If you were a young girl in the 1970s and
you hung around long enough, then the chances are you would have a weekly comic
named after you. Just look at the following list and you’ll see what I mean.
There was Bunty, Tracy, Mandy, Judy, Nikki, Sandie, Debbie, Diana, Sally, June,
Tammy, Jinty, Lindy, Penny and Misty to choose from. In fact, if you didn’t
have a comic named after you then it’s more than likely that you would have
been exactly the type of hard done-by but otherwise resourcful heroine that Mandy would have traded in.
Mandy was a weekly girls comic published by
that stalwart of the comics industry, D.C. Thomson, who between 1967 to 1991 published
no less than 1, 269 issues in total with annuals appearing from 1972 to 2007.
It contained the usual mix of serialised stories, some comedic but usually about
tragic heroines, often focussing on the adventures of downtrodden gymnasts, orphaned
Olympic divers or resolute show-jumpers over-coming all sorts of adversity such as selfish
aunts and uncles, loss of memory, homelessness, arrests, cheating rivals,
blackmail, injuries or beloved animals threatened with death. Two of the most
popular stories included Angel, about a girl who dedicates herself to caring
for orphaned children in Victorian London after discovering that she's dying,
and Jenna on the Run, about a young gypsy girl trained in athletics by a blind
duchess. Now, obviously I would never have been caught reading a copy (it states very clearly on the cover that Mandy was for girls, and it's true, I never was caught reading a copy) but I seem to remember coming across a copy in a doctor's waiting room, perhaps, that featured a story called The Sorrows of Laughing Anne, in which a young girl unknowingly laughs at a
witch and is subjected to a spell being put on her which results in her being
given a loud, hideous, uncontrollable witch's cackle that is always getting her
into trouble. It finally gets to the point where Anne's father
decides to send her away, so Anne must act fast to get the spell lifted!
Corking stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree.
The 1973 Christmas annual, a snip at 50 p
(Britain had just gone metric, otherwise it would have cost 10 shillings),
featured articles about cooking on a range (The Farmer Wants A Wife), the adventures
of the immortal Valda – a mysterious girl who gained long lasting life, youth
and powers from the fire of life - and a rather heart-warming story about 2 slave
girls doing good turns.
Sadly it merged comic with Judy in 1991, until
the two of them merged with Bunty in 1995 before ceasing publication completely
in 2001. And that was the end of that. These days young girls have to read magazines about what make-up tips will guarantee them a night with One Direction or something, I don't know. They certainly don't turn up in doctor's waiting rooms anymore.