Once upon a time, British comics flourished. The newsagent stands were crammed with titles like Jackie, Tammy, Jinty, Misty, Debbie, Mandy, Bunty, Battle, Tiger, Eagle, and Buster. The titles targeted readers who were too old for nursery comics but too young for teen magazines. These titles are fondly remembered by people from the 1950s onward. Some titles like Misty could even bridge the gap between boys and girls; boys sneaked into their sisters' copies of Jinty or Misty while 2000AD attracted a female readership with stories about heroines as well as heroes.
And how did those titles do it? Readers thought they were 'cool'! And even though those titles have disappeared, their flame continues to burn. On Ebay, old girls' titles have become collectors' items, and some, like Misty, demand high prices. Some titles, such as Misty and Bunty, have even found their very own Facebooks and cult followings on the Internet. What more proof do you need that those titles are still cool, even after all these years?
Yet all that remains of those times are 2000AD, Dandy, and Beano. Newsagent shelves are crammed with pink titles filled with princess, fairy tale and animal themes aimed at young readers, and teen magazines like Shout and Sugar. But there is not one 'cool' title anymore to bridge the gap in between those years; the days of Jackie, Jinty, Tammy et al have long since faded.
Nonetheless, Pat Mills, 'the godfather of British comics', believes there is a market for 'cool stuff'. Recently he conducted a straw poll among 8-12 year old boys and girls, in which they were introduced to some of the classic serials from Tammy, Misty, and Jinty. Samples included Moonchild, The Sentinels, The Four Faces of Eve, Glenda's Glossy Pages, and Monster Tales. The feedback showed that the stories were as fresh as ever and confirmed what Mills says he already knew: that kids want cool stuff, there is a market for cool stuff, and there is a big gap in the market for cool stuff that is crying out to be filled. Currently Mills is crusading to fill this gap with a new title.
If there is a market for 'cool stuff' then why is there no 'cool stuff' available? Why is no industry producing cool stuff? Why has the once-flourishing British comics industry fallen back onto pink princess titles? Once-proud titles like Bunty, Jackie, Mandy, Judy, Jinty and Tammy showed that they had what it took to be cool in their heyday. So what went wrong? Why did they disappear?
These questions are still a subject of intense debate, research, and even PhD theses. Mills blames 'the slough of despond' i.e. the failure of the publishers to empathise with readership and creatorship. This caused changes in writing and authorship that leaned towards traditional girls' fare rather than gritty stories that made titles like Tammy and Misty so popular. Others argue that there must more to it, and suggest changes in readership and shifts in entertainment from printed paper to digital technology.
This article will not analyse the reasons for the decline of the British comics industry. Rather, it will discuss the history of cool in girls' comics and how their cool could still revive the industry.
The story must begin with Bunty, the very first - and the very last - of the British girls' comics. Bunty premiered in 1958 and set the template that imitators such as Mandy and Judy were to follow: stories about ponies, ballet, and boarding school, along with a good mix of spooky stories, science fiction and light-hearted goofiness for lots of laughs. Bunty's cool lay in her appeal to the working classes under the age of 14, in contrast to contemporary titles like Girl and School Friend; in Bunty's mainstay, the Four Marys, Mary Cotter is a working class scholarship girl while the other three Marys come from the traditional and upper classes that predominated in Bunty's rivals. Bunty also had her share of grittiness with stories like Catch the Cat, Down with St Desmonds!, The Courage of Crippled Clara, and The Children's Champion. Bunty ensured her ongoing cool with reader polls to make sure her stories - and the Four Marys - kept up to date with the latest trends; in some cases she was even ahead of her time. One example is the 1978 story Detestable Della, a Tenko-style story long before Tenko screened.
However, by the 1970s a new generation and slumping sales were crying out for a whole new name in cool. So, in 1971 Gerry Finley-Day set a new trend of cool at IPC with Tammy. Tammy started a whole new revolution of darkness, grittiness, emotion, and hard-done by heroines. And Tammy took it all to heights of cruelty that was guaranteed to outrage parents, teachers, and The Guardian - the sure sign to Mills that the readers would love it. And the readers did: at its peak Tammy sold 250,000 copies a week, and it made Finley-Day's name as the founder of modern British comics. Classic Tammy tales from this new revolution included Slaves of War Orphan Farm where kids are used as slave labour in a quarry; The Four Friends at Spartan School where the tyrannical headmistress's ideas of discipline include the stocks, dungeons, and iron masks; and No Tears for Molly, despite the constant bullying and beatings from the butler Pickering at Stanton Hall where Molly works as a maid. And there are plenty of medieval torture implements at Pickering's disposal at Stanton Hall: flood dungeons, stocks, and cold-water torture in the lake. Little Miss Nothing set the template for dozens of Cinderella-themed tales, the most enduring of which was Bella at the Bar, who suffered domestic abuse, jealous rivals, and all manner of hardship to maintain her beloved gymnastics. Bella went on to rival Molly as Tammy's longest-running character.
Er, now, just a minute, you say....
Isn't this all a little over the top - a comic that inflicts beatings, dungeons, stocks, iron masks, quarries, and all manner of torture on its heroines?
Oh yes, of course it was - that was the whole point! It was all part of Mills recipe for success: stories that were well-plotted, hard, gutsy, ingenious, and with Òa strong camp quality...and totally over the top but still realistic concepts.Ó And Mills' recipe for success was so cool that it was used to revive the ailing boys' comics: Battle, Action, and 2000AD all owed their success to the revolution that made Tammy so cool.
Tammy was soon followed by a sister comic, Jinty (1974-1981) which stretched cool in girls' comics even further. Jinty began in the Tammy vein of darkness and cruelty with a touch of camp. Her best example was Merry at Misery House where a corrupt, sadistic reformatory throws everything - including attempted murder - at wrongly-convicted Merry Summers. But eventually Jinty took on a whole new style of jauntiness, sportiness and science fiction. And Jinty's science fiction was not your traditional girls' fare of goofy alien or robot who might took you to distant planets, bewitch your ball, or make a naive, well-intentioned mess of things. No, Jinty used science fiction was out to make serious statements with stories like Land of No Tears, a dystopian world where perfection rules all, The Human Zoo with allegories on animal cruelty, and Worlds Apart, a sterling warning about the dangers of extremes. And lessons like these were all delivered in dark, emotional tales of hardship that had made Tammy so cool.
Yet it was Misty (1978-1980) that went where no girls' comic had gone before in cool: a supernatural comic filled with darkness, horror, and another ingredient from Mills' recipe for success - stories that did not always end happily. Misty was conceived as the girls' equivalent of 2000AD. And her serials pushed boundaries in ways never done before. The Sentinels dared to show Gestapo torture and even a hint of the Holocaust in a world where Hitler triumphed; Winner Loses All was Faustian tale with the Devil himself as the villain; Moonchild was proudly set in the Carrie style; and The Cult of the Cat was full of Egyptian priestesses and mysticism. Misty was Mills' brainchild, but he could not secure the business deal which he believes would have made Misty the lead in the comics industry that could have her running alongside 2000AD. This, combined with lingering traditional styles of Bunty et al, did not make Misty as cool as Mills had wanted (although she was still cool enough to have her very own cult following).
This was just one sign that counter-revolution was setting in against the revolution with the editorial changes for Misty, Jinty and Tammy. Moreover, according to Mills, the 'slough of despond' also caused losses of top authorship in the industry; in the authorship that remained, the majority of cool writers were male while few female writers understood cool. By the 1980s, the dark, gritty, emotional stories that had made Tammy so cool had faded in favour of more traditional girls' fare; only Bella remained from former times. Jinty and Misty both disappeared into Tammy, and Tammy herself was cancelled in 1984.
IPC's rival, DC Thomson, although the publisher of traditional titles like Bunty, Judy and Mandy, did bring out its Misty equivalent, Spellbound! Judy took on some Tammy and Misty flavour with dark stories like Image of Iris, Nothing Ever Goes Right!, The Honourable S.J., and - most astonishing of all - Skeleton Corner, where a skeleton is your host! But these titles were swallowed by the more traditional DC Thomson titles. The only thing that felt cool was the appearance of boyfriend stories - something the traditional fare would never have had. Despite this, the DC Thomson titles continued to fade until Bunty, the first ever in girls' comics, ironically became the last, ending in 2001. Her last years were marked by constant reprints and even recycled titles - a clear sign that she was crying out for a whole new revolution in cool that never came.
These days the only trace of cool from girls' comics is, ironically, in boys' titles like the still-running 2000AD and Battle classics like Charley's War. Yet they would not exist without the revolution that made Tammy, Jinty, and Misty so cool.
There are signs that there is a demand and a potential market for 'cool'. Cool stuff for readers who are too old for nursery comics and too young for teen magazines. Cool stuff that can appeal to both boys and girls and attract cult followings. Unfortunately no publisher is currently willing to produce a whole new cool title despite Mills' efforts. So there is still no cool stuff on the shelves. Nothing for kids between the age of nursery comics and teen magazines to grab and say, Òcool!Ó
Clearly, it is time for a whole new revolution in the British comics industry. A whole new revolution in cool! Cool that will push buttons and boundaries. Cool that The Guardian will hate and kids will love. Cool that will set trends, comic industries and cult followings in years to come. Going cool did it before, so it can do it again.

So come on, British comics industry - bring out something cool!