Spellbound: The Terrifying World of 70's pop!

[dem]

Mar 25, 2016 8:19:44 GMT ripper said:

Many thanks for the Spellbound sampler, Dem. I have downloaded it and am saving it for today's evening reading.

I think they are a fair indication of the overall standard. I spared you this next as it's a bit .... syrupy.

When Snow Falls At Midnight: 'Your Good-night Ghost Story,' back page of Spellbound #7, Nov. 6 1976). Lost on the moors, Dorcas and Miss Lidie are guided to safety by Major, the friendly Labrador. On reaching their destination, Aunt Mercer breaks the sad news about her beloved dog, killed in a fight the previous week.

Spellbound was generous with it's free gifts. The launch came with a mystic sun pendant!

[ripper]

Having read the two tales last night, I do agree with your summary of them, Dem. The one set in the isolation hospital was my favourite, but neither would probably raise more than a very mild shiver from the comic's readership. Still, they were fine for what the publisher intended the stories' effect to be.

[dem]

Mar 26, 2016 8:26:43 GMT ripper said:

Having read the two tales last night, I do agree with your summary of them, Dem. The one set in the isolation hospital was my favourite, but neither would probably raise more than a very mild shiver from the comic's readership. Still, they were fine for what the publisher intended the stories' effect to be.

Misty, conceived by Pat Mills and launched by rivals IPC almost immediately Spellbound went under, had the better short fiction. The stories would run to three or four pages, allowing them to breathe, and frequently their ghosts and ghouls were of a malevolent nature. Our hostess, Misty, as drawn by Shirley Bellwood, certainly looked the part, a Gothic Romance heroine with a hint of the occult about her, almost Vampirella with clothes. Where Spellbound equivalents The Supercats flew from galaxy to galaxy performing good deeds, Misty kept to her preferred midnight graveyards and haunted houses. The strips were darker too.

It's revealing that creator Mills says the title came from Play Misty For Me while Carrie and Audrey Rose provided inspiration for the strips Moonchild and Hush, Hush, Sweet Rachel. If Misty was never quite that grim, clearly it's heart was in the right place.

Sample stories:

Spider Woman
Voodoo

[ripper]

Spider Woman and Voodoo are more like it when it comes to providing scares to the fairer sex. Better developed stories with enhanced chills, plus a proper horror host in Misty herself. I wonder if the target readership for Misty was just a tad older than that of Spellbound?

[dem]

Mar 27, 2016 7:59:14 GMT ripper said:

Spider Woman and Voodoo are more like it when it comes to providing scares to the fairer sex. Better developed stories with enhanced chills, plus a proper horror host in Misty herself. I wonder if the target readership for Misty was just a tad older than that of Spellbound?

I think so. Pat Mills claims his original intention was for "a female 2000AD." Misty was never quite that far out, but it was considerably darker than its immediate predecessor. You'll find an illuminating interview with Mr. Mills on his Misty years at Great News For All Readers!.

[ripper]

Fascinating article, Dem. Such a shame its run was so short. Back in the day, my comics diet would have been along the lines of Action, Warlord and the UK Marvels. I would never have had the nerve to buy a copy of Misty from a newsagent, as boys just didn't buy comics perceived as being for girls back then. If I had had a sister I probably would have read it sneakily .

The one-off stories sound really rather good. I liked the one about the girl having to keep that candle burning. Dem, are your copies of Misty courtesy of Chrissie?

[dem]

Mar 28, 2016 8:08:34 GMT ripper said:

Dem, are your copies of Misty courtesy of Chrissie?

Truth be told, think I bought most of them. Between us we've most of the annuals and several of the 'Best of's' from the eighties or nineties, and possibly one or two original issues (it would take a full scale excavation of my room to get at the comics: had to let go of the bulk of my music mags recently as there's just not enough space). Doubt I'd have felt any embarrassment in buying them at the time. Sister of dem once got shot of an Osmonds silk scarf which I immediately nabbed and wore everywhere just to annoy the HM types who proliferated in the local pubs. That ended pleasantly, as you can imagine.

[ripper]

Well done, Dem, I just couldn't have done that at the time. I even got ribbed by classmates for reading boys' comics. Now, though, it wouldn't bother me at all to buy girls' comics/books or whatever. An Osmonds scarf? Hahahahaha I can imagine the reaction from those HM guys, and I remember how popular those tartan Bay City Rollers' scarves were for a while--every second girl in our class seemed to have one. Lacking a sister, there was nothing like that around here . If I had had one, at the very least I would have asked her to buy Misty for me--er...sounds oddly familiar--or, preferably, talked her into buying it for herself so I could read it and not have to spend my meager pocket money .

[dem]

Mar 28, 2016 10:48:19 GMT ripper said:

I remember how popular those tartan Bay City Rollers' scarves were for a while--every second girl in our class seemed to have one. Lacking a sister, there was nothing like that around here . If I had had one, at the very least I would have asked her to buy Misty for me--er...sounds oddly familiar--or, preferably, talked her into buying it for herself so I could read it and not have to spend my meager pocket money .

Rollermania, mate. Top fashion. Kenny Lampton's girlfriend, Ange, in Action!'s Look Out For Lefty! was a proud Rollers fan (and sometime bottle throwing hooligan), though Kenny was more a prog-rock man. Was it the BCR who started the terrace trend for tying silk scarves around the wrist, or did they appropriate it from football fans? Like most of my friends, I was festooned in the things at one stage - neck, wrists, belt, wrapped around the head. The print rubbed off inside a week and the dark blue fast faded until it looked like you had dirty strips of purple rag attached to your body.

[ripper]

How could I have overlooked Ange? She was a real handful. Look out for Lefty was one of my favourite strips in Action.

Interesting question about who originated the wrist scarf-wearing. I couldn't really say, but perhaps the football fans started it and the band and fans copied, but that's just a theory, nothing definite and certainly no evidence.

There are several episodes of Shangalang, the BCR's TV series on Youtube, plus the series that Marc Bolan presented not long before his death: 'Marc'--Bolan introduces various bands of the time and also sings himself--well worth a look for the varied performers, including an early appearance for The Jam.

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

There are whispers in shadowy places that Spellbound may not lie entirely at rest in its premature grave... downthetubes.net/?p=111715

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

"There's a rumour that something supernatural may be stirring from Dundee around Halloween..."
lewstringer.blogspot.com/2019/10/a-look-back-at-spellbound-1976.html?

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

And then, like a ghost, the post vanished... apologies.

[dem]

'70s Pop Stars in Peril (cont.)

GHOSTS WHEREVER HE GOES

Pop stars tell you about their scary adventures.

ALAN TWIGG of Stevenson's Rocket says he has experienced a series of 'strange happenings', and seems to attract ghosts wherever he goes!
"For instance, I was a member of the local church choir in Coventry," he remembered." One night, I stayed behind after choir practice, because there was something I wanted to discuss with the choir master.
Everyone else had gone home, and so he switched out all the lights and locked up the church.
"We had been standing outside talking for a few minutes when we both heard an eerie laugh which seemed to be coming from above us.
As we looked up towards the church tower, we heard it again and again.
I reckoned it couldn't be anything earthly way up there, so I panicked and ran off. It took a lot to get me back into that church, I can tell you."
The most terrifying moment Alan says he has ever experienced is when he actually saw a ghost.
"A few of us used to play cards every night in a hut at the bottom of a friend's garden. The hut had been built and used by my friend's father, who had very recently died. It had been used to store tools and things like that.
"One night my mates thought they would play a joke on me and when I walked into the hut on my own they slammed the door and locked me in.
"At first I took it as a joke and started laughing until I realised that I wasn't alone in the hut! Floating above me, in the dark, was the head and shoulders of a man.
"I was terrified and started yelling at the top of my voice and hammering, frantically, on the door.
But by the time my mates opened the door, the ghost had vanished. I'll never forget that frightening experience as long as I live."

Look out for more pop ghost features soon!

Spellbound #5, 23 October 1976

And a shivery short story set next door to ....

Spellbound #57, 22 October 1977

Attachments:

A Foggy Night in London.pdf (58.47 KB)

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

I'm happy to say that Spellbound has risen from the grave in time for Hallowe'en, materialising as a digital collection featuring selected comic strips, features and a cover gallery from the original '70s comic, book-ended by two new comic strips. I'm proud to have been involved, having written a brief history of Spellbound to introduce the collection and collaborated with artist Lauren Knight on the first of the new stories - the first tale from Damian Darke's library of strange stories in decades.

It's one of several archive digital collections released via Kindle and comiXology by the Heritage Comics team at D.C. Thomson, the first of which feature material from Commando - including a collection of horror-themed stories - and Warlord. More from the archives to follow.

More info on the new releases here:
downthetubes.net/dc-thomson-launches-digital-commando-spellbound-and-warlord-heritage-comics/