Misty (comics)

Last updated

Misty
Misty45-9-December-1978.jpg
The cover of Misty #45 (9 December 1978), featuring the distinctive artwork of Shirley Bellwood.
Publication information
Publisher Fleetway
ScheduleWeekly
FormatNewsprint magazine
Genre
Publication date4 February 1978 – 12 January 1980
No. of issues101
Creative team
Written by Pat Mills, Malcolm Shaw, Barry Clements
Artist(s)Shirley Bellwood, John Armstrong, Joe Collins, Brian Delaney, John Richardson, Badia, Jesus Redondo, Ken Houghton, Peter Wilkes, Eduardo Feito, Bob Harvey, Honiera Romeu, María Barrera Castell (Gesalí), Mario Capaldi
Editor(s) Malcolm Shaw
Collected editions
Misty vol. 1 ISBN   978-1781084526
Misty vol. 2 ISBN   978-1781086001
Misty vol. 3: Wolf Girl & Other Stories ISBN   978-1781086513

Misty was a weekly British comic magazine targeted at girls and published by Fleetway in the late 1970s. Focusing on horror stories, it was one of the few British girls' comics that was also popular with boys. [1] Although Misty lasted less than two years it is remembered and admired to this day. [2] [3]

Contents

Publication history

Misty #1 was published on 4 February 1978. The final issue, #101, came out on 12 January 1980. The following week, Misty merged with Fleetway stablemate Tammy, [1] which then adopted the title Tammy and Misty until September 1981.

Summer and holiday specials were published between 1978 and 1980, [4] as well as eight annuals from 1979 until 1986, long after the weekly Misty had ceased to exist. [5]

Content

Misty was a collection of serial and one-off stories. Both types — complete stories and story instalments — were usually four pages long. [6]

While Misty had similarities with its Fleetway stablemates Tammy and Jinty , each magazine had its own focus. Consultant editor Pat Mills' vision for Misty imagined it as a "female 2000 AD." He saw Carrie and Audrey Rose as models, which would be "modified for a younger audience." [7]

Misty concentrated on supernatural and horror stories, featuring plots such as "pacts with the devil, schoolgirl sacrifice, the ghosts of hanged girls, sinister cults, evil scientists experimenting on the innocent and terrifying parallel worlds where the Nazis won the second world war." [8] One-off stories often had troublemaking protagonists being punished in fantastic fashion. [9]

The taglines for the first three covers emphasized a connection with the mystery genre. Subsequently the horror appeal became prominent, with taglines such as "Stories NOT to be read at night!" [10] and "Dare you read it alone?" [11]

There were no regular characters except for host Misty and the comic strip witch Miss T. Misty, whose appearance was designed by Shirley Bellwood, [12] always welcomed the reader on the editorial page, and occasionally appeared on the cover. [13] Miss T, meanwhile, attracted debate among readers as to whether its comic relief weakened or complemented the dark tones of Misty. [9] After the merger with Tammy, Miss T joined the Tammy's Edie strip, which eventually became The Crayzees when Snoopa joined in the Tammy and Jinty merger on 28 November 1981. The strip continued until the Tammy and Princess merger on 7 April 1984.[ citation needed ]

The Cult of the Cat and The Black Widow were the only Misty stories to have sequels. The former continued in The Nine Lives of Nicola, the latter in Spider Woman (by then Misty had become part of Tammy).[ citation needed ]

Misty, following the tradition of British girls' comics, also published short text stories. Those were not present in every issue.[ citation needed ]

Artists

Artists featured in the pages of Misty included John Armstrong (best known for drawing Bella at the Bar for Tammy), María Barrera, [14] Brian Delaney, John Richardson, Jordi Badía Romero, Jesus Redondo, Ken Houghton, Peter Wilkes, Eduardo Feito, Bob Harvey, Honiera Romeu, and Mario Capaldi. Illustrator Shirley Bellwood did many covers for the weekly magazine as well as a number of Misty annuals and specials. Bellwood's ethereal art is a notable aspect of Misty. [15] Joe Collins drew the Miss T strips.

The moon and bat cover logo was devised by Jack Cunningham. [16]

Writers

Writers featured included Pat Mills, Malcolm Shaw, Wilf Prigmore, and (possibly) Barry Clements. Mills is credited with Moonchild and Hush, Hush, Sweet Rachel, and Shaw with The Sentinels.

Unlike the comics, text stories seem to have mostly been written by women, with Kitty Punchard and Anita Davies among them. [17]

List of strips and stories

Reprints and new specials

The Misty back catalogue is now owned by Rebellion Developments, which has reprinted Misty stories in the following volumes:

Since 2017 Rebellion has also published all-new Misty and Scream! & Misty specials. [21]

In 2018 French publisher Delirium released Anthologie Misty. [22] [23] The comics included in the volume were the serials Moonchild, The Four Faces of Eve, and The Sentinels, and the one-off stories "Roots" and "Shadow of a Doubt."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Mills</span> English comics writer and editor (born 1949)

Patrick Eamon Mills is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather of British comics".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wagner</span> American-born British comics writer (born 1949)

John Wagner is an American-born British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills, he helped revitalise British comics in the 1970s, and continues to be active in the British comics industry, occasionally also working in American comics. He is the co-creator, with artist Carlos Ezquerra, of the character Judge Dredd.

Gerry Finley-Day is a Scottish comics writer, prolific from the 1960s to the 1980s, best known as the creator of "Rogue Trooper".

<i>Action</i> (comics)

Action was a controversial weekly British children's anthology comic that was published by IPC Magazines, starting on 14 February 1976, until November 1977.

<i>Scream!</i> (comics) British weekly comic

Scream! was a weekly British comics periodical published by IPC Magazines from 24 March to 30 June 1984. A horror comic anthology comic, the title lasted for 14 editions before being merged with another title, Eagle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trina Robbins</span> American cartoonist and writer (born 1938)

Trina Robbins is an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first female artists in that movement. She is a member of the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.

<i>Jinty</i> (comics) Weekly British comic for girls

Jinty was a weekly British comic for girls published by Fleetway in London from 1974 to 1981, at which point it merged with Tammy. It had previously merged with Lindy and Penny in a similar fashion, illustrating the 'hatch-match-dispatch' process practiced by editorial staff in the London comics publisher.

<i>Tammy</i> (comics)

Tammy was a weekly British comic for girls published by Fleetway in London from 1971 to 1984. Tammy was closely linked editorially with the fellow Fleetway titles Misty and Jinty. At its height, Tammy sold 250,000 copies per week, more than popular IPC Magazines titles like 2000 AD.

John Armstrong was a British comics artist, best known for his work in Misty and Tammy, for which he drew the long-running strip Bella. Other strips he has drawn include The Secret Gymnast in Bunty.

<i>Girl</i> (UK comics)

Girl was the name of two weekly comics magazines for girls in the United Kingdom.

<i>Sandie</i> (comics) British girls comic

Sandie was a British girls' comic, published by Fleetway, which lasted for 89 weekly issues between 12 February 1972 and 20 October 1973 before being merged into Tammy. The editor of Sandie was John Wagner.

<i>Judy</i> (girls magazine)

Judy was a British pre-teen and teen girl's magazine, primarily in comic book form. Judy was extant from 1960 to 1991. From 1991 to 1997 it was combined with another title in Mandy and Judy magazine. Judy was published by DC Thomson.

Malcolm Campbell Shaw was a British comics writer and editor, involved in many girls' comics such as Jinty, New Mirabelle, and Misty.

British girls' comics flourished in the United Kingdom from the 1950s through the 1970s, before beginning to decline in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Publishers known for their girls' comics included DC Thomson and Fleetway/IPC. Most titles appeared weekly, with the content primarily in picture-story format. The majority of the stories were serialized, with two or three pages per issue, over eight to twelve issues. They were marketed toward young teen girls.

School Friend was the name of two different British weekly publications marketed toward girls, both of which were pioneering in their respective categories. The first School Friend, published from 1919 to 1929, was the first story paper marketed exclusively to girls. The second School Friend, published from 1950 to 1965, is considered the first British girls' comic. Although both published by Amalgamated Press, and both marketed toward girls, the content of the two publications was not directly related.

<i>Princess</i> (comics)

Princess was a weekly British magazine for girls, published from 30 January 1960 to 16 September 1967 by Fleetway Publications. The publication featured a mix of articles, features, and comic strips.

<i>June</i> (comics)

June was a weekly British girls' comic published from 18 March 1961 to 15 June 1974 by Fleetway Publications, when it merged into the fellow Fleetway title Tammy. June featured a mix of text serials and comic strips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Vigilant (comics)</span> Comic book superhero team

The Vigilant are a British superhero team who appear in comics published by Rebellion Developments. The team is mainly made up of updated versions of extant IPC/Fleetway Publications characters that are now owned by Rebellion, mixed with some original characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cat Girl (comics)</span> British comic book story

The Cat Girl is a British comic character who has appeared in eponymous strips published by IPC Magazines and Rebellion Developments. The character, a girl called Cathy Carter who finds a suit that gives her the attributes of a cat and becomes a crimefighter, first appeared in the launch issue of weekly girls' comic Sally on 14 June 1969.

<i>End of the Line...</i> British comic book story

"End of the Line..." is a British comic strip published by IPC Magazines in the girls' comic anthology title Misty between 12 August and 18 November 1978. Written by Malcolm Shaw with art by John Richardson, the story revolves around Ann Summerton, who begins seeing visions of her dead father while travelling on the London Underground. Like many of the stories featured in Misty, the serial had strong supernatural elements.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Rayner, Jac. "Paper Worlds: Why girls' comics were wonderful," BBC (18 June 2014).
  2. "Enter the Midnight World of 'Misty:' The 'Lost' Gothic British Comic for Girls". Lethal Amounts. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  3. "Voices from the mist". GREAT NEWS FOR ALL READERS! incorporating OOR PALS IN THE NORTH. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  4. "Specials". mistycomic.co.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  5. "Annuals". mistycomic.co.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  6. Round, Julia (16 May 2017). "Misty, Spellbound and the lost Gothic of British girls' comics". Palgrave Communications. 3 (1): 1–11. doi: 10.1057/palcomms.2017.37 . ISSN   2055-1045.
  7. Mills, Pat (6 September 2016). "MISTY LIVES!". Pat Mills. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  8. Rayner, Jacqueline (17 August 2012). "Jinty, Tammy, Misty and the golden age of girls' comics". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  9. 1 2 "'Misty' and the Horrible Hidden History of British Comics (2 of 3) by Julia Round". Henry Jenkins. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  10. "GCD :: Issue :: Misty #8th April 1978 [10]". www.comics.org. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  11. "GCD :: Issue :: Misty #24th June 1978 [21]". www.comics.org. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  12. Jenkins, Henry. "'Misty' and the Horrible Hidden History of British Comics (Part 1 of 3) by Julia Round". Henry Jenkins. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  13. "Shirley Bellwood: a gallery of her Misty covers". GREAT NEWS FOR ALL READERS! incorporating OOR PALS IN THE NORTH. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  14. "María Barrera". lambiek.net. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  15. "Graphic Content: Pat Mills tells the behind-the-scenes story of 1970s girl horror comic Misty". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  16. Freeman, John (21 September 2018). "In Memoriam: Jack Cunningham, Art Editor of Misty". downthetubes.net. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  17. Round, Julia (2019). Gothic for Girls: Misty and British Comics. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 44–45. ISBN   978-1496824479.
  18. "Treasury British Comics Shop : Misty: Book 01". shop.treasuryofbritishcomics.com. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  19. "Treasury British Comics Shop : Misty: Book 02". shop.treasuryofbritishcomics.com. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  20. "Treasury British Comics Shop : Misty: Book 03". shop.treasuryofbritishcomics.com. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  21. "2000 AD Shop". shop.2000ad.com. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  22. "Anthologie Misty – Delirium" (in French). Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  23. "Anthologie Misty : fantastique et épouvante à ne pas lire la nuit". ActuaLitté.com (in French). Retrieved 25 October 2022.

Sources consulted