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Favourite Stories from Girls Comics

318 replies

bookmum08 · 08/03/2020 18:45

Inspired by the favourite children's books thread I was interested in people's fave stories from the old weekly girls comics - Bunty, Mandy, Tammy etc.
My favourite was definitely Angel in Mandy Comic. The story of a rich Victorian girl who discovers she only has a year to live so she fakes her death, runs away from home so she can devote her time to caring for homeless waifs and strays in the poor part of London.

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IrmaFayLear · 09/03/2020 18:43

Oooh, what an ace thread amidst all the doom and gloom. Will definitely be returning to throw in my tuppence worth, but has anyone mentioned No Tears for Molly? What about School for Snobs? They were in Tammy. Every week my father brought home in his briefcase Mandy, Judy, Tammy and Bunty. I can still sniff the peppermint smell of his briefcase and feel my excitement as he brought out the rolled-up sheaf of magazines... I wish I had kept them all Sad but I still have all the annuals Smile .

Later on I was a Jackie afficionado. (Briefly Fab208 but my dad cancelled that as it was a bit too... racy possibly.)

IrmaFayLear · 09/03/2020 18:45

What about the sheer ecstacy of a summer special?

TheMemoryLingers · 09/03/2020 18:50

I remember the approach when the publishers wanted to withdraw one of the comics, of merging two together - then you'd see the name of the one that had had the lower circulation get gradually smaller and smaller over a few weeks before disappearing.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Art & design
vampirethriller · 09/03/2020 19:05

I remember one about an actress who was in an accident and scarred, so ran and bought a mask and went on stage at the seaside. Can't remember which it was in though.

TheaDecker · 09/03/2020 19:07

@TheMemoryLingers

Can you remember a lady in the forest gave her a flask of magic well water?

TheMemoryLingers · 09/03/2020 19:09

I'd completely forgotten that, Thea but I do remember it now you've reminded me - didn't it turn out to be just normal water in the end?

TheaDecker · 09/03/2020 19:12

Yes it was just normal water! The well ran dry and Hope found out from the lady it was just normal water after all.

TheMemoryLingers · 09/03/2020 19:14

Yes! It was all about Hope having the confidence in her own ability to keep up with her cousins. I'd forgotten all about that twist, thank you for bringing back the fond memories!

TheaDecker · 09/03/2020 19:22

Just checked the ending and yes it was scuba diving that she did! So nice to talk about this comic!
I had 100s of these, not sure what happened to them but I rebought some in the early days of eBay.
Also love Rita's Remedies, Gymnast Georgie and Patsy The Pastry Chef. And a Lucky Charm comic called Sheena Slave of The Tennis Racket.

TheMemoryLingers · 09/03/2020 19:26

I vividly remember a comic library about a gold chain - set in Victorian times - that had magical powers. It went first to a rich girl who used to beg in rags for the fun of taking money from the real beggars, causing her to lose her memory and have to live as a beggar herself - when she'd learned her lesson it went to her stingy uncle and forced him to be generous - then lastly to a beggar girl who was a bully, making her scared so she'd know what it was like and become a nicer person.

I loved that so many of the stories were set in Victorian times - Angel, School for the Forgotten and others which I only half remember.

JuneFromBethesda · 09/03/2020 19:29

OMG @darklady64 I read through this whole thread wondering if anyone would mention one of the few stories I remember, and you did!

There was also one about a poor girl who found like a magic Argos catalogue. The things she coveted all arrived for free, so obviously she got carried away with getting more and more stuff - until a weird, skull shaped cigarette lighter arrived and burned the whole house down. The moral messages at times weren't exactly subtle!

I also remember another tennis player - not blind, I don't think? - called Base-Line Barbie.

Also one about a girl who got stuck in a land where everything was back-to-front or opposite. I remember she was told to get the number 37 bus (or whatever it was) to get back home - she did, but then it turned out she should have got the one that said 73 on it (because everything was back-to-front there) and she was headed off into more danger ... dun dun dun ...

I only had a few, Bunty annuals I think they were, but it's amazing how these stories have stayed with me Smile

TheaDecker · 09/03/2020 19:31

It's 'The Enchanted Necklace' I think. I have that one too!

I remember Angel but not well. I loved Valda with her magic crystal & life-giving Fire.

Favourite Stories from Girls Comics
TheMemoryLingers · 09/03/2020 19:37

That's the one, yes! I seem to remember there was a bit where the rich girl, working as a servant, took half a potato from the kitchen and got in trouble. Then she made a speech about 'we are all equal no matter what our station in life' (or words to that effect) and the necklace slipped off and she remembered her identity. The bullying girl who took over the gang in the last part of the story was called 'Marnie' I think.

SouthWestmom · 09/03/2020 19:37

Does anyone remember one about a poor orphan girl who at the every end of the series was by a tree outside and said ' a squiggle' pointing at a squirrel and the owners recognised her as their long last daughter because she'd always said that as a toddler? Confused

TheMemoryLingers · 09/03/2020 19:37

Yes - didn't Valda start to show signs of ageing whenever she went too long without 'recharging' her crystal?

TheaDecker · 09/03/2020 19:46

You have an excellent memory!
Sarah was pretending to be poor. She had stolen the necklace & then put it on & lost her memory. The line you remember IS "We are all equal, no matter what our station in life." She took a cold, left-over potato & got into trouble. She passed the necklace onto her horrible uncle!

Marnie took over from gang leader Elly who had the necklace. At the end the necklace slipped off & fell into the water.

TheaDecker · 09/03/2020 19:48

Valda started ageing when away from the fire. I think she could recharge her crystal & get energy away from home.

QueenOfTheAndals · 09/03/2020 19:53

@ygritte I had that Judy annual! I got in a secondhand bookshop in the 90s.

jollyhollyday · 09/03/2020 19:55

Ah this thread is brilliant. Loved Bunty and Mandy and still have lots of the annuals here somewhere.
Loved the summer special small books you got when you were on holidays
Does anyone remember The Who, girl who was picked up from Brownies I think by her parents but she later found out they weren't her parents, just had the same faces-haunted me for years!

Another one was called the Portraits- girl goes to old stately house and gets stuck behind a wall in a portrait looking out through eye holes forever- lots of girls had gone missing and they'd all ended there

TheMemoryLingers · 09/03/2020 19:55

My memory is far better for things that happened 35 years ago than things that happened last week! Grin

Yes, I remember the necklace falling into the river at the end - the gang were all happily together having seen off Marnie.

I liked the artist who drew Valda - I think it was the same artist who drew Angel. I used to have favourites among the different artists - I liked the one who drew 'The Comp' in Nikki and the one who drew the 'Moppet' story in Mandy. There was another story called 'Raggedy Ann,' also about a doll, drawn by the same artist as Moppet which appeared in one of the Mandy annuals.

QueenOfTheAndals · 09/03/2020 19:57

absolutely adored miss angel and her waifs ... one I remember of a violinist with scoliosis or something

That was Annie @sheisabelter, she was a hunchback (for want of a better term) who later became a famous violinist. I remember one story in the annual involved her, as an old lady, giving a final performance in the east end in memory of Miss Angel. I cried buckets when Angel died as I was convinced a cure for her disease would be found!

QueenOfTheAndals · 09/03/2020 20:00

Ahh the mysterious Valda and her adventures! I never did find out her origins. And the Four Marys, Dr Gull and school bullies Mabel and Veronica who both were illustrated like Bernard Bresslow in drag!

The Guardian Tree is another one I remember - they used to always eat nettle soup, which I now associate with poverty because of the story!

TheMemoryLingers · 09/03/2020 20:00

In some of the later Angel stories (after the main serial had finished) there was a preface to say Angel was based on a real story and there's a statue of 'Angel' in London - does anyone know if that's true?

QueenOfTheAndals · 09/03/2020 20:02

I don't think so but here's a comics website with a summary of the Angel stories!
http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2014/05/angel/

She was meant to only be 14!

sneakythecat49 · 09/03/2020 20:03

Does anyone remember Tracy? That was newer than Bunty and Mandy. We had them reserved at the local newsagent, I used to love going in and saying 'can I have the bunty for (my address) please? And being so excited if there was a free gift!

My favourite one, was a girl whose mother hid all the mirrors and kept her in the house saying she was very ugly and would frighten people. She showed her her reflection now and then with a hand mirror and she was indeed ugly. In the end it turned out the mirror was distorted and she saw her real reflection in a piece of broken glass, I was so happy for her!!!