I wish I’d read girl’s anthology comics when I was younger. At school I was a swot and a pouf anyway, so what the hell. As a fella in my 30s I am of course attempting to buy-back my youth. At flea-markets, if I see any of the range of IPC funny-strip comics from the late 70s*, I can’t resist a flip through, but, being all sexualist about it, only boys collect and keep their comics, so there are only boy-oriented comics to be found.
All I get of what was in comics for girls** are the teaser ads for NEW STORIES START THIS WEEK in other IPC comics ON SALE NOW. Each story is a fantastic permutation of horses, paranormal happenings, time-travelling victorians, diaries, orphans, ghosts, horses, magic amulets, betraying best-friends, ponies, witches and horses. Anyway, here are some tantalising ads that I recently found:
New this week in Tammy and Misty
The Sea Witches – Two girls holidaying in the Outer Hebrides stumble on an age-old terror reborn – a legendary horror that almost took their lives!
The Stone Curse – Katie, staying at her aunt’s in a remote Norfolk village, wonders why everyone is so frightened – especially of the marshes after dark
New this week in Jinty and Penny
The Ghost Dancer – Ferne Ashley leaves her wheelchair to dance in the moonlight. But will she be discovered? [pic of Ferne, sans chair, in a baroque night scene, twirling like a ballerina in her nightie]
I kid you not. That The Ghost Dancer – a story that could ironically run and run – is lost from the comic archives, just ‘cos girls don’t collect/keep comics, is a national tragedy. I want to know what happened to Ferne, goddammit.
* Whizzer & Chips, Whoopee, Krazy, Buster, Monster Fun, etc
**The odd Bunty turns up from time to time. I have one with a fantastic story about an orphaned girl’s attempts to make a kite from scraps of paper and flour-paste. Naturally her attempts are thwarted (and silently suffered through) by her cruel adoptive family.