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Original poster

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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CatMuffin · 09/03/2020 23:01

Just remembered a story (can't remember which comic it was in) about a girl who had a permanent smile due to a medical condition of some sort. People liked her smile but then she'd upset people when tragic things happened and they thought she was smiling at it. For some reason it never occurred to her to explain the medical problem Grin
Similar to Heather's Hateful Hands above. Never occurred to her to not cut someone's hair when she knew her hands regularly got possessed by a witch and made to do hateful things. Grin
I'm another one who was disappointed when I realised my 2 dds wouldn't be able to have the enjoyment of these girls' comic serials

HearMeSnore · 10/03/2020 00:51

I remember a short-lived girls' comic called "Nikki". There was a mystery story in it called "Looking For Lucy" which had me gripped but I think the comic got axed before the end. It was about a girl who went off to join the the boarding school her cousin Lucy was at, but when she got there, there was no sign of Lucy and everyone including the teachers denied ever knowing her. If anyone remembers it I'd still love to know how it ended!

TheMemoryLingers · 10/03/2020 07:48

I'm another one who was disappointed when I realised my 2 dds wouldn't be able to have the enjoyment of these girls' comic serials

Yes, I remember bounding out of bed on the morning Mandy was delivered - it was a highlight of my week for several years. It is a shame nothing of the kind exists now. Looking back, the stories in those comics were, in the main, very high quality - genuinely clever plots and intriguing (if often far-fetched) premises - they stimulated imagination and feelings and they knew exactly how to appeal to their target readers.

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Art & design
sneakythecat49 · 10/03/2020 08:49

*HearMeSnore
*

girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2016/04/looking-for-lucy-distant-cousin/*
*
HTH (Not the nasty way)!!

sneakythecat49 · 10/03/2020 08:50

Ignore the star that breaks the link!!!

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 10/03/2020 08:57

I used to read my aunt’s old Bunty/Judy small books - there was a box of them at Granny’s.

I remember one where a sports star girl was kidnapped and taken to a Ruritanian country and they dyed her hair black, and then showed her a princess - she was the princess’ double, except that the princess was fat. She was expected to train the princess in spirts and/or substitute for her so she could win everything in a massive tournament.

QueenOfTheAndals · 10/03/2020 09:22

I vaguely remember Misty. Was it an A5 size comic? I think I had various comics in that size but they might've been special editions eg a whole comic about the Four Marys etc.

Igotmylipstickon · 10/03/2020 10:01

@TartanTexan Thanks! Glad it actually did exist - not just in my head :-) I can't remember the details around the story but the holiday and the professor sounds like it could be right. The name Trudi definitely rings a bell. Am tempted to have a rummage in my parents' attic to see if its possibly still there!

Bananalanacake · 10/03/2020 10:05

I know Mandy joined up with Judy but is it now out of print. I think these sorts of comics encourages kids to read, sad if they don't exist anymore. I have loads of Mandy and Bunty annuals and no idea what to do with them.

Barbararara · 10/03/2020 11:34

Thanks for this thread- I really needed cheering up.
It would be brilliant if these stories could be reprinted as a graphic novels. I would definitely buy them! It’s such a pity that this genre of girls’ literature (though that’s not what my mother called it!) has completely disappeared.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned Workhouse Wendy which was one of my favourites. Wendy went to the workhouse to spy for her father who was the governor and suspected mistreatment but then her parents died and she was trapped.

Does anyone remember Botany Belle? A young heiress, travelling to meet her uncle for the first time, is tricked into changing clothes with a poor girl who takes her place and she gets sent to Botany Bay in Australia as a convict. Her uncle and the imposter visit the colony and she tries to prove her identity by revealing the secret mechanism in the locket the imposter is wearing but a jeweller worked it out while cleaning it and told the imposter do she knew the secret. I remember being absolutely gutted when no one believed her!

Barbararara · 10/03/2020 11:54

@Bananalanacake I agree that comics encouraged reading, and for me a great interest in history too.

sergeantmajor · 10/03/2020 12:05

Best. Thread. Ever.

Yes yes yes, Jinty was amazing wasn't it @kierenthecommunity, @TartanTexan & @CatChant

I remember War of the Worlds, where the girls were transported into different worlds: one for obsese people (where the skinny girls were fattened up), one for brainy people (where the other girls were kept in cages), one for sporty ones (where wars were fought as football matches) and one for the beautiful girl (who was a princess in a castle). Were there any more worlds that I've forgotten?

I bloomin' loved that one with the Alpa and Gamma girls (only later realising that it was inspired by Brave New World) and I quite like Pam of Pond Hill with her friend who played the banjo.

Bunty was good if wretched orphans was your thing but it went downhill with Toots that just wasn't very funny.

I am going to raid my parents' attic and foist any old comics onto my daughter!

sergeantmajor · 10/03/2020 12:06

*Sorry, Worlds Apart, not War of the Worlds

sergeantmajor · 10/03/2020 12:09

Just died and gone to heaven:
jintycomic.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/worlds-apart-1981/

EmpressLangClegInChair · 10/03/2020 12:15

Oohh just remembered "Moonchild" in Misty. Blatant rip off of "Carrie" but good all the same. Loved that one.

Oh yes! She had all the girls round to her house & there was a picture of her floating in the stairwell?

I went to a car boot sale a few months ago & found a stall with a whole pile of Bunty, Mandy, Misty etc annuals going for 50p each. I was VERY happy.

MysweetAudrina · 10/03/2020 12:27

I loved Molly and her dollies. I think they used to do stuff at night when she was asleep or something. I always wanted my toys to do the same.

PondLover · 10/03/2020 12:48

A friend of my husband's was a 'model' (if that's what you'd call it?) for some of the early photostories in one of these -- maybe 'My Guy'? By the time we met her we were all in our mid-20s and slightly in awe that she'd been part of pop culture history. She claims all she remembers is wearing a pale yellow batwing jumper (though it was a black and white photo story, as far as I can remember) and spending a lot of time staring soulfully over the male model's denim-jacketed shoulder.

CatChant · 10/03/2020 13:25

@sergeantmajor Yes! I have been happily rootling around that site too.

The Alpha and Gamma girls story was Land of No Tears and it has been reprinted as a graphic novel together with The Human Zoo (after my time).

I can't believe I forgot Fran of the Floods. It was so powerful and just as relevant today. No wonder it's been reprinted too.

Hmm, I feel a book-buying spree coming on...Wink

QueenOfTheAndals · 10/03/2020 13:28

Another random one just popped into my head - The Slave Girls, about two sisters who needed money so advertised themselves as slave girls, who'll do chores for a small payment. Usually they ended up solving some problem bigger than the one they'd been hired for. The kicker is that they did these chores while wearing Roman slave costumes!

CountFosco · 10/03/2020 14:14

Another massive fan of Valda here. I would absolutely buy a graphic novel with her stories in it.

The closest modern comic is The Phoenix I think, some of the stories are printed in graphic novels, we have a couple and they are good but it's aimed at boys and girls which inevitably means more boys than girls in the stories.

sergeantmajor · 10/03/2020 14:50

@CatChant - thanks for that, just ordered the Land of No Tears book, ready for a complete nostalgia fest

TheaDecker · 10/03/2020 15:05

@TheMemoryLingers
Unfortunately I don't remember that one about a jigsaw. Someone up thread has mentioned Girls Comics of Yesterday. I recognised lots I had as a child but don't have now. You might recognise it on there.

emmaw1405 · 10/03/2020 15:36

I loved all the old comics. I still have the 222 issues of Nikki that were published and about 20 when it merged with Bunty. And quite a few issues of Oink! Unfortunately I dumped all my old Bunty, Mandy and Judys, Misty and Tammys etc. when I moved out of home.

Does anyone remember when they did the A5 size one off story books as well? I wish they'd bring them all back!

Scream when I was a bit older. Before then it was Wizzer and Chips, Whooppe and Wow, The Beano, Buster, School Fun...

QueenOfTheAndals · 10/03/2020 15:49

Thanks @emmaw1405, I knew I didn't imagine the A5 stories!

PondLover · 10/03/2020 15:51

Oh my God, @QueenoftheAndals, I remember The Slave Girls and their tunics!