Childhood Comics and Annuals

[Anita Bensoussane]

Shopping in Sainsbury's, I came across The Best of 70s Girls' Comics Annual, £3.99, published by Egmont. It consists of stories (text and picture-strip), articles, quizzes, jokes and things to make and do, all taken from vintage girls' comics - Jinty, Tammy, Misty and Sally. The cover is the cover of the 1975 Jinty Annual although the 2014 annual only has 70 pages whereas the 1975 annual had 144. Annuals in general have become lamentably thin these days. Still, it's an enjoyable nostalgic trip with some eye-catching artwork and a good mixture of stories - spooky, humorous, dramatic and heart-warming. I particularly liked 'Called to Save' (an eerie story about a girl diver), 'Friends of Alison' (a touching tale), 'Holly Takes the Plunge!' (dramatic, with lovely illustrations) and 'No Tears for Molly' (a bit like Upstairs, Downstairs or Downton Abbey!) Molly (a maid in a big house) was a regular character in one of the comics and I remember reading about her as a child. The same goes for other characters who feature in the annual - Bella the gymnast, plump schoolgirl Bessie Bunter, and Sally Biggs and her cat.

I simply had to do the personality quiz ('See Yourself in Your True Colours') because I love quizzes like that, even though I'd done that one before as I've got it in an old annual. The "beauty tips" made for amusing reading. How many girls aged 8-12 (the target readership of the original comics) would be unduly worried about the appearance of their elbows to the point where they would jump at the chance to try out this advice?: "If your elbows are a little grubby and rough, rest them in half lemons for a few minutes and note the transformation!" I found some of the craft projects interesting such as making bags from old towels, swimsuits or sun-tops; knitting necklaces from twine and making beads by dabbing glue on patterned wallpaper and then wrapping strips of the wallpaper around a knitting needle and leaving them to dry.

[burlingtonbertram]

The cover is the cover of the 1975 Jinty Annual although the 2014 annual only has 70 pages whereas the 1975 annual had 144. Annuals in general have become lamentably thin these days.

I just received a Greyfriars Holiday Annual - 1933 - a Christmas present to me but that I chose and ordered. I was expecting the standard, modern annual size like the 70's and 80's re-prints. They are still quite good value as there is a lot of small text. Unexpectedly though, a parcel the size of a small breeze block arrived. It's got 280 pages of thick paper. So much better value!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Wow - that's what all annuals ought to be like!

[Katharine]

I saw that annual and wondered whether to get it or not, sounds very similar to some originals I have on my bookshelf. I remember No Tears for Molly. I wonder how many corner shops had a run on lemons after articles such as that, and how many people actually made the crafts?

[burlingtonbertram]

It's odd though, that they were giving beauty tips for girls aged 8 - 12. I mean, that's a modern complaint isn't it; the media trying to make kids grow up too fast.

[Katharine]

Well I must admit I would query that age group. I was still reading Twinkle comics until I was about 10, and then went on to read something called Emma which later merged with Judy, I don't remember the others that Anita listed, or at least not as comics, but I do have a couple of annuals which I've acquired somehow. I'm trying to think back, but I don't remember them being beauty tips as such, more a case of looking clean and tidy, so maybe giving your hair a rinse in something or other to give it extra shine. I can't remember if it would have included make up tips.

I don't know if there's anything around nowadays for young girls, we seemed to have such a wide choice, starting with Twinkle, through things like Judy to Blue Jeans. I know there are lots of BBC programme related comics, and Pony comics, Fairy comics etc., but is there anything for older girls? I shall have to look next time I'm in a newsagents.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I always thought the beauty tips were bizarre and took no notice of them! Readers were advised to sit with circles of cucumber or used teabags over their eyes to prevent puffiness, or wash their hair with two beaten eggs to make it more shiny (ensuring that the water was fairly cool, otherwise they'd end up with scrambled egg in their hair!) If I'd done anything like that my mum would have told me off for wasting food!

I tried some of the simpler crafts featured in comics and magazines when I was young, e.g. mats made from French knitting; a mobile constructed from coat-hangers, string and cardboard; and paper fortune-tellers. The most ambitious thing I made following a pattern in a comic was a rag doll, but my mum helped me with that. Sometimes there was a board-game on the centre pages so my sister and I would play it, and we also enjoyed tracing paper dolls and their clothes. When my daughter was little, she used to make paper dolls and their clothes by tracing them from old annuals of mine (Bunty, etc.)

Regarding age, everyone laughed at me when I admitted at Guides (aged 12) that I still liked Jinty.

[Katharine]

Yes, indeed, food was for eating in our house, not for sticking on our faces!!

I used to like cutting out the dolls from my Twinkle comics. Somewhere in my loft I've a carrier bag full of them, plus the comic they came from. I still have all my Emma and Judy magazines as well, apart from a few odd ones that somehow disappeared. Plus a box of Smash Hits. It's a wonder our ceilings have collapsed!! I really do need a bigger house to display all my books, comics, childhood toys etc. I wonder if the Victoria and Albert Museum is up for sale?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Your collection sounds great, Katharine! My sister and I also took Judy for a while, and Tammy, but our favourite was Jinty.

[Moonraker]

This is the kind of Jinty I remember and love.

[Lucky Star]

Plus a box of Smash Hits.

I used to love Smash Hits. I bought it regularly from about 1978 to 1983. Sadly they have all gone now.

[John Pickup]

I used to take the Victor and Valiant back in the 60's. Characters like Alf Tupper and Captain Hurricane used to fascinate me. I also took the Rover & Wizard for a while, where the stories appeared without the boxed illustrations to accompany them. My favourite story was My Business Is Goals which featured a centre forward called Stan Stagg. What a name.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yesterday I came across another girls' annual in Sainsbury's for only £2 in the sale - The Best of Bunty Annual, published by Pedigree Books:

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Once again it contains stories and features from past annuals but most of the material (78 pages) was new to me. There are two stories about 'The Four Marys' (four school chums all named Mary who were familiar to me from old annuals) - both are great little stories about schoolgirls overcoming opposition to do their bit for heritage or conservation. I loved 'Punch and Jenny', a dramatic horse-riding tale, and 'No Pals for Pamela', about a girl at ballet school. Best of all was 'Catch the Cat!', about a girl called Marie Bonnet who is a member of the resistance movement in occupied France in 1940. She dons a cat suit to creep into buildings, spy on the enemy and carry out important tasks, but she has to keep her work a secret and has earned the contempt of her friends because she appears in their eyes to be too friendly with the Germans. The artwork is eye-catching and features illustrations of flags adorned with swastikas, and a portrait of Hitler. Again, the character of "the Cat" was familiar to me as there was a whole series of stories about her.

There are many more stories and articles and puzzles, including a couple of photo stories taken from later Bunty Annuals, but the ones I've picked out are my favourites. I was also pleased to see a paper doll with clothes to trace, cut out and colour. Very nostalgic. I adored paper dolls as a youngster, as did my daughter when she was small.

[Julie2owlsdene]

That sounds like a good read, Anita. I used to get Bunty in the early 60's, and I loved it. I keep seeing some of the old annuals in old book shops, and I'm sometimes tempted to buy, but they're priced quite high.

[Stephen]

I have to confess to reading my sister's Bunty, Mandy, Judy and Tammy annuals over the years! Some excellent stories there, some of them actually quite creepy. I remember one Four Marys story in which a meteorite crashes into a nearby field which then seems to cause extremely bizarre behaviour at the school (teachers playing with skipping ropes, one girl finding everyone else frozen like statues as if time has stopped still). It's never specifically stated, but it's certainly hinted that the meteorite could actually be an alien spacecraft.