Time Travel strips in Girls' Comics

[philcom55]

I agree about the similarity to Gene's halftone work - it's a shame that more comics didn't make use of this technique.

Returning to the time travel theme, here are a couple more issues of Thomson's picture libraries which featured unusual time machines: one, an old-fashioned carriage which transported two girls from the past into the present day - and another like a cross between a grandfather clock and a weighing machine which took two modern girls into the past.





With all this travelling backward and forward along the timelines it's a wonder Doctor Who hasn't got stuck in a traffic jam before now!

- Phil R.

[matrix]

Judy, who on visiting her aunts mansion discovers the house gives her powers to relive the past!

Does anyone think J.S. had a hand in this?

Form a late sixties special.

[philcom55]

That certainly seems possible Matrix. I wonder what Jluc thinks? (Unfortunately I don't recognize the strip, though it looks like something that would have originally appeared in Princess during the early 1960s - probably with a different title)

- Phil R.

[matrix]

I would say your right Phil, as this example is from a Princess Tina special. Not sure when he first started drawing for Princess? (probably on here somewhere) Not sure if Jluc scans all the forum?

[Tammyfan]

That looks like Tony Thewenetti's art. He was the first Molly Mills artist in Tammy. He also drew for Mandy (No Pity for Paula) and Bunty (Melody Lee, a Dancer She'll be).

[Tammyfan]

Our heroines are in for some time travel adventures when they replace the lens in their torch with the one they find in the shop. Now they find that if the torch shines on an object with a history, the torch will transport them back to that time in history. And with the shop at Shudder Corner being an antique shop, there is no shortage of such objects! Art by Norman Lee.

[Tammyfan]

Rosie Cooper is accustomed to getting her own way at school because her father chairs the school board. A prefect, tired of Rosie's arrogant ways, orders her to clean a storeroom to teach her a lesson. But as we see here, they both get a bit more than they bargained for when time travel steps in. Art by David Matysiak.

[philcom55]

Tops was unusual amongst DC Thomson's 'serious' comics in that it was simultaneously aimed at girls and boys. Thus, in this strip from issue no.17 (Jan 30 1982), twins Jenny and Alan both find themselves tumbling through the corridors of time via a mysterious fireplace in their school's store-room (a novel means of time-travel that pre-dates the Doctor Who episode 'The Girl in the Fireplace' by several years!).







- Phil Rushton

[Tammyfan]

Tops was unusual amongst DC Thomson's 'serious' comics in that it was simultaneously aimed at girls and boys. Thus, in this strip from issue no.17 (Jan 30 1982), twins Jenny and Alan both find themselves tumbling through the corridors of time via a mysterious fireplace in their school's store-room (a novel means of time-travel that pre-dates the Doctor Who episode 'The Girl in the Fireplace' by several years!). - Phil Rushton

A comic that targeted both girls and boys? Now that sounds intriguing! How did it get on and what was the reception to it?
Update: Ah, some searching revealed it changed its name to TV Tops. It lasted from 10 October 1981 to 28 January 1984, when it merged with Suzy. At least it lasted longer than most fledgling titles of the time, which barely lasted three months, so it must have had something. It was a mix of strips based on TV shows and original strips.

Now, how did the comic try to bridge the gap between boys and girls (besides having both boys and girls taking proactive roles and a gender-neutral title)? I wonder if there is anything we can learn from it if Pat gets another chance to create a girls' comic....

By the way, any luck in finding out what happened to that witch of Westwood High?

[Phoenix]

Thus, in this strip from issue no.17 (Jan 30 1982), twins Jenny and Alan both find themselves tumbling through the corridors of time via a mysterious fireplace in their school's store-room (a novel means of time-travel that pre-dates the Doctor Who episode 'The Girl in the Fireplace' by several years!).

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Joanne Rowling had adapted this method of travel for one of the escape routes used by Harry Potter and his friends. Literary influences, from Thomas Hardy for example, can certainly be seen in those novels.

[matrix]

Time travel strips have been left behind lately so here's one called "The Black Volcano" drawn by Leo Davey and written by Peter Hamilton.

Dr More and his daughter Gillian discover the volcano where time has stood still. It ran in 'Girl' for about four weeks in 1964 ending when 'Girl' joined 'Princess'.

[philcom55]

...Were there dinosaurs Matrix? You can't have a lost world story without dinosaurs!!!
(Funnily enough I think the Conan Doyle original was adapted in Eagle round about the same time.)

You're right, of course, that this sort of story is yet another popular variation on the theme of time travel - albeit one that doesn't contradict the Second Law of Thermodynamics! Here's another example that appeared in Debbie (and Spellbound) during 1978.



- Phil Rushton

[matrix]

Sorry to disappoint Phil, no Fred or Barney in this one! Full of English, and Spaniards, and looking at the costumes I'd say about the 16th century.

Below are two more scans where you can see them more clearly.

[philcom55]

Pshaw! Sounds as though somebody at Longacre decided that mere girls wouldn't be able to cope with the sight of slavering, seven-ton killing machines like Tyrannosaurus rex.

...Of course, that was in the days before Margaret Thatcher!

(Nice artwork though)

- Phil Rushton

[philcom55]

One of the most popular forms of time travel in British girls' comics was witchcraft - as seen in 'Prisoner of Time' which appeared in Nikki during 1988.





One would've thought people had more sense than to read out an old verse for 'conjuring up the spirits of the night' copied from an old book...on Halloween! But then, nobody had ever seen 'Buffy' in 1988...!

- Phil Rushton