Looking for Judy comics from the early 80s... or information

[tony ingram]

At the London comic fair on Sunday there was the usual stall selling dozens of cd roms containing just about every issue of every US comic title published right back to the 30s. Perhaps something like this will happen with UK comics and you may be able to clap eyes on every issue of Judy one day but i'm not sure the source material is still available.

I think DCT have a fairly comprehensive archive so most of it probably is as far as they're concerned. Not so sure about Fleetway's stuff, though.

[Digifiend]

Egmont should have the material from 1970 to 2002 (which is when the last Fleetway comic, the licensed Sonic the Comic (starring Sonic the Hedgehog), folded). Before 1970, I believe someone else owns the rights, and therefore presumably any surviving archives. I assume it's IPC, the original Fleetway owner, but I can't be certain.

[Lew Stringer]

Egmont should have the material from 1970 to 2002 (which is when the last Fleetway comic, the licensed Sonic the Comic (starring Sonic the Hedgehog), folded).

That depends if Egmont still have the licensing rights to Sonic after all these years.

Also, Sonic wasn't the last Egmont comic. Toxic is still being published. (New issue out today in fact.)

Lew

[Digifiend]

No, but it was the last Fleetway comic. And I was talking about the archive, whether they still have the rights is irrelevant.

[Phoenix]

I thought you might be interested in this quote from Paul Gravett's Great British Comics:

...Probably the ultimate waif tragedy...was 'Nothing Ever Goes Right', told in jarringly misshapen panels in Thomson's Judy in 1981. At its climax Heather Morgan's rescue of two children trapped in a demolished house makes her weak heart finally give out and she is buried, unknown, in an unmarked grave. According to Judy artist Ron Tiner, this tale "remained an all-time favourite among the readers".

In case anybody is interested in following up the reference in Phil's quotation from Paul Gravett's book, this is the instalment from Judy 1104 (March 7 1981).

[Audiate]

Thanks for sharing these!

I'm rather amazed that the story 'remained a favourite', as, even with the 'darker' stories, readers liked to know that everything would turn out all right in the end. (And I'm speaking from experience, given that I was an 11-year-old girl when I read them!)
I wonder what basis they have for knowing it was a favourite? I had many favourites, but it never would have occured to me, at that age, to write to the publication...

[tony ingram]

Thanks for sharing these!

I'm rather amazed that the story 'remained a favourite', as, even with the 'darker' stories, readers liked to know that everything would turn out all right in the end. (And I'm speaking from experience, given that I was an 11-year-old girl when I read them!)
I wonder what basis they have for knowing it was a favourite? I had many favourites, but it never would have occured to me, at that age, to write to the publication...

Well, the letters page or readers polls have been a fixture of Briish comics for decades so I guess someone was actually listening...

[Audiate]

Funny, I never saw a poll in Judy in all the years I read it... wish I *had* written in to tell them how much I loved the stories and artwork! (And how much I wish the writers and artists were given credit)

[philcom55]

I'm rather amazed that the story 'remained a favourite', as, even with the 'darker' stories, readers liked to know that everything would turn out all right in the end. (And I'm speaking from experience, given that I was an 11-year-old girl when I read them!)

Although there were plenty of comical and upbeat stories over the years it does seem that the most outstandingly popular strips tended to be real tear-jerkers with almost unbearably tragic endings. For example it's arguable that the best-remembered character from Mandy (the title which later merged with Judy) was the young girl known as 'Angel' whose backstory was summed up as follows:

"Angela Hamilton lived in London in Victorian times, and was the only child of a wealthy banker. When she was fourteen Angela was stricken by an illness for which there was no known cure, and given only a year to live. Wishing to put a quick end to her loving parents' distress, Angela faked an accident, making it appear that she had fallen from a cliff-top, drowned, and been washed out to sea. Then she went to a London slum, determined to devote her remaining time to helping the city's many needy waifs..."

...I don't know whether it says more about the innate differences between girls and boys, or about the ways in which they were stereotyped by editors, but it's worth remembering that boys' comics at this time were almost exclusively wedded to the principle that any problem could be solved by a good right uppercut to the jaw!

As for poor old Angel, in spite of her saintly ordeals it was always obvious that the story would end with the discovery of some miracle cure, enabling her to be finally restored to the bosom of her loving family amidst scenes of general rejoicing - except that it didn't! Instead she got progressively sicker and sicker and duly died after a year of good deeds. Then after she died they built a statue in her memory.

And apparently the readers loved it and clamoured for more..!


People always laugh about the ponies and the ballet and the hockey that were forever turning up in British girls' comics, but to me the most striking genre was the peculiar ideal of extreme self-sacrifice celebrated by stories such as 'Angel' - and they really were very odd indeed! One can't help but wonder how many generations of young girls were inspired to become low-paid nurses and social workers on the strength of these feminine role-models...

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

This story was repeated in Lucky Charm in 1980. The three scans here are the cover, page 4 and the last page.

[AndyB]

In the 1970s and 80s, comics were priced around one Mars Bar or less. In the 21st century, they range from 2.5 mars bars (the Beano) to four or more. Quite a few more in some cases.

The Mars Bar is a wonderful form of currency.

[Digifiend]

You should really convert that to a per week ratio, as most comics are now fortnightly or even monthly, unlike even 10 years ago. So Dandy Xtreme, at £2.50, would work out the same as The Beano, at £1.25, as both work out £1.25 per week.

[AndyB]

The Dandy's pagecount is lower per fortnight, though...

[Kashgar]

And then there's the fact that a Mars Bar produced in 2009 is nowhere near the size of a Mars Bar produced 30 or more years ago. We'll have to up with some commodity that has maintained its size for this type of comparison to be valid. What about a peck of pickled peppers?

[tony ingram]

What about a peck of pickled peppers?

No thanks, just put one out.