Comics UK

As for Justine for Justice, one reason I suggested it was as well as a good theme, one of its artists was ex-TV21 legend Mike Noble.

I think My Schoolfriend Sara is the strongest candidate for advancement. But I'm intrigued by this Surprise Corner. Can you tell us more about it?

Oh, I just remembered Lisa the a Lonely Ballerina, arguably Debbie's best remembered saga - and definitely her longest. Better put that on. Only six spots left. The list now:

1. A Horse Called September (June/Tammy)
2. Alice in Spaceland (Princess Tina)
3. Alona the Wild One (Princess Tina)
4. Angel; The Diary of Angel (Mandy)
5. Anna, Junior Miss/Girl with the Golden Smile (Judy)
6. Balloon of Doom (Bunty)
7. Bella (Tammy)
8. Belle and Marie; Belle of the Ballet (Girl – first series)
9. Bessie Bunter (School Friend/June/Tammy)
10. Bobby Dazzler (Judy)
11. Catch the Cat (Bunty)
12. Cherry & The Children (Girls Crystal/Schoolfriend/June)
13. Cinderella Jones (Judy)
14. Cinderella Spiteful (Tammy)
15. Cuckoo in the Nest (Tammy)
16. Cult of the Cat (Misty)
17. Down with St Desmonds! (Bunty)
18. Dracula's Daughter (Jinty)
19. Ella on Easy Street (Tammy)
20. Force of Evil (Suzy)
21. Fran’ll Fix It! (Jinty)
22. Fran of the Floods (Jinty)
23. Glenda’s Glossy Pages (Tammy)
24. Hannah in the House of Dolls (Bunty)
25. I Hate Janey! (Judy & Tracy)
26. Jane Bond (Princess Tina)
27. Jill Crusoe (School Friend)
28. Junior Nanny (Judy)
29. Lady Penelope (Lady Penelope)
30. Land of No Tears (Jinty)
31. Lettice Leefe: The Greenest Girl in School (Girl – first series/Princess Tina)
32. Lisa the Lonely Ballerina (Debbie)
33. Lorna Drake (Bunty)
34. Lucky’s Living Doll (June)
35. Luv Lisa (Bunty)
36. Maisie’s Magic Eye (Sally/Tammy)
37. Mam’selle X (Girls’ Crystal/School Friend/June)
38. Moira, Slave Girl of Rome (Princess Tina)
39. Molly Mills (Tammy)
40. Moonchild (Misty)
41. My Schoolfriend Sara/My Friend Sara (School Friend/June)
42. Nothing Ever Goes Right! (Judy)
43. Olympia Jones (Tammy)
44. Pam of Pond Hill (Jinty/Tammy)
45. Patsy on the Warpath (June)
46. Patty’s World (Princess Tina/Pink/Mates/Girl – second series)
47. Penny’s Place (M&J/Bunty)
48. Sandra of the Secret Ballet (Judy)
49. Secret of the Skulls (Tammy)
50. Skinflint School (Judy)
51. Slaves of War Orphan Farm (Tammy)
52. Starr of Wonderland (Diana)
53. Sue Spiker (Emma)
54. Sugar Jones (Pink)
55. Susan of St Bride's (Girl – first series)
56. The Blind Ballerina (Judy)
57. The Button Box (Tammy)
58. The Cat Girl (Sally/Tammy)
59. The Chair that Rocked St. Claire's (Judy)
60. The Children’s Champion (Bunty)
61. The Comp (Nikki/Bunty)
62. The Double Life of Sad Sarah (Mandy)
63. The Daughter of Lorna Doone (Princess – first series)
64. The Face of Romany Fortune (Spellbound)
65. The Flights of Flopear (Bunty)
66. The Four Faces of Eve (Misty)
67. The Four Marys (Bunty)
68. The Frightening Fours (Judy)
69. The Girls from NOODLES (Diana)
70. The Happy Days (Princess Tina)
71. The Honourable S. J. (Judy)
72. The Human Zoo (Jinty)
73. The Jealousy of Jemma (Debbie/Mandy/M&J)
74. The Land of Nowhere (Bunty)
75. The Pink Peril (Diana)
76. The Sad Spells Of Fay Martin (Mandy)
77. The Secrets of Charlie Chatterbox (Bunty)
78. The Seeker (Bunty)
79. The Silent Three (School Friend)
80. The Sentinels (Misty)
81. The Strangest Stories Ever Told (School Friend/June/Tammy)
82. The Supercats (Spellbound/Debbie)
83. Toots (Bunty)
84. Trixie’s Treasure Chest (Debbie)
85. Two-Faced Teesha (Tammy)
86. Valda (Mandy)
87. Vanessa from Venus (June)
88. Wee Slavey (Judy)
89. Wee Sue (Sandie/Tammy)
90. Wendy and Jinx (Girl – first series)
91. Wendy at War (Debbie)
92. Westward the Wagons (Princess Tina)
93. Winner Loses All! (Misty)
94. Worlds Apart (Jinty)

I have my Bunty collection out and found two more episodes of The Dancing Donnellys. What do you think? Advance the Donnellys or not?

Now for My School Chum Mum.
Bunty: 1887(?) - 1910
Art: Andrew Tew

Plot: Rachel Todd's scientist father goes on a trip to the Antarctic. He leaves behind an anti-ageing cream he invented. But when Mum tries it out, it works too well on her - she ends up looking like a school girl and the same age as Rachel. There is no apparent cure or any sign of the cream wearing off, and Mum does not want to bother Dad by contacting him about the problem. So in the meantime they have to live with it; Mum will pose as Rachel's cousin Emily and the reason for Mum's absence is that she is tending to a sick relative.

Unfortunately the sight of two apparent twelve-year olds and no sign of any adult in the house continues to raise ever more pointed questions. Miss Gray, a nosy neighbour and teacher, insists that Mum go to Rachel's school. But Mum finds modern school a struggle because it has changed too much since her own school days. School computers are a particularly huge problem, because she comes from the generation that does not understand them well. Another problem is that she still has the mind of an adult and talks to teachers in an adult way, which they find disrespectful. Other problems include Mother's Day and paying bills when the owner of the credit cards looks like a twelve year old. On the other hand, Mum's adult mind in her schoolgirl-looking body does pay dividends sometimes, such as when they have to babysit terrors and Mum's mothering skills gets them into order.

But Miss Gray is getting ever more suspicious, especially when she sees "Emily" doing housework when her time would be better spent on schoolwork; she knows about "Emily's" poor school performance. She insists on paying a visit that evening. However, Dad arrives first; he has come home early because his trip got cancelled. After he has stopped laughing at the sight of his schoolgirl looking wife, he tells her to put on the antidote. "Yes, I always make an antidote." (Now he tells us!) While Mum is applying the antidote, Miss Gray arrives. Seeing that the father is present, she leaves them alone. Mum is now restored, but she thinks she looks older than she did before. She wonders about trying a more controlled application of the cream. Rachel does not look impressed at the idea.

Thoughts: There have been countless serials over girls getting into scrapes because of chemical formulas that make them invisible, make them shrink, make them float, cause them to behave in bizarre ways, or whatever. Most of these are just played for laughs, sometimes with criminals, bullies or foreign agents thrown in for some excitement. But this one, although it does raise laughs, is more insightful and thought-provoking. It opens a whole new window into viewing the world between children and their parents. Rachel and her mother end up seeing each other and their respective worlds in a whole new light during the time Mum shares Rachel's life and school on the same level (at least, physically).

And you know that programme That'll Teach 'Em , where modern kids spend six weeks on an experiment in experiencing the type of school their parents went to in the 1950s? This is That'll Teach 'Em in reverse with a mother (albeit trapped in a teenage-looking body) experiencing the type of school and education that children go through now and finding out how it compares with her day. This is what I like best about this story.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the Dancing Donnellys appears to be drawn by Matias Alonso.

colcool007 wrote:Correct me if I am wrong, but the Dancing Donnellys appears to be drawn by Matias Alonso.

Thanks, I've been wondering who that artist was.

[quote="Tammyfan"]Would those who nominated the following please say why. I do not have enough information on them to pass any judgement on advancing them or not. Otherwise, they will be removed from the list of possibilities.


3. Climbing Rose (Judy)
5. Come Home Kathleen (Bunty)
9. Hetty in the House of Secrets (Spellbound)
19. The Quest Of Katie Courage (Suzy)

I think I nominated three of the above four stories - Come Home Kathleen, Hetty In the House of Secrets and The Quest of Katie Courage. I have also read Climbing Rose as a Lucky Charm comic.
The Quest of Katie courage chronicles a girl's search for her long lost siblings after her parents are killed in an accident. After their deaths she discovers they weren't her natural parents and that she'd been bought as a small child. She also discovers she has siblings and sets out on a quest to find them. Here is the first episode:

Episode 4 of Katie Courage, after she's found her first sibling:







Episode 8:






Episode 14:






and Episode 15, when Katie discovers a shocking revelation:







Hope this gives a taste of this excellent story, and helps it get on the list.

That was a very unfair teaser! I want to read it now, helsbels!!!

RuthB wrote:That was a very unfair teaser! I want to read it now, helsbels!!!

I can send you scans, Ruth! I have all episodes except no 5.

Thanks!!!

Helsbels: you don't happen to have any episodes of Force of Evil from Suzy? I would love others to see it!

Okay, I want to see these other nominees before adding anything further to the list. Only six spots remain, so competition will be fierce. Mind you, after we have the 100 we can still do some tweaking. Take one or two off, replace them with others, maybe.

Time for School for Snobs from Tammy:

Original story: 25/3/72-24/6/72
Subsequent appearances: 11/11/1972; 3/2/2/73-9/6/73; 1/9/73-?
Artists: J Badesa; unknown
Writers: Pat Mills; John Wagner

Plot: Arthur Masters is a self-made millionaire who wants to give his daughters, Cynthia and Pamela, the best of everything. This has included a finishing school in Paris. But when the girls return, Arthur has discovered this has backfired because the girls have turned into two dreadful snobs who look down even on their own father. When the girls's snobbish behaviour causes the servants to quit, Arthur decides to sent them to the Hermione Snoot for Young Ladies, which is a special school for curing snobby girls.

The girls are shocked when they arrive; the school has been converted from a factory and is a real dump. The headmistress, Hermione Snoot is a cockney who dresses in a mortar board, but her gown looks like a hospital gown. Lessons include charring, sport means playing rugby, and horse-riding means dressing up in pantomine horse costumes. And those are just some of the things that Hermione Snoot's school does to cure girls of snobbery. In one episode, the girls are set the task of collecting and emptying dustbins, and in another they go out on the rounds with a rag-and-bone man.

Cynthia and Pamela are not giving up their snobbish ways that easily. For example, when they are told they are going out for dinner they dress in all their finery. But they discover that the place for dinner is a transport cafe and all the other pupils are laughing at them. In another episode Cynthia dresses up in a silk and lace tennis dress and is all set for a day on the tennis courts. But when they set out to be snobby it always backfires on them and they end up the school laughing stock. For example, Cynthia finds herself playing rugby in her tennis outfit because rugby is what they play at Hermione's school. In another episode a misunderstanding between the girls and Hermione has them tackling an army assault course in ballet gear!

Pamela starts making progress; for example she joins the rugby match with gusto. But Cynthia is proving to be a hard nut to crack and engages in a constant battle of wits with Hermione. When they go on outings, do lessons or whatever, she insists on clinging to her snobbish ways. She is a bully as well, and has constant arguments with Pamela, who is making more progress. One episode in particular (below) shows the contrast between Pamela and Cynthia. At times Cynthia is thoroughly humiliated through her own fault in clinging to her snobby ways and ends up a laughing stock. For example, in the dustbin episode Cynthia hides in a dustbin because she sees her old friend from the finishing school, Angela de Quincy, and does not want Angela to see her collecting garbage. As a result she is accidentally heaved into the garbage truck and Angela sees her anyway, covered in garbage. She is disgusted at how common Cynthia looks. Hermione tells Cynthia that this proves Angela is a fair weather friend and not worth her while, but Cynthia is even more determined to cling to her snobbish ways.

But Cynthia finally breaks when another public humiliation (which is even more humiliating because it hits the society news headlines) has all the girls laughing yet again and Hermione graciously offering a sympathetic cocoa. After this, Cynthia sets out to mend her ways. Seeing, this Hermione sets up a test for Cynthia to see how she responds to how the other half lives. When Cynthia passes with flying colours, Hermione allows her to leave the school with a certificate to say she is cured of snobbery. But as Cynthia leaves, guess who arrives for the Hermione Snoot treatment? Yep - Angela de Quincy!

Sequels: School for Snobs was so popular that it came back for sequels. But while the original was a serial that showed us how two snobby sisters were cured of snobbery, the sequels had a 'snob of the week' format. Every week would see a new snob that would be a changed person by the end of the episode. This format explored how snobs can come in all shapes and sizes (such as intellectualism, cookery, military, antiques and bullying). One episode showed how snobbery can rear its ugly head in unlikely places. The girl in question does not see herself as a snob and is a great fan of Hermione's methods. But then she realises she is a snob after all and promises to change. A few episodes took a break from teenage snobs and showed us some adult ones such as a stuffy butler and a snooty secretary.