Tammy's last issue

Discuss all the girls comics that have appeared over the years. Excellent titles like Bunty, Misty, Spellbound, Tammy and June, amongst many others, can all be remembered here.

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Marionette
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Tammy's last issue

Post by Marionette »

According to Wikipedia Tammy's final issue is dated 23rd June 1984. Now I've just bought the issue with that date, and not only does it not have "great news for all our readers", most of the stories end with some strapline about the next issue, and it even features the first episode of a new serial.

Either they had no idea the comic was about to be cancelled, or this isn't the last issue.
The Tammy Project: Documenting the classic British girls' comic, one serial at a time.

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RuthB
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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by RuthB »

I think that was the case with mos of this publications, but Tammy merged with Girl so probably some of the serials were taken over there.

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philcom55
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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by philcom55 »

According to Denis Gifford's Complete Catalogue of British Comics (which does indeed give 23rd June 1984 as the date of Tammy's final issue) the first issue of Girl & Tammy didn't appear until 25th August 1984.

Assuming Denis didn't mix his dates up (certainly not unknown), this suggests that there must have been a two month hiatus between cancellation and merger - possibly resulting from another one of those damaging printing strikes?

Come to think of it Ruth, didn't 'Patty's World' also move over to Girl in a rather confusing way?

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by philcom55 »

Aha! I've just checked and IPC did indeed suffer from a printers' strike in June 1984! While 2000AD returned in early July after a month-long absence other titles such as the new boys' horror comic Scream (and, presumably, Tammy) weren't so lucky. :(

Ironically, the July 7th issue of 2000AD featured the first installment of Alan Moore's classic 'Ballad of Halo Jones' - arguably the best British girls' series ever!

- Phil Rushton

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by Marionette »

Wow.

That's sad, and a little ironic, given what you were saying about how Tammy came about in the first place. Thanks, Phil.
The Tammy Project: Documenting the classic British girls' comic, one serial at a time.

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by philcom55 »

Just what I was thinking Mari! :shock:

Incidentally I think the strike was in July rather than June. Readers had to wait a month for the second episode of Halo Jones.

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by philcom55 »

I've just checked the first issue of 2000AD to appear after the strike ('Prog' 377, dated 4th August 84) and, amazingly, there doesn't seem to be any mention at all of the month-long break in publication on Tharg's editorial page - let alone an explanation; nor is there a cover on which Judge Dredd, Johnny Alpha, Ace Garp, Sam Slade and Walter the Wobot can be seen marching behind a banner saying 'Thank Grud We're Back!' Clearly The Mighty One's vaunted omniscience was on the blink that week!

There is, however, this fascinating announcement on the inside back cover:

Image

...I wonder how many Tammy readers decided to switch their standing order to Battle Action Force or Roy of the Rovers in order to complete their set of tokens? :roll:

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by Marionette »

That's amazing. The things you dig up, Phil. :D

One other thing I'd like to find out: did any of the stories in Tammy carry over to Girl when they merged, or was it purely a temporary cosmetic addition to the masthead? I'm in the midst of adding this issue to the Grand Comics Database, so it would be useful if I could include this information.

ETA: I've just checked and there's nothing about that promotion in the last issue of Tammy. My guess is that it relates to an ad campaign which would have been too expensive to change at the last minute. How sad that the comic was cancelled just as it was about to get that publicity boost.
The Tammy Project: Documenting the classic British girls' comic, one serial at a time.

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by helsbels »

I have been collecting Girl comic (for episodes of Patty's World) and though I haven't come across any issues immediately after the Tammy merger, I don't think any of the stories carried over - Tammy was literally axed in mid flow. I include this past post of mine from a while back:
I think this piece from the mistycomic website may explain the reasons for why Tammy didn't appear on the Girl masthead until several weeks after it's demise:

Apparently when “Tammy” ceased publication after the 23rd June 1984 issue, the logo didn't immediately appear on the “Girl” masthead - about two months went by with no Tammy at all until suddenly the logo appeared on the issue dated 25 August 1985 with no fanfare or explanation or indeed reference to it at all, where apparently it stayed for four or five weeks until “Girl” was re-launched with a new look and then it vanished. (The same thing happened with “Scream”, which apparently ended suddenly in July and whose logo appeared on the masthead of “Eagle” in September). I can only assume by this that there were issues planned for the weeks it disappeared, but never actually put in the shops - working in publishing, I can see that if the title was cancelled after the 23 June issue then there must have been others in the pipeline; similarly, all issues of “Girl” until 25 August must have been either printed or designed before “Tammy” was cancelled, hence the fact that the logo never appeared on the front until then - i.e. this was the first issue it could have been featured as all the others were already ready to go into the shops before the cancellation. Which suggests to me that there were several “Tammys” in the pipeline too, but none ever reached the public!
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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by helsbels »

I think that should be 25th August 1984.

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by helsbels »

Apparently when “Tammy” ceased publication after the 23rd June 1984 issue, the logo didn't immediately appear on the “Girl” masthead - about two months went by with no Tammy at all until suddenly the logo appeared on the issue dated 25 August 1985 with no fanfare or explanation
I think that should be 25th August 1984.

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by Marionette »

It was definitely axed in mid-flow. One strip, Cora Can't Lose was on its penultimate episode. In a typically Tammy storyline, Cora was in the middle of running the most important race of her life when she has a brain haemorrhage. Would she live? Would she win? You could never be quite sure with Tammy.
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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by Digifiend »

I'm guessing this unpublished material is lost?

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by Marionette »

I suppose they might have reprinted some of the stories, and finished them off, in later annuals. I know Tammy was still doing annuals for at least a couple of years after the comic was cancelled. Anyone have any of them?
The Tammy Project: Documenting the classic British girls' comic, one serial at a time.

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Re: Tammy's last issue

Post by philcom55 »

Not sure about the annuals but I'd imagine that the missing strips were published abroad as IPC sold most of their material all over the world. I guess it'd be quite a coup to track one of these down and translate it back into English (in fact this is just the sort of 'extra' that would give added value to any digital reissue).

- Phil R.

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