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Does anyone know when Miss Bigger from Wee Sue appeared? I know that when Wee Sue first appeared in Sandie there was no Miss Bigger. Did Miss Bigger debut in a sequel to the first Wee Sue story in Sandie or did she start when Sandie merged with Tammy? And if anyone can provide a scan of Miss Bigger's first appearance that would be fantastic. Thank you so much in advance to anyone who can help.

Can anyone provide a scan of the first Wee Sue story to appear in Tammy, please? It was dated 27 October 1973. Thanks.

I don't know if you're still looking for this, Tammyfan - you probably found it long ago. However in case you haven't, Miss Bigger was first introduced in the first Wee Sue Tammy story of 27 October 1973. Happy to provide a scan if you still want one.

Goof wrote:I don't know if you're still looking for this, Tammyfan - you probably found it long ago. However in case you haven't, Miss Bigger was first introduced in the first Wee Sue Tammy story of 27 October 1973. Happy to provide a scan if you still want one.

Thank you Goof. Actually, a scan would be most useful. Thank you in advance.

Here it is. Sorry about the print-through on the third page - big clothes competition on the other side.







I can't help thinking that this series would have been a better candidate for revival in the Tammy & Jinty Special than Maisie's Magic Eye.

Thank you Goof. I see Miss Bigger hasn’t taken on the distinctive choppers and nose she would later on and doesn't have her trademark black blouse and tweed jacket and skirt. She's also thinner. Shows how she evolved as various artists took her on.

I wondered about a revival of Wee Sue in the special too. Maybe the next one. Molly Mills can probably stay at rest.

Interesting that Miss Bigger gave her first name as Lillian in her first appearance, and that was how it was for the first few years. But by 1978 Miss Bigger's first name was given as Amelia. I wonder: why the change? Miss Bigger couldn't have changed it herself because we see old school reports giving her name as Amelia. Continuity stuff-up somewhere is more likely.

Great to see that Goof! As a matter of interest does anybody remember if those annoying bleed-throughs were apparent when the comics were published, or has the ink gradually seeped into the paper over time?

Tammyfan wrote:I see Miss Bigger hasn’t taken on the distinctive choppers and nose she would later on and doesn't have her trademark black blouse and tweed jacket and skirt. She's also thinner. Shows how she evolved as various artists took her on.

Yes, she certainly has quite a way to go to the goggle-eyed monster of the later John Richardson stories!

I think that Sue’s character is also evolving at this point. She still has a lot of the quiet, sober brainbox which seems have been her original character in Sandie, and is a long way from the wise-cracking street kid of later stories, but even in this first Tammy appearance you can see a more offbeat comedy starting to creep in. I particularly like the matter-of-fact exchange with her mother while she’s about to jump the school wall from half-way up the factory fire escape, and her meek sorry-I’m-late entry into class with an unexplained string of onions round her neck. Do you know who wrote these early Wee Sue stories?

Quite by chance yesterday morning when I was searching for my collection of issues of BUNTY Picture Story Library, I stumbled across my meagre collection of SANDIE. It happens to include the final five episodes of Wee Sue. These five date (no numbering) from 22 April 1972 to 20 May 1972. I am extremely busy writing at the moment but I should be able to find some time to write a brief summary of any of those instalments you don't have. For future reference, the remainder consists of 27 May 1972 to 24 June 1972, 2 September 1972, 24 February 1973 to 3 March 1973, and 17 March 1973.

Thank you Phoenix. I was wondering when the first Wee Sue Story ended in Sandie. So she ended 20 May 1972?

Tammyfan wrote:Thank you Phoenix. I was wondering when the first Wee Sue Story ended in Sandie. So she ended 20 May 1972?

Well if you had possessed the issue for 20 May 1972, Briony, I'm sure that you would have been persuaded, as I was, by the words THE END at the end of that instalment. Sorry for the delay in replying but I have been in Truro for much of the day with my grandchildren Lois and Alex.

Goof wrote:

Tammyfan wrote:I see Miss Bigger hasn’t taken on the distinctive choppers and nose she would later on and doesn't have her trademark black blouse and tweed jacket and skirt. She's also thinner. Shows how she evolved as various artists took her on.

Yes, she certainly has quite a way to go to the goggle-eyed monster of the later John Richardson stories!

I think that Sue’s character is also evolving at this point. She still has a lot of the quiet, sober brainbox which seems have been her original character in Sandie, and is a long way from the wise-cracking street kid of later stories, but even in this first Tammy appearance you can see a more offbeat comedy starting to creep in. I particularly like the matter-of-fact exchange with her mother while she’s about to jump the school wall from half-way up the factory fire escape, and her meek sorry-I’m-late entry into class with an unexplained string of onions round her neck. Do you know who wrote these early Wee Sue stories?

Sue is also still drawn the way she appeared in Sandie, though with a different artist. She has the same hairdo and freckles she had in Sandie. Later the freckles disappear and she has a more tousled hairdo. But you can see the change in writing already. Sue has gone from being a serial, as she was in Sandie, to being a regular with self-contained episodes played for light relief.

Tammyfan wrote:She has the same hairdo and freckles she had in Sandie. Later the freckles disappear and she has a more tousled hairdo.

Yes, and Capaldi also makes quite a lot of how poor she is, in the patched and mended state of her clothes. I don't know if this was also stressed by Torregrosa in the Sandie series.

Also, isn’t it rather unusual that Tammy revived the series so long after it had ceased in the comic it was taking over? Unless there was a brief reappearance in the last few months of Sandie’s run, it looks as if Tammy restarted the series in its first post-merger number, nearly a year and a half after it had finished in Sandie. Somebody at Tammy must have had a sharp eye for unexplored potential.

Goof wrote:

Tammyfan wrote:She has the same hairdo and freckles she had in Sandie. Later the freckles disappear and she has a more tousled hairdo.

Yes, and Capaldi also makes quite a lot of how poor she is, in the patched and mended state of her clothes. I don't know if this was also stressed by Torregrosa in the Sandie series.

Also, isn’t it rather unusual that Tammy revived the series so long after it had ceased in the comic it was taking over? Unless there was a brief reappearance in the last few months of Sandie’s run, it looks as if Tammy restarted the series in its first post-merger number, nearly a year and a half after it had finished in Sandie. Somebody at Tammy must have had a sharp eye for unexplored potential.

The poor part got phased out, as did Miss Tuft. From the look of things, Miss Tuft must have been relieved about that and glad Sue was now Miss Bigger's problem. I see another element, Sue's gift for being handy with mechanics, is also present. We see it in a number of stories, such as her fixing car engines.