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Now see how Dracula has changed by the final episode. Although he is still old-fashioned, strict and clinging to that ridiculous gown, he does prove Dyer's point that authoritarian thinking can be transcended. He has become less rigid in his views on education and gone from believing that there is only one way to run a school (his way) to learning that there is no one way but different ways of running a school. He has also become more human in his conduct as a headmaster. If the old Dracula had become headmaster of the boys' grammar school he would probably have been the type of headmaster we saw at the beginning of the story. Instead, I suspect the grammar school boys will be pleasantly surprised.

Another thing I like about Dracula's Daughter is that it goes against the stereotypes of sadistic headmistresses who run their schools like prisons (as in The Four Friends at Spartan School from Tammy) or the psychotic temporary headmasters who crop up in Billy Bunter and get ousted when the regular headmaster returns. But Dracula was not set up to be a villain who would get his comeuppance in the end (unlike Snape, who is set up as your typical bully teacher and does not undergo any change) but a misguided, arrogant, bigot who undergoes lessons in humanity and ends up surprising himself and everyone else.

Well, what do you think of Dracula's Daughter?

Incidentally, Dracula's Daughter was the second of only three references to vampires that Jinty made during her entire seven year run. The first was Dance into Darkness and the last was in the last two episodes of Worlds Apart.

Skinflint School : JUDY (1962)

Fourteen-year-old Poppy Clark's parents have to go abroad but can't take Poppy with them. They decide to send her to a boarding school, but the only one available at short notice is March Wind. She travels by train, in a Ladies Only carriage, and has the latest issue of Judy with her. It's a pity she doesn't read the first instalment of Skinflint School while she's got the chance, instead of wondering what her new headmaster Ebenezer Scrape will be like, because she would have got off at the next station, and sought out some relatives to stay with. Never mind. Because she doesn't we have this absolutely hilarious story to enjoy. You start laughing in the first instalment, and you don't stop until the end of the fourteenth.

She is met at the station by this scrawny individual with a waistcoat and a kind of top hat, who introduces himself as the headmaster. Poppy has two heavy suitcases but Scrape doesn't offer to carry them, and instead of catching a bus they walk to the school as that doesn't cost any money. When they finally reach the school it is difficult to say what shocks Poppy the most, the fact that the big gates are hanging off their hinges, the many missing letters in the school sign above the gates, which welcomes her to ARCH IND H OL, the foliage running rampant in the grounds, or the fact that Scrape charges her five shillings for getting holes in the soles of his shoes. It transpires later that they are a special pair for just that purpose. All the girls have fallen for the ploy. He then tells her to bag herself a bed in the dormitory and then go down to tea. As many of the windows are broken she realises that she is going to freeze.

The first girl she meets, Christine Sims, says Hello, are you the new girl? Hard luck!, to which Poppy replies, Yes, I'm Poppy Clark. What do you mean 'Hard Luck'? Christine says, You'll find out, and then takes her down to tea. Just before she goes, Poppy leaves her cases on the bed, which promptly collapses. Apparently the girls take it in turns to cook because Scrape refuses to employ a proper one. Poppy gets her portion and asks Christine, Is this all we get? It's not enough to feed a sparrow! Christine says, I know - and this is one of our better feeds. Poppy then approaches Scrape and asks for more, like Oliver Twist. Scrape then appears to be having a heart attack, and while two girls are helping him out of the dining hall, he is declaiming, Oh! How sharper than a serpent's tooth the ingratitude of - Oh.

The girls go to bed after tea because Scrape doesn't allow them to put the lights on. As it's so cold they go to bed in their overcoats, and as there is only one blanket per bed, Christine says that when it gets really cold, they sleep three in a bed, a single bed. You can imagine for yourselves how much hot water Poppy has for her ablutions. To add insult to injury, Poppy's mended bed collapses again, and she vows there and then to find ways of forcing Scrape to spend a lot more of the fees that the girls' parents have paid him. That is only the first instalment. The real fun starts with the fightback.

Inevitably, the story is a series of individual episodes, with a fair amount of slapstick humour, but many of the episodes involve plots to place Scrape in positions from which he can only escape by paying out large sums of money, and every one of the situations brings benefit to the girls. A bit of blackmail helps from time to time too. Scrape does come out on top occasionally, but it doesn't last. There is progression nevertheless, because Scrape is eventually unable to cope with Poppy's machinations, ably supported by the other girls, because he sees his fortune dwindling away in proportion to the improvements in the girls' living conditions, and he eventually gives in, takes all his money out of the safe and throws it to Poppy, saying, Here you are - Take it! Take it all! You can run the school from now on! Poppy then tells him that he can keep his job, they will provide him with meals, and he can have five bob a week pocket money. One example should suffice to focus on the cuts and thrusts, the toing and froing.

Two burglars get into Skinflint Scrape's bedroom and start to make off with the safe. What they don't know is that the safe is attached to Snape's big toe, so he gets pulled out of bed. They make their getaway empty-handed, followed by a volley of rusty nails from Scrape's old blunderbuss. The following day he informs the girls that they will have to do guard duty through the night with their hockey sticks just in case. However, at 2 a.m. Poppy has a great idea, and leaving a couple of girls to keep an eye on Scrape, the rest dismantle all the beds and other furniture in their dormitory, and dump it all in a nearby wood. The following morning Scrape is telling the girls how successful his plan was when Poppy tells him that it wasn't as successful as he thinks, and takes him up to see their empty dormitory. Poppy tells him that while all the girls were guarding his safe, persons unknown seem to have made off with their furniture. Scrape is devastated when he realises how much it will cost him to replace all the beds, the mattresses, the cupboards, the lockers etc. Poppy points out to him, adding fuel to the fire, that he might as well buy a burglar alarm while he's about it.

@Phoenix: thank you. I have read the guest spots in some of the Judy annuals but not the original.

Jeanie and her Uncle Meanie (a Scotsman, of course) was another comedy strip about a miser. It was drawn by Robert MacGilivray. I think Skinflint School will go forward, but I'm not sure about Uncle Meanie.

Judy also had Betty vs Bumble where the workhouse beadle meets his match in his housekeeper's niece.

I wonder if another story worthy of nomination is School for Snobs from Tammy. This a special school for curing girls of snobbery. Each episode is guaranteed to give you a laugh and it was immensely popular.

The Sad Spells Of Fay Martin : MANDY (1973)

Given its links with the witch Morgan Le Fay (the Le Fay part being a corrupted version of the old French for fairy), Fay's christian name is a particularly apposite choice, as you will see.

Fay Martin was adopted as a baby, and has always been a good child. Her adoptive parents, who Fay always refers to as Mum and Dad, have only ever noticed one unusual thing about her - she has never cried. Her life changes significantly on her twelfth birthday. She notices an old woman walking uncertainly across a road, and wonders whether she should help her get to the other side. This generosity of spirit and awareness of the needs of others is a major aspect of her character but, as you will see, it is to cause her all sorts of trouble. Seeing that a car, travelling too fast, is going to knock the old woman down, she thinks, I wish it would stop. It stops dead before the driver can apply the brakes, and despite this fact, the driver and the police are totally unable to move the car.

Fay takes the lady to a bench on the other side of the road to help her get over the shock, and offers to see her home. The old lady accepts, and they go to her little cottage, which is quite near Fay's house, although Fay can't recall having seen it before despite walking down that very road every day. Over a cup of tea the lady says, So you're the one I was told to keep an eye on! I knew I'd be meeting you soon. They told me all about you. As Fay hasn't a clue what she is talking about, she introduces herself as Agalypta, Witch number 17, Aggie for short, a name she says that Merlin started calling her hundreds of years ago. She goes on to tell a disbelieving Fay that she is a changeling, a fairy that has been brought up as a mortal, and that now she's twelve she can use her magic powers. When Fay tests herself by wishing that the teapot will pour her a cup of tea all by itself, she is amazed to see that it does so, and thinks she is going to have great fun with this new power. However, Aggie tells her that every spell she works will take her a day nearer to getting back to the Underworld. Fay is gobsmacked and no longer wants to use her magic powers. This is the point where an ordinary story about magic becomes a really good story because of the clash between, on the one hand, Fay's determination never to use these magic powers because she never wants to leave her Mum and Dad or her friends, and, on the other hand, her inability to stop herself from helping people or animals in trouble, situations that she can resolve so much more easily by simply wishing the problem away, despite knowing the consequences if she does. Talk about being on the horns of a dilemma. Even when she uses a spell to prevent some burglars making off with treasures from Sir James Bollington's house while he and his family are abroad, and as a result gets a reward from him that pays for a great Mediterranean holiday that she has wanted but has not been prepared to use a spell to get, she is sad because it could be her last holiday with Mum and Dad.

There are a few other problems for Fay. First, it is in Aggie's interest to look after Fay properly because she is extremely anxious to be recalled as soon as possible to the wonderful Underworld herself, so consequently she wants the approval of her own superior, the arrogant and objectionable Chief Inspector of Changelings, and with this in mind she quite mischievously creates some situations in which Fay will feel impelled to use a spell or two. Also the fact that sometimes Fay's spells make matters worse for the person she is trying to help, leading to the use of more spells just to straighten things out, could just possibly be down to Aggie. Secondly, Fay is never told how many spells she had to start with, so she cannot know just how close she is to using them all up. It's a delicious balance.

Then in bed one night it suddenly occurs to her that she could use a spell to wish that she wasn't a changeling. Unfortunately, this immediately brings the very angry Chief Inspector of Changelings into her room to point out how consistently ungrateful she is being, that that wish cannot come true anyway, and that now she only has nine spells left. She is stunned, but situations continue to arise that need her intervention. When she only has five left she goes to see Aggie, and finds her packing. When she asks why, Aggie tells her that she'll have to move on as soon as Fay is safely transferred to the Underworld. She gives the impression that she doesn't understand Fay's reluctance to be transferred, as she is going to have to wait 200 years before she can be called back whereas Fay can go that same day if she chooses to, but she does actually admit to being fond of Fay. With this aberration the Chief Inspector materialises in Aggie's lounge, and there is a great shouting match. Aggie stands up for Fay's desire to stay here, and is consequently punished for that support. What that punishment will be is not disclosed, but Aggie admits it will be more severe than usual after she gets really cross and turns him into a penguin.

Fay uses her penultimate spell wishing that her parents wouldn't love her, and then runs away from home. That spell doesn't work, and her parents get in the car to try and find her. Her father sees her, gets out of the car and runs towards her, only to get knocked down by a big lorry while crossing the road, a balance you will notice with the earlier incident of the car that doesn't knock Aggie down. Fay is distraught, and uses her final spell to wish her father well again. He comes round, and immediately Fay starts crying, something changelings cannot do. She goes round to tell Aggie but the cottage has disappeared. She does, however, see Aggie one more time, flying happily on her broomstick towards the Underworld, as she has been recalled to take Fay's place. They have both ultimately got what they wanted!

@ Phoenix: thank you. Girls comics have printed a number of stories where girls are not keen on magic powers. Abracadabra Academy from Bunty and I Don't Want to be a Witch! (Spellbound) are two of them.

Tammyfan wrote:Girls comics have printed a number of stories where girls are not keen on magic powers. Abracadabra Academy from Bunty and I Don't Want to be a Witch! (Spellbound) are two of them.

I know both of those stories well, Tammyfan, but in my opinion they are just not as good as The Sad Spells Of Fay Martin, which is the one I felt able to recommend for a place in your Top 100. It is interesting though that in the last instalment of ''I Don't Want To Be A Witch!'' (Spellbound 1977), the issue of a witch being unable to cry is used. From the moment Celia cries, Armida has no further use for her. I suspect that the concept has been borrowed from The Sad Spells Of Fay Martin (Mandy 1973).

Phoenix wrote:

Tammyfan wrote:Girls comics have printed a number of stories where girls are not keen on magic powers. Abracadabra Academy from Bunty and I Don't Want to be a Witch! (Spellbound) are two of them.

I know both of those stories well, Tammyfan, but in my opinion they are just not as good as The Sad Spells Of Fay Martin, which is the one I felt able to recommend for a place in your Top 100. It is interesting though that in the last instalment of ''I Don't Want To Be A Witch!'' (Spellbound 1977), the issue of a witch being unable to cry is used. From the moment Celia cries, Armida has no further use for her. I suspect that the concept has been borrowed from The Sad Spells Of Fay Martin (Mandy 1973).

Well, you know more about those serials than I do. By the way, crying was also used to destroy a witch in The Painting, from Bunty.

Okay, what do others think of Fay Martin? And I'm still waiting for opinions on Dracula's Daughter.

I am happy for Fay Martin to proceed to top 100, I actually have a few issues and am glad to find out how it ends! I also think Dracula's Daughter should proceed.

I'll put up some examples of some of my suggestions, starting with:

Sue Spiker (Emma)
I haven’t all the Sue Spiker issues but here’s the general outline.
Sue is a tough girl, who does not get along with people in her new school. But the games mistress is impressed with her volleyball skills and starts to befriend her. She finds that Sue isn’t as bad as she seems and actually has a tough home life with a foster mother who expects her to do all the work. Sue eventually gets a new caring foster mother and settles in at school.
The series returns and with Sue now happier but the game mistress notices she now lost some of her edge in volleyball. She soons finds that edge again, when her foster mother falls sick and she is sent to live with her, recently out of jail Dad and step-mother. At the same she finds out her game mistress is leaving the school for a new job.
When Emma merged with Judy, Sue Spiker returned where she had gotten a job at a summer camp teaching volleyball.

Here's an article on Starr of Wonderland:

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/starrwonder.htm

peace355 wrote:Here's an article on Starr of Wonderland:
http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/starrwonder.htm

I don't know how useful this information is to you, peace, but the article you linked us to is claiming, admittedly with a fair degree of uncertainty, that Starr Of Wonderland first appeared in Diana 190 (Sep. 17 1966). In fact that serial started in 187 (Sep. 17 1966), but that was her second series.

I think I've got the first episode of The Girl Who Can't Cry. But I'm not convinced it should advance and I'd like to have more discussion on that one before we decide. But I do think Sue Spiker can go ahead as I want some Emma representation and Sue looks like one of her best.

Tammyfan wrote:I do think Sue Spiker can go ahead as I want some Emma representation and Sue looks like one of her best.

I'm also quite happy for Sue Spiker to advance, but there are a couple of other good stories in Emma that could be considered. I'm thinking of Jodie And The Otter and, for a bit of historical perspective, Lady Sarah's Secret, set in 1840. I'm not adding these titles to my original list of recommendations, by the way, just pointing out that Sue Spiker isn't the only serial of worth in Emma.