[Quirky Quokka]

SPL 12: Vera‘s Christmas Adventure

The “Vera” series SPLs (there are three others) are types of what you might call “mother” stories – where the heroine (adult or older child) is responsible for young children. This vein ran right through the girls’ titles, from any number of nanny and teacher stories to less probable examples such as the adventure gangs, many of which had a “baby” member (like Melly in the Peewits). Editors clearly thought that readers wanted plenty of stories that would appeal their “mothering instinct”, and from the popularity of the idea it seems that many readers agreed. This one is slightly unusual in the importance of the elder boy’s role in solving the mystery.

Interesting comments, Goof. I know they're completely different publications, but the girls in the couple of stories I read from Girl's Crystal were much more adventurous and intrepid, and were in the thick of the action. Though that one was written just a few years after the war. I wonder if it was a nod to all of the interesting things women did during the war and the girls wanted adventurous stories. Maybe by the time Vera's Adventure was written in 1957, women were seen more as homemakers again. I know I can't draw any  conclusions from just reading a couple of stories, but it's interesting how times changed in those post-war years.

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

I am from 'the land Downuner' so I will start with the link downunder.
The Whistler 499 - Christmas Gift
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=53311
The gift here is freedom from fear.
What makes it Christmasy is that the protagonist lives , 'Happily ever after' and the Villain gets his.
Two things in particular struck me.
First, Christmas in Panama, not Mexico. When the Proprietor of the club, Pete Gardenia, opens his mouth and sounds like Speedy Gonzales, I was so irritated, I almost didn't finish the episode.
Second, Man! the special effects production values were almost not there.
No car engine, sounds of car doors opening and closing, screaming brakes as they go around corners. Footsteps running and so on.
Also, she never sings!
'The Whistler' made it into a series of movies - which I might watch on Youtube later tonight - but it was never going to work as a comic book, print being a sound-less medium. Even though there were many comic anthologies of stories narrated by a regular host. Twilight Zone being one of the best.
But I did appreciate zoning out and just listening to a story.             

[Morgus]

Panther: 24 hours for a Monopoly game would break me. Ours were usually 3, maybe 2 and a half hours. As it was I had to go back and forth with my grand daughter four or five times to get the deal in place so we could speed the game up. There were 8 of us and it was dragging things down.
She was worried I was trying to screw her over, and I just like the get-together...and my not-so sneaky attempt at musical education.
I used to play Miles Davis in college, and when the kids joined in, lots of Stevie Wonder, Chess artists, and Louis Jordan (the jump blues band leader from Arkansas, not the sleepy eyed greaser trying to gaslight Ingrid Bergman)
Yeah, that’s RIGHT, The Whisper never MADE it to comic books. The Mysterious Traveler I thought they did a good job on, The Shadow could vary. In my minds eye growing up, The Whistler looked like The Crypt Keeper. Funny how that works.
Q.Q.: thanks for the Monopoly rabbit hole to crawl down. Lots of fun. Gotta feel for the lady who thought it would be a teaching tool. Like I always say to my son when unintended consequences spring up; “And the internet was SUPPOSED to make us all smarter..”

[Goof]

I know they're completely different publications, but the girls in the couple of stories I read from Girl's Crystal were much more adventurous and intrepid, and were in the thick of the action. Though that one was written just a few years after the war. I wonder if it was a nod to all of the interesting things women did during the war and the girls wanted adventurous stories. Maybe by the time Vera's Adventure was written in 1957, women were seen more as homemakers again. I know I can't draw any  conclusions from just reading a couple of stories, but it's interesting how times changed in those post-war years.

Yes, I think that the more domesticated “mother” type of girls’ comic story may well have started to develop as a popular genre in the 1950s, although I don’t know the earlier story papers well enough to be certain. It does seem likely that the war fuelled an increased demand for action stories for girls, just as it filled the boys’ papers chock-full of battle stories. Curiously, it later inspired a vogue for “mother” stories in war-time settings from at least the 1960s onwards, usually set in the Blitz or occupied France, and these were clearly very popular. One series about two homeless orphans wandering in war-torn London ran in June comic for over 40 episodes.

Having said that, I think that there was always a big appetite for adventurer heroine stories as well, even after the influence of the war started to wane - usually in a boarding school setting in these early years.

By way of illustration of how the two types ran in tandem, it’s worth looking at one of the SPL stories published only a month after this one - SPL13 “Jan at Mountain School”. It’s an exciting read; fast-paced, unusually action-packed and beautifully drawn, and the heroine is kept in a frantic rush of desperate plans, death-defying leaps and hand-to-hand struggle with the villains throughout. Once again, it’s about finding a hiding place (stolen plans this time) before the bad guys get to it, but otherwise it’s as big a contrast to the Vera story as you could well imagine.

[Goof]

Girls’s Crystal 740: The Secret of the Christmas Cake

I may not have time to read all of the comic before the end of the week, so I thought I would try one of the complete stories in it that hasn’t been covered so far.

Noel Raymond and his niece were Girls’ Crystal’s resident detectives. I think they had a pretty good run – they were popular enough to make the annuals – and may have inspired a similar long-running picture story series in School Friend comic, with detective Terry Brent.

The thing which struck me most about this story was not the mystery idea itself, which is borrowed from the Sherlock Holmes story The Six Napoleons, but the frantic succession of crises and alarms through which the plot develops. Although the atmosphere of the story is resolutely festive, the constant stream of disappearing objects, threatening messages, sudden screams and rooms plunged into darkness would be more at home in a horror story. Very likely it was simply intended to confuse the readers’ attempts to unravel the problem, but the combination of all this mayhem with the characters’ determination to carry on celebrating whatever happened struck me as bizarre, quite funny, and fairly original. A Christmas ghost story without the ghost? How many detective stories start with the heroes having a Christmas cake dropped on them from the top of a cliff? A fun read.

The illustrations look like they might be by Evelyn Flinders.

[The Australian Panther]

Morgus said,

I used to play Miles Davis in college,

Whataya mean, 'Used to'!
1/ Your taste was (is?) very impressive.
2/For your edification (in particular) I just posted a Miles concert down in
Watcha Listening to.......
Miles, Gil Evans Orchestra, Quincy Jones. What's not to like?
Masses of Miles out there right now.
Also, check out my earlier post down in Watcha Listening to, links to Louis Prima and Keeley Smith.
Think you'd like that too.
And a Happy New Year to all!   

[gregjh]

I've just noticed that my post after SPL 12, on Girls' Crystal 740 is not showing on this thread.  I must have thought I hit the "Post" button, but had forgotten to do that, having been interrupted. More than an hour's thinking and writing lost.   

Oh no, Robb. It's frustrating when that happens. Can you give us the Reader's Digest version?

Cheers

QQ

Sorry to digress but one useful tip I've picked up is if I'm writing more than a couple of sentences I often type into my word processor then copy and paste into the reply box. If anything goes wrong or times out, nothing is lost.

[Robb_K]

I've just noticed that my post after SPL 12, on Girls' Crystal 740 is not showing on this thread.  I must have thought I hit the "Post" button, but had forgotten to do that, having been interrupted. More than an hour's thinking and writing lost.   

Oh no, Robb. It's frustrating when that happens. Can you give us the Reader's Digest version?

Cheers

QQ

Sorry to digress but one useful tip I've picked up is if I'm writing more than a couple of sentences I often type into my word processor then copy and paste into the reply box. If anything goes wrong or times out, nothing is lost.

Thanks for the advice.  I guess I'll have to do that, or keep making interim posts after every 3-4 sentences.

[The Australian Panther]

Santa's Tinker Tots 1
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=26537

What we don't have here is Charlton's infamous machine lettering.
Obviously Maurice Whitman did the whole job himself - or at least in his studio and Charlton left it alone. This book is far superior to most of Charlton's 'funny' books,. 

Santa Superguy
No, they can't do that. Santa rocks.

Santa and the Tinker Tots
This comic is obviously oriented to small children, maybe even for adults to read it to them.   
Nice idea, to have Santa's helpers be small boys and girls, rather than dwarfs.
I didn't read this before I selected it. Turned out to be much better than i thought.
I won't talk about the narrative, won't spoil it for anybody.
As good a Christmas story as I've yet read.

cheers!   

[Morgus]

Panther’: No, I still AM into Miles. Just bought another double CD this summer. But half a century or so ago, I was just starting out and getting familiar with the classics. One year the gift from my friend we played during the game was ‘Tranes GIANT STEPS. The kids have heard KIND OF BLUE often enough to program it for themselves. Roy Orbison, The Everly’s, and lots more were also foisted on them. (That 'urge to educate' trait came from mom. She taught me all the World Heavyweight Champs in classic music but it was the jazz and blues and R&B from the uncles that stuck.)
My kids have it lucky. It’s never been easier to hear the classics than it is now. Hell, we had to put up with the bootleg of Dylan’s electric concert; now it’s on a legit disc set. Same with The Stones LIVER THEN YOU’LL EVER BE concert from Oakland.
Thanks for the links to the concerts. Always dug the Louis Prima live album...when I was a kid King Louis and Baloo in the JUNGLE BOOK were my faves.

[The Australian Panther]

Girls' Crystal 740 - The Secret of the Christmas Cake
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=29429

The Merrymakers Island College.
Didn't realize there was more than one Christmas story here. This one is set in Australia. Apart from stating the obvious, that in Australia it is mid-summer, there is not much else Australian about it. And yes, we do have Christmas trees.
Wrongly accused girl is proven innocent. Personally, I thought Mrs McEwen's reaction was well over the top.   
The secret of the Christmas Cake
"Why should anyone throw a gorgeous cake like that over a cliff?"
Nice start to the narrative!
It should have been, 'The secret of the Christmas CAKES'
"Helen and her comical pets"
Third Christmas story - apparently of an on-going series.
Not going to spoil any of these for anybody looking forward to reading them.
Enjoy!

   

[Morgus]

oops! I identified Louis Jordan as the ‘sleep eyed greaser' who tries to gaslight Ingrid Bergman. That was Charles Boyer. The French actor was the villain in OCTOPUSSY and SWAMP THING. And did not do jump blues.

[Robb_K]

Girls' Crystal 740 - Vol. 29

The Secret of the Christmas Cake - by Peter Langley
WOW!!!  What a great bargain for that time!  Only Truppence for a story paper with 20 pages!  I've seen other British story papers from around that time for as much as 10 pence. AHA!  Now I nsee that this paperr is really from 1943!  That makes more sense.

The front cover illustration makes the mystery about The Christmas cake look very interesting.  Who would bury an expensive-looking specially made fancy professional bakery holiday cake deep in the sand on an ocean beach???

A guest house on a cliff overlooking a Cornish beach is a typical setting for these upper class late teenage girls to do their detecting and solve their mysteries.  And one of the lead girls having a detective uncle available to help fits right in to this sub-genre of stories.  She calls her uncle "nunky" as an endearing nickname.  But the writer doesn't give him enough respect to start a person's name a with a capital letter???  We were taught that when you call a family member by their defined relationship to you, it is being used as a name (nickname), so it should be capitalised.  Was that NOT the rule in The UK in 1949?  It certainly was in Manitoba.

Someone tossing a large expensive cake over a cliff is certainly an unusual happening that gets the reader interested in reading on to find out why someone would that.  No one would leave their luggage all alone, unguarded, nowadays, even late at twilight in rural Cornwall.

This was a very complicated plot for a short story, with several red herrings.  I feel, in a way, that having the fully adult uncle do most of the work solving the case took away the lustre from June being a hero, and what the girl readers are wanting to see in such stories. 

This story was worth reading, but somewhat disappointing.

The Merrymakers' Island College - By Daphne Grayson
Describing December 24th as "Mid-Winter" is a bit of an exaggeration.  Author's license to use hyperbole.  How overdramatic!  A young woman fails to keep her word that she wouldn't enter the Christmas party room full of gifts, and that results in a "dark cloud" over the Christmas Party's mood.  She was son determined to clear her good name!  Imagine how sullen but determined she'd be IF something really serious would have happened!
"Jollifications!"  I haven't seen that word for nigh on to 50 years.
It was a typical mistaken non-crime taken for a theft, which had the accused very hurt, and unable to prove her innocence, until she could get help from a brave friend who had to risk appearing guilty in front of her teachers and peers.  A Lot of bluster over a simple situation.  But typical of this genre, that avoids violence and generally avoids serious crimes and bloodshed, yet needs mysteries to solve.  This was somewhat disappointing, despite being expected.

Helen and Her Comical Pets

[Robb_K]

Santa's Tinker Tots 1

This book was obviously oriented towards very young children.  The artwork is decent, and the colouring is good, especially for a Charlton book of that period. A unique idea to have little children replace the elves that usually help Santa Claus.  Little kids can identify more with them.  A halfway decent story, too.  Not much else to say about it.  It has the typical plot of trying to get the toys to the kiddies all over The World, on time.

The Whistler 499 - Christmas Gift
WOW!!!  That's a pretty dark tale to take in right after reading "Santa's Tinker Tots". - Especially dark for a Christmas story.  So dark, that I didn't expect a happy ending.  I expected a suicide - maybe the woman grabbing the steering wheel of the detectives rental car and sending them both off the road to their doom while on the way to the nearest airport. I've listened to several Whistler stories, but never this one.

[Robb_K]

Schoolgirls' Picture Library 12 - Vera's Christmas Adventure

There appears to be a signature on the cover, on Vera's coat, just under the title. The first letter is Clearly an R, that last letter might be a D, the middle letter is tough to make out because it blends into the shade of her coat fold.

Not a bad story.

The broken window seemed odd because so many mysteries make a big deal about where the broken glass fell, but nobody here pointed out that if a snowball broke the window there should be broken glass inside. Some Sherlock Holmes Tom is for not pointing that out. 

Vera taking care of her younger brothers reminded me of Wendy and her brothers in Peter Pan, but also made me wonder if this was a common practice to get daughters in the habit of taking care of children for when they later become mothers?

The title is Vera's Christmas adventure which kind of ignores her brothers who certainly have parts to play in the story and at some points Vera didn't seem to realize she was in an adventure.

Richard, from a previous adventure, showing up seemed rather coincidental.

Mrs. Jarvis says she's the last of her family, but earlier we met her daughter-in-law. Did her only son die without having children? Seems like the writer forgot he had created a daughter-in-law when coming up with a reason for Mrs. Jarvis to give the carpet fragment to Tom.

Carving a clue into a tree stump seems like a bad idea as the wood could be burned or decompose before anyone saw the clue. In some respects these clues feel like the type of puzzles one would later find in the computer games Myst and Riven. (If only Vera had discovered a linking book in the house library.  )

Odd that the Ferrars' ancestor would hide the diamonds under the painting of his late sister-in-law. Shouldn't the painting have signs of being repaired previously?

One interesting thing about old gemstones is that sometimes they turn out to be something different from what they are supposed to be. Studies of crown jewels have revealed 'rubies' that were actually red spinel, or it was discovered that red foil had been placed behind them to make them look redder. So wouldn't it have been 'interesting' if the 'diamonds' had actually turned out to be quartz instead? "Oh, dear! We have to sell the house anyway! Sob!" (I have a warped sense of humor.)

I LOVE it!!!  That's the kind of double twist ending that my main editor (over the years) wanted from us!

[The Australian Panther]

Schoolgirls' Picture Library 12 - Vera's Christmas Adventure
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=74289

And the first shall be last!

And I haven't read Robb's review!

So, -

There are apparently two mysteries on the cover. The verse and then the photograph of the fountain.
Clever!

Two things.
Page 2, Panel 1 > Tom holds his brother up and says 'Up you go, Sonny!'
Shouldn't be any doubt that they are both boys.
What adds to the confusion, at first,the artist mostly draws 'Sonny' from behind, not showing his face.
So, most of the protagonists are thrown together from the start.
Buildings, Old houses, mansions and castles are a constant feature of these books.
Also, lost treasures of Jewels are also a feature. lots of clues and mysteries.
Lots of nastiness from the villains, who are not lovers of children,  And the children are smarter than the adults.
All the pieces come together at the end, and all is satisfactory.
The bit of french language is also quite clever.
'And so that was Christmas!'
Guest reviewer tomorrow for the first of 2025.

     

[SuperScrounge]

Girls' Crystal #740

The CB+ lists this as December 24, 1949, but it looks like the cover reads 1943.

The Merrymakers' Island College

“Both of whom had spent a week at the college recently”
The college is in England, they're now in Australia. How long did it take to get from England to Australia in 1943? (or 1949)?

It's weird to see people acting this suspiciously in something that isn't a murder mystery.

An ending one needs to take an insulin shot to survive. 


The Secret of the Christmas Cake

“What a wizard place...”
How did wizard come to be used that way? Is it Cockney rhyming slang or something?

Why would someone throw a cake off the cliff?
My first thought was 'There's a bomb hidden in it!' Ooh, tough news for June and Nunky. ;-) Then again these girl stories could use more explosions... and car chases. ;-)

Seems like a major role in these stories is some girl saying, “I can't explain, but trust me!”


Rosalie, Robbie, and the Robot

Why is The Robot done in a typeface that resembles wood instead of metal? It should have rivets, not branches.

A note from me? (My real name is Keith, for those who don't know/remember.) ;-)

Isn't there a rather famous Archie the Robot in England? Did he come later or earlier than this series?

Lots of words for little story.


Pip the Pup's Xmas Present

Cute. Best part of the issue.


Colin Forrest

An EVIL headmistress out to squash their play. Do you think this comes up in the job interview? “What we really need is a headmistress who will thwart the will of the students. Can you do that?” Yeah, this trope comes from various students believing this teacher or that hates them and piles on extra work, etc., etc., when most likely it's just some teacher trying to do their job while the kids try to do their own thing instead of schoolwork.


Helen and her Comical Pets

I think Helen is doomed to become one of those 'cat ladies' who lives alone with her pets.


The Imposter at the Winter Sports

Soooooo... we're supposed to root for a girl who has been convinced to smuggle stuff from one country to another? Yeahhhhhhh...


Whew! Made it through the issue. Considered giving up several times. Not my cup of tea.

[Robb_K]

Girls' Crystal #740

The CB+ lists this as December 24, 1949, but it looks like the cover reads 1943.

The Merrymakers' Island College

“Both of whom had spent a week at the college recently”
The college is in England, they're now in Australia.  (1)How long did it take to get from England to Australia in 1943? (or 1949)?

It's weird to see people acting this suspiciously in something that isn't a murder mystery.

An ending one needs to take an insulin shot to survive. 


The Secret of the Christmas Cake

“What a wizard place...”
How did wizard come to be used that way? (2) Is it Cockney rhyming slang or something?
(3) Why would someone throw a cake off the cliff?
My first thought was 'There's a bomb hidden in it!' Ooh, tough news for June and Nunky. ;-) Then again these girl stories could use more explosions... and car chases. ;-)

Seems like a major role in these stories is some girl saying, “I can't explain, but trust me!”


Rosalie, Robbie, and the Robot

(4) Why is The Robot done in a typeface that resembles wood instead of metal? It should have rivets, not branches.

A note from me? (My real name is Keith, for those who don't know/remember.) ;-)

Isn't there a rather famous Archie the Robot in England? Did he come later or earlier than this series?

Lots of words for little story.


Pip the Pup's Xmas Present

Cute. Best part of the issue.


Colin Forrest

An EVIL headmistress out to squash their play. Do you think this comes up in the job interview? “What we really need is a headmistress who will thwart the will of the students. Can you do that?” Yeah, this trope comes from various students believing this teacher or that hates them and piles on extra work, etc., etc., when most likely it's just some teacher trying to do their job while the kids try to do their own thing instead of schoolwork.


Helen and her Comical Pets

I think Helen is doomed to become one of those 'cat ladies' who lives alone with her pets.


The Imposter at the Winter Sports

Soooooo... we're supposed to root for a girl who has been convinced to smuggle stuff from one country to another? Yeahhhhhhh...


Whew! Made it through the issue. Considered giving up several times. Not my cup of tea.

(1) Were civilians not involved in the War Effort actually allowed to travel to Australia, with The Japanese Navy so close?  No WONDER I thought the truppence price was such a bargain in 1949!  It was really a 1943 paper!

(2)
Where's the rhyming?  Wizard only rhymes with gizzard!

(3) My first thought was, there must be a bomb in the cake.

(4) Good point.  Although, maybe he was a wooden robot?

[Robb_K]

Girls' Crystal #740

The CB+ lists this as December 24, 1949, but it looks like the cover reads 1943.

The Merrymakers' Island College

“Both of whom had spent a week at the college recently”
The college is in England, they're now in Australia.  (1)How long did it take to get from England to Australia in 1943? (or 1949)?

It's weird to see people acting this suspiciously in something that isn't a murder mystery.

An ending one needs to take an insulin shot to survive. 


The Secret of the Christmas Cake

“What a wizard place...”
How did wizard come to be used that way? (2) Is it Cockney rhyming slang or something?
(3) Why would someone throw a cake off the cliff?
My first thought was 'There's a bomb hidden in it!' Ooh, tough news for June and Nunky. ;-) Then again these girl stories could use more explosions... and car chases. ;-)

Seems like a major role in these stories is some girl saying, “I can't explain, but trust me!”


Rosalie, Robbie, and the Robot

(4) Why is The Robot done in a typeface that resembles wood instead of metal? It should have rivets, not branches.

A note from me? (My real name is Keith, for those who don't know/remember.) ;-)

(5) Isn't there a rather famous Archie the Robot in England? Did he come later or earlier than this series?

Lots of words for little story.


Pip the Pup's Xmas Present

Cute. Best part of the issue.


Colin Forrest

An EVIL headmistress out to squash their play. Do you think this comes up in the job interview? “What we really need is a headmistress who will thwart the will of the students. Can you do that?” Yeah, this trope comes from various students believing this teacher or that hates them and piles on extra work, etc., etc., when most likely it's just some teacher trying to do their job while the kids try to do their own thing instead of schoolwork.


Helen and her Comical Pets

I think Helen is doomed to become one of those 'cat ladies' who lives alone with her pets.


The Imposter at the Winter Sports

Soooooo... we're supposed to root for a girl who has been convinced to smuggle stuff from one country to another? Yeahhhhhhh...


Whew! Made it through the issue. Considered giving up several times. Not my cup of tea.

(1) Were civilians not involved in the War Effort actually allowed to travel to Australia, with The Japanese Navy so close?  No WONDER I thought the truppence price was such a bargain in 1949!  It was really a 1943 paper!

(2)
Where's the rhyming?  Wizard only rhymes with gizzard!

(3) My first thought was, there must be a bomb in the cake.

(4) Good point.  Although, maybe he was a wooden robot?

(5) Archie started almost 10 years later, in 1952.

[Robb_K]

Girls' Crystal #740

The CB+ lists this as December 24, 1949, but it looks like the cover reads 1943.

The Merrymakers' Island College

“Both of whom had spent a week at the college recently”
The college is in England, they're now in Australia.  (1)How long did it take to get from England to Australia in 1943? (or 1949)?

It's weird to see people acting this suspiciously in something that isn't a murder mystery.

An ending one needs to take an insulin shot to survive. 


The Secret of the Christmas Cake

“What a wizard place...”
How did wizard come to be used that way? (2) Is it Cockney rhyming slang or something?
(3) Why would someone throw a cake off the cliff?
My first thought was 'There's a bomb hidden in it!' Ooh, tough news for June and Nunky. ;-) Then again these girl stories could use more explosions... and car chases. ;-)

Seems like a major role in these stories is some girl saying, “I can't explain, but trust me!”


Rosalie, Robbie, and the Robot

(4) Why is The Robot done in a typeface that resembles wood instead of metal? It should have rivets, not branches.

A note from me? (My real name is Keith, for those who don't know/remember.) ;-)

(5) Isn't there a rather famous Archie the Robot in England? Did he come later or earlier than this series?

Lots of words for little story.


(6) Pip the Pup's Xmas Present Cute. Best part of the issue.


Colin Forrest

An EVIL headmistress out to squash their play. Do you think this comes up in the job interview? “What we really need is a headmistress who will thwart the will of the students. Can you do that?” Yeah, this trope comes from various students believing this teacher or that hates them and piles on extra work, etc., etc., when most likely it's just some teacher trying to do their job while the kids try to do their own thing instead of schoolwork.


Helen and her Comical Pets

I think Helen is doomed to become one of those 'cat ladies' who lives alone with her pets.


The Imposter at the Winter Sports

Soooooo... we're supposed to root for a girl who has been convinced to smuggle stuff from one country to another? Yeahhhhhhh...


Whew! Made it through the issue. Considered giving up several times. Not my cup of tea.

(1) Were civilians not involved in the War Effort actually allowed to travel to Australia, with The Japanese Navy so close?  No WONDER I thought the truppence price was such a bargain in 1949!  It was really a 1943 paper!

(2)
Where's the rhyming?  Wizard only rhymes with gizzard!

(3) My first thought was, there must be a bomb in the cake.

(4) Good point.  Although, maybe he was a wooden robot?

(5) Archie started almost 10 years later, in 1952.

(6) Well, it's certainly the funniest feature in this paper, and maybe ther most clever, as well.

[SuperScrounge]

The Whistler 499 - Christmas Gift

Not a bad story.

[SuperScrounge]

(2)Where's the rhyming?  Wizard only rhymes with gizzard!

Cockney Rhyming Slang is a little more creative. Bread and honey rhymes with money, so bread becomes slang for money. Barney Rubble rhymes with trouble, so Barney becomes slang for trouble.

Although the only possibility I could think of here was 'wizard and witch rhymes with bitch?' but bitchin' is too modern for the 1940s.

(4) Good point.  Although, maybe he was a wooden robot?

I considered that, but didn't feel like checking out the previous issue to see.

Note: And I just went to check, but CB+ doesn't have the previous issue, or the following one. Oh, well.

[Quirky Quokka]

Girls' Crystal #740

Whew! Made it through the issue. Considered giving up several times. Not my cup of tea.

You're a champion, SuperScrounge. Well done! I didn't get through them all. I'll blame Covid, even though I'm a lot better now.

Thanks for your comments, everyone. Enlightening and entertaining as always.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Yes, I think that the more domesticated “mother” type of girls’ comic story may well have started to develop as a popular genre in the 1950s, although I don’t know the earlier story papers well enough to be certain. It does seem likely that the war fuelled an increased demand for action stories for girls, just as it filled the boys’ papers chock-full of battle stories. Curiously, it later inspired a vogue for “mother” stories in war-time settings from at least the 1960s onwards, usually set in the Blitz or occupied France, and these were clearly very popular. One series about two homeless orphans wandering in war-torn London ran in June comic for over 40 episodes.

Having said that, I think that there was always a big appetite for adventurer heroine stories as well, even after the influence of the war started to wane - usually in a boarding school setting in these early years.

By way of illustration of how the two types ran in tandem, it’s worth looking at one of the SPL stories published only a month after this one - SPL13 “Jan at Mountain School”. It’s an exciting read; fast-paced, unusually action-packed and beautifully drawn, and the heroine is kept in a frantic rush of desperate plans, death-defying leaps and hand-to-hand struggle with the villains throughout. Once again, it’s about finding a hiding place (stolen plans this time) before the bad guys get to it, but otherwise it’s as big a contrast to the Vera story as you could well imagine.

Thanks for the extra insights, Goof. I always did like a mystery and was also a bit of a tomboy, so I think I would have gravitated towards the mystery and adventure ones even then, rather than the 'mothering' ones. I love children, but you were more likely to find me playing with toy cars, construction sets and Lego than dolls when I was a kid. I guess they're catering to a wide variety of tastes in any case.

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

!/
Here is an article on 'Wizard' as English slang. But no origin. I've never heard anyone say it, but only come across it in British children's papers and books.
Unraveling the Magic: Understanding the Meaning of ‘Wizard’ in British Slang
https://slangsensei.com/wizard-british-slang-meaning/

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  Were civilians not involved in the War Effort actually allowed to travel to Australia, with The Japanese Navy so close?   

Well, by that time you could fly to Australia. Many stops along the way.
However, there were at least one shipload of children shipped out from the UK. The idea was to protect them from bombing or potential invasion. What happened to many of them when they got here later became a major scandal. Sent to institutions where they were abused. Not necessarily sexually.
Also, I believe that at least one shipload of Jews was sent out here, and that story is quite sobering also.
Australia was seen as a refuge from the horrors of Europe.