Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

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suebutcher
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by suebutcher »

Tammyfan, is the first episode of "Winner Loses All" from the 18th August 1979 issue of Misty? I think I have the second episode, but I wanted to confirm that.

Tammyfan
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by Tammyfan »

suebutcher wrote:Tammyfan, is the first episode of "Winner Loses All" from the 18th August 1979 issue of Misty? I think I have the second episode, but I wanted to confirm that.
Information I have checked says it started 4 August 1979. And there was a glaring goof on the cover: the girl on the cover who is about to sell her soul to the Devil is not Sandy but her enemy Jocasta.
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philcom55
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by philcom55 »

The excellent Misty website gives issue numbers for all stories and serials under the 'Tales of Intrigue and Terror' section here:

http://www.mistycomic.co.uk/Misty.html

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suebutcher
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by suebutcher »

I've got episode four then, in which Sandy signs her soul over the Devil. I'm sure that in some households a comic like this would have gone straight in the bin! Good stuff. Who was the artist on this?

Tammyfan
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by Tammyfan »

suebutcher wrote:I've got episode four then, in which Sandy signs her soul over the Devil. I'm sure that in some households a comic like this would have gone straight in the bin! Good stuff. Who was the artist on this?
Mario Capaldi. The writer is unknown.

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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by Tammyfan »

There was another Capaldi Misty story, "Don't Look Twice!", which did touch on mental issues. A girl starts having strange visions that ultimately lead her to an institution where her twin sister is being held, having been deemed mentally ill.
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philcom55
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by philcom55 »

In my opinion the worst ever depiction of mental illness to appear in a comic has to be the image of the original 'madwoman in the attic' which appeared on the cover of Classics Illustrated's first adaptation of 'Jane Eyre'! :shock:

...I'm pretty sure she wasn't fifteen-feet tall and built like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Charlotte Bronte's book!!! :?
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Tammyfan
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by Tammyfan »

philcom55 wrote:In my opinion the worst ever depiction of mental illness to appear in a comic has to be the image of the original 'madwoman in the attic' which appeared on the cover of Classics Illustrated's first adaptation of 'Jane Eyre'! :shock:

...I'm pretty sure she wasn't fifteen-feet tall and built like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Charlotte Bronte's book!!! :?
Still, she was an extremely violent and dangerous lunatic, so I guess the artist would want to bring that across with her appearance. Maybe he overdid it.

Tammyfan
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by Tammyfan »

Back to Winner Loses All!: although the Devil keeps his end of the bargain to make Sandy's father the man he used to be and not even able to touch alcohol, the father still blames himself for his wife's death, which is the real root of his problem and alcoholism. One of those stings in the tail that are so typical when you make deals with the Devil, I guess. And no professional help for him either.

Tammyfan
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by Tammyfan »

comixminx wrote:I hav to wonder whether these last two stories, in particular, might have been written by the same person? "Waking Nightmare" is quite an unsettling story in many ways - the enemy to be defeated is not a person or an evil object, but the invisible enemy of the girl's illness. I think it is a harder read as a result; it is much less certain as to what is going on and what needs to happen to resolve things, until quite near the end of the story.
They sometimes call mental illness the invisible illness because you can't discern it by physical symptoms as you would a physical illness like measles. The symptoms of mental illness manifest in the behaviour of the individual, but as with Clare Harvey in "Waves of Fear" they can be misconstrued or assumed to be other things such as delinquent behaviour.

Tammyfan
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by Tammyfan »

philcom55 wrote:In my opinion the worst ever depiction of mental illness to appear in a comic has to be the image of the original 'madwoman in the attic' which appeared on the cover of Classics Illustrated's first adaptation of 'Jane Eyre'! :shock:

...I'm pretty sure she wasn't fifteen-feet tall and built like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Charlotte Bronte's book!!! :?
Jane Eyre is the title star of the show but Bertha Mason steals her cover. You can barely make out poor Jane in the background.

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stevezodiac
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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by stevezodiac »

Cover looks like the work of Graham "Ghastly" Ingels

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Re: Mental health issues in stories (taken seriously)

Post by Tammyfan »

stevezodiac wrote:Cover looks like the work of Graham "Ghastly" Ingels
According to Wikipedia Ingels did contribute to Classics Illustrated, so it could be. And the cover is straight out of a horror comic, which Ingels was best known for. In fact, horror was the only thing his style was suited for. So when Dr Wertham and the absurdly strict Comics Code killed off all the horror titles, poor Ingels was left with nowhere to go in the comics world.

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