Comics UK

Not sure how reliable this information is, but Lambiek comiclopedia credit Jorge Badia Romero to 'The Super Cat's in 'Spellbound'.

NP wrote:Forbidden Planet?

Had a look on you tube, I don't think that was it, great stuff though!

Was just thinking - were there any sci-fi girls' stories where an earth girl dons a spacesuit and goes on a mission - be it as astronaut or accidental traveller?

Can't think of any off top of head, though in a 1967 European produced Girlsworld annual there was a story called Melissa's Moonshot.

Another girls' SF, drawn by the popular Robert MacGilivray. I suspect Land of the Giants was one inspiration here as Beryl and her cat are taken to the planet Macro, where everyone and everything is a giant-sized version of everything on Earth with a space-age twist. I couldn't resist a scan of the teacher - she's a dead ringer for Miss Bigger, from the days when MacGilivray drew Wee Sue in Tammy. I wouldn't be surprised if that was MacGilivray's intention.

Another SF, from Bunty. Art is by Douglas Perry.

Here are links to blog posts on other SF serials:

http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2013/ ... ment-22309
http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2013/05/superlamb/

This story was reprinted later as Trixie of 2097.

I read my way through this thread to see if I could find reference to a picture-story that I have vivid memories of. Sure enough, I found it, 'The Pink Peril' from Diana in the mid 1960s posted by Phil. Along the way I also found from Bunty "The School Beneath the Dome" (memories of this one too) and "The Girl from the Flying Saucer", which I had forgotten but as soon as I saw the strip it came flooding back.

Thanks to all who posted images of old strips, it was great fun reading them. I loved seeing "The Space Girls" from Tina and "Alice in Spaceland" from Princess again.

Does anyone have an idea about a story about a robot girl that was sent to school? It was a creepy rather than a funny story. I remember the girls walking past a spooky old house and meeting an old man who was muttering strange phrases, later a strange new girl arrived at the school. I have feeling that it had a girls name in the title followed by the surname 'Strange', it probably appeared in Bunty or Judy in the mid '60s .

Thank you again for posting all these great old comic picture stories. I had a lot of fun reading them and shall work my way through the rest of the forums to see what other delights I can find.

I'm afraid I'm drawing a blank on the robot story at the moment Bunty Girl. In the meantime, however, here's a scan of the first episode of 'The Pink Peril' from Diana no.140 (Oct 23 1965). I love the quaint way in which they attempted to make a 'space invasion' story appeal to girls by colouring it pink!





- Phil Rushton

Thank you so much for that Phil. I was absolutely thrilled by this story when I was 11, it is great to see it again. The same artist did picture strip versions in Diana of Ivanhoe and Lorna Doone too if memory serves.

Even butterflies could be evil, eh?

It's a little known fact that all butterflies are pathologically evil. Fortunately for us they're unable to do anything about it, so they spend all day flapping their wings in ineffectual rage!

I think you're right about The Pink Peril and Ivanhoe being drawn by the same artist Bunty Girl, but I'm pretty sure that Diana's adaptation of Lorna Doone was the work of John Burns.

- Phil Rushton

...For all the lepidopterophobics out there here are some more of those pesky pinkies!





Incidentally, I've just compared The Pink Peril with Ivanhoe and, while there are some definite similarities in the style of artwork, I'm now more inclined to think that they were also drawn by different hands (especially as both series appeared concurrently - a workload that few artists would be up to). What does anyone else think?



To my eye the 'Pink Peril' artist has a slightly looser style - one that turns up again a few months later in a historical series called 'Runaways with the Secret Box'.

- Phil Rushton

Great stuff, this thread is turning into my own personal time machine! The style looks very similar to me but you could be right.

Oh hang on, I just re-read Philcom's comment that the pinkies actually weren't evil; it 's just that they and Earth didn't mix. That's a relief!