Jinty Annuals 1975/6/7

[pulphack]

So, having picked these up some time back, finally got the chance to read these over the holiday period (well, they are annuals, after all!). The main reason I picked these up was because I'd read that Pat Mills and John Wagner worked on this and other titles prior to Battle, Action, and 2000AD. Certainly, the characterisation suggests the work of Mills (whose best work, to me, is Charley's War, which is all about characterisation), and the artists - although anonymous - look like the kind of South American and Spanish studio artists that were used extensively on Mills' boy's titles.

I had also read that many of the stories in the weekly used supernatural, folkloric and mythic themes, a bit like June. Well, there's not much evidence of that in the annuals, although they do have their good points.

Mostly strips, with some text stories, the only recurring characters are Desert Island Daisy and Dora Dogsbody. The former is an 'Admirable Crichton' for girls, set in Victorian times, while the latter is about an orphan working in a dogs 'hotel' run by her wicked guardians. Yet both are humour strips! In the face of adversity, I suppose. I've got a soft spot for the Dora strips, though, as there are some inventive situations, and her character is appealing.

Each annual has one long strip split into sections. In the first, it's a standard orphans adventure strip. In the second, it's about an ugly duckling whose guardian angel is framed by evil family members. Some nice seventies fashions in this strip, but otherwise unremarkable. The third is about a runner who is going blind, but against the odds runs away from home, wins medals, and beats her disability.

Doesn't look like there's much to appeal so far to anyone except hardened 2000AD and Fleetway fans searching out writers and artists. However, there are some gms hidden away. '75 gives us The Helping Hand, a short strip in which a stumbling student nurse is aided by the ghost of a hospital founder. Text story The Mystery Of The Devil Dancers is a good whodunnit with some nice twists.

1976 gives us The Changing Picture, in which a girl with a changing picture (no!) is able to save her island community. The Haunted Horse is about an old rocking horse and greed defeated by good.Fallows End is a huanted inn story, while The Black Pearl is about possession and greed.

1977 gives us The Blue Daffodil, in which a mystic bloom aids a girl in need. The Magic Herbs is set in plague times, and reads like a June left-over, complete with storyteller. Seal Summer sees a girl learn to swim - but with the help of a kelpie! Again, this is about personal growth and morality, as many of these stories are, but they seem to be looking to girls working it out for themselves rather than the gung-ho black and white morality of boy's comics. A Chip On Her Shoulder is another June-stroyteller type of tale about the chip being a sprite. A Call For Help is a text story about a ghostly mynah bird. The Nodding Mandarin is about omens, and is another Uncle Pete/June tale, whereas Curse Of The Cat Godess is about evil being unleashed when an ancient barrow is disturbed, and is very creepy in a low key manner - a little like a segment from an Amicus movie. Uncle Pete then tells us of The Bells Of Karlok, about the return of a family pet (albeit a reindeer!) leading a stranded girl to safety. Finally, A Christmas Dream is a time-travel story as a young girl goes back in time to save children at Christmas.

So, a lot more to interest us there. The standard of art and writing is higher than DC Thompson during the period, but that might be partly because Fleetway poached the best from Dundee in the early seventies. Leaving aside the lack of supernatural stuff in the earlier annuals, there's a lot of good character writing (even if some of the plotting is a bit thin), and these are well worth a look for anyone who has an interest in British comics before they dwindled to the Beano and 2000AD.