Girl

[RuthB]

Could anyone please indicate me where could I find some information regarding dates of publication and other facts about Girl Magazine? Not the one from Hutton Press but the eighties one. I can't find any information at all!
Thanks!

[Digifiend]

Damn it. That info used to be on the Comics UK Family Tree, but the entire site except this forum is still out of action, and archive.org doesn't have the Family Tree available (got as far as it's index, which lists Girl series 2 which is what you're looking for, but trying to go any further results in a "not archived" error).

[Phoenix]

The second series apparently started in 1981, Ruth. I've just checked the online catalogue of 30th Century Comics of Putney, London for you. They have 24 individually-priced issues for sale for a combined total of just under £40. Number 4 is described as Good, the rest are either Very Good or Fine. Of the 24 issues, 14 are from 1981, 9 are from 1982 and the other (issue 170) is from 1984. You may well find, given the current lack of information elsewhere, that buying these will start the research ball rolling for you at a very reasonable cost. You can always top it up later, when more information (and/or issues) become(s) available. If you are interested, access 30th Century Comics, then select Catalogue, then select Girls' Comics and see for yourself. If you then want to contact them, their phone number is given in the catalogue. It may be easier to email them at [email protected]. Just for the record, I have no connection with this company. I have dealt with them several times, though, and I have found them to be extremely pleasant, very fair, thoroughly efficient and professional. Best of luck.

[RuthB]

Oh, I'm not interested in buying them, I have all the annuals and they weren't so good with all the photo-romances and such. I just need the info for something I'm writing. Thanks to both!!

[philcom55]

Off hand I'm not sure when it finished but Girl no.1 was dated December 14th 1981 after which it swallowed Dreamer from May 22nd 1982 and Tammy from August 25th 1984.



As I'm assuming that your main interest is the 'Patty's World' strip my guess would be that it must have transferred from Mates to the first issue of Dreamer on September 19th 1981 (instead of continuing in the combined Oh Boy & Mates) then wound up in Girl & Dreamer a mere 35 issues later. Though I don't have any copies of Dreamer itself you can see what its logo looked like in the above scan.

- Phil Rushton

[Shaqui]

Off hand I'm not sure when it finished but Girl no.1 was dated December 14th 1981 after which it swallowed Dreamer from May 22nd 1982 and Tammy from August 25th 1984.

The British Library database (which admittedly isn't always 100% accurate) indicates issue 1 of 'Girl' was 14 February 1981, and lists holdings up to 14 March 1990.

They also list the last 'Tammy' as 23 June 1984?

[RuthB]

thanks a million. I know it picked up Patty's World afther the end of Mates, I just wanted to know some general facts abut the magazine, I think all this will do anyway since there isn't much info available.

[Digifiend]

Off hand I'm not sure when it finished but Girl no.1 was dated December 14th 1981 after which it swallowed Dreamer from May 22nd 1982 and Tammy from August 25th 1984.

The British Library database (which admittedly isn't always 100% accurate) indicates issue 1 of 'Girl' was 14 February 1981, and lists holdings up to 14 March 1990.

They also list the last 'Tammy' as 23 June 1984?

14/2 or 14/12? That might just be a typo.

[Al]

It was 14th February 1981. I do have a rough copy of it in my archives.

[RuthB]

Niiiiiiceee!!

[philcom55]

Ooops!

To be honest I don't know where that December date came from as my own notes say the first issue was 14th February; my eyesight must be getting worse than I thought! Even more confusingly Denis Gifford's 1985 Catalogue of British Comics dates the last edition of Tammy as 23rd June 1984 but says the first combined issue of Girl & Tammy was dated 25th August. Unless there was some kind of strike between those dates it sounds as though poor old Denis needed new glasses as well!

- Phil R.

[Phoenix]

Even more confusingly Denis Gifford's 1985 Catalogue of British Comics dates the last edition of Tammy as 23rd June 1984 but says the first combined issue of Girl & Tammy was dated 25th August. Unless there was some kind of strike between those dates it sounds as though poor old Denis needed new glasses as well!

If Denis was wrong, it wouldn't be the first time. Occasionally he did seem to allow his need to get a piece of work finished to override his readers' need for accuracy.

[Shaqui]

Does anyone have the dates (even approximate, to the month?), so I can look them up at Colindale) of the photostrip '9 to 4' which, I presume, was sometime during the first few years of 'Girl' (1981-1984), please?

[helsbels]

Ooops!

To be honest I don't know where that December date came from as my own notes say the first issue was 14th February; my eyesight must be getting worse than I thought! Even more confusingly Denis Gifford's 1985 Catalogue of British Comics dates the last edition of Tammy as 23rd June 1984 but says the first combined issue of Girl & Tammy was dated 25th August. Unless there was some kind of strike between those dates it sounds as though poor old Denis needed new glasses as well!

- Phil R.

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!

: Source Mark Peters