tracy comic

[fiona]

Does anybody remember Tracy comic. Think it was fortnightly and prob around late 19760 early 1980?It was a girls mag but have no other memories thanks

[philcom55]

Hi Fiona!

Tracy was published by DC Thomson from 6th October 1979 to 19th January 1985. There were 277 issues produced (all weekly as far as I'm aware), after which it merged with Judy.

- Phil Rushton

[steelclaw]

A Bunty Copyist not that good.

[Earl]

I got a couple of early issues at the time they came out but then my local newsagent stopped stocking them. I enjoyed the issues I read at the time and found the series a little more mature than Bunty.

Earl.

[Tammyfan]

I must say I loved the budgie!

Tracy merged with Judy somewhere around Judy's #1301 mark in 1985. I don't have the issue so I can't be more precise.

[philcom55]

Sadly, although the budgie survived the initial merger with Judy, it was so upset by the sudden upheaval that it gradually wasted away to nothing:



- Phil Rushton

[Digifiend]

As did the name. The budgie is still there on this cover, but the name Tracy has shrunk.

http://comicsuk.co.uk/gallery.php

[philcom55]

The budgie's name was Elton by the way!



This is the only copy of Tracy I could find and, going by the contents, I have to agree with Steelclaw that it's a bit second-rate compared to Bunty. The artwork in particular seems rather substandard, with the notable exception of this promising series drawn by the wonderful Andrew Wilson of 'Happy Days' fame:



(...And Harry Potter thought the Dursleys were bad! )

One can't help wondering if DC Thomson launched titles such as this with some kind of 'unique selling point' in mind in order to capture a different group of readers from Bunty and Judy - or did they just think they'd attract a fresh audience by virtue of their newness alone?

As a matter of interest, does anyone know how many of these different girl's comics Thomson's produced over the years? Apart from the perennial favourites Bunty, Judy, Mandy and Diana I can think of Tracy, Emma, Spellbound, Debbie and Nikki off the top of my head, but I'm sure their were others as well.

- Phil Rushton

[peace355]

I think that was pretty much it for D.C Thomson comics. Except for the more teen ones like Jackie, Cherie and Romeo

[philcom55]

I guess Hi! might count as well - though the only copy I have is mostly filled with photo-strips.

- Phil R.

[helsbels]

There was also Suzy, which merged with Bunty in 1987.

[Phoenix]

Looking at today's date when adjusting my calendar this morning, I was reminded of a serial which began in Tracy 47 (Aug. 23 1980) entitled They Call Her Tuesday Twelfth. It tells the story of Kathy Gregg, her dad having left home and her mother having died, who is being brought up, for want of a better term, by her guardians Uncle Ted and Aunt Mavis. They tell her that they have just got a job as resident entertainers for a season in a hotel in Spain, and leave her the following morning to look after the house for them, but without leaving her any money. Just after she has decided to write to the local council to complain about them, she is knocked down by a butcher's van, and is taken away by three well-meaning ladies to a children's home. When she comes to, Kathy finds it convenient to feign amnesia until she can find out where exactly she is. Matron then christens her temporarily with that day's date.

So far, so typical. However, thereafter, the serial portrays well the internal clash between, on the one hand, Kathy's awareness of her deceit and her opportunism, which are accompanied by thefts of food from other children's lockers, and the acceptance of expensive clothes to replace those she was wearing, which were considered to be beyond repair after the accident, but which were only from charity shops in the first place, and, on the other, her keen sense of justice and honour, implicit in the way she quietly takes on the home's resident bully to protect the younger children in particular from her vindictiveness. Within the dilemma, she seems to realise that she is taking out on others her anger and frustration with her guardians, and the cavalier manner in which they betray their duty of care to her. I don't have the last few issues containing this serial so I would be grateful if someone can tell me how it ends.

This is not a great story by any means, although there are a number of very good serials in Tracy, such as Tammy Smart's Schooldays, My Weird Woolly, The Girl With The Power, Penny's Partner and Mystine - Girl Of Mystery to name just a few. However, none of those have a main character with today's date as their name!

[Tammyfan]

Looking at today's date when adjusting my calendar this morning, I was reminded of a serial which began in Tracy 47 (Aug. 23 1980) entitled They Call Her Tuesday Twelfth. It tells the story of Kathy Gregg, her dad having left home and her mother having died, who is being brought up, for want of a better term, by her guardians Uncle Ted and Aunt Mavis. They tell her that they have just got a job as resident entertainers for a season in a hotel in Spain, and leave her the following morning to look after the house for them, but without leaving her any money. Just after she has decided to write to the local council to complain about them, she is knocked down by a butcher's van, and is taken away by three well-meaning ladies to a children's home. When she comes to, Kathy finds it convenient to feign amnesia until she can find out where exactly she is. Matron then christens her temporarily with that day's date.

So far, so typical. However, thereafter, the serial portrays well the internal clash between, on the one hand, Kathy's awareness of her deceit and her opportunism, which are accompanied by thefts of food from other children's lockers, and the acceptance of expensive clothes to replace those she was wearing, which were considered to be beyond repair after the accident, but which were only from charity shops in the first place, and, on the other, her keen sense of justice and honour, implicit in the way she quietly takes on the home's resident bully to protect the younger children in particular from her vindictiveness. Within the dilemma, she seems to realise that she is taking out on others her anger and frustration with her guardians, and the cavalier manner in which they betray their duty of care to her. I don't have the last few issues containing this serial so I would be grateful if someone can tell me how it ends.

This is not a great story by any means, although there are a number of very good serials in Tracy, such as Tammy Smart's Schooldays, My Weird Woolly, The Girl With The Power, Penny's Partner and Mystine - Girl Of Mystery to name just a few. However, none of those have a main character with today's date as their name!

I remember The Girl with the Power but couldn't remember what title it ran in. Thanks for the info. Another Tracy standout (in my opinion) was another Robert MacGillivrary story, Jumbo and Jet. Jet is riding Jumbo the elephant all the way to an animal reserve after her dad's circus goes bust. But they have a nasty enemy who has his eyes on buying Jumbo.

[Phoenix]

Jet is riding Jumbo the elephant all the way to an animal reserve after her dad's circus goes bust. But they have a nasty enemy who has his eyes on buying Jumbo.

This is not a story I recall but it is unusual if the villain is prepared to pay for the elephant. Normally in Thomson stories if villains want something they just take it. One serial that is a kind of halfway house is Tooth And Claw Guard The Herd in The Wizard in 1953. Black Starr and his gunmen have set up their 'business' in Rockwell, the last stopover for the trail herds before the 250-mile trek north to the railhead at Santa Fe. His business is simple. He scares off all the hands, or bribes them to desert their boss, and kills any that refuse. He then tells the boss that he will buy the whole herd at half its real value. If he refuses, he is shot, and Starr gets the herd anyway. He and his men then take the herd to Santa Fe where he sells it at a huge profit. His complete control of the Santa Fe trail is challenged by Lee Drew, Cush Morgan and more than a hundred highly-trained dogs, which do the work of the trail drivers. Black Starr does not give in easily. If anyone wants to read the story it appears in 1429 (Jul. 4 1953) - 1438 (Sep. 5 1953).

[Tammyfan]

Jet is riding Jumbo the elephant all the way to an animal reserve after her dad's circus goes bust. But they have a nasty enemy who has his eyes on buying Jumbo.

This is not a story I recall but it is unusual if the villain is prepared to pay for the elephant. Normally in Thomson stories if villains want something they just take it. One serial that is a kind of halfway house is Tooth And Claw Guard The Herd in The Wizard in 1953. Black Starr and his gunmen have set up their 'business' in Rockwell, the last stopover for the trail herds before the 250-mile trek north to the railhead at Santa Fe. His business is simple. He scares off all the hands, or bribes them to desert their boss, and kills any that refuse. He then tells the boss that he will buy the whole herd at half its real value. If he refuses, he is shot, and Starr gets the herd anyway. He and his men then take the herd to Santa Fe where he sells it at a huge profit. His complete control of the Santa Fe trail is challenged by Lee Drew, Cush Morgan and more than a hundred highly-trained dogs, which do the work of the trail drivers. Black Starr does not give in easily. If anyone wants to read the story it appears in 1429 (Jul. 4 1953) - 1438 (Sep. 5 1953).

When the circus broke up the villain was really set on buying Jumbo (making it legal), but Jet wouldn't allow it because she saw what a cruel owner he would make. She's now riding Jumbo all the way to an animal reserve. But it looks like the villain is following them, and being the constant menace who will hamper them at every turn, and out to get his hands on Jumbo in any way he can.