Tag Archives: Rodrigo Comos

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 #25, 10 March 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • The Haunted Station (artist Julio Bosch) – first episode
  • Horse from the Sea (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • Rusty, Remember Me (artist Eduardo Feito) – first episode
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • The Secret Swimmer (artist Phil Gascoine) – first episode
  • How Honest Are You? – Quiz
  • The Dream House (artist Mike White)
  • Day and Knight (artist Juliana Buch) – first episode
  • The Runaway Clown (artist José Canovas? or Miguel Faster?) – final episode
  • Flight from the Romanys (artist Maria Dembilio) 
  • Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)

Princess is on the countdown to the merger with Tammy on 7 April 1984, the last of the six titles Tammy absorbed in her lifetime. How is Princess building up for it? She has the advantage in that she had always been one for short serials, around five to eight episodes, though some serials were longer. So finishing one serial fast and starting another as a filler isn’t difficult for her in getting ready for the merger.

This week Princess begins four serials, two of which will conclude in the merger with Tammy. The ones that will go into the merger are “Rusty, Remember Me” (Donna Martin finds an injured fox cub) and “Day and Knight” (Sharon Day is being picked on by Carrie Knight, the school bully who looks set to become her stepsister). The other two are “The Haunted Station” (time travel to the 1930s via a train station and meeting a girl in danger) and “The Secret Swimmer” (Liza is wrongly blamed for her friend’s accident and becomes an outcast at school). Also set to go into the merger because of its length is “Stefa’s Heart of Stone”, a reprint from Jinty. After the devastating loss of her friend Joy, Stefa Giles freezes up to avoid such hurt again, but she is taking it to extreme levels that not only hurt everyone around her but are the heights of stupidity as well. This week she pretends to be sick to avoid Ruth’s party because Ruth is a near look-alike for Joy. She manages to dodge the party, but it doesn’t look like she’s going to get away with it.

Other reprints, “Horse from the Sea” (Jinty) and “The Dream House” (Tammy) are still running but will finish in Princess. Finishing this week is “The Runaway Clown”, who is finally reunited with her father. Lydia has made her “Flight from the Romanys”, the gypsies who kidnapped her, but she still has a way to go before her story ends. As she is still wearing the rags her kidnappers forced her to wear, the authorities take her for a ragamuffin and don’t believe her story. She finds herself thrown into a workhouse. From one goddam situation to another.

In “Sadie in Waiting”, Grovel the grovelling butler tries his hand as a painter. Predictably, the results are not exactly Rembrandt. He is advised to “chuck that rubbish”.

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).

Tammy and Sally 14 August 1971

1971, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Palomo (artist Douglas Perry)

Little Miss Nothing (artists Miguel Rosello, Luis Bermejo, Miguel Quesada, writer Alan Davidson)

Betina and the Haunted Ballet (artist Dudley Wynne) – first episode

The Cat Girl (artist Giorgio Giorgetti)

Roberta’s Rebels (artist Rodrigo Comos, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – first episode

Our Janie – Little Mum (artist Colin Merrett)

Maisie’s Magic Eye (artist Robert MacGillivray)

A Million Pounds to Give Away! (artist Agustin Navarro, writer Maureen Spurgeon)

Beattie Beats ‘Em All (artist John Armstrong, writer Maureen Spurgeon)

The School on Neville’s Island (artist Douglas Perry)

Glen – A Lonely Dog on a Quest (artist Jim Baikie)

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

It is now August, and to commemorate, we will have an August month Tammy round, with an August issue taken from each Tammy year. Also, selecting covers from this month guarantees a lot of nice, cheery summer covers to brighten us up. We begin at 1971, and with an August issue that starts two new stories.

It has now been seven months since Tammy started and five since Sally merged with her. Three strips from Tammy’s first issue are still going strong: Molly, Glenn, and Janie. Betina, another heroine from the original lineup, now starts her second story in Tammy’s first-ever sequel, “Betina and the Haunted Ballet”. The other story to start this week is “Roberta’s Rebels”. Though set in a boarding school, its premise sounds oddly prescient of “Land of No Tears”. Roberta Russell’s boarding school system is divided into the Supremos, the girls who get all the privileges and best treatment because they are the school sports stars, and the Serfs, who are forced to wait on the Supremos hand and foot and receive lesser treatment from school staff. Outraged, Roberta immediately sets out to stop this unfair school system by training up the Serfs to beat the Supremos. But once she sees the girls she has to train, she finds that’s going to be easier said than done. They look more like Bessie Bunter than Beattie Beats ‘Em All (q.v.).

The Cat Girl and Maisie’s Magic Eye are still going strong from the Sally merger. Both became so well remembered they have recently been given remakes in the rebooted Tammy and Jinty specials, and Cat Girl has just received her own reprint volume. Their presence also adds humour and lightweight fare to Tammy, who initially had no humour to balance the grim, misery-laden fare she was renowned for when she started. 

“A Million Pounds to Give Away!” is another story to show Tammy is finding her feet with her own lightweight fare. Biddy Lenton has to give away her late great uncle’s entire fortune (a million pounds) under the terms of his will, but it’s proving harder than expected and it’s getting Biddy into all sorts of scrapes. Shades of the future Bumpkin Billionaires! 

This week’s episode of Beattie must have given the readers some laughs, what with the antics Beattie gets up to on the racetrack to raise signatures for a petiton to stop some buildings – including her home – being bulldozed for development. She gets the satisfaction of annoying her worst enemies on the track with it as well. The petition ends up full of signatures. Strangely, nobody comments on or corrects Beattie’s spelling mistake – “support” has been spelled with one “p”.

“Little Miss Nothing” was a pivotal story in Tammy, as it set the template for the Cinderella serial in girls’ comics for hundreds of Cinderella serials at IPC and DCT to follow. “Make-Believe Mandy” and “Cinderella Smith” from Jinty were but two who owed their roots to “Little Miss Nothing”. This week, Annabel’s cruel parents kick her out, and they’re not through with her yet. Annabel’s spiteful stepsister Dora is cooking up a really nasty revenge on Annabel for getting her the well-deserved sack. 

Douglas Perry is on double duty with drawing two stories, “The School on Neville’s Island” and “Palomo”. But that’s nothing on Maureen Spurgeon, who’s writing four strips, probably more, in one issue! Incidentally, Palomo was Tammy’s first horse story, and it was so popular it scored an appearance in a Tammy annual. 

Jinty 8 October 1977

1977, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Destiny Brown (artist Rodrigo Comos)

Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Guardian of White Horse Hill (artist Julian Vivas, writer Pat Mills)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

The Goose Girl (artist Keith Robson, writer Alison Christie)

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty (cartoon)

Berni in the Big Time (Berni Flint feature)

Stage Fright! (artist Phil Townsend)

Flight Home – Gypsy Rose Story

Fran’ll Fix It! (artist Jim Baikie)

Cursed to be a Coward! (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)

I Spy, with My Beady Eye! (feature)

In this issue one of Jinty’s most enduring stories, “Guardian of White Horse Hill”, starts. Janey still gets nightmares of her parents’ death and clings to her teddy. This makes things difficult when she gets fostered out and she gets off to a bad start. Things look up when a beautiful white horse appears and Janey offers it an apple. Then it just seems to disappear…like a ghost. There’s not a trace of it or hoofmarks.

Alley Cat is pursuing apples too, from Spotty Muchloot’s orchard. Spotty goes to extreme measures to deal with Alley Cat – chop down the apple trees. Dad is very angry to find his entire orchard has been felled. 

This week’s Gypsy Rose story is a weird one to make sense of, and the protagonist in the story is clearly having a hard time making sense of it too. She’s an air stewardess who has a vision of an Indian boy named Rajan walking right off the plane in mid-flight. Nobody has any record of Rajan even being on board, yet she has a carved elephant he gave her. She asks Gypsy Rose for help, and they find Rajan was in hospital at the time of the flight. But yes, that’s definitely the carved elephant he made in woodwork class. He was going to give it to her on the flight. He thought it got lost in the fire that put him in hospital, but there it is in her possession. Okay, you confused yet? Nobody but Gypsy Rose seems to understand it. 

Destiny Brown has seventh sight, yet she never seems to foresee how to keep out of trouble. She has gone in search of her father, who has been accused of bank robbery. She camps out for the night at a funfair but gets caught. What are they going to do with her?

Sue’s got problems with seeing through a microscope and calls on Henrietta for help with a “see through” spell. Unfortunately the spell gets skewed because Henrietta wasn’t on the ball, with hilarious hijinks. Fortunately everything works out in the end for all those who got caught up in it.

Goose girl Glenda enters a wildlife poster competition, using her beloved goose as a model. Bird-hating Mum foils her again, but Glenda’s not wasting the poster – she’s using it to demonstrate against the local goose-hunting. However, she is not getting any support – except for the geese behind her. 

In “Stage Fright!”, Linda finds out why someone is gunning for her – Lord Banbury is leaving his mansion to her on condition she win the acting trophy that has been in the Banbury family for three generations. Everything points to Lady Alice being her enemy – but is she? Then Linda gets locked in. Her enemy again?

“Fran’ll Fix It” fixes a burglar posing as a policeman. But she could do something to fix things up for the poor gardener – she keeps accidentally dropping plaster casts on his head. 

In “Cursed to be a Coward!”, the crazed Madam Leo almost drowns Marnie and gets away with it because the police won’t listen to Marnie. Cousin Babs suggests confrontation time with Madam Leo, so she and Marnie go together. There’s a real face-off starting. How will it work out?

Princess II, 25 February 1984

1984, Stories, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Princess II cover 25 February 1984

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

We are now well and truly into the run of Princess II where she is falling back on reprints from Tammy and Jinty. From Jinty we have “Horse from the Sea” and “Stefa’s Heart of Stone”. Many former Jinty readers would have envied Princess readers for getting a reprint of Stefa. Jinty’s letter page indicated there was a popular demand for this serial to be repeated, but for some reason neither Jinty nor the Tammy & Jinty merger obliged. From Tammy we get “Rowena of the Doves” and now “The Dream House”.

Nonetheless, Princess is still producing her own stories. One is the cover story, “Flight from the Romanys” (not good grammar there). Lydia Parks is kidnapped by nasty gypsies, for no other reason than to make a slave out of her and profit from the chattels she had on her (rich clothes, a horse). Considering her father is a wealthy lord, they could have shown more imagination than that! This episode is dedicated to establishing just how cruel Lydia’s kidnappers intend to be to her, and Lydia showing us her resolve to escape despite her tears or the gypsies’ attempts to discourage her.

A more savoury gypsy gives “The Runaway Clown” both hope (her father will find her and no going back to the home she ran away from) and fear (danger from an elephant) when she looks into her crystal ball. Of course the fortune teller means Princess, the vicious elephant trainer who has been gunning for Cindy. This time Princess gets caught out and sacked, but has Cindy really seen the last of that nasty piece of work? Time will tell. Meanwhile, the weather presents its own dangers, and it leads to the death of the fortune teller.

Spoiled Laura is showing improvement in the “Lyon’s Den”. But is it genuine, or is it because she hopes to get a shopping trip in Paris out of it? Mrs Lyon suspects the latter, but readers are left wondering if the former is coming into it. Later, Mrs Lyon is surprised to see Laura on television donating her prize pony to the children of the blind home and promptly phones Laura’s aunt as she smells a rat. Is she right?

Two Princess stories, “Sheena and the Treetoppers” and “The Saddest Dog in Town”, reach their penultimate episodes. The Treetoppers are trying to find a missing will that would save their treehouse, but no luck. And now the demolition men are asking the councillor whether or not they have the green light to demolish the old house and the treehouse with it.

Lucy and Martin Denton are not having much luck tracing the owner of the “Saddest Dog in Town” either and turn to the local newspaper for help. Then a lorry passes by and the dog runs after it because he has recognised the engine sound. His rightful owner at last?

Sadie, Cook and Grovel all jump on the table in fright when they see mice on the bench, not realising they are only sugar mice intended as a gift for them. They not only end up feeling very silly but lose their treat as well, because the cat ate the mice.

Princess II, 14 January 1984

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

Princess II cover 14 January 1984

  • School of Dark Secrets! (artist Carlos Cruz)
  • The Ghostly Ballerina (photo story)
  • Fairy Tale (artist Julio Bosch)
  • Suzy and Snowdrop (artist Peter Wilkes ) – final episode
  • Best of Friends… (photo story) – final episode
  • Sheena and the Treetoppers (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • Sadie-in-Waiting (artist Joe Collins)
  • Princess – Bright Ideas Box (feature)

Surprisingly, there is no Princess Di pin-up in this issue. Instead, we get a how-to-make page. Meanwhile, two stories end this issue and two reach their penultimate episodes.

Feeling responsible for Katie and Lizzie falling out, Linda hatches a plan to bring the “Best of Friends” back together. It not only succeeds but gets Linda happily accepted as a third friend as well.

In “Suzy and Snowdrop”, matters come to a head when Jane runs off because of her demanding Aunt Alice – but doesn’t get far because she falls asleep in the stable. Meanwhile, Suzy discovers why Aunt Alice has been so demanding – she was trying to get Jane to take her place after she lost her nerve from a riding accident. Auntie turns over a new leaf and even gives Snowdrop back to Suzy.

“Fairy Tale” and “The Ghostly Ballerina” are the stories on their penultimate episodes. The evil Morgana is obliged to kiss the Frog Prince to make him human – “Yeeeuuurgh!”, to which he replies, “the feeling’s mutual!”, so he can kiss Sleeping Beauty awake. But now Morgana is sending everyone to the executioner’s block so she can be fairest in the land. Now this really has us wondering what can happen in the final episode to have everyone in this mix-up of fairy tales live happily ever after – minus Morgana, of course.

Clare Thomas is now well and truly understanding the nightmare of being in the power of “The Ghostly Ballerina”, and it’s driving her mad. Then her friend Sonja suspects something is wrong. So we know Sonja will help somehow and eagerly await to see how she does so in the final episode.

For some reason “School of Dark Secrets” gets an exclamation mark in its title this week. Maybe it’s because Judy gets a clue about its dark secret: a legendary coven of witches that needs 13 to be complete. Could this coven be the staff at her school – which Judy has suddenly noticed are all women? This could explain the weird goings-on Judy saw in the night, but they are one short of 13, to Judy’s relief. But in the final panel the headmistress says: “Our waiting is over. The thirteenth one is here!” Now who can that be? Oh, surely not…who we think it is?

The Treetoppers Secret Society is formed, but it gets Sheena and her siblings into trouble with their parents. They get a grounding that interferes with their next meeting. Can they find their new friend Jenny and explain?

Grovel is lazing about, as usual (watching Playschool?!). But he is forced to get his hands dirty digging up his shoes, which Princess Bee’s corgi has buried in the garden. The trouble is, the corgi has buried a lot of other shoes in the garden too, not to mention bones.

 

Princess Tina 27 May 1972

1972, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Princess Tina cover

Cover artist: Purita Campos

  • Stop ‘n’ Chat with the Tina Gang (writers Linda, Jeffy (Jennifer) and Horace) – feature
  • Patty’s World (artist Purita Campos, writer Phillip Douglas)
  • Clueless – the blunderdog (artist John Richardson)
  • No Swimming Allowed! (artist Santiago Hernandez)
  • Pop People (feature)
  • Princess Tina cookbook cover – feature
  • Briony Andrews (artist Rodrigo Comos) final episode
  • Ross – Student Nurse (artist Colin Merrett)
  • The Happy Days (artist Andrew Wilson, writer Jenny Butterworth)
  • Summer Line-up (feature)
  • Problem Pony (artist Edmond Ripoll)
  • Freedom Island (artist Juan Solé Puyal)
  • Fifty Tote Bags to Win! (competition)
  • Make this with Jeffy (real name Jennifer) – feature
  • Princess Tina Cook Book – feature
  • Flower Arranging – feature
  • Janey (writer Jemma) – text story
  • “Fire!” (by Horace) – text story
  • Jinny below Stairs (artist Julian Vivas)
  • Tina Aims for the Top! (artist Candido Ruiz Pueyo)
  • Tell us about it – letters page

We continue our exploration of older titles with a look at Princess Tina. Princess Tina started on 23 September 1967 by merging Princess (first series) and Tina. Well, it makes more sense than “Princess & Tina”. In 1973 Princess Tina merged into Pink (best remembered for Sugar Jones, the scheming celebrity you love to hate, though you have to love her for being a sex symbol). 

Princess Tina is a larger size than her contemporary sisters. Princess Tina is also striking for giving credit to some of her writers and her creative teams. These tend to be the writers who write features such as Jeffy (Jennifer), who puts up cut-out dress patterns and text stories, and Horace, writer of the Horace Scope (horror scope). Now that is a nice touch, showing a human face to the creative team. There are even photos of these writers attached to the features. Horace also took part in the artwork; Stop ‘n’ Chat says he painted the cover you can cut out for the Princess Tina cookbook (which has been removed from this copy).

(click thru)

 

The Princess Tina covers were drawn by Purita Campos and featured happy girls doing very happy, everyday things; in this case they are eating watermelon. Many Princess Tina covers found their way into reprints on other covers, such as the Katy series and the Dutch Tina.

Princess Tina is best remembered for Patty’s World and The Happy Days. This particular issue is the last to feature Patty’s World in black-and-white. Next issue Patty is going to be produced in colour, “in all its shades from happy sunshine yellow to the blues”. Ooh, nice! In the story itself, Patty is looking forward to leading a majorette’s parade but has to cancel out because of a funeral. At least such a sombre thing should be out of the way in time for Patty to start enjoying her colour episodes.

Princess Tina 2

In “The Happy Days” Sue has to find a missing will but the dog has torn it up. Let’s hope the dog hasn’t eaten it too! At least trying to find the dog helps a man in trouble.

In this issue, John Richardson makes one of four appearances as filler artist for “Clueless – the Blunderdog”. The other dates Richardson drew Clueless are 22 April, 29 April and 15 July 1972. The Richardson artwork for Clueless in this issue appears below.

Princess Tina 7

“No Swimming Allowed!” is, as you might expect, an unreasonable ban on swimming. In this case it’s a headmistress imposing it on an entire school (because her fiancé drowned) instead of a parent or guardian imposing it on the protagonist. Of course the swimming continues in secret, with help from a surprising source: an aristocrat named Lady Squires. She and her husband have wangled it so the team will compete for the junior swimming trophy match, but the unpleasant head girl is suspicious.

Briony Andrews, a shy but good-natured girl who has elevated from “country mouse” to a confident model, finishes her story this week. But next week she starts another, “Designed for Danger”, so she must have been popular.

Jan Ross, a student nurse, is wrongly dismissed thanks to a forgetful nurse, Sister Mott. But now she finds Mott’s forgetfulness is having even more dangerous consequences: forgetting the warning that her car brakes are bust – and now she’s driving it!

Princess Tina 4

“Problem Pony” is such a problem that Hazel Green has run away with him. His problem is that nobody can ride him unless his dog pal, Dodger, is near him. Then, when Dodger runs off, problem pony does the same. This will most certainly mean he will gallop into trouble.

“Freedom Island” is home to a school where children of UN delegates can be free. All the same, one girl, Pauline, is unhappy and sets off – in shark-invested waters. Even after being rescued from all those sharks, Pauline just won’t say why she tried to run off.

Jinny below Stairs is a good-natured maid who agrees to help a fellow maid, Mary, hide her brother Bert, who is on the run from the police. But doing so gets her into trouble and she is now in danger of being sacked. Then there is even worse danger – Bert is forced to come up to the house and it looks like the horrible housekeeper is about to catch them all red-handed.

Princess Tina 5

In “Tina Aims for the Top!”, Tina has been ordered to find out why girls are leaving an office training course at Maire Castle. Tina suspects it is because the trainer, Fay Petrie, is up to tricks. Caught snooping in Fay’s office, Tina has no choice but to confront her with her suspicions. What is Fay going to say next week?

Jinty 30 April 1977

1977, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Creepy Crawley (artist Trini Tinturé)
  • Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
  • Cassie and the Cat – Gypsy Rose story (artist Terry Aspin)
  • Mark of the Witch! — final episode (Phil Townsend)
  • Alley Cat
  • The Darkening Journey (artist José Casanovas)
  • The Robot Who Cried (artist Rodrigo Comos, writer Malcolm Shaw)
  • Kerry in the Clouds (artist Cándido Ruiz Pueyo, writer Alan Davidson)
  • Spell of the Spinning Wheel (artist Jim Baikie, writer Alison Christie)
  • Don’t Forget to Remember! (craft feature)

This issue is from a great period of Jinty’s run. It includes a number of real classic stories that have stood the test of time and memory (“Creepy Crawley”, “Spell of the Spinning Wheel”, and “The Robot Who Cried” being the obvious stand-outs) and all in all is a really solid read.

“Creepy Crawley” shows the how mean the main character Jean Crawley can be: she goes to see her rival Mandy who is recovering from the bee stings that the scarab brooch caused to happen. But even when not under the control of the scarab badge Jean allows her jealousy to control her, enough so that she voluntarily goes back to wearing the scarab and letting it give her ideas on how to get the better of Mandy. And it’s not just limited to ideas – the scarab’s control over insects means that Mandy’s beautiful wooden sculpture is eaten by termites before it can beat Jean’s pretty painting in the school art competition.

In the Gypsy Rose story “Cassie and the Cat”,  Cassie rescues a cat from some bullies, but the cat is far from what it seems. Enjoy the creepy story, atmospherically drawn by Terry Aspin, at the end of the post.

It is the final episode of “Mark of the Witch!”, and outcast Emma Fielding redeems herself by saving rich girl Alice Durant, the girl who she’s persecuted in revenge for the persecution that Emma herself has suffered at the hands of the local villagers. As they keep each other afloat in the raging river, Emma takes a moment to think “It’s funny.. I could die, but I feel sort of happy! Happy to be fighting and struggling with Alice instead of against her!”

“The Robot Who Cried” is an invention of the bushily-moustached Professor Targett – codenamed KT5, she escapes from the laboratory and discovers that she can pass for a real girl – assuming she can sort out how human emotions like friendliness or loneliness work in real life, of course.

In “Kerry In The Clouds”, Kerry Langland is taken under the wing of famous actress Gail Terson, but Ms Terson clearly has an agenda of her own. There are echoes of the story “Jackie’s Two Lives”, also written by Alan Davidson – both feature a poor girl with ambitions beyond her station, manipulated in sinister ways by an older woman. Spanish artist Cándido Ruiz Pueyo provides some very stylish hairstyles and clothing.

“Spell of the Spinning Wheel” is a rare foray of Alison Christie’s into a spooky mystery story – I wish she had done more of it, it was very memorable. Rowan Lindsay is sporadically struck down by a mystery tiredness – she’s worked out that it is related to hearing humming sounds but she hasn’t persuaded anyone other than her dad to believe her yet, and the doctors have now forbidden her from running again.

(click thru)

(click thru)

(click thru)

(click thru)