Think 'Pink'!
Moderator: AndyB
Think 'Pink'!
Last weekend I happened to pick up an odd number of the IPC weekly Pink (no.139, Nov. 22nd 1975), and in the light of today's discussion about the differences between traditional girls' comics (Bunty, School Friend, etc.) and romance comics (Jackie, Romeo, etc.) on the '100 Greatest Girls' Serials' thread I thought it'd be interesting to examine the five picture-strips contained in this particular issue in a bit more detail.
First comes a 3-page serial called 'Remember, Rosanna...Remember!' in which an amnesiac singer tries to recover her memory in order to find out why she is wanted by the police.
To my mind this is probably the weakest strip in the issue, with an irritating number of pictures in which Rosanna is shown gazing tearfully into the middle distance. In spite of this, however, there is very little romance to be found, with the mystery of a stolen painting providing the main focus of the plot.
Next there's a stylishly-drawn 3-page episode of 'Sugar Jones', about a glamorous but self-centred model and her more down-to-earth PA. Although this particular story does little more than underline Sugar's vanity and greed there are some intriguing hints about her past which suggest that she is in reality very much older than she looks...perhaps even immortal!
Then comes 'Patty's World' - perhaps the best, and best-known of Pink's strips. Drawn, as ever, by Purita Campos this fascinating and realistic series features a central character who is allowed to grow older in 'real time' - to the extent that here she already seems noticeably more grown up than when her earliest adventures began in the pages of Princess Tina. In time, of course, she became an adult with a daughter of her own, and - though her strip is no longer published in the UK - it continues to this day in Spain.
And finally we have 'The Island of Stones' and 'The Sea People' - two 3-page serials that deal with fantastic elements that might have been more at home in the pages of Misty:
...Obviously Judy has never seen 'The Wicker Man', as she decides to ignore the train guard's advice and spend the night in this creepy Cornish village in the middle of nowhere!
While it's true that the protagonists of all these stories tend to be a little older than the schoolgirl-heroines of more traditional girls' comics I think it'd be a mistake to dismiss them under the generic label of 'Romance'. In fact, as far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be a single 'Swoon', 'Sob' or 'SWALK' in any of them - nor even an 'Oh Brad!'
(...I could have done without the Gary Glitter centrefold though! )
- Phil Rushton
First comes a 3-page serial called 'Remember, Rosanna...Remember!' in which an amnesiac singer tries to recover her memory in order to find out why she is wanted by the police.
To my mind this is probably the weakest strip in the issue, with an irritating number of pictures in which Rosanna is shown gazing tearfully into the middle distance. In spite of this, however, there is very little romance to be found, with the mystery of a stolen painting providing the main focus of the plot.
Next there's a stylishly-drawn 3-page episode of 'Sugar Jones', about a glamorous but self-centred model and her more down-to-earth PA. Although this particular story does little more than underline Sugar's vanity and greed there are some intriguing hints about her past which suggest that she is in reality very much older than she looks...perhaps even immortal!
Then comes 'Patty's World' - perhaps the best, and best-known of Pink's strips. Drawn, as ever, by Purita Campos this fascinating and realistic series features a central character who is allowed to grow older in 'real time' - to the extent that here she already seems noticeably more grown up than when her earliest adventures began in the pages of Princess Tina. In time, of course, she became an adult with a daughter of her own, and - though her strip is no longer published in the UK - it continues to this day in Spain.
And finally we have 'The Island of Stones' and 'The Sea People' - two 3-page serials that deal with fantastic elements that might have been more at home in the pages of Misty:
...Obviously Judy has never seen 'The Wicker Man', as she decides to ignore the train guard's advice and spend the night in this creepy Cornish village in the middle of nowhere!
While it's true that the protagonists of all these stories tend to be a little older than the schoolgirl-heroines of more traditional girls' comics I think it'd be a mistake to dismiss them under the generic label of 'Romance'. In fact, as far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be a single 'Swoon', 'Sob' or 'SWALK' in any of them - nor even an 'Oh Brad!'
(...I could have done without the Gary Glitter centrefold though! )
- Phil Rushton
Re: Think 'Pink'!
Yes, Sugar is older than she looks. There's a running gag about her wearing a wig to hide it.
Last edited by Tammyfan on 03 Oct 2013, 05:07, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
Just for the record and I'm not sure if it helps, but 'Patty's World' and 'Sugar Jones' feature in all three 'Pink summer' specials that I have.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
It's nice to see older girls having similar adventures to the ones in the girls' comics.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
I like a lot of the stories that feature in Pink, I've been buying and selling on issues and have scanned all the stories to read and keep (originally I was just collecting Patty's World episodes, but there are lots of other excellent stories too). Quite a few wouldn't have been out of place in Misty as you say, Phil.
My older sister used to get Pink every week right from the first issue and from that time the stand-out story I remember reading was Sugar Jones, then later on Patty's World. It's only since I've recently started buying and selling Pink issues that I can appreciate a lot of the other stories it carried.
My older sister used to get Pink every week right from the first issue and from that time the stand-out story I remember reading was Sugar Jones, then later on Patty's World. It's only since I've recently started buying and selling Pink issues that I can appreciate a lot of the other stories it carried.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
I note that "The Sea People" looks very much like it is drawn by Ron Lumsden. Nice stuff!philcom55 wrote: And finally we have 'The Island of Stones' and 'The Sea People' - two 3-page serials that deal with fantastic elements that might have been more at home in the pages of Misty:
...Obviously Judy has never seen 'The Wicker Man', as she decides to ignore the train guard's advice and spend the night in this creepy Cornish village in the middle of nowhere!
...
- Phil Rushton
jintycomic.wordpress.com/ Excellent and weird stories from the past - with amazing art to boot.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
Not 100% sure it is Lumsden, though I can see some Lumsden style in it.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
It's the conductor's face in that first page that makes me pretty sure it is him. The rest of the style is a bit different to the one story of his that I know (the Clancy one in Jinty) but that face is a clincher for me.Tammyfan wrote:Not 100% sure it is Lumsden, though I can see some Lumsden style in it.
jintycomic.wordpress.com/ Excellent and weird stories from the past - with amazing art to boot.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
David Roach confirms that it is Lumsden.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
"Remember Rosanna...Remember!" is Juliana Buch. I wonder who drew "The Island of Stones" and "Sugar Jones"?
Re: Think 'Pink'!
They're both signed 'Busom'. According to David that's Rafael Busom.
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Re: Think 'Pink'!
Love that 70s vibe in this comic, which I do actually remember.
These comics are very useful for reference in drawing the female form, one of the toughest art challenges of all in my view.
These comics are very useful for reference in drawing the female form, one of the toughest art challenges of all in my view.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
Nice to see these scans. Except for 'Patty's world', these have all been reprinted in Anita in the Netherlands. (Patty's world was reprinted in Tina.) Anita was a comic for slightly older girls than the readers of Tina, with a lot of mystery and romance. I always wondered from which UK comic Anita took her stories, and now I know many must have come from Pink.
Re: Think 'Pink'!
In an interview, Pat Mills says he wrote Sugar Jones.