Sci-Fi strips in girls comics

[Marionette]

I also notice the theme of singing or dancing being banned often crops up as a premise for girls' SF stories. I'm currently watching a new anime TV show set in a future where entertainment is banned and a guerilla band of teenage dancing girls takes on the establishment. Words cannot describe how fun this show is. It's called AKB0048, if you're interested (named after, and featuring the Japanese girl group AKB48).

[helsbels]

I have very vague recollections of a school story where it turned out that the teachers were aliens, but I have no clue were it came from or what the title was.

I think I know the story you mean - it originally appeared in Sandie comic and was reprinted in the 1979 Misty annual. I'll have to go and look up the title but it was something like "School of No Escape" (?). It featured a sinister head teacher called Miss Voor who replaced teachers with aliens and had a large part of the school population under her power.

[Shaqui]

Also, it's worth mentioning that some phenomena which initially seemed to have a supernatural origin - the terrifying 'Balloon of Doom' for example - were eventually exposed as creatures from outer space.



- Phil Rushton

I seem to recall a complete compilation reprint of this strip, possibly in the late 1970s or early 1980s, although I think it lacked the duotone colour. Was there a series of full page Bunty or Mandy releases like this? I have a vague impression there was a 'Valda' issue as well...

[helsbels]

I seem to recall a complete compilation reprint of this strip, possibly in the late 1970s or early 1980s, although I think it lacked the duotone colour. Was there a series of full page Bunty or Mandy releases like this? I have a vague impression there was a 'Valda' issue as well...

Both Balloon Of Doom and Valda were reprinted as part of the Lucky Charm series of compilations in the late 70s/ early 80s. In fact Valda featured in two issues. There is a thread on here with a complete list of all 30 issues published.

[philcom55]

'The School Beneath the Dome' featured a school where the pupils were trapped within an impenetrable dome by two 'space women'. This appeared in Bunty during1966.



- Phil R.

[DavidKW]

I recently discovered there was a sci-fi strip called Supercats in the mid-70s, first in Spellbound & ending in Debbie in 1978.

Two other notable sci-di strips were:
Balloon Girl in the 1984 Bunty annual, about who girl who has travelled from another planet in a balloon.

Belle Of The Ball in Bunty I think about a girl with a magic ball.

Both the above were 2 more gems drawn by Robert McGilivray, who alos drew in "Debbie" from 1979 to 1983 "Trixie's Treasure Chest", which I think often featured surreal situations, sometimes with a sci-fi theme.

[philcom55]

Here's the way 'Uggy Muggy from Mars' was introduced to readers of Bunty way back in July 1962. I really like this story - partly for the old-fashioned art (which looks to me like the work of George Parlett), but also because of the way it reminds me that our impression of Mars has changed within my own lifetime from an exotic planet teeming with life to the desolate images being transmitted back from the latest Mars Rover expedition.





...Then again, I can't help wondering whether anybody has told NASA that all Martians have the ability to turn themselves invisible!

- Phil Rushton

[matrix]

I would like to thank everyone once again for the comments and lovely scans posted on this thread.

"The Space Girls" is one of my favourites but "The Uggy Muggy" scan gets my top vote, what a find! Great story, and love the round caption with the spaceship and Jupiter in the background! Sometimes it's the small things that make these strips, where she says "Timpy! what on Mars are you doing here"!

Have you any more Uggy Phil ?

Thanks.

[philcom55]

Offhand I'm not sure if I have any more Uggy episodes Matrix, but here's the final page of that opening instalment:



Great stuff! Though goodness knows what she made of London town.

- Phil Rushton

[matrix]

The London episode would be interesting to see, especially with the pet Dragon! It is a nice story, I like it when the captions have close ups of the characters as they do here.

[DavidKW]

I just remmebered a while back I got a Princess Picutre Library book at a comic fair: "Sue Day & The Moon Visitors" where Ms Day has an encounter with a UFO & alliens.

From what I've researched it seems many of these "Picture Libraries" from these comics made many ventures into the surreal & sci-fi, either as stand alone stories or using exisiting strips or characters were they sci-fi or not.

[Marionette]

The London episode would be interesting to see, especially with the pet Dragon! It is a nice story, I like it when the captions have close ups of the characters as they do here.

I think you may be confusing captions with panels. Captions are the rectangular text boxes, panels are the individual pictures that may contain text captions and/or speech balloons (sometimes referred to as speech bubbles). Hope that helps.

[Marionette]

I think I know the story you mean - it originally appeared in Sandie comic and was reprinted in the 1979 Misty annual. I'll have to go and look up the title but it was something like "School of No Escape" (?). It featured a sinister head teacher called Miss Voor who replaced teachers with aliens and had a large part of the school population under her power.

Thanks for that! I just reread it in the annual. My distant memory of it was from weekly instalments, but I'd have to have been very young to be reading Sandie at the time of publication.

ETA: No, I'm thinking of Sally. I have no idea when Sandie was published. So many girls' names. Still better than all the EXCITING!! FIGHTY FIGHT!! and KILL STUFF LOUDLY IN A VERY MACHO WAY!! titles of boys' comics.

[peace355]

There's some really great stuff here! Balloon of Doom is one of my favourites.

Bionic people and animals were also popular, as seen in Supergirl and Superlamb





Another alien, getting used to earth customs was Stella Starr (Mandy)

[Tammyfan]

What comic is Superlamb and Supergirl from?