Tag Archives: Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag

Jinty and Lindy 26 February 1977

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Haunted Ballerina – Gypsy Rose tale (artist Christine Ellingham)

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

Tell Us – problem page

Sceptre of the Toltecs (artist Cándido Ruiz Pueyo/Emilia Prieto)

Love this Ladybird! – feature

Made-Up Mandy (artist Audrey Fawley)

Freda, False Friend (artist Phil Gascoine)

The Big Cat (artist Ana Rodriguez)

Just Joking – feature 

Star Scene Spotlights Superguy: Gareth Hunt

The Mystery of Martine (artist Trini Tinturé) – final episode

Mark of the Witch! (artist Phil Townsend)

Alley Cat (Rob Lee)

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.   

Jinty 10 February 1979

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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. 

Jinty 5 February 1977

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Cover artist: Phil Gascoine

  • The Silver Fox (artist Phil Gascoine) – Gypsy Rose story
  • Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
  • Sceptre of the Toltecs (artist Cándido Ruiz Pueyo)
  • 25 David Soul Albums to be Won – Free! (competition)
  • Made-Up Mandy (artist Audrey Fawley)
  • Freda, False Friend (artist Phil Gascoine)
  • How the Stars Say “Thanks” – feature 
  • The Big Cat (artist Ana Rodriguez)
  • The Mystery of Martine (artist Trini Tinturé)
  • Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)
  • Nature’s Wonderful Ways – feature 
  • Mark of the Witch! (artist Phil Townsend)
  • Beautify Your Boots! – feature 

It’s February, so it’s time for some February issues.

Phil Gascoine artwork takes the cover spot in this February issue, in a panel from the Gypsy Rose story, “The Silver Fox”. It was rare for Gascoine to draw a Gypsy Rose story, probably because he was frequently busy with Jinty serials. However, this week’s Gypsy Rose tale is an exception. In the story, Cassie Roper finds herself terrorised by a mysterious silver fox when her family want to convert an empty cottage. Is someone or something trying to drive them away from it?

In addition to the Gypsy Rose story, Gascoine continues to draw “Freda, False Friend”. Talk about double duty. In the story, poor Freda Barlow is forced to befriend Gail Grand as part of an undercover police operation her father is running, but she feels guilty as hell about it because she likes Gail. Her guilt grows this week as Gail becomes more convinced than ever that Freda is her friend. 

Meanwhile, in “Mark of the Witch!”, Alice Durrant is a true friend to Black Emma, who is branded an outcast and a witch by the backward villagers of Kettleby. This week Alice makes some progress in convincing Emma of her good faith – until Emma’s embittered father sticks his oar in. Now Emma thinks she has been taken for a ride. 

Ruth Lee is also taken for a witch by backward country folk in “The Big Cat”. She and her cheetah Ayesha have to risk a bog to get away from the mob, who are so stupid they don’t even know a cheetah when they see one.

Witchcraft whispers are also brewing in “Sceptre of the Toltecs”. Jenny and Malincha again stop the evil Prince Telqotl from getting his hands on the sceptre, but their classmates are whispering about weird things happening and getting scared of Malincha. And now Telqotl’s trying to make an ally out of one of them, the jealous Clare. 

The nightmare of “The Mystery of Martine” intensifies for Tessa as her sister Martine’s strange behaviour grows even more dangerous. Despite it all, Tessa can still manage to keep up her ballet, but now a jealous rival is out for blackmail.

Mandy gets into all sorts of scrapes because of her disguises, but this is one of the most dangerous – face to face with an escaped lion at a safari park! Still, that’s nothing on the next peril – Mandy’s hated employer Miss Agate offering to give her a touch-up makeup job for the cameras, which threatens her secret. 

A lion is nothing on three horrors Sue’s mum is lumbered with in “Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag!”. In seconds they’re trashing the place. Sue hopes some sweets will help matters – and with a little magic from Henrietta, they do. Henrietta’s “sweet” punishment soon gets rid of the little demons, never to return.

Spotty’s mansion is chosen for a film shoot, and he doesn’t want Alley Cat around for it. He should have left well alone, because his trick to get rid of Alley Cat backfires so badly that the shoot is called off and he gets a spanking.  

Jinty 1 April 1978

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  • Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)
  • Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
  • Slave of the Swan (artist Guy Peeters) – first episode
  • Waking Nightmare (artist Phil Townsend)
  • The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
  • Paula’s Puppets (artist Julian Vivas)
  • Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon
  • Shadow on the Fen (artist Douglas Perry)
  • Impossible Dreams! (competition story, writer Katy Buxey, spot illustration artist unknown)
  • Darling Clementine (artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie) – final episode
  • Grabby Bag – Feature

Now we are in April, so here is Jinty’s 1 April issue for 1978. Strangely, despite the date, there’s no April fooling in it. Not even from Alley Cat, who doesn’t appear at all this week. And instead of having fun on April Fool’s Day, Henrietta the Fun-Bag shows Minnie the Moaner that the good old days are not all they’re cracked up to be, and she should appreciate modern times more. A session in the stocks in the 18th century (as shown on the cover) certainly teaches Minnie that!

However, in Jinty’s new ballet story, “Slave of the Swan”, we have a girl who’s about to be fooled all right, but in a most terrible way. Katrina Vale goes to seek help from Mum’s old friend Rosa Kachinsky after Mum is hospitalised. But she contracts amnesia along the way, and Kachinsky, who has gone from being Mum’s friend to her worst enemy, is all set to take advantage of this when she sees it. 

It’s the final episode of “Darling Clementine”. It’s nice to see it doesn’t end on the cliché of the heroine miraculously rising from her sickbed to win the waterskiing contest and the prize money her dad so badly needs for a country cottage. Instead, she’s not sufficiently recovered from her hospitalisation to be on top form and is placed third, and then it’s the power of the press and human interest stories to the rescue. 

Concrete Surfer Jean’s annoyed that there’s no skateboard park around and wants to do something about it. She’s also trying a lot harder to get along with her relatives, but as she doesn’t trust her cousin Carol, it’s not going to be easy.

Poor Paula! She has seen how the destruction of her father’s factory has made Marnie and her family suffer and is finally learning to look beyond herself. She tries to do something nice for Marnie, but it blows up in her face and makes her enemies worse. And here’s another development – Dad has escaped from prison. 

In “Waking Nightmare”, Phil finally reads what has been in the newspapers about their escape – she’s actually busted a mentally ill girl out of an institution where she was receiving medical treatment. What does she do about it? She and Carol carry straight on, to where Carol’s gran lives – only to find gran isn’t there and the people who are don’t look very nice.

For once, Dad has praise for the Zodiac Prince when he helps a girl to prove herself as a mechanic. 

In “Shadow on the Fen”, our heroines get a nasty shock when the Witchfinder shows up at school as the new archaeology teacher! What’s his game now? Is it connected with the apothecary’s shop being unearthed at the archaeological dig?

Jinty 18 March 1978

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  • Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)
  • Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)
  • Two Mothers for Maggie (artist Jim Baikie)
  • Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)
  • Waking Nightmare (artist Phil Townsend)
  • The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)
  • The Cat ‘n’ Mouse Story – feature
  • Cliff Richard – feature 
  • Paula’s Puppets (artist Julian Vivas)
  • Shadow on the Fen (artist Douglas Perry)
  • Shooting Stars! – feature 
  • A Day I Won’t Forget! (competition story, writer Alison Owens, spot illustration artist unknown)
  • Darling Clementine (artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie)
  • Just Joking
  • Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon
  • Pick Up a Potato! – Feature

“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!

Jinty 11 March 1978

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Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)

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

Two Mothers for Maggie (artist Jim Baikie)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Waking Nightmare (artist Phil Townsend)

The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)

Feature – Say “Please” to the Pleasers!

Paula’s Puppets (artist Julian Vivas)

Shadow on the Fen (artist Douglas Perry)

Just Joking

The Church Mice (competition story, writer Rosalind Savage, spot illustration artist Paul White)

Darling Clementine (artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie)

Get It Taped! – Feature

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.

Jinty 4 March 1978

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Concrete Surfer (artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills)

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

Two Mothers for Maggie (artist Jim Baikie)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Waking Nightmare (artist Phil Townsend)

The Zodiac Prince (artist Trini Tinturé)

Feature – Lewis Collins…a British “Hutch”?

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

Paula’s Puppets (artist Julian Vivas)

Shadow on the Fen (artist Douglas Perry)

Just Joking

Leonora (competition prize story, writer Christine Foreman, spot illustration Terry Aspin)

Darling Clementine (artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie)

For Mum…On Her Day! – Feature

It’s now March, so we present some March issues from Jinty. Mother’s Day (UK) is coming up, and in this issue, Jinty gives instructions on how to make a gift for her. 

In Concrete Surfer, Jean’s trouble with her smarmy cousin Carol worsens. Jean has overheard Carol telling her parents something she didn’t want Jean to know about, but Jean couldn’t pick up what. There can be no doubt this is a gun in Scene 1 that is set to go off in Scene 3, and when it does, it will spell more trouble for Jean. Later, Jean’s hopes are raised that smarmy Carol will be caught out at last, but we wouldn’t bank on it. Not until the final episode, Jean, and that’s not for some episodes yet. 

Concrete Surfer must have started a skateboarding craze. Alley Cat’s arch-enemy Spotty Muchloot has caught the bug, and his skateboarding is making him even more of a pest than usual for Alley Cat. But of course Alley Cat turns the tables on him and his skateboard in the end. 

In a fit of pique, Sue tells her fun-bag she’ll have better luck without her around. Now that really is asking for a spell of bad luck – literally. 

In “Two Mothers for Maggie” Maggie finds that one of her mothers, Miss Keyes, has put up her house for sale. Is it just one mother for her now?

Phil continues to hide Carol from the authorities although something’s now telling her that she should be checking things out more. As the two continue to travel together, it’s not only instinct that makes Phil uneasy – it’s Carol’s strange conduct as well. 

The Zodiac Prince learns a few lessons about Earth food this week – like bath soap is not a food. Fortunately, he’s stopped before he gets a mouthful of soap, and later it’s his astral power to the rescue in cooking up a feast. 

Paula uses the power of the puppets to get revenge on the people who are bullying her because of her jailed father. But the inevitable happens – it goes too far and now a girl’s injured because of it. This looks like the shock Paula badly needs to snap her out of her selfishness and set her on the path to redemption that is also part of the narrative. 

The Witchfinder in “Shadow on the Fen” also causes a nasty accident, at an archaeological dig, which has unearthed a 17th century apothecary’s shop. A clear sign that our heroines are sniffing too close to something.

In “Darling Clementine”, Ella sprains her ankle, which puts paid to her entering the water-skiing heats on Clem’s behalf. She’s braving it all the same, but is her ankle up to it?

Jinty 2 December 1978

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The Girl Who Never Was (artist Terry Aspin)

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

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

No Cheers for Cherry (artist Phil Gascoine)

Let’s Go Nuts! Cookery feature

Jinty’s Top-Model Game – feature 

She Shall Have Music (artist Ron Smith)

Sea Sister (artist Peter Wilkes)

Fran’ll Fix It! (artist Jim Baikie)

The Human Zoo (artist Guy Peeters, writer Malcolm Shaw)

Home-made Christmas cards – feature 

It is now December, and Jinty is starting off the countdown to the festive season with a feature on how to make your own Christmas cards. Sadly, the rest of her Christmas countdown got cut off by a strike, causing her to miss three issues that December. In the New Year, Jinty belatedly printed the episode of Fran’s Christmas party, which must have been intended for the Christmas issue. Strangely, Tammy was not affected and had all her issues that month. Perhaps the IPC strikes did not affect their titles all the same way.

As we see on the cover, things are getting stormy in “Sea Sister”, and she’s not the only serial with it this week. Storms and floods are turning the tide in both “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “The Human Zoo” and helping our heroes to escape their respective confinements. In the former, it’s a cruel children’s home. In the latter, it’s an alien lab, which is also demonstrating that the aliens, so advanced compared to Earth, are light-years behind Earth when it comes to a flood crisis. Their technology is not made for water except in avoiding it. There’s no water drainage, no boating vessels, no flood control, no rain gear or umbrellas. They can’t even swim although they have seen it from humans. All because they are afraid of water, presumably because of their evolution.  

The Girl Who Never Was is given some magic spells to help her survive in the magic world, but there are drawbacks. The biggest one is a limit on the number of spells, so Tina has to really use her head in how she uses them – or avoid wasting them. Will it help the selfish Tina acquire the good sense she badly needs?

In “She Shall Have Music”, good sense is still very far from Lisa’s thinking. Her parents have given her an electronic piano so at least she has something for piano practice, but the arrogant Lisa considers it way beneath her and angrily kicks it to pieces like the spoiled brat she is. Her parents are deeply hurt, but all she can think about is piano, piano, piano. Then she tracks down her original piano, which is going up for auction. Knowing how obsessive she is about getting that piano back, this can only mean more trouble. 

Sue and her fun-bag are annoyed at how Aunt Thora goes on and on at how you should spread a little happiness wherever you go and keep a smile on your face at all times…with Henrietta around, that is asking for it!

In Alley Cat, Spotty Muchloot thinks he’s foiled Alley Cat at last when he bells the cat, but it backfires on him because of unforeseen consequences.

Fran plays Dick Turpin and “ghost” to keep a horse safe from crooks, but they track her and the horse down all the same. Better come up with something fast to fix them, Fran!

Cherry’s luck finally seems to have changed, with a big chance that could finally break her free of the relatives that she doesn’t even realise are exploiting her. But we’re not counting our chickens with her still in the clutches of those sneaky relatives.

Jinty 4 February 1978

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Come Into My Parlour – artist Douglas Perry

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

Two Mothers for Maggie – Jim Baikie

Alley Cat – artist Rob Lee

Waking Nightmare– Phil Townsend

Concrete Surfer – artist Christine Ellingham, writer Pat Mills

The Jam – feature 

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

Paula’s Puppets (first episode) – artist Julian Vivas

Land of No Tears – artist Guy Peeters, writer Pat Mills

Darling Clementine – artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie

You Really Take the Biscuit! – feature

In this issue, two stories are clearly on their penultimate episodes: “Come Into My Parlour” and “Land of No Tears”.

In the former, Mother Heggerty’s spell forces Jody to set fire to the Kings’ store. But she’s been caught in the act. She could be facing criminal charges, but the blurb for next week says fire will strike at something else other than the store. Maybe someone is going to burn the old witch at the stake or something?

In the latter, Cassy comes close to losing the vital swimming marathon the Gamma Girls need to win because of a forced bargain with the ruthless Perfecta. Fortunately Perfecta injures herself from over-exertion in the race and drops out, freeing Cassy from all that and enabling her to catch up in the nick of time. Everyone is cheering her on, much to the villainous Hive Inspector’s chagrin. His response to secret helper Miss Norm’s delight in Cassy catching up – “What do you mean, Miss Norm? It’s a disgrace!” – cracks me up every time. Now Cassy is duking out the final length with two others and it’s so close. Everyone except the Hive Inspector and Perfecta is on the edge of their seats to see if Cassy will win. 

“Two Mothers for Maggie” looks like it could be nearing its end as well. Mum is critically ill. It looks like the crisis has actually aroused a bit of conscience in Maggie’s horrible stepfather, but he’s not treating Maggie any better because of it. 

A new story starts, “Paula’s Puppets”. Paula Richards is a spoiled, selfish girl whose rocky road to redemption starts when her father’s toy factory burns down and he is arrested for it. Her life turns upside-down while he protests his innocence. We believe him though nobody else does, but we know the poor bloke’s going to go down for it. Meanwhile, Paula finds some weird puppets at the burned-out factory, which seem to possess some kind of power. 

People should really watch what they say with Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag around. Two pitying women whisper what an “absolute dragon” poor Jenny’s got for an aunt and she needs a knight in shining armour. Henrietta obliges, but she has taken it a bit literally and hijinks ensue. But of course it sorts out the old dragon.

Ella is not making much progress with her training for the waterskiing event she wants to win for her family, nor with convincing others she was not to blame for her cousin Clem’s accident. Then Ella makes progress with something else – finding the girl who really caused Clem’s accident. But when she confronts the girl, the miscreant makes it clear she is not going to own up and clear Ella’s name. 

Alley Cat gets freebies from the sausage factory, but trust Spotty Muchloot to make trouble. Fortunately it all turns to the advantage of the factory and Alley Cat is rewarded, much to Spotty’s consternation.

Phil is trying to work out how break into Hardacre House, where she believes Carol is being held prisoner. It’s still very odd that Carol’s family clam up about it. It gets even odder when Phil learns Hardacre House and its owners are very mysterious, and she does not like the look of them when she sees them. After an accident with a tractor she is finally inside. The blurb for next week hints she will not like the look of what she finds there either.

Skateboarding is the only thing that gives Concrete Surfer Jean Everidge the upper hand over her smarmy cousin Carol. Jean’s about to start her new school with Carol, but the leadup to it is not going well, and Jean senses Carol is behind it. 

Jinty 14 January 1978

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Come Into My Parlour – artist Douglas Perry

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

Two Mothers for Maggie – Jim Baikie

Alley Cat – artist Rob Lee

Waking Nightmare – Phil Townsend

Willy de Ville – feature 

Rinty ‘n’ Jinty – cartoon

Darling Clementine – artist Richard Neillands, writer Alison Christie

Susanna’s Snowstorm (Gypsy Rose story) – artist Keith Robson 

Land of No Tears – artist Guy Peeters, writer Pat Mills

Race for a Fortune – artist Christine Ellingham

The Wild Horse – feature 

Jody has become evil thanks to an additional spell from the witch Mother Heggerty. She now believes she is capable of anything, regardless of how terrible it is, and is loving every minute of it. How is she going to break free of Mother Heggerty’s power when right now she doesn’t even want to?

Cassy gets even more of a taste of how totalitarian this Land of No Tears is. She learns the Hive Inspector, who’s about to pay a visit, has powers to take you away: “No one knows where to, but you never return!” Shades of the Gestapo! Miranda is terrified she will meet this fate if the Inspector finds out she is secretly seeing her mother, and she breaks off with Cassy. Meanwhile, the ruthless Perfecta breaks off with her own friend to train every waking hour for the Golden Girl Award. Cassy is shocked to see the former bosom pals “walking away from each other like robots!” 

Ella bravely sets out to learn to waterski to win the competition for Clem, in the face of everyone who’s against her because they think she deliberately caused Clem’s accident. But her first attempt at waterskiing is such a disaster she’s lucky she didn’t hurt herself.

The same can also be said for sneaky cousin Rodney when he steals Katie’s roller skates to overtake her in the “Race for a Fortune”. But he soon finds he’s nowhere near as good on them as she is. He goes careering down a hill and lands on the back of a rodeo steer with her! Roller skating is back in the hands of the expert by the end of the episode. Thanks to his little stunt she has taken the lead again, and she’s gotten a lot of money out of it as well. 

In “Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag!”, a thief breaks into the school, his first attempt at crime. But his remark that he could become the world’s leading cat burglar really is asking for it with Henrietta around, especially when she’s the first thing he tries to steal. Needless to say, his first attempt at crime is his last by the end of the episode.

In the Gypsy Rose story, Susanna is given a snowstorm and finds it has a tale to tell, with each instalment appearing every time she shakes it. The trouble is, the tale is scaring her to death. Gypsy Rose tells Susanna that she must either follow it through to know how the tale ended or put the snowstorm away. Susanna decides to follow through because she must know (not to mention us readers) what the ending is, but what will the final shake of the snowstorm reveal?

Maggie’s sleazy stepfather shows what an abuser he is when he gets so mad he locks her in the coal shed without food or water. Then he refuses to let her see her TV debut, so she has to go to a TV shop in pouring rain to see it. Maggie has a good mind to tell Miss Keyes about the abuse, but she’s staying quiet because Mum doesn’t want word to get around.

Alley Cat is back. Arch-enemy Spotty Muchloot picks on him for first aid practice, and now poor Alley Cat looks like an oversized cocoon. But can he still turn things around?

Phil finds out the girl she saw being bundled off in the middle of the night is named Carol, and her mother is clearly not telling the truth about things. Phil manages to wheedle Carol’s current address out of the mother, enabling her to write to Carol. Carol’s reply is a coded message for help. The plot thickens!