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.
Tammyfan wrote:Nope, no Valda in Dorcas and the Dark Lady. I bought a copy (not sure if I still have it) and I can tell you that it was lightyears from Valda. The dark lady was supposed to be a ghost who appeared to warn a family member of danger, and she appeared to a couple of girls who are taken from the workhouse by their relatives after being orphaned. But the relatives are up to something and, as you might have guessed, planning to kill them so they can grab their inheritance. Afterwards the ghost turns out to be a friend in costume trying to help them. Except for one thing - there was one sighting of the dark lady that cannot be explained in this manner....
Thank you for clearing that query up, Briony. Dorcas was, nevertheless, an unusual name to choose.
Since my previous post I have bought Mint condition copies of Penny's Place (Mandy 216), New Kids At The Comp (Bunty 371), and Trixie's Treasure Chest (Debbie 127), all from 30th Century, so I have crossed those off my Wants List. Just Valda, Bobby Dazzler, and any stories about Moira Kent, Lorna Drake, Sandra, and a handful of others still to get.
Phoenix wrote:Thank you for clearing that query up, Briony. Dorcas was, nevertheless, an unusual name to choose.
The picture library was set in Victorian times. But even so, yes, Dorcas sounds an unusual choice. Maybe they chose it for something different or to add an extra touch of authenticity.
Tammyfan wrote:The picture library was set in Victorian times. But even so, yes, Dorcas sounds an unusual choice. Maybe they chose it for something different or to add an extra touch of authenticity.
The name certainly has some age as it was that of a charitable woman appearing somewhere in the New Testament. The only other use of the name that I can recall though is in The Girlhood Of Valda, where she was the old lady who brought Valda up, and was said to have been born before 1587. Definitely pre-Victorian therefore. I did think it might have been used by Dickens but the name doesn't appear in Hayward's The Dickens Encyclopaedia. Does anybody know of any others?
Tammyfan wrote:Nope, no Valda in Dorcas and the Dark Lady. I bought a copy (not sure if I still have it) and I can tell you that it was lightyears from Valda. The dark lady was supposed to be a ghost who appeared to warn a family member of danger, and she appeared to a couple of girls who are taken from the workhouse by their relatives after being orphaned. But the relatives are up to something and, as you might have guessed, planning to kill them so they can grab their inheritance. Afterwards the ghost turns out to be a friend in costume trying to help them. Except for one thing - there was one sighting of the dark lady that cannot be explained in this manner....
It has just occurred to me that the plot you have outlined above, Briony, is very reminiscent of The Legend Of Lucille, which starts in Bunty 1501 (Oct. 18 1986). Lucy Vincent helps the French Resistance movement in WW2 by pretending to be the ghost of Lucille Lamont, who helped to guide people to safety during the French Revolution, and became a legend for her exploits. But then the real ghost appears! It must have been inspired by Dorcas and the Dark Lady (Bunty Library 239), which was certainly on sale in March 1983.
Tammyfan wrote:Nope, no Valda in Dorcas and the Dark Lady. I bought a copy (not sure if I still have it) and I can tell you that it was lightyears from Valda. The dark lady was supposed to be a ghost who appeared to warn a family member of danger, and she appeared to a couple of girls who are taken from the workhouse by their relatives after being orphaned. But the relatives are up to something and, as you might have guessed, planning to kill them so they can grab their inheritance. Afterwards the ghost turns out to be a friend in costume trying to help them. Except for one thing - there was one sighting of the dark lady that cannot be explained in this manner....
It has just occurred to me that the plot you have outlined above, Briony, is very reminiscent of The Legend Of Lucille, which starts in Bunty 1501 (Oct. 18 1986). Lucy Vincent helps the French Resistance movement in WW2 by pretending to be the ghost of Lucille Lamont, who helped to guide people to safety during the French Revolution, and became a legend for her exploits. But then the real ghost appears! It must have been inspired by Dorcas and the Dark Lady (Bunty Library 239), which was certainly on sale in March 1983.
Same writer, maybe? Anyway, thanks for the info about Lucille.
Phoenix wrote:The only other use of the name that I can recall though is in The Girlhood Of Valda, where she was the old lady who brought Valda up, and was said to have been born before 1587. Definitely pre-Victorian therefore. I did think it might have been used by Dickens but the name doesn't appear in Hayward's The Dickens Encyclopaedia. Does anybody know of any others?
Another has come to mind. Dorcas is the name of a homeless waif in The Dark Days Of Dorcas in Debbie 62 (Apr. 20 1974) - 77 (Aug. 3 1974). She is taken in off the streets by the opportunistic Mrs Eliza Greems, who in exchange for bed and board, forces her to work as one of Mr Churler's many chimney sweeps who work in the fine houses in Victorian London, stealing as a sideline any valuables they can find in whichever other rooms they can access via the chimney system.
The subject of girls' names in girls' comics is an interesting one. Most of the time they seem to be chosen for alliteration with the rest of the title, and this often results in such bizarrely obscure names that I often wonder if they haven't simply been made up.
Even Jinty is so rare that googling it will mostly give you steam engines, but the comics are full of names like Cluny (The Clock and Cluny Jones), Skimpy (Skimpy Must Ski), Shani (Shani Must Shine), Teesha (Two-Faced Teesha), Betta (Betta to Lose), and Wenna (Wenna the Witch); some of which might work as nicknames, but appear to be the girl's entire actual name in the story. The more obscure ones don't even turn up on those baby name websites that include every possible variation of every name a person could ever have.
The Tammy Project: Documenting the classic British girls' comic, one serial at a time.
There was Shani Wallis, a stage and screen actress who also starred in musicals. I was still at school at the time but I remember seeing her in the flesh when she was one of three invited guests to an open day at Lancaster Lads' Club. The others were British heavyweight boxer Brian London and singer Frankie Vaughan.
Marionette wrote:The subject of girls' names in girls' comics is an interesting one. Most of the time they seem to be chosen for alliteration with the rest of the title, and this often results in such bizarrely obscure names that I often wonder if they haven't simply been made up.
Even Jinty is so rare that googling it will mostly give you steam engines, but the comics are full of names like Cluny (The Clock and Cluny Jones), Skimpy (Skimpy Must Ski), Shani (Shani Must Shine), Teesha (Two-Faced Teesha), Betta (Betta to Lose), and Wenna (Wenna the Witch); some of which might work as nicknames, but appear to be the girl's entire actual name in the story. The more obscure ones don't even turn up on those baby name websites that include every possible variation of every name a person could ever have.
Those are all Tammy titles except the last one, which is Jinty.
Jinty had an alien called Xenia in "Almost Human". Funny thing is, I think Xenia is a real name. The protagonist in Jinty's "Who's that in My Mirror?" had an unusual name too - Magda.
Today I've been catching up on the last few days' issues of The Guardian, and I've just noticed an obituary in yesterday's for an Italian opera singer called Magda Olivero. Her full name apparently too. How about that for coincidence?
According to the Mag@zone blog Judy Picture Story Library reprinted reformatted stories from the weekly. Does anyone know how accurate this information is?
Phoenix wrote:According to the Mag@zone blog Judy Picture Story Library reprinted reformatted stories from the weekly. Does anyone know how accurate this information is?
Girl II produced a 30 issue picture story series, which reprinted a lot of Tammy and Jinty stories in reformatted and sometimes retitled form.
