If we had a list of the 100 greatest serials in girls comics

[Tammyfan]

I prefer not to have adaptations, especially as hundreds of potential titles are competing for 100 spots. The number is currently 78; 79 if The Frightening Fours is included. So only 22 spots are left.

[Phoenix]

I apologise for not having posted my summary of The Frightening Fours today as promised. I will do it tomorrow. I got a bug in my computer this afternoon while trying, with a computer-literate friend, to transfer photos and video clips onto my computer from the iPhone 4 that my son Andrew has given me. I was getting adverts all over the place, often five at any one time on the comicsuk page I was working on. When I clicked on Preview, it redirected me to a full-page advert. I managed to upload my short post to stevezodiac, but after that I gave up. It now seems fixed.

[Tammyfan]

@Phoenix: no problem. Hope you get it sorted soon.

[matrix]

Thank you Phoenix for the reply I won't carry on too much if there is no benefit for Tammyfan's list. I know we cannot think exactly like females as males! All I was trying to say was that as males we may look for something different in the story? In other words we might miss something that made that story good for female readers.
As an example, one of my favourite stories in 'Girl' comic is 'Model in America' where the main character gets involved with Hill Billy clans, horse stealing etc, I did not include that in my recommendations to Tammyfan as I did not think it was as popular as the ones I did recommend. Anyway I'd better stop, hard to explain electronically!

[Tammyfan]

Thank you Phoenix for the reply I won't carry on too much if there is no benefit for Tammyfan's list. I know we cannot think exactly like females as males! All I was trying to say was that as males we may look for something different in the story? In other words we might miss something that made that story good for female readers.
As an example, one of my favourite stories in 'Girl' comic is 'Model in America' where the main character gets involved with Hill Billy clans, horse stealing etc, I did not include that in my recommendations to Tammyfan as I did not think it was as popular as the ones I did recommend. Anyway I'd better stop, hard to explain electronically!

Our list won't be definitive as we can't view every single strip ever published in girls' comics and we have different ideas on what should go in. Others may disagree with some of our final choices. But that can't be helped. And for all we know, this is the first such list. Anyway, it's all a good piece of fun, discussion, debate, nostalgia and information sharing that could be very useful in the world of comics.

[Phoenix]

I rebooted about an hour ago, and the problem is still there. I'm repeatedly being told that my PC is about to crash as I am running very low on disk space, and offered some specific downloads to fix the problem, some of which take over the entire page I'm reading. As a new terabyte hard drive I bought from PC World was installed two months ago, and only has on it the content of the replaced drive and whatever I've saved since, the claim is nonsense. I have rung my friend to ask him to come over again and fix it, and he's got someone to stand in for him at a Council meeting so he can get here by 11 o'clock. In the meantime, I will do what I can to work round the adverts to write a synopsis of The Frightening Fours. This really is just so irritating! I've got two excellent anti-virus programs installed, which clearly can't cope with this problem. While I've been writing this post I've even been getting small adverts popping onto the screen for a few moments and then disappearing. Oh well, I'll press on regardless.

[philcom55]

Am I correct in thinking, though, that you will not include literary adaptations as The Little Princess and The Secret Garden were among them as well as an Enid Blyton strip. It also had Sue Day but I presume they were reprints? I also noticed Lorna Doone was in Princess as well as Diana. Both in full colour but Ron Embleton's Princess version wins easily.

While the original adaptation of R.D. Blackmore's novel doesn't qualify I think the subsequent adventures of Amber Ridd - supposedly Lorna Doone's daughter - ought to be OK as these were entirely original. Also, as one of the most popular strips in Princess for several years, I think this excellent series would make a worthy addition to the top 100 by virtue of its artwork alone, though the stories were equally strong - especially in the way Amber's fictional travels took place against an epic backdrop of authentic historical events and locations. Here are three scans I posted a while ago which give some idea of the strip's scope and quality:







(Art by Eric Parker, Ron Embleton and Clive Uptton)

- Phil Rushton

[Tammyfan]

@ Phoenix: Be fair to yourself and hold off on The Frightening Fours. It sounds like you have a very nasty problem.

[peace355]

To take the pressure off Phoenix! Here's an episode of The Frightening Fours:

[Tammyfan]

Obviously they found out the hard way that the Cloud's power is everywhere and not just in their own village. Should have guessed that. Wow... Making four-year olds scary and turning them into Nazis in teddy bear suits. What was the cloud playing at with kids aged four? But no, I don't believe the cloud would have protected them from the poison. I rather suspect the poison was to make the Earth habitable for its own kind.

Anyway, thank you for posting.

[Phoenix]

Right, I think we've now got rid of all the interlopers. Thank you for your patience.

The Frightening Fours : JUDY & EMMA (1979)

Thanks to peace's attachment, I can pass on from the preamble. Just one point, though, there is no poison as such, humans will simply not be able to survive because the massive machines that the Fours worldwide are building, or having built, are intended to remove all the oxygen from Earth's atmosphere. The aliens in the Dark Clouds, who want to take up residence on our planet, would be poisoned by it.

There are three divisions. The adults, that is anybody over the age of fifteen, and children of three and below, are put into a deep sleep. The Fours are deemed to be susceptible to the power of the Dark Cloud, and are therefore given great strength, intelligence way beyond their years, organisational abilities, and an eagerness to serve the Dark Cloud. The rest of the children are essentially the workforce, persuaded to comply, of course, by the pistols and rifles wielded by the Fours. One girl who complains is shot at. If she offends again she will be killed.

Three of the older children, Sally, Andy and Lila, escape in disguise and travel 25 miles to Middleton, where they meet a group of rebels who have a two-way radio, and inform them that not only are their Fours in control there but the situation is a planet-wide one. They realise that they must destroy the machines, but these children don't know exactly where theirs are being built. A ray of hope comes from a very unexpected source. One of the Fours is frightened of punishment as he has been doing childish things. He tells them that he will be Five the following day, and they manage to get him to reveal that their machine is being constructed in a coal mine before he regresses completely.

Then a bemused adult turns up, unaffected so far as he has been in a submersible studying plankton. Before he inevitably falls asleep, he suggests that the machines are probably to be connected in a chain, so removing one link should scupper the Dark Clouds' grand plan. In order to infitrate the inner organisation of the Fours so as to have a chance of wrecking their machine, the three friends get the trust of the Fours although appearing to be traitors to the other older children. Meanwhile the Middleton older children are waiting for a signal.

The Middleton Fours then attack the Midham village because their Dark Cloud has told them that they have been invaded, and then one of them recognises Sally, fortunately unable to confirm it as he turns Five and regresses into his childhood again, and is then promptly arrested by a Four. Sally gets away and sabotages the machine, completely confusing the Fours. Lila and Andy make a bonfire to alert the Middleton crowd, who travel en masse to give a hand.

The Dark Cloud, now referred to as a Black Cloud, cannot believe that humans cannot be enslaved, the children turn into toddlers again, and the Cloud starts to rise and leave. All over the planet the other Dark Clouds are also floating back into Space. The adults are released from their enforced sleep and are reunited with their children, without knowing just how much they owe them.

[Tammyfan]

@ Phoenix: thank you for that. And I'm glad you sorted the computer problem. I think the ending was a bit slick and convenient, with the Cloud just giving up when faced with the indomitable human spirit.

Still, The Frightening Fours will advance, so 21 spots are left. I'm beginning to think The Daughter of Lorna Doone and Skinflint School are fit enough to take two of them.

I'm hoping for a gap in my schedule soon so I can discuss Dracula's Daughter.

[Tammyfan]

This is what's left on the list of possibles. What do you think should advance? I can't judge on some of these, such as Sue Spiker, because I have not seen them. Those who nominated some of these entries, can you provide more information on them please? Or do you have something else that you think could advance?

1. A Leap in Time (Misty)
2. Babs & the Family (School Friend)
3. Captain Kate (June)
4. Climbing Rose (Judy)
5. Cloris and Claire (June)
6. Come Home Kathleen (Bunty)
7. Combing Her Golden Hair (Jinty)
8. Daughter of Lorna Doone (Princess Tina)
9. Diana's Diary (June)
10. Dilly Dream (School Friend)
11. Dracula's Daughter (Jinty)
12. Glenda Good & Bad (June)
13. Glenda’s Glossy Pages (Tammy)
14. Hannah in the House of Dolls (Bunty)
15. Hetty in the House of Secrets (Spellbound)
16. I Hate Janey! (Judy)
17. I'll Never Leave You (June)
18. Jane, Model Miss (Diana)
19. Jeanie & Her Uncle Meanie (Sandie/Tammy)
20. Justine For Justice (Sally)
21. Kathy Of Marvin Grange (June)
22. Kitty Hawke (Girl – first series)
23. Mary Jo (Princess)
24. Mini Mum (Bunty)
25. My Schoolfriend Sara/My Friend Sara (School Friend/June)
26. Nobody Knows My Name (June)
27. Nothing ever Goes Right! (Judy)
28. School's Out! (Bunty)
29. Skinflint School (Judy)
30. Slave to the Dolls (Tracy)
31. Starr of Wonderland (Diana)
32. Sue Spiker (Emma)
33. Surprise Corner (Poppet/June)
34. The Bennets of Ballet (Bunty)
35. The Chair that Rocked St. Claire's (Judy)
36. The Change in Claire (Bunty)
37. The Face of Romany Fortune (Spellbound)
38. The Girl Who Couldn't Cry (Mandy)
39. The Guardian Tree (Mandy)
40. The Jealousy of Jemma (Debbie/Mandy/M&J)
41. The Quest Of Katie Courage (Suzy)
42. The Sad Spells Of Fay Martin (Mandy)
43. The Slave of Form 3B (Jinty)
44. Time after Time [1999] (Bunty)
45. Tilly Tuffin (Princess Tina)

[Tammyfan]

I will now begin my discussion of Dracula's Daughter (drawn by Mario Capaldi). As I have to show more than I tell for this one, I am using a selection of three episodes. The reason for the nomination is the development of the character of Mr Graves in this story, and how he changes from a high-handed bigot who is virtually Victorian in his beliefs in how a school should be run to learning that there is no one way of doing things and earning a whole new respect for progressive education. I reckon someone at Jinty must have been reading the section on authoritarian thinking in The Sky's the Limit by Dr Wayne Dyer when they conceived this story.

Anyway, here is what Mr Graves is like in the first episode. The root of Mr Graves' problem with the progressive Castlegate school (search me why he lets Lydia go there; maybe it's to do with economics) is that he does not believe in making education fun. He believes that fun and play belong in the home (and when he is at home he indulges in it enthusiastically) and not in school, which should be for serious hard work and discipline. And as far as he is concerned, there is only one way to run a school - his way.

[Tammyfan]

Dracula's first day as headmaster (below) must have been inspired by those old Billy Bunter stories about nutty new headmasters that we talked about on the bully teachers thread. "My hat, what a tartar!" as the boys would say. And as you can see, it is not only the pupils that he treats like little kids but the teachers as well. Subsequent episodes would see Dracula rudely butting in on the teachers' classes and trying to force them to teach the pupils his way. This eventually drives one teacher out, and she is replaced by an old dragon who is a bully of a teacher. However, the teacher Dracula forced out will get the last laugh in the final episode.

If this was Greyfriars, the barricades would be up against Dracula by the next day (which is not what Lydia's idea is, unfortunately).