[Goof]

My thanks to Panther for giving me the chance to flag up a couple of stories that have impressed me. I don’t know that the selections have any very clear overall theme, other than that they are all stories where the girls take the lead, and are (perhaps for that reason?) unduly neglected.

My interest is mainly in girls’ titles for the 8-13 age range, but I’ve put in one from outside this genre because it’s from a series which I think is top-notch quality, but undervalued.

I was first drawn into this field by a passion for the power, variety and originality of a lot of the artists, many of whom are barely known except to a few enthusiasts, and some of whom are still unnamed. That’s very much reflected in these choices, and I suppose that the unexpected quality of the art is another binding thread.

Schoolgirls’ Picture Library 76
Loyal to Her Disgraced Mother

This is a recent discovery for me thanks to this site, and is a good example of the tougher type of early girls’ school story. Misery or misfortune was the almost inevitable lot of girls’ comic heroines, but while these earlier stories usually followed a fairly standard line in adversity (typically, girl with/without her family embarks on some venture which a villain tries to sabotage), there was a vein of much harder stories which really ground the heroine into the dirt. In the most extreme of these, you would find her on the last page but three defeated at every turn, stripped of family, friends and reputation, and (the ultimate disgrace) expelled from school and awaiting departure in a “punishment room” indistinguishable from a prison cell. 

This story scores about seven on ten on this scale. The heroine has to contend with a completely ruthless adversary who blocks her every move in trying to clear her mother’s name from a theft charge, and save herself from a similar fate. She fights tooth and nail against her enemy, and does have help from one loyal friend, but this doesn’t rescue her from a pretty grim downward spiral of events until she is able turn the tables on the villain at the very last moment.

What I think sets this story apart from others of its kind is the unusually dark and menacing art, from a rather improbable source. Pat Tourret is best known for the elegantly crafted Tiffany Jones newspaper strip, and those of you who know it may find this early example of her work pretty startling – intense basilisk stares, bold heavy cross-hatching and some dramatic deep black shadowing take us beyond the conventional school drama into the realm of the horror story. If Miss Molsey were to suddenly sprout a pair of fangs, it wouldn’t much surprise us. Read and shudder…

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=60270

Schoolgirls’ Picture Library 143
Dancer in Hiding (never mind the typo in the post title)

It wouldn’t be a post about girls’ comics without a ballet story, and this is a good one. The plot is fairly true to a formula that I’ve seen several times - mystery teacher coaches girl troupe in new ballet, villain tries to stop them. But I think it’s well told and strongly characterised, and has two distinguishing features; a quirky, just-about-believable ending, and some of the most beautiful art in the entire SPL series, by an artist who has resisted every attempt at identification. He/she was a regular SPL contributor during these early years, and further examples can be seen in numbers 16, 37, 78, 82, 86, 108, 111 and 142. This story, for me, is the best of them.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=95970

Super Detective Library 45
Lesley Shane: Crime from the Sky

Lesley Shane may be a bit too well known to readers for her to be worth highlighting here, but this is the series that introduced me to Super Detective, and is one of my personal favourites among 1950’s detective yarns. Hopefully, this post may help spread the word a little further.

It was originally published as a newspaper strip in the Daily Sketch, where it ran for about three years in the early 1950’s, and edited reprints of these stories provided most of the series issued by Super Detective - including this one, which was originally called “Joker in the Pack”.

Lesley wasn’t the only female gumshoe, and she may look a little conventional in post-Modesty Blaise hindsight, but for me she stood out from any others of her time. Strong-willed, crack shot, combat trained and quite unmoved by her rather male chauvinist CID fiancé’s occasional attempts to “protect” her, she was as much an action adventurer as a crime solver, and many issues in this series aren’t really detective stories at all.

This story is probably one of the less typical of the series. It’s a mixture, combining crime-busting in an exotic location with some heavy-duty action that recalls the War Libraries as much as most detective genres. I particularly like the mix of murky crime with satirical humour, both in the depiction of the villain and his gangster cronies, and Lesley’s hair-raising predicament at the end. But the standard of the whole series is very high, and I could just as easily have picked any one of a dozen other issues. If you like this one, here’s some suggested further reading that gives a feel for the range of the series: #51 “The Mystery of Table 13” (a cold war detective thriller), or #39 “The Stolen Crown” (a desert kingdom adventure with Lesley in full action mode).

As always with me, the art plays a big part. I don’t personally buy the view I’ve heard expressed that Oliver Passingham was just an Alex Raymond clone. Sure, he learned a lot from Raymond – who didn’t, around this time? But he had a strongly distinctive style of his own that was well adapted to noirish underworld stories of this kind, and would later be very effective in the younger girls’ comics, both in spooky/horror stories and grotesque comedy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=74054

[Quirky Quokka]

Thanks for flying the flag for female leads, Goof.  I'll look forward to reading these.

Cheers

Quirky Quokka

[Robb_K]

Thanks Goof, for choosing these great-looking old GA stories.  The artwork looks terrific!  Super linework on the inks, great staging, and use of light and dark for mood. Flipping through the pages, I can tell that the storytelling has just as high a standard as the artwork.  I'm sure I'll get a lot of entertainment from reading these stories.

[Quirky Quokka]

School Girl's Picture Library #76 - Loyal to Her Disgraced Mother


This book was published in 1960, so seems a little old-fashioned now. But they were certainly popular at the 
time. The letter at the end says there were over 100 000 readers, with some as far away as Australia. Well I'm reading it in Australia 64 years later, so I bet that's something the writer and artist wouldn't have dreamed of back then.

First, some comments on the story. It's a spin on the usual boarding school story, only instead of the daughter being sent off to boarding school initially, the mother goes off to boarding school during the term to teach and leaves the daughter at home with Hannah, the old housekeeper. There is no father on the scene, but also no explanation of what happened to him.

p. 5 - It seemed strange that the mother was so keen to send Julie to the same boarding school where she had been treated so badly. It might have made more sense if Julie had begged to go. But in any case, we needed to get Julie there or there would be no story.

p. 8 - A bit too much of a coincidence that Julie just happens to be sitting in the train compartment next to the compartment that holds the two baddies. But if she hadn't overheard that conversation, she wouldn't have had her first clue.

pp. 14-15 - I haven't heard the expression 'getting a wigging' before (p. 14) or the expression that Miss Molsey is 'a bit of a tartar' (p. 15). I can guess from the context, but if Paw Broon is reading, maybe he can fill us in.

p. 28 - The blue and white vase at the centre of the mystery was made by the former headmistress, who was a master at her art. So it seems pretty unbelievable that Muriel, with Julie's help, could whip up something almost identical, including firing and glazing, in so short a time (p. 40).

p. 61 - Unless I've missed something, it's not really explained who the accomplice is and how the letter fell into his hands.

But in spite of a few problems, it's a good story overall. It's probably the sort of thing I'd read if I was a schoolgirl back then. The story itself is quite well written. I imagine a lot of girls would prefer to read a story in this form rather than a book, so it would have gotten girls reading. The themes of loyalty, bullying and rumour-mongering are just as relevant today. Julie's loyalty to her mother is admirable, as is Muriel's loyalty to Julie. It shows the difference between a true friend and those who'll leave you in the ditch when there's a hint of trouble. I would have liked to know Miss Molsey's fate. Did they lock her up and throw away the key? Perhaps hard labour making bricks in the prison kiln would have been a suitable punishment. Or they could try throwing a bucket of water over her and wait to see if she melted like the Wicked Witch of the West. 

The art is also good. The facial expressions are well-drawn and there's some good movement in some of the panels. Also lots of interesting uses of shading.

Overall, an interesting book. Probably not my cup of tea now, but would certainly have fit the bill for schoolgirls at the time.

Thanks Goof

Quirky Quokka

[Robb_K]

School Girl's Picture Library #76 - Loyal to Her Disgraced Mother


pp. 14-15 - I haven't heard the expression 'getting a wigging' before (p. 14) or the expression that Miss Molsey is 'a bit of a tartar' (p. 15). I can guess from the context, but if Paw Broon is reading, maybe he can fill us in.

Quirky Quokka

Getting a wigging was a harsh chastising or rebuking from someone of authority (or who wanted to feign or flaunt authority) over a person accused of doing wrong.  No doubt it came from the well-known idea of a judge chastising and rebuking an accused person (defendant) in a courtroom, as judges wear wigs and rebuke defendants who are found guilty. This could apply to one's parents, teacher, schoolmaster (headmaster), a policeman, etc.

A Tartar in slang would be a wild and uncouth person, could also apply to a troublemaker.

I'd guess that both these terms are only used by very old people nowadays.

[paw broon]

What Robb wrote.
A Tartar. A stickler. Someone who rules with a rod of iron. Harsh. Unbending.  No leeway.
Well, that's what I think a tartar is.
I've had a good wigging on occasions, at school.  You're right Robb, I doubt many people would use those terms now, and I'm old.
So pleased to find Goof pushing these lovely pocket libraries and particularly Lesley Shane. 
Edith Hardy wrote an article in a fanzine about 5 Fantastic? (not sure) Females, which included Ms. Shane.  Let me know if you fancy a look, if I can find it, that is.?
It's  good to find another knowledgeable fan challenging the idea that Passingham is simply a Raymond clone. 

[Quirky Quokka]

Robb and Paw, thank you both for explaining 'getting a wigging' and 'she's a bit of a tartar'. I've never heard those phrases here in the colonies, and don't recall having heard it in any old British TV shows or movies, though it may have just gone over my head. And the bit about wigging possibly coming from judge's wigs sounds plausible. Not sure if I'll be adding these to my vocabulary, but always good to learn something new 

Cheers

QQ

[SuperScrounge]

Schoolgirls’ Picture Library #76

Loyal to Her Disgraced Mother

Hmmm... a valuable item disappears, an innocent person is assumed guilty, and the item is hidden somewhere at the place it disappeared from... is it just me or is this like every third or fourth plot in these types of books?

Had a funny thought while reading this. Betty as Julie and Miss Grundy as the evil teacher. 

A secret panel that can only be opened with a pottery vase??? Suddenly the trap at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark is seeming more and more plausible. Would have made the ending more exciting as Julie and Miss Mosley race down the school hallway as poison darts shoot from the walls and a giant boulder comes after them. 

Really nice art and while I thought the story was a little contrived, it, more or less, did its job.

[Quirky Quokka]

Schoolgirls’ Picture Library #76

Loyal to Her Disgraced Mother

Had a funny thought while reading this. Betty as Julie and Miss Grundy as the evil teacher. 

A secret panel that can only be opened with a pottery vase??? Suddenly the trap at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark is seeming more and more plausible. Would have made the ending more exciting as Julie and Miss Mosley race down the school hallway as poison darts shoot from the walls and a giant boulder comes after them. 

SuperScrounge, I think Miss Grundy is a sweetheart compared to the diabolical Miss Molsey. Would have been great to see her come to a sticky end--crushed by the giant boulder, shot with a poison arrow during archery practice, locked in the pottery kiln, falling into a vat of boiling oil--though I guess that wasn't in the spirit of the Schoolgirls' Picture Library.  Maybe you could whizz up the alternative version.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Schoolgirls’ Picture Library 143 - Dancer in Hiding


The art in this one is especially good. The fact that it focused on a ballet gave a lot of scope for movement and the artist did an excellent job of the different poses and moves of the figures. The faces were also very good and there were lots of interesting angles that gave different perspectives. Even if you don't think the story will interest you, it's worth looking through for the artwork.

It was a good story overall that would have appealed to younger girls at the time. The masked woman makes it mysterious right from the get-go. A few things I noticed in the story:

p. 2 - How does the pianist know they're dancing well when she has her back to them?

p. 3 - It was pretty brave of Vicki to run after a masked and cloaked figure who'd just thrown a rock through the window. My first thought would have been that someone wished them harm. But jolly hockey sticks, these girls won't let anything stop them and it turned out well.

p. 9 - I had to laugh at the sketches of the ballet. "And as they began to see the possibilities of such a ballet, their excitement grew." Really? It looked hilarious and I don't think that was the aim. Laura the scene painter also has her work cut out for her if she's using that tiny paintbrush to do the backdrop.

p. 10 - It would take some practice to do a ballet in those Edwardian dresses. They don't exactly leave the legs free.

p. 13 - I did a double-take when Sir Percy Granger popped up, because I thought they were talking about the famous Australian composer. But when I looked the composer up, it's spelt with an 'i' (Percy Grainger). Though I wondered if they were giving him a nod.

I must admit that I misunderstood the premise here because I thought LeBlanc had stolen the Ballet of Sports and that the performance was going to show that Ainsworth had written it. I couldn't understand how that would clear up a case of plagiarism. But when I got to the end, I realised that LeBlanc had stolen another ballet and that he'd convinced Sir Percy that it couldn't have been written by Ainsworth because he had no new ideas. Now this new one would show that he does indeed have new ideas. At least, I think that's the gist  I also couldn't understand why the ballerina had to wear a mask in front of the girls, but I guess she was worried LeBlanc could pop up at any moment.

p. 16 - The varnish in the library was an ingenious plan, but should we be concerned that Laura was able to get her hands on such a large quantity of varnish at such short notice and could have passed out on the fumes before the others got there?

p. 22 - I'm not sure I'd be as excited as little Binnie if I had to do a somersault dressed as a croquet ball 

p. 33 - The girls set out on their bicycles at dusk, and find Elisabet Beaumont, the masked singer, is performing at a theatre at night. Yet they then warn her not to come to rehearsal that night? The timeline doesn't fit.

p. 51 - When a fellow stops the bus and tells the girls to come with him, you know it won't end well. What a dastardly plan to have them stranded on an island without their mobile phones Lucky Ainsworth was able to spy them performing his ballet in full costume on the rocky island.

Well, there are a few plot holes, but the girls win the day, Ainsworth is vindicated, the baddie loses and they all live happily ever after. An appealing story for girls at the time, with excellent artwork.

Cheers

QQ