beattie is a feisty Cockney orphan, a misfit and a free spirit who likes her independence. Unlike Bella (or most Tammy heroines of the period) she isn’t abused. She can’t stay at the orphanage she grew up in any longer, but adoption doesn’t work out. Deciding she’s better off on her own, she runs off and ends up squatting while indulging in her only passions in life: cats and running events. Beattie is Tammy’s first sports story and the first appearance of John Armstrong’s artwork in Tammy.
Save Old Smokey! (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie) – final episode
Make It Easy – a Bird-Bath Filler – feature
It’s Easter time. Jinty has an Easter competition and the Jinx from St. Jonah’s has an Easter story. Can collecting catkins leave you with egg on your face? It is when you’re the Jinx from St. Jonah’s trying to do something for Easter. But the ending couldn’t be better – the class sharing a giant Easter egg around.
Phil Townsend is doing double duty this week, drawing the final episode of “Save Old Smokey!” (replaced by “House of the Past” next week) and the new mystery story, “Then There Were 3…”.
Dora Dogsbody has a go at hypnotism in the hope it will improve her dog’s life. The results are mixed, and when they get a bit out of hand, Dora quits hypnotism. Meanwhile, Stacey is still having great success with her own hypnotism on “The Slave of Form 3B”, and this week she cuts off another potential avenue of help for her poor victim.
Becoming enslaved and finding ways to escape abound this week in the other serials. In “Bound for Botany Bay”, Betsy and Mary, who have only just escaped from the cruel Miss Wortley, fall foul of another cruel slaver, a Mrs Mallaquin, who runs a great racket in capturing escaped convicts to slave in her opal mine. At least their new captivity gives them their long-sought lead on Betsy’s father. Fran & Co become slaves of the Black Circle slave racket in “Fran of the Floods”, but now they get what could be an unlikely escape – a swarm of rats maddened by fire, and the rats are chasing the slaves and slavers alike. In “For Peter’s Sake!”, Corrie falls into the clutches of tinkers who make her slave for them. At the end of the episode, she uses her pram to put an escape plan into action. But we have to wait for the next issue to see how successful our protagonists have been with their escapes.
The issue contains the first appearance of Christine Ellingham artwork for Jinty, the Gypsy Rose story “Haunted Ballerina” (below). A panel from the story is the most striking of the three on the cover, a terrifying teaser as to what awaits inside, and it’s the first to hit us in the leading spot. The story itself is a cautionary tale to be careful about second-hand goods, as you never know what might be attached to them. Deanna Blunt discovers this the hard way when she picks up a mirror and ballet shoes at a jumble sale for her ballet practice – only to find herself terrorised by the embittered spirit of a ballerina who lost her career.
“The Mystery of Martine” concludes. The reason why Martine started behaving just like the obsessed woman she played in a theatrical drama remains as obscure as ever. But at least they found the solution – change the ending of the play to one where the crazed woman reforms, after which Martine somehow returned to normal. Starting next week is another Jim Baikie story, “Spell of the Spinning Wheel”.
In “Mark of the Witch!”, being driven out of her own home is the last straw for Emma Fielding, who is constantly treated like an outcast, called a witch, and branded a bad sort by the backward villagers of Kettleby who just won’t give her a chance. It’s time for payback, and she’s going to do it by being the terror of the village. She starts with breaking and entering to steal food, but she soon has her eyes on an even bigger vengeance, one that will shape the climax and resolution of the story.
Spotty pulls a trick with clockwork cat full of dynamite on Alley Cat, but it backfires on him before Alley Cat even plots his revenge. Things backfire on Sue this week as well. She is so paranoid about her fun-bag Henrietta pulling tricks that she gets herself into so many scrapes trying to stop them – and then finds Henrietta wasn’t even doing anything.
As if things weren’t bad enough for Malincha because of her evil sorcerer uncle, this week she has another enemy – jealous Clare, who is spreading rumours that Malincha is some kind of witch.
“Made-Up Mandy” gets into all sorts of scrapes with her disguises, but this one has to be the wackiest by far – she finds herself in charge of taking a sea lion to the zoo, and she has to carry it all across London!
“Freda, False Friend” isn’t actually a false friend. It’s just that she has the unenviable task of pretending to befriend Gail in order to spy on her family for her policeman father. This week, Freda saves Gail from drowning, but when they are picked up by a police launch, it could blow Freda’s secret.
In “The Big Cat”, things look up for runaway Ruth and her cheetah when she finds a job with Mrs White. Unfortunately, the blurb for next week says that just when things are finally going right for Ruth, something is about to go very wrong.
The cover tells us it is the final episode of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, one of Jinty’s longest and most popular stories. The final episode is a four-page spread, just as the first one was. Talk about bookends. Nobody, including our two heroes, knew just what to expect when they reached the home called Rainbow’s End. As it turns out, it is definitely not what anyone expected and it’s quite a surprise ending.
“The Girl Who Never Was” reaches its penultimate episode, and it looks like there’s going to be a surprise ending with this one as well. Tina Williams, after passing a test to overcome the nasty thoughts that sent her into a parallel world, is now returned to her own world, but she is startled and confused to find herself in darkness. What sort of homecoming is this?
Inspired by a quiz show, Sue asks Henrietta for a spell so she will know everything. Sue should have known by this time that asking for things like that from Henrietta only gets her into a spot. And it does so again, of course.
Sue Cathcart, “Prisoner of the Bell” and class slacker, is dodging French homework, but she reckons without grandma and her power of the bell. When the bell rings, it forces Susie to her schoolwork without realising. But although Susie doesn’t realise what is going on, someone else has now been alerted to it – fellow slacker Lorraine.
Sea-Sister recruits a school of fish to help Jane’s father, who’s in trouble at sea, and finally gets the stone that must be returned to the sea. But Jane is now asking questions about what’s going on.
Lisa Carstairs continues to go to selfish lengths to ensure “She Shall Have Music”. This week she persuades her mother to get a cleaning job at a music shop, just so she can have access to a piano. But Dad’s so put out at Mum taking such a low job that they’re not speaking to each other. It’s a shock for Lisa, who’s never seen her parents argue before, and it’s her fault. Will the shock finally knock some of that selfishness out of her?
In “I’ll Make Up for Mary”, Ann works on her bike riding to be more like Mary, but it results in bike theft and angry parents. Everything Ann does to be like Mary turns to custard, and it can only do so again as long as she pursues that course.
Fran never stops stumbling from one scrape to another with her antics. The monkey business over the circus gorilla she unwittingly let loose is finally dealt with by tranquilliser dart and returned to the circus. But no sooner has she gotten out of that mess when she gets herself into another, where she accidentally sets off the school fire bell after provoking Slobberchops the bulldog into chasing her.
Translations/reprints: Waar hoor ik thuis? [Where do I belong?], in Dutch Tina, from #16/1980 – #33/1980, in 18 instalments; Girl Picture Library #9 as “Circus Waif”
Plot
Rose Harding is very happy in the circus where she was brought up by the Harding family, a family of acrobats. She’s also a proud girl, especially of the family name, which can really get her temper up when someone wounds it – as the Williams family find out when they try to push the Hardings out as top of the bill. The Williams-Harding rivalry could easily be what shapes the rest of the story, but instead it brings a skeleton rattling out of the Harding closet, which sets the story in another direction.
The Hardings now feel compelled to finally tell Rose they are not her natural family. She was left on their caravan doorstep as a baby by a poor gypsy woman who had a moon scar on her right cheek. The only clues to Rose’s past are shabby baby clothes she wore at the time and a gold locket that was on her. The locket contains two pictures: one of Rose as a baby (in much better baby clothes) and one of a woman wearing a silver star pendant (but no moon scar on her face).
As the mystery woman was a gypsy, Rose decides to ask some local gypsies for help. Their fortune teller, Madame Cora, consults her crystal ball and says Rose’s search will initially lead to heartbreak (uh-oh, can of worms?), but she will find happiness and her true home in the end. The gypsies are going to Bencombe Fair where there will be plenty of other gypsies. Rose goes with them, hoping to find leads there, without stopping to tell the Hardings first.
At the fair, a shady-looking couple tell Rose they saw the gypsy with the moon scar recently, but of course they’re just out to take advantage of her. They bill her in an act, “The Snake Girl”, and blackmail her into it with threats they won’t help her with the gypsy woman unless she complies. But their daughter Betty is jealous and plants itching powder in Rose’s costume, turning her performance into a laughing stock.
Rose storms off into town in search of Betty. But Betty pulls a prank on her by posing as the gypsy woman. When Rose angrily reacts to the trick, Betty and her cronies are about to duff her up when another girl, Angie, intervenes. Betty is sent packing, and tells Rose her parents lied about seeing the gypsy woman. She then tells her father Rose now knows this, but he isn’t letting Rose go that easily. He has plans to recapture her for the snake girl act.
Meanwhile, Rose accepts Angie’s offer of staying at her house and is introduced to Angie’s sport, gymnastics. But Rose, having been brought up in a circus, isn’t used to living in houses and Angie’s mother soon feels she has to go. Angie takes Rose along to a gymnastics contest, where she watches the famous gymnast Lady Vere in action. Rose doesn’t realise Betty is shadowing her. After watching the gymnastics, she can’t resist butting in to do her own although she is not entered. And when she sees Lady Vere up close, she realises she is the woman in the locket and must be her mother.
Then Betty’s Dad interrupts. He has brought a child care officer along, claiming Rose is his own daughter, but when Rose yells that she isn’t and the man has no proof she is, the child welfare officer gets suspicious. When he says he can check with records to verify things, Betty and her father beat a fast exit and don’t bother Rose again.
However, as Rose won’t disclose her identity, the child welfare officer senses she is a runaway and puts her in welfare custody. Rose escapes and heads back to Angie’s, and tells Angie what she has discovered about Lady Vere. Lady Vere, she is informed, runs the best gymnastics school in the country. So Rose is now headed for the gymnastics school. Angie insists on coming along, but soon regrets running away from home. Seeing this, Rose quietly phones Angie’s parents and leaves Angie with a farewell note.
The Lady Vere school is an exclusive gymnastics school, with scholarships for poorer gymnasts. But Lady Vere has a daughter, Susanne, and never had another, so what’s with the locket? Rose collapses from shock, and the school takes her in while she recovers. Rose also discovers there is another woman at the school, called Aunt Maria although she is no blood relative, who has the moon scar. She learns Aunt Maria came to the school as a penniless gypsy when Susanne was a baby and never left. Rumour has it she has some hold over Lady Vere. At this, Rose decides to hide the locket from Aunt Maria and say nothing in case Aunt Maria is dodgy.
When Rose recovers, Lady Vere takes her on for a trial period. Rose likes the gymnastics, but she is not warming to Lady Vere because she’s very strict about discipline. Discipline is something the proud, rebellious Rose is finding very hard to take and it’s tyranny to her. (You ought to meet some of the gymnastics coaches Bella Barlow has had, Rose!)
Then Aunt Maria discovers the locket and tells Rose to meet her quietly in a section of the school that was burned by fire years ago. She tells Rose that one night she and her baby took shelter there. When she saw the fine clothes baby Rose was in, she couldn’t help but switch them with the shabby ones her own baby was wearing. Then a fire broke out and she took both babies to safety. Forgetting the switch in clothes, she took the finely dressed baby to see who it belonged to, and it was Lady Vere. It was only then that she remembered the switch in clothes and realised she had mistakenly given her own baby to Lady Vere. As the babies looked alike, neither noticed it was the wrong baby. When Lady Vere insisted Maria stay on as the baby’s nanny as a reward, she couldn’t resist taking that opportunity to lift herself and her daughter out of poverty. So she said nothing about the mistake (and apparently didn’t think of quietly switching the babies back). Not wishing to pretend that Lady Vere’s baby was her own, she took it to the only home she could think of – the Hardings. Only she forgot the tell-tale locket, which Lady Vere’s baby was still wearing.
Oh dear, it’s the old mixed-up babies situation, always guaranteed to make a mess with no easy solutions. So Rose is Lady Vere’s daughter, Susanne is really Aunt Maria’s daughter, and Aunt Maria found that not redressing her mistake condemned her to years of living a lie and a guilty secret that might be discovered, and she is crying for Rose’s forgiveness.
Well, there’s the heartbreak Madame Cora warned Rose about. Rose finally knows the truth, but what to do about it? Aunt Maria is willing to own up if Rose wants it, but Rose wants to think first. She doesn’t relate to the stern Lady Vere, so she doesn’t know how they can live as mother and daughter. Moreover, Rose can see Susanne is very happy with Lady Vere, who means a lot to her as her own mother, so will revealing the truth bring the happiness and true home that Madame Cora said would lie at the end of the road?
Rose meets up with Madame Cora again and asks her for advice. Madame Cora takes her back to the circus, where she discovers the Hardings are missing her badly and desperately trying to find her. At this, Rose realises the status quo is the answer. So she returns to the Hardings, where she finds the happiness and true home Madame Cora predicted. Aunt Maria feels more at peace when Rose tells her she will keep the secret.
Thoughts
Unravelling the past is always a popular theme in girls’ comics. However, the story would have been better to have opened that way instead of with the rivalry where the Williamses threaten to push out the Hardings as top billing, which would been a worthy serial in itself and shaped the rest of the story had Jinty continued with it. The situation is not resolved by the time Rose runs off to discover her past, leaving the reader with a thread left dangling, which is rather annoying.
Rose’s quest to find her past includes other elements familiar to readers of fugitive/quest stories, such as the dodgy fairground couple out to exploit her and child welfare sniffing around. However, it is refreshing to see they are not used to the point where they become repetitive and drawn-out. Once they are used, they pass out of the story pretty quickly, and it is good to see that not too many elements are thrown into the mix, which could slow the story down and make it ponderous. Rose also has strokes of luck that make things pretty quick in tracking down the right place and people. So the pace of the story is strong and impressive.
The overall story is a solid read with a feisty heroine who is capable of amazing feats as an acrobat to engage the reader. The ending is one of Jinty’s most brilliant, as it takes an unexpected turn for Rose to find happiness instead of risking a lot of bother in opening up the truth. There is much in it to keep the reader going.
Jinty would have a strong affinity with gypsies with the presence of her spooky storyteller, Gypsy Rose, who at the time was back with more stories (reprinted from Strange Stories instead). The gypsy element is a perfect blend with the circus and fairground elements, and it also adds a dash of the ominous, with a foreshadowing that the search would lead to initial heartbreak. It sounds like a warning that Rose might discover something better left alone. But of course Rose wanted to know her past and who she really was.
The mixed-up baby situation is always trouble, especially if it remains that way for years. Aunt Maria had her chance to sort it out (by confessing or quietly changing the babies back) but did not do so. In so doing, she condemned herself to a guilty secret overshadowing her entire life, and there was always the risk it might come out one way or other. Even with Rose’s forgiveness it could well do so, so it is unlikely Aunt Maria will ever know full peace.
Although the mixup had the benefit of a happy life with the Hardings, one is always left wondering what life Rose would have had if she had grown up as Lady Vere’s daughter. Growing up with the Hardings has given her a rebelliousness and sense of pride that make her a spunky character we can empathise with. It is less likely she would have turned out that way if she had grown up under the strict Lady Vere. But the other side of it is that knowing nothing but circus has given her a very narrow outlook on life. For example, she doesn’t even know what trophies are (when she saw Angie’s, she thought they were vases), what gymnastics are, or how competitions work. One can only hope her adventures have broadened her horizons more.
It’s April Fools Day this issue, and who better to do the honours than our resident jinx? Katie the Jinx is determined not to be April fooled, but her attempts at foiling April Fool traps only get herself jinxed and in big trouble. Then she finds out she had the date wrong and it’s not April Fool’s Day yet. She’s made an utter fool of herself before the real fooling’s even begun!
Stacey, the evil manipulator in “The Slave of Form 3B”, also makes a fool of herself this week. Her scheme to hypnotise Tania into obtaining the answers for a maths test was only partially successful because a loud noise broke Tania’s trance before she could complete the job. So Stacey’s paper ends up half right (copied answers), half wrong (answers Tania failed to copy, and lazy Stacey hadn’t revised a thing) – giggle! It’s not as foolproof as you thought, eh, Stacey?
The issue also marks the debut of Alley Cat, the street-wise moggy, and the hijinks he has with his rich snooty neighbours, the Muchloots. His first episode appears below. The Alley Cat cartoon strip kept Jinty readers entertained for an impressive 163 episodes. He certainly was a greater success than Penny Crayon, the cartoon strip from the Lindy merger.
It looks like some other new strips are on the horizon as well. This week is the penultimate episode of “Friends of the Forest”, and there’s a hint “Save Old Smokey!” is approaching its resolution.
Sadly, in “Fran of the Floods”, still nothing on the horizon but that infernal rain and one threat after another because of it. This time it’s a vigilante/cult outfit called Black Circle.
In both “Miss No-Name” and “Bound for Botany Bay”, our protagonists have run away from their cruel abusers and fallen in with some helpers, but the heat is really on with the pursuit behind them.
There’s a sad plot turn in “For Peter’s Sake!”. Gran dies, and her last words to Corrie are that there’s something important in the parlour. Now, what’s the important thing Gran has left for Corrie, who’s now all alone in Scotland?
“I need air!” Jean thinks at how her aunt and uncle are fawning and fussing over her smarmy cousin when she dresses up for the theatre. Barf bags might be in order too. Blechh!
Spotty Muchloot’s put in charge of minding his dad’s prize sunflowers, but he prefers to mess with Alley Cat. The results are the sunflowers coming a cropper and Spotty being kicked out of the house. Now wishing you’d stuck to the sunflowers, Spotty?
In “Waking Nightmare”, Phil plunges even deeper into the nightmare when Carol takes another strange turn, causing her to take a nasty plunge over some hills. What’s more, Carol’s conduct has caused Phil to lose her suitcase and most of her money on a bus. That would be a vital clue to anyone looking for them.
Can “Paula’s Puppets” be used for good when they’ve only been used for revenge so far? This week, Paula puts it to the test. She uses their power to see if it gets Lindy, who’s in a coma because of it, to recover. But Paula doesn’t realise that while she’s doing it, one of her enemies is spying on her.
Meanwhile, Ella succeeds in bringing Clem out of her coma despite Val Lester’s tricks to stop her. Will she finally be able to prove it was Val and not her who was responsible for Clem’s accident?
Sue wishes she and her friends are on Cloud 9. Oh dear, watch what you wish for when your fun-bag’s around, Sue!
“Two Mothers for Maggie” reaches its penultimate episode. Maggie goes all out to help Miss Keyes make a go of the rundown theatre she’s bought over, and the results are promising. But what’s Mum, who’s never liked Miss Keyes, going to say about her return? And so the stage is set for the final episode.
In “Shadow on the Fen”, our protagonists clash with hoons, and things get worse when the Witchfinder recruits their help to destroy the witch ball, which is their protection against him. He fails this time, but he’ll try again, of course.
The Zodiac Prince and Shrimp decide to move – only it looks like they’re moving on straight into more trouble. The Zodiac Prince looks like he’s about to run someone over!
For this March issue we’ve got a fun cover, with fun with skateboarding and fun with juggling. And inside, Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag uses a spell to teach a stuffy man about fun.
Concrete Surfer Jean writes an essay on skateboarding, and is surprised to find teach liked it better than smarmy cousin Carol’s. Jean’s delighted to have triumphed over her sneaky cousin at last. Or has she? We know all too well that Carol will pull a fast one to stay top dog if her nose gets put out of joint.
In “Darling Clementine”, it’s now well and truly the end of Ella trying to win the waterskiing competition on Clem’s behalf. She turns to getting Clem out of the coma, but Val Lester, the girl responsible for Clem’s condition, is pulling dirty tricks to stop her.
Phil continues to protect Carol in “Waking Nightmare”, but it’s marred by Carol having strange mood swings between hysterics and happiness. A headline, which says a sick girl is missing, could explain things, but Phil fails to notice it.
The Zodiac Prince uses the power of the Zodiac wheel to give hopeless girls new talents, but soon finds it wasn’t the way to help them. They’ve gotten cocky and carried away with their new gifts, which has led to trouble. Can the Zodiac Prince find a way to put things right?
In “Two Mothers for Maggie”, Maggie tracks down Miss Keyes after she disappeared in the previous issue, but is shocked to find her cleaning in a rundown theatre.
A man throws a cricket ball at Alley Cat for disturbing his sleep when poor Alley Cat wasn’t even doing it. It all rebounds on the man when the ball goes his neighbour’s way instead.
Speaking of balls, in “Shadow on the Fen”, the girls find a witch ball can ward off the Witchfinder. Now that’s a funny twist – weren’t witch balls supposed to ward off witches?
After the power of the puppets causes an accident, Paula vows never to use them again. But she soon finds that the temptation to use them is hard to resist, not only because so many people are against her but also because the puppets won’t be destroyed.
This week’s Gypsy Rose story (recycled from Strange Stories), brings readers some Bill Mainwaring artwork. The tale takes us to the Swiss Alps, where a trail of chamois carved on the mountains takes a mysterious hand in saving lives, and we’re left wondering if the spirit of the man who carved them take a hand also.
In “When Statues Walk…”, Laura discovers how to get into the cavern where these walking Viking statues are holding the captive princess, and plans for rescuing her are coming together.
In “The Perfect Princess”, Princess Victoria’s latest trick almost gets rid of Sally, but she survives to fight another day. Victoria gets locked up in a tower for her conduct, and things backfire on her when she tries a cannon escape (obviously, her dumb father didn’t thoroughly check out the tower for all possible means of escape). Meanwhile, Sally’s imposture is in danger of discovery when her foster parents send a message that they are coming to visit. She has thought of something, and so far, it is working. But the next episode will tell.
The dragon hijinks continue in “Gaye’s Gloomy Ghost”, with Sir Roger playing St George to slay a dragon, which is actually people dressed up. Though he got things wrong, it has the benefit of taming another dragon – a dragon teacher – when he accidentally takes off her skirt with his lance, and everyone is laughing at the sight of her bloomers!
Pam of Pond Hill contributes to the increased sports presence in Jinty with her current story, where Marty Michaels’ interfering sister Trina becomes her self-appointed sports coach. Talk about bossy! Trina ought to be in the Army. Worse, Mum and Dad are actually encouraging Miss Bossyboots and her bright ideas for training Marty. Then comes another complication: Marty disobeys teacher’s orders and takes a secret spring on the new school trampoline, but soon pays the price for her infraction when she hits her back on the trampoline. Ouch! That bang looks serious.
In the other sports stories:
Toni now realises she has an enemy sabotaging her at the sports club, but with so many people against her because of her mother’s disgrace, the suspects are many. She reaches breaking point and runs away – but it looks like she’s run straight into danger.
Sneaky Cynthia’s accident (unwittingly caused by “The Spirit of the Lake”) is definitely making things difficult for Karen. Cynthia is unconscious, and Karen’s dreading what she will say about the accident when she wakes up. But the story has given us another beautiful cover.
Bridie finally gets a canoe, which was going second-hand, but only on deposit. She has to raise the rest of the money, but how?
In this issue, Alley Cat and Gypsy Rose return for 1980. This week’s Gypsy Rose story (recycled from Strange Stories) brings readers some Robert MacGillivray artwork, which has not been seen in Jinty since “Desert Island Daisy”.
It looks like Laura’s task is to liberate a captive Viking princess in “When Statues Walk…” from these walking Viking clay statues. Another one of them gets broken, and Laura is worried a teacher will discover the secret if she puts the pieces together.
In “The Perfect Princess”, bratty Princess Victoria gets rid of another rival, Isabella. Sally, the remaining rival, is pleased about that, as Isabella was the favourite. But she doesn’t realise Victoria plans to get rid of her next by making it look like she pulled that trick on Isabella.
Dragon hijinks abound in “Gaye’s Gloomy Ghost”. First it’s a dragon teacher, and now Roger’s playing St George with some visitors dressed as a Chinese dragon.
The latest Pam of Pond Hill story adds to the increasing presence of sport in Jinty. Marty Michaels has a big problem: her sister Trina, who goes overboard with crazes, and thinks she either knows it all or can gain it from books. Trina’s latest craze is to become an athlete. Although she eventually realises it’s not for her, it’s the immediate springboard to her next craze: interfering with Marty’s athletics by becoming her self-appointed trainer. Marty thinks this sounds ominous, and she can only be right. We doubt books alone would make anyone a good sports trainer.
In the other sports stories:
Sneaky Cynthia is doing a stakeout to find out what this accelerated learning is that’s turning Karen into a brilliant ice-skater. Of course she can’t see “The Spirit of the Lake”, who’s giving Karen coaching – and as a result, she gets a shock that causes her to have an accident. This could make things awkward for Karen.
More sabotage for “Toni on Trial” from jealous Julie. This week, she loosens the spikes in Toni’s shoes, and when Toni falls on top of her as a result, she accuses Toni of doing so on purpose. And with so many people thinking badly of Toni because of her mother’s disgrace, it’s all too easy for the accusation to gain traction.
And finally, Bridie has to resort to some “equal rights for women” arguing to get into a canoe club for Boy Scouts. They make their own canoes, which could give her the canoe she needs, but then she discovers there’s a snag – their canoes are for troop use only.
A Resource on Jinty: Artists, Writers, Stories