Bully teachers in girls comics

[Tammyfan]

I am opening a thread dedicated to bully teachers in girls' comics. Bully teachers who ranged from tartars who get their comeuppance one way or another and providing laughs for the readers to horrible headmistresses who ran their schools like prison camps. Teachers who make us wince because they remind us of a real-life bully teacher we came across in school. Stories where writers were trying to make a statement about the evils of bully teachers - and no doubt, purge themselves of a real-life experience or others. A thread where we can share the stories we best remember that featured bully teachers.

And who better to kick things off with than Miss Bigger from Wee Sue? Miss Bigger is arguably the most famous bully teacher in girls' comics. Art by John Richardson.

[philcom55]

Not exactly a teacher, but it'd be hard to find a bigger bully in loco parentis than Ma Thatcher in 'The Slaves of War Orphan Farm'!

- Phil R.

[philcom55]

Bunty's 'School for Unwanted Ones' had more than its fair share of horrible teachers, with a headmaster that even Wackford Squeers could have learned something from.



- Phil R.

[Tammyfan]

Ever encountered any teachers, or anybody for that matter, who seem to pounce on excuse they can find to put you down and humiliate you with harsh and unfair criticisms? Then you will really feel for Helen Shaw, the heroine from this 1984 Judy story. Art is by Bert Hill.

re Philcom: I have a few episodes from The School for Unwanted Ones, including the final one. Hmm, it looks like that even the cook there can't stand the terrible food!

[Tammyfan]

Some stories had teachers not knowing the difference between discipline and dictatorship. Or were they just using discipline as an excuse for bullying and inflicting cruelty? One such is The Four Friends at Spartan School from Tammy 1971. Miss Bramble's ideas of discipline include locking pupils in dungeons, the pillory and iron masks. Artist unknown.

[Tammyfan]

Another headmistress who does not know the difference between discipline and dictatorship. Miss Steele set the trend in Tammy, being the first to appear. Teacher bullying in girls' comics sometimes led to war over old-fashioned vs liberal, as in this case. Miss Val's response to Miss Steele's bullying is to found Liberty Lodge, a liberal school where pupils have a say in running it. Miss Steele doesn't like that and is always plotting to bring Liberty Lodge down.

[DavidKW]

Whilst not mentioning an actual comic bully teacher but slightly on the subject:

I once in a pub drew two frames of something called "Ratbag H******" (can't reveal tacher's name); it was an exaggerated drawing based on a vile nasty teacher I once had. Somebody saw it & said it would've been good & not looked out of place in a girls' comic!

[Tammyfan]

Whilst not mentioning an actual comic bully teacher but slightly on the subject:

I once in a pub drew two frames of something called "Ratbag H******" (can't reveal tacher's name); it was an exaggerated drawing based on a vile nasty teacher I once had. Somebody saw it & said it would've been good & not looked out of place in a girls' comic!

I suspect that a lot of the bully teachers we see in girls' comics were based on real teachers like Ratbag and writers were offloading their experiences with them through the strips. No doubt they were getting revenge as well, with the teacher ending up sacked (in real life, I expect most bully teachers would have gotten away with it). May I ask what Ratbag was like, and what happened to him/her?

[DavidKW]

Ratbag was hell! Amongst things she did was often call me stupid in front of the class, keep me in over luchtime when she let others kept in to get theirs just because I didn't instantly know an answer, accuse me of not listening when I was and push me over in class for asking her a question and not knowing something. I could go on...

She was also always sucking up to and brown-nosing heads & deputy heads so she could never get sacked.

I'd tell my parents but they would never listen as they thought any teacher was good no matter how corrupt they are (and Ratbag would tell pupils not to ask their parents anything on subjects taught and be very nasty if they did).

Also she taught my older sister at same school, who was a school-loving over-confident swat, so she had expectations of me to be the same - only me and ,y sister are the most chalk and cheese you coulsd get. And my parents would use her perception that Ratbag was a nice teacher - and they'd swallow all the B***s*** she'd tell them at parents evening.

Ratbag also walked funny and had no dress sense - looked a bit of a scarecrow. Had big Deidre Barlow glasses and cropped hair.

Worst for me the teacher I had next year was a decripid elderly woman who also taught my sister, and was an ex-public school academic - so my parents thoguht she was the greatest and keep patrinising me that she was good for me - and we'd row that I'd say she wasn't!

That decrepid teacher does remind me of Miss Bigger a bit on appearance!

Sorry to go off on a tangent - blimey this is therapy like it was ato a comic artist!

[philcom55]

...Unfortunately one can't always spot a teacher from Hell by his or her appearance - as Sue Day found out when she encountered the 'sweet' looking Miss Parsons in this April 1971 episode of 'The Happy days'!



- Phil Rushton

[Tammyfan]

...Unfortunately one can't always spot a teacher from Hell by his or her appearance - as Sue Day found out when she encountered the 'sweet' looking Miss Parsons in this April 1971 episode of 'The Happy days'!



- Phil Rushton

It was the same with the Simpsons episode Black Eyed Please. The first time Lisa saw substitute teacher Miss Cantwell she was struck by how pretty the teacher was and thought she'd found a kindred spirit in the science model Miss Cantwell was holding. But Lisa soon found otherwise when Cantwell started bullying her. The headmaster was useless in sorting out the bullying. In the end they resorted to "the nuclear way" to get rid of Cantwell - putting Bart in her class.

Substitute teachers like Cantwell have also cropped up in girls' comics. In one Four Marys picture library they had a substitute teacher who looked a refreshing change from stuffy Creefy. But the four Marys changed their minds when the teacher started bullying a girl in their class. Just that one girl - she was okay with the others. It turned out the teacher had a long-standing grudge against the girl's mother and was taking it out on her. It was a similar case in a picture library on The Comp. Substitute teacher Mrs Whitely picks on Laura Brady, and makes her life so miserable that she runs off. Whitely's hatred of Laura stemmed from her and Laura's aunt being enemies at school, particularly the aunt reporting Whitely for (surprise, surprise!) bullying. Whitely is sacked and given a report that will ensure she never gets another teaching job.

[Tammyfan]

Ratbag was hell! Amongst things she did was often call me stupid in front of the class, keep me in over luchtime when she let others kept in to get theirs just because I didn't instantly know an answer, accuse me of not listening when I was and push me over in class for asking her a question and not knowing something. I could go on...

She was also always sucking up to and brown-nosing heads & deputy heads so she could never get sacked.

I'd tell my parents but they would never listen as they thought any teacher was good no matter how corrupt they are (and Ratbag would tell pupils not to ask their parents anything on subjects taught and be very nasty if they did).

Also she taught my older sister at same school, who was a school-loving over-confident swat, so she had expectations of me to be the same - only me and ,y sister are the most chalk and cheese you coulsd get. And my parents would use her perception that Ratbag was a nice teacher - and they'd swallow all the B***s*** she'd tell them at parents evening.

Ratbag also walked funny and had no dress sense - looked a bit of a scarecrow. Had big Deidre Barlow glasses and cropped hair.

Worst for me the teacher I had next year was a decripid elderly woman who also taught my sister, and was an ex-public school academic - so my parents thoguht she was the greatest and keep patrinising me that she was good for me - and we'd row that I'd say she wasn't!

That decrepid teacher does remind me of Miss Bigger a bit on appearance!

Sorry to go off on a tangent - blimey this is therapy like it was ato a comic artist!

One way to catch a teacher like Ratbag is to wear a wire. I've read about people catching bullying teachers that way.

You couldn't possibly put that picture you did of old Ratbag up here? Maybe Ratbag could be turned into a comic strip. I suspect the writers of girls' comics did this to get revenge on bully teachers from their school days. This was possibly the case with Miss Bigger.

[Tammyfan]

In real life the reverse can apply as well and pupils bully the teacher. But this is the only time I have found this in a girls' comic. It first appeared in June 1969 and was reprinted in Tammy annual 1977. Art by John Armstrong.

[helsbels]

I love this story! It really stuck in my mind over the years - I first read it when it was reprinted in the Tammy Annual 1977 (I used to get just about every girl's annual every Christmas!) and was thrilled to come across it again when I started collecting all the comics of my childhood. Since collecting June comics I've come across the story there, though I think it was called "Patsy Strikes Back!" first time around.

[Tammyfan]

I love this story! It really stuck in my mind over the years - I first read it when it was reprinted in the Tammy Annual 1977 (I used to get just about every girl's annual every Christmas!) and was thrilled to come across it again when I started collecting all the comics of my childhood. Since collecting June comics I've come across the story there, though I think it was called "Patsy Strikes Back!" first time around.

Patsy's the sort of pupil that teachers would give their right arm for - she does everything she can to protect Miss Rabbit from the bullying, including going on strike to get her back after the bullies get her sacked. I think teachers would enjoy this story too.