Phoenix's Future Plans

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.

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Tammyfan
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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

Post by Tammyfan »

Our Girls Comics of Yesterday site must have been invaluable for this! :D

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

Post by Phoenix »

comixminx wrote:Blimey Phoenix! That's quite a number, eh :)
Yes it is, Jenni, but as my parents used to say, Needs must when the devil drives. In ascending order, just for the record, the rest are Spellbound (69) : Emma (81) : Nikki (237) : Suzy (249) : Tracy (277) : M&J (315) : Debbie (518) : Diana (720). In due course another visit to the British Library will be required to make notes on the serials in my missing runs of Suzy, in particular those between 20 and 42, 149 and 165, 168 and 195, and 211 to 228. Two full days should be sufficient, and I can always eat on the way back to wherever I'll be spending the two nights. I don't have any gaps of similar length in my collections of any of the other ten titles so I'll be doing most of my research work on those here at home.
Tammyfan wrote:Our Girls Comics of Yesterday site must have been invaluable for this! :D
Yes, Briony, I have certainly looked at it from time to time, mainly when I've come across a serial that I know I've logged earlier but just not with that title. I have got lucky on occasions but quite often the story title either doesn't show at all on Girls Comics Of Yesterday, or it isn't highlighted, presumably because none of the site's contributors own, or have seen enough of, the relevant story papers. It is nevertheless an impressive resource, to which I have contributed at times, and I will of course acknowledge its contribution in the book.

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

Post by peace355 »

Thank you also for all your contributions and accurate issue dates to the site. Yes there is quite a few gaps in my collection, although happy that some of the shorter publications now have all serials covered (Spellbound, Emma, Nikki and M&J)

Suzy is one of those publications that I have very few issues of but I do have issue #228
so I can list the serials that appeared in the issue for you:
Mystery at Darkmoor Manor
The Heartless Hawkins (photo story)
Revenge of the Dancing Doll
Behind the Black Mask

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

Post by Phoenix »

Thank you very much for those details, Lorraine. They will link up nicely with those for issue 229.

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

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With JUDY and MANDY already in the can, I'm currently on the last lap of cataloguing the serials in EMMA. Next for shaving is DIANA, if that's not some kind of contradiction in terms. Then I think I will turn my attention to SPELLBOUND, which won't take too long to complete because I did catalogue it several years ago, after which NIKKI and TRACY will move me a good way towards the last lap. SUZY, DEBBIE, and M&J will take me steadily along the back straight, leaving the way clear finally for BUNTY to romp home. However, with the benefit of hindsight, I don't think she'll be doing that much romping given that she was entertaining us for about 44 years. Even I will have to pace myself as I am also in the process of sifting through roughly 37 years worth of accumulated stuff in order to make my house more presentable to potential buyers, as well as writing a history of the boys' story paper ADVENTURE. Actually I'm mainly concentrating on its serials so it may turn out to be a kind of source book. All these jobs are nevertheless beginning to seem more challenging as time passes. In that sense last week was a write-off because Andrew brought Aurora and Kelsey up from London. We took them to several Play Zones in the local area (Maghull, Eccleston, Chorley and Southport), the weather being just about good enough for me to take them on the Lakeside Miniature Railway in Southport, which I enjoyed about as much as I did when I was nine. Oh, and the girls liked it as well. I obviously need to clarify that otherwise people might be thinking that I took them there so that I could go on that train myself without attracting comments. They went home yesterday so things are more or less back to normal here, with Big Ted, Medium Ted and Little Ted back in the attic. Aurora loved the comics by the way, Lew, so thanks for the heads-up on those. In fact she spent so much time reading them that I ended up doing her holiday homework, which involved making and decorating an Easter Basket. I used a box that had originally contained sixteen copies of Free Gifts In The Big Five, that I found in my hut in the back garden, and I decorated it with Easter pictures that I cut out of the current issue of The People's Friend, bought purely for that purpose. Aurora did have some input because I let her squeeze the PVA glue onto the back of the pictures. Nevertheless I'm waiting anxiously to find out how many marks her Reception teacher has awarded me for the basket. :)

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

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I completed the cataloguing of the serials in EMMA this afternoon. As I couldn't then get at my collection of DIANA without risking a broken leg I started on SPELLBOUND instead as that pile was more readily accessible.

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

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Phoenix wrote: I ended up doing her holiday homework, which involved making and decorating an Easter Basket. I used a box that had originally contained sixteen copies of Free Gifts In The Big Five, that I found in my hut in the back garden, and I decorated it with Easter pictures that I cut out of the current issue of The People's Friend, bought purely for that purpose. Aurora did have some input because I let her squeeze the PVA glue onto the back of the pictures. Nevertheless I'm waiting anxiously to find out how many marks her Reception teacher has awarded me for the basket.
Unfortunately I will not be getting any marks for my basket because Aurora's mother decided, perhaps not unreasonably, that a box was not a basket. She then proceeded to make a basket for Aurora's homework and my box went in the bin. I wasn't even offered any reimbursement of my outlay for The People's Friend!!

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

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Phoenix wrote:I am in the process of.....writing a history of the boys' story paper ADVENTURE.
I have had a long chat on the phone with Ray Moore (Kashgar) this evening, the upshot of which is that we will be working on This Was Adventure (1921 - 1961) together, in effect reprising the effort that we both put into This Was The Wizard that was published to some acclaim in 2014.

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

Post by Lew Stringer »

Phoenix wrote:
Phoenix wrote:I am in the process of.....writing a history of the boys' story paper ADVENTURE.
I have had a long chat on the phone with Ray Moore (Kashgar) this evening, the upshot of which is that we will be working on This Was Adventure (1921 - 1961) together, in effect reprising the effort that we both put into This Was The Wizard that was published to some acclaim in 2014.
That's good to hear, Derek! It's good to have a record of those forgotten (by some) story papers out there for posterity.
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

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Lew Stringer wrote:That's good to hear, Derek! It's good to have a record of those forgotten (by some) story papers out there for posterity.
Yes, Lew, I have been putting it off for a good while due largely to the amount of energy I have been expending on gathering material together for my proposed book on Thomsons' story papers for girls. That research, which consists mainly of reading the serials in the eleven girls' titles, and a large number of novels for girls that I have been buying in for two years or more, will continue steadily regardless of this new commitment to the joint venture with Ray on ADVENTURE, but I'm not really ready to start writing it because I haven't yet read all the novels to see where they link up or not with the comics in terms of themes and settings, and in particular what the various differences and similarities are. I also believe that it is very easy to get lazy when all you are doing is reading. There must come a point where you have to start writing something down. I hope that by starting to write seriously about the serials in ADVENTURE I will at least feel encouraged to start gathering my thoughts together on the listing of the serials in the girls' comics, in themes at the very least, and writing them down. One key approach I have decided on is to categorise by theme across the eleven titles rather than deal with the serials comic by comic. Less messy that way, I think.

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

Post by comixminx »

You have got a lot of good and interesting stuff on your plate, Derek! Good luck with keeping it moving, I know what you mean about needing to stop reading and start writing, at some point.
jintycomic.wordpress.com/ Excellent and weird stories from the past - with amazing art to boot.

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

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Thank you for your best wishes, Jenni. I must admit that I'm beginning to feel like a juggler with his sticks and plates. He does keep them up though, so hopefully I will too. Ray's principal contribution will be identifying all the artists of the first heading block illustration of every serial, and of all the stories etcetera in the many Adventureland annuals. I have access to all of them even if Ray doesn't own them all, although I'm sure he does, as my mate Billy from Upton in the Wirral has the full set. As far as the information on the serials in Adventure is concerned, many years ago, the mid-1980s if memory serves, I noted almost everything down during several visits to the British Library during my school holidays. The only years I didn't bother with were 1938-1939 and 1941 (from issue 1012) - the end of 1945, and that was because I could do that coverage from my own copies at home. I also have every post-war issue of all Thomsons' boys' titles so there will be no need for me to pop down to the B. L. again. I'm pretty sure that Ray, like Billy, has them all too so they will be sure to keep my nose to the grindstone. Now though, I must continue listing the serials in Spellbound. I've completed issues 1 - 15 so, as there are only 69 issues I should have that task completed by tomorrow night, at which point four of the eleven girls' titles will therefore have been fully logged. Onward and Upward!!

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

Post by Tammyfan »

Good ol' Ray! There are so many artists we have yet to identify, such as the artist who drew Lisa the Lonely Ballerina from Debbie, and the regular Bunty artist who drew When Harry Dumped Sally, Robyn's Return and Move Over, Maria.

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

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Tammyfan wrote:Good ol' Ray! There are so many artists we have yet to identify, such as the artist who drew Lisa the Lonely Ballerina from Debbie, and the regular Bunty artist who drew When Harry Dumped Sally, Robyn's Return and Move Over, Maria.
Don't be getting too over-enthusiastic, Briony. I was referring to his ability to identify the artists whose work appeared in Adventure. Of course that doesn't mean that he can't identify the work of the artists who worked on Thomsons' titles for girls. In order to find out perhaps you could PM him, and if he seems amenable to your notion you would need to post examples of the serials you refer to, or even send him scans because it's unlikely that he will have examples of them. I know that he has a decent collection of early issues of Bunty but as for the other titles I just don't know what he's got. I'm sure he will help if he can, he is one of the good guys. We've known each other, without actually having met, for over thirty years, and have helped each other with our various research projects during that entire period.

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Re: Phoenix's Future Plans

Post by Kashgar »

Hi Briony, Further to what Derek has already said my knowledge of Thomson artists is very much related to what my particular interests have been over the years and while I have a reasonable collection of the Thomson girls' papers I never sought to catalogue them and their artists in the way I did for the boys' papers and more particularly the comics. When I was phoning Albert Barnes or Dave Torrie or Willie Mann or James Halley, back in the day, Harold Moon and George Moonie, the first editors of Bunty and Judy respectively, where just down the corridor and would hopefully have been up to answer some questions with regard to artist identifications but, sadly, that moment passed as my interests laid elsewhere.
Just for the record my Thomson girls' paper collection includes the first six years of Bunty, the first four years of Judy, most of the first four years of Diana, the first six months of Mandy, a complete run of Spellbound, a six year run of all the Thomson girls' titles 1985-1991 all the Bunty and Judy annuals published in the 1960's and all of the Bunty Summer Specials published 1963-1973 except 1966.
Away from Thomsons I also have a complete run of June 1961-1974, the first two years of School Friend and virtually all issues of that title from 1960 to 1965. I also have most issues of the short run titles Sally and Poppet.

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