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Misty
Nov 9, 2019 18:11:05 GMT
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Nov 9, 2019 18:11:05 GMT
I'm currently reading Gothic For Girls: Misty and British Comics, a study of one of the classic British girls' horror comics of the 1970s, by Julia Round. As someone who is either scared stiff or bored stiff by academic tomes, I'm delighted (but not surprised, having met the author several times and enjoyed some fun and fascinating chat) to say that the book is engaging, engrossing and entertaining as it shines a light - rather than the more traditional wavering candle - upon a long neglected area of comic history and popular culture. A labour of love, as well as incredible research, and one which taps into so many of my own professional and personal interests and obsessions... The book is available from Amazon (though in black & white throughout), but in colour if ordered from UP Mississippi or global partner Eurospan; www.eurospanbookstore.com/gothic-for-girls.html
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Misty
Nov 12, 2019 0:04:23 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 12, 2019 0:04:23 GMT
A second volume of Misty stories has been announced, yet again featuring compilations of two of the comic's serial stories. I've never read Misty, but the comments about it on the Vault inspired me to buy Misty Presents: The Jordi Badia Romero Collection (Rebellion, 2019), which collects all the strips Romero drew for the comic: 18 short ones from 1978 to 1980 plus the "Screaming Point" serial, a strip from the 1981 annual, and several covers. It arrived today, and the artwork is beautiful; some of it is in color, and the book is itself is an attractive hardcover. I'm particularly looking forward to reading "Screaming Point," which includes the fabled Nicely Dressed Orphanage Girls.
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Misty
Nov 14, 2019 17:26:20 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 14, 2019 17:26:20 GMT
I'm currently reading Gothic For Girls: Misty and British Comics, a study of one of the classic British girls' horror comics of the 1970s, by Julia Round. As someone who is either scared stiff or bored stiff by academic tomes, I'm delighted (but not surprised, having met the author several times and enjoyed some fun and fascinating chat) to say that the book is engaging, engrossing and entertaining as it shines a light - rather than the more traditional wavering candle - upon a long neglected area of comic history and popular culture. A labour of love, as well as incredible research, and one which taps into so many of my own professional and personal interests and obsessions... The book is available from Amazon (though in black & white throughout), but in colour if ordered from UP Mississippi or global partner Eurospan; www.eurospanbookstore.com/gothic-for-girls.htmlI just noticed that Julia Round has also created a searchable database of Misty stories! Over the past few days, I've read the first eight short comics from Misty Presents: The Jordi Badia Romero Collection: "Mrs. Barlow's Lodger," "The Day the Sky Grew Dark," "Ratcatcher," "The Ever-Open Door," "Hunt the Ripper," "Welcome Home," "An Eye for an Eye," and "Wolfsbane." A few observations: * The stories seem to follow the classic EC comics mold, except that they invariably feature a young female lead (no surprise there). Many of them involve karmic justice and/or "shocking" appearances by werewolves, the devil, Jack the Ripper, or Dracula (the Count has already shown up twice, and one story features him along with another horror icon). It's all familiar, but still fun. * The word balloons are riddled with mistakes--was that always the case for Misty? * The art is outstanding. Badia obviously loves drawing young women, whether they're wearing fancy vintage dresses or sweaters, jeans, and thigh-high boots, but the horror elements are striking too. The style gives me Tomb of Dracula vibes.
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Misty
Nov 14, 2019 18:34:05 GMT
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Nov 14, 2019 18:34:05 GMT
* The word balloons are riddled with mistakes--was that always the case for Misty? It's not something I've particularly noticed with the strips in the other Misty collections, but it's particularly rife in the strips in the Romero collection, I agree.
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Misty
Nov 15, 2019 16:59:16 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 15, 2019 16:59:16 GMT
Of the short comics I've read in Misty Presents: The Jordi Badia Romero Collection, my favorite so far is "House of Snails." Sally's father is a scientist obsessed with creating intelligent snails, but she thinks they're gross; even worse, her classmates tease her about her all things snail-related. And so she decides to wreck her father's lab in the hope that he'll abandon his project. The snails take their revenge by leaving a slime trail that sends her tripping into the cellar, where a horde of the little creatures devour her so completely that the police find no trace of her. It's a welcome entry in the small but illustrious sub-genre of snail horror (see also Patricia Highsmith's "The Snail-Watcher" and "Quest for Blank Claveringi" as well as Chris Priestly's "Nature").
I made it through three other stories last night in one sitting: "The Missing Piece" (a jigsaw-related tale where both the innocent girl and the naughty one suffer dire fates); "Darkness at Noon" (about a young woman in Pompeii whose visions go unheeded); and "Spitting Image" (in which an artist's portraits reveal the subject's inner beauty--or ugliness, as the case may be). After reading these bite-sized tales (4-6 pages each), I'm curious to see what the Misty serials are like, starting with "Screaming Point."
I've also ordered Volumes 1 and 2 of the Rebellion reprints. Maybe I'll even try to track down some of the annuals.
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Misty
Nov 17, 2019 16:07:34 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 17, 2019 16:07:34 GMT
Rounding out the short comics from 1978-1980 in Misty Presents: The Jordi Badia Romero Collection:
"Madhouse" -- highly reminiscent of those old Twilight Zone episodes where people wake up to find themselves trapped in a mysterious place.
"The Forest of Fear" -- the old "werewolf menaces a helpless-seeming person who turns out to be a vampire" trick.
"The Last Hunt" -- karmic justice for a fox-hunting nobleman who oppresses his tenants.
"The Power of Young Melissa" -- a gangster makes the mistake of kidnapping a young woman who holds power over death.
"Witch Hunt" -- a "which is the witch" gag.
"Bookworm" -- a fun tale about a young women who uses a grimoire to transport herself into a book; she's expecting to find herself in her favorite romance novel, but instead winds up with ... Count Dracula, making his third appearance in the collection!
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Misty
Nov 19, 2019 19:56:17 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 19, 2019 19:56:17 GMT
The serial "Screaming Point" is a wild ride: it features a Dickensian urchin girl, a menacing undertaker, a sinister scientist, and an enigmatic bent-necked man in a plot that lurches around like a corpse raised from the dead. I'll admit to being disappointed that the other Nicely Dressed Orphanage Girls only appear in the first page of the story.
"Mountain Girl," a short comic from the 1981 annual, illustrates why it's a bad idea to mess with a young woman who can wield powerful earth magic.
And that wraps it up for Misty Presents: The Jordi Badia Romero Collection.
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Misty
Nov 26, 2019 20:22:23 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 26, 2019 20:22:23 GMT
Seems the reprint is out. It contains the stories Moonchild and The Four Faces of Eve. The first Misty reprint (Rebellion, 2016) includes a brief introduction by Pat Mills (dated "2012 & June 2016"). One key passage: Though I enjoyed the short stories from the 2019 Badia collection, I get the point about the serials: "Moonchild" shows the advantages of the longer format in terms of character and plot development. A few additional observations: * Mills wasn't joking about being "inspired" by Carrie: "Moonchild" features an outcast schoolgirl with telekinetic powers along with her abusive, religious mother and a pack of mean girls who torment our heroine for being "weird." However, the story does diverge from its source material in some ways. * The art (by John Armstrong?) is simpler--and less evocative--than Badia's. * The writing, on the other hand, is more complex and coherent than Badia's (even his serial, "Screaming Point," staggered from point to point). * The ending pulls some punches. I wanted a harsher one.
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Misty
Nov 28, 2019 15:52:50 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 28, 2019 15:52:50 GMT
The second serial in the 2016 Misty reprint from Rebellion is "The Four Faces of Eve," written by Malcolm Shaw with art by Brian Delaney. Why does Eve have recurring nightmares about a girl in a plane crash? Why can't she remember anything about her life before the hospital, and why won't her parents tell her anything about her past or let her speak to anyone else? Why does she have the fingerprints of one dead girl, and the face of another? With the help of a friendly clown girl from a traveling circus, Eve will find the sublimely ridiculous answer to all these mysteries!
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Misty
Dec 1, 2019 16:52:24 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 1, 2019 16:52:24 GMT
A second volume of Misty stories has been announced, yet again featuring compilations of two of the comic's serial stories. Misty Volume 2 includes two serials: "The Sentinels" and "End of the Line," both written by Malcolm Shaw. The tower blocks in place of more Gothic architecture gave Misty a modern and gritty feel. Agreed--for me, the most interesting part of "The Sentinels" is its focus on a homeless family desperate enough to squat in a haunted tower block. This time, a helicopter, rather than the tower blocks, places it firmly in the modern age. Actually, the scene is in an alternate reality (to which one of the tower blocks is a gateway) in which Britain lost the Second World War. However much Boris Johnson would like to do it (water cannon are probably the thin end of the wedge) the authorities in the Britain of our timeline don't trap girls by dropping nets on them from helicopters. "The Sentinels" is a bit like Sarban's The Sound of His Horn, right up through the ending. Except there's not nearly so much BDSM fuel in Misty's take on the theme.
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Misty
Dec 1, 2019 19:25:08 GMT
Post by ripper on Dec 1, 2019 19:25:08 GMT
A certain internet auction site has listings for many comic collections on DVD, including Misty. It's an easy way to collect large quantities of comics so long as you don't mind them being in digital form and viewing on a tablet, laptop etc. Generally, digital comics collections seem to be either in pdf format or a format specifically for comics for which special software is required, though that software is often included on the DVD, or can be easily found via Google for PC or tablet. Just thought I'd mention it if anyone is interested.
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Misty
Dec 2, 2019 6:49:00 GMT
Post by dem bones on Dec 2, 2019 6:49:00 GMT
"The Sentinels" is a bit like Sarban's The Sound of His Horn, right up through the ending. Except there's not nearly so much BDSM fuel in Misty's take on the theme. That has long been my one minor criticism of the Misty strips and short stories. Otherwise - exemplary.
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Misty
Dec 2, 2019 21:04:37 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 2, 2019 21:04:37 GMT
"End of the Line" is my favorite of the Misty serials I've read so far. I'm a sucker for any story about a girl breaking out of a mental hospital to prove that her supposedly dead father has been enslaved by an ageless mad mycologist aristocrat who rules over a society of white-eyed mole people in a hidden Victorian-era underground tunnel. Ann never gives up on her search, not even when she plunges into an underground cistern, is forced to work as a maid for the evil Lord Sefton, and winds up locked in a cage with no food. Lucy, the mole-girl parlor maid who helps her, makes for an adorable sidekick.
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Misty
Dec 2, 2019 21:29:51 GMT
via mobile
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 2, 2019 21:29:51 GMT
"End of the Line" is my favorite of the Misty serials I've read so far. I'm a sucker for any story about a girl breaking out of a mental hospital to prove that her supposedly dead father has been enslaved by an ageless mad mycologist aristocrat who rules over a society of white-eyed mole people in a hidden Victorian-era underground tunnel. Ann never gives up on her search, not even when she plunges into an underground cistern, is forced to work as a maid for the evil Lord Sefton, and winds up locked in a cage with no food. Lucy, the mole-girl parlor maid who helps her, makes for an adorable sidekick. Say what?
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Misty
Dec 2, 2019 23:18:44 GMT
Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 2, 2019 23:18:44 GMT
You see, the mole people are immortal because they've consumed the Elixir of Life that the sinister aristocrat brewed from his beloved fungi. They still dress in their 19th-century servant clothes and dwell in a quaint underground Victorian village. I haven't even gotten started on the creepy dude who's trying to marry Ann's mother or the investigative reporters who sneak into the tunnel and encounter the mole folks. "The Sentinels" is a bit like Sarban's The Sound of His Horn, right up through the ending. Except there's not nearly so much BDSM fuel in Misty's take on the theme. That has long been my one minor criticism of the Misty strips and short stories. Did I mention that "End of the Line" includes whipping scenes and maid outfits, in addition to people in cages?
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