Web Find: Bunty And Judy Digest Covers

Here on downthetubes we regularly promote DC Thomson’s (and indeed the UK’s) last digest or ‘Picture Library’ comic, Commando, a title that has changed little in the half century since it was first published. As well as war, DCT’s boy’s digests also covered science fiction with Starblazer, and football with Football Picture Story Monthly.

But it is often forgotten that DC Thomson used to published a range of girl’s digests as well and, unlike the boys titles, these tied-in with the company’s range of girl’s weekly comics. Judy, Mandy, Debbie and even the long running Bunty had digest-sized siblings, all of which were tagged as Picture Story Library For Girls.

With the collecting bug of keeping comics not as prevalent amongst girls as it was amongst boys, old girls comics tend to be harder to find now than old boys comics are and, for most, these girl’s digest titles are all but forgotten.

So it was a treat this week to be pointed towards a website that documents both Judy Picture Story Library and Bunty Picture Story Library with a very impressive selection of covers from both titles plus the beginnings of a selection from the Fleetway title June and School Friend Picture Library. Created by “Doeth”, the website shows how the style of covers of the two DCT titles changed over the years and, while the images are relatively small, it is possible to distinguish some of the artists who created them.

Ian Kennedy, with his artwork on well over 1000 issues, is today considered to be the pre-eminent Commando cover artist but in the past he also provided covers and strips for DCT’s girl's titles. Commando readers may enjoy the challenge of finding Ian's distinctive artwork amongst these hundreds of Judy Picture Story Library and Bunty Picture Story Library covers. We will give you a start with these two covers by Ian Kennedy.

The gallery of Judy Picture Story Library covers are here.

The gallery of Bunty Picture Story Library covers are here.

The gallery of Judy and School Friend Picture Library covers are here.

That Funny Little Man... Roy Newby exhibition announced

(with thanks to David Roach and Tim Pilcher) An exhibition by little-known artist Roy Newby, whose work over many decades included numerous comics, will go on show at Phoenix Place in Lewes, East Sussex, later this month.

Roy's work displays an astonishing variety of style and skill, from comic book illustration, recently seen at the Vintage Festival, to fine oils and watercolours.

Described as "a creative inspiration", he was a versatile artist who made a quiet living illustrating comics and magazines for children, teens and twenties, making technical catalogues, painting advertising posters, designing fashion-plates, even political banners, in fact, drawing anything you cared to name. For he was a 'commercial artist', working from the age of 15 in the 1920s until, in his late eighties, he finally stopped attending his weekly life drawing class.

Robbie of Red Hall

David Roach tells us Roy, who died earlier this year aged 96, drew comics in the UK for almost 30 years, appearing in titles such as Girl, Tammy, Poppet, Judy and Valentine.

"He came from a time when you had to be able to draw just about anything, which he certainly could," David says. "While not drawing comics he painted, sketched, doodled and experimented with different styles and while his comic art was highly accomplished, it was never exactly experimental, unlike his paintings... [which] are absolutely stunning, classic examples of post-war realism, [showing] all sorts of influences - Cezanne, Picasso, Modigliani etc.

"Tragically, Roy died very recently before I or any comic historians could speak to him. If only I’d known it would have been fascinating to chat with someone from the golden age of British comics. He apparently never spoke to any comics fans about his career so it’s such a missed opportunity."

• The Funnty Little Man at Phoenix Place, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2PQ. Tel: 01273 813016

The exhibition runs on November 25th 5-9.00pm, November 26th 2-7.00 pm, 27th 11.00am - 4.00pm.

• Roy Newby web site: www.thefunnylittleman.co.uk

• Obituary: The Guardian, Thursday 1st September 2011 

WebFinds: Girls Comics of Yesterday

Researching a question from a downthetubes reader about a fondly-remembered British 'Supergirl', I came across Girls Comics of Yesterday, a relatively new fan site dedicated to British girl comics of the past, looking at three of the most long lasting publications of Bunty, Mandy and Judy.

All three titles were published by DC Thomson, Bunty comic being the longest running publication, running from January 1958 to February 2001 and lasting for 2249 issues, as well as a short-lived Picture Story Library monthly series. It's the DC Thomson title perhaps most fondly remembered, with a campaign for a revival of girls comics centring on the name.

Judy ran from January 1960 and Mandy from January 1967 (DC Thomson seem to have a thing about launching titles in January and February), lasting 1635 issues and 1269 issues respectively. In 1991, Mandy and Judy merged with each other, then merged with Bunty in 1995.

Some of their long running strips included 'The Four Marys', 'Lorna Drake', 'The Comp', 'Luv Lisa', 'Penny’s Place' and Valda, and Girls Comis of Yesterday is a growing attempt to document them all, including story lists and features.

While the site had nothing on 'Supergirl' - the sample above was actually located on 'Stupid Comics' - it's definitely a resource that is surely going to grow and well worth book marking.

As for 'Supergirl' - like many other girls characters, her fans have fond memories. From what our reader recalled, she was a schoolgirl named Susie Solomon who was hit by a car, and crippled. With a tip of the hat to 'Bionic Woman' (which had its own strip in Look-In for a time, drawn by artists such as John Bolton), the government then offered to rebuild her limbs with secret technology, in return for her services as a secret agent.




The operations she had gave her bionic legs (enabling her to run at superhuman speeds) and an extra strong arm. She agreed to keep her abilities secret, keeping up the pretence that she was a cripple.

Her crutch was actually secret tv radio - a way to speak to her superiors at HQ.

While our reader recalled her appearing in Bunty, locating information about the character - who may also later have been published as 'Super Sue' (perhaps to avoid obvious copyright issues), longtime girls comic expert David Roach has been able to provide plenty of information, although he stresses that his research is open to challenge.

Firstly, the 'Super Sue' cover of Bunty Picture Story Library 253, above, was published in 1984 and the cover looks like it was drawn by Rodney Sutton. This may not be 'Supergirl': there are earlier issues with a “Sue” in them, such as Issue 212, 'Singalong Sue' drawn by Carlos Laffond and 222, 'Sue and the Smiling Dolls'.

The annual story featured on Stupid Comics' - drawn by Douglas Perry who was a veteran of girls comics at D C Thomson, Fleetway/IPC and Pearsons - offered better leads and the revelation that the 'Supergirl' strip initially ran in Judy, not Bunty, first appearing In the comic with Issue 1217 (cover dated 7th May 1983) and 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 1983, ending with #1243 (5 11 83) also drawn by Letteri.

"I’m not aware of any other 'Supergirl' strips after that, unfortunately, though there might well have been one or two appearances in annuals," he tells us - but also stresses that he can’t be 100 per cent accurate, so further information or samples would be welcome.

Update (with thanks to the folk at ComicsUK): The fondly-remembered Supergirl ran in Bunty 1011 (May 28 1977) - 1028 (September 24 1977). Here's the first episode (© DC Thomson)...

- Girls Comics of Yesterday: http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com

- Bring Back Bunty Group: http://downthetubes.ning.com/group/bringbackbunty