Susie Solomon in 'Bunty'

[johnfreeman96]

Does anyone know who drew 'Susie Solomon' in Bunty? I'm told it might have been Barrie Mitchell. Cheers

[colcool007]

John, do you have any scans that we can look at?

[johnfreeman96]

No art samples as yet but Barrie tells me it wasn't him who drew it, although the story rings some bells.

It would appear that this was just the character name, too, not the name of the strip, which makes it even harder to track! I'll keep digging.

[philcom55]

Any idea when these would have appeared John?

[johnfreeman96]

John, do you have any scans that we can look at?

Here you go. Tracked it down - one of this strip's title's was 'Supergirl' (I wonder if DC Thomson had to change the name?) and the example here http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupi ... cs177.html is pretty bonkers.

The reader says it's something she read in the 80s but I'd suggest it's inspired by Bonic Woman, so maybe it started earlier than that?

[johnfreeman96]

Talk about the memory cheating: after some extensive research, it turns out that what my DTT reader is remembering is the Supergirl strip which actually ran in Judy, not Bunty!

The example of the strip on 'Stupid Comics' (http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupi ... cs177.html) is an annual story which was drawn by Douglas Perry who was a veteran of girls comics at D C Thomson, Fleetway/IPC and Pearsons.

The Supergirl strip itself first appeared In Judy with #1217 (7 5 83) and was drawn by Giorgio Letteri who was one of D C Thomson's most prolific and talented girls artists ( principally on the long running Judy strip 'Bobby Dazzler'). Another serial called Part-time Supergirl appeared later in’83, ending with #1243 (5 11 83) also drawn by Letteri.

Maybe it was reprinted in later issues of Bunty?

[Digifiend]

Supergirl? Yeah, if that was reprinted now, DC Comics would probably force a rename. I suppose the only reason they didn't at the time was because they didn't know of it.

[philcom55]

Sadly I don't have any issues of Judy that recent - however, here is Denis Gifford's entry on the character from his 1987 Encyclopedia of Comic Characters (though it may well have been written by the uncredited Ray Moore), along with a very murky image of the issue in which she made her original debut.





The strange thing is that this Supergirl appears to have been called Debbie rather than Susie...!

- Phil Rushton

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Gifford's book is indespensible, Phil! It brought back so many memories [especially of 60s Odhams stuff].

[Phoenix]

Gifford's book is indespensible, Phil!

Mmm, but not much use here though, is it Rab? The person who asked John Freeman the question is on the brink of remembering the story well. Supergirl did run in Bunty 1011 (May 28 1977) - 1028 (Sep. 24 1977). The girl was actually called Susie Solomons, not Solomon, and certainly not Sullivan. The serial was repeated in 1988 as a Bunty Classic.

[Digifiend]

Bunty Classic? Heh, so Retro Beano isn't such a new idea then. Same principle (an admitted reprint), just in a different comic.

So basically there were three different DC Thomson strips called Supergirl?

[philcom55]

Round about the same time they also gave readers the chance to have their photograph featured on the letters page as a 'Bunty Supergirl'.

The thing is that DC Comics might be able to copyright 'Superman' and 'Supergirl' as names for costumed superheroes, but not the words themselves - otherwise they'd have had problems of their own with the estates of Freidrich Nietzsche and George Bernard Shaw!

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

Here is the first instalment of Bunty's Supergirl.

[Phoenix]

And the final page.

[colcool007]

More like a Bionic Girl than a Supergirl. Plus Phoenix, aren't you supposed to be working on a book right now?

But seriously, as I never delved that much into the girls' comics, it's amazing what gems do surface and this looks like one of the good ones.