Sally
a.k.a.:
Publisher: IPC
Format: Weekly anthology
First Issue: 14th June 1969
Last Issue: 27th March 1971 (83 issues)
Absorbed: None.
Absorbed into: Tammy
Strips: All Aboard the Dizzy Lizzy, Bad Bella, Broken-Hearted Rebel, The Castle Kids and the Very Important Cow, Cat Girl, Coral Island Nurse, Daddy Come Home, Des and Dink, Dinah and Harry, Farm Boss Fanny, 4 On The Road, The Ghost Hunters, The Girl From Tomorrow, Her Very Own Circus, High Dive Hazel, Judy's Search for Happiness, Jumping Jo, The Justice of Justine, The Legion of Super-Slaves, Little Lulu / Lulu - The Little Terror, Mad Hatter's Castle, Maisie's Magic Eye, Mandy's Secret Diary, My Best Friend's a Cave Girl, Schoolgirl Princess / Sara's Kingdom, School for Eggheads, Sheila's Skeelers, The Silent Shadows, A Sister for Five Brothers, Spiky and Otis, Sue and Prue, Telly Nelly, Thunk, Tiny Tania In Space, Trudy's Way, Twangy Pearl, Winnie's Wacky Zoo
Comments: The "comic for the adventurous girl," Sally lasted for 94 weeks, but only 83 issues, thanks to a ten week gap resulting from a strike, and one week that was skipped for reasons unknown to me. It began that relatively short run with many of its strips focussed on science fiction, fantasy and superheroines. The first issue featured, in order, Farm Boss Fanny, The Cat Girl, Little Lulu (later renamed Lulu - The Little Terror, perhaps to avoid confusion with the American comic character Little Lulu), Legion of Super-Slaves, The Castle Kids and the Very Important Cow, The Girl from Tomorrow, Des and Dink, Tiny Tania in Space, Daddy Come Home, Maisie's Magic Eye, The Justice of Justine, Thunk and 4 on The Road - more on each of these below. Of these, Cat Girl, Little Lulu and Maisie would all last to the final issue and beyond; indeed, from 11th October 1969, the eighteenth issue, Maisie became the regular cover star.
As ever with British weekly comics, the punishing publication pace ensured a rapid turnover of series deemed either less popular or to have reached their natural conclusion, and this in turn saw new series debuting on a regular basis. The Castle Kids, 4 on the Road, Legion of Super Slaves, Tiny Tania in Space and Girl From Tomorrow all soon concluded, Schoolgirl Princess and Coral Island Nurse both joined the comic before the end of 1969, while Twang Pearl, The Ghost Hunters and The Silent Shadows debuted in January 1971, replacing The Justice of Justine and others. By early February the line-up had added All Aboard the Dizzy Lizzy, Bad Bella, Her Very Own Circus, School for Eggheads, Spiky and Otis and Winnie's Wacky Zoo.
Fanny Round had lived with foster parents in Birmingham for as long as she could remember. However, when she was fifteen, a solicitor's letter informed her that her Great-great-uncle Ebenezer Round had died and left her Lazy Hollow Farm in Cheshire. Moving to the farm with her budgie Bertie, she found it delapidated, but did her best to run it with the help of Ebenezer's scruffy and aging farmhands Sam Slack and Dick Doolittle. Squire Gerald Garlick, her villainous neighbour at Garlick Hall, schemed to get her to sell Lazy Hollow to him, but Fanny was determined to keep hold of the only real home she had ever had. She was sometimes helped out by her eccentric inventor friend, Clarence Clutterbuck. Farm Boss Fanny began in Sally #1 (14th June 1969), and also appeared in Sally Annual 1972. |
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When Cathy dons a magic cat costume she gains feline super-powers, and proceeds to help her private detective father against the villainous Eagle.
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After rescuing a cow, Susan Porter, her sister Penny Porter, and their friends Ralph Dawson and Reginald "Cobweb" Webb seek to prevent the eviction of their friends Mr. and Mrs. Lemmington from the castle they live in, but sinister forces are afoot, and two mysterious men are after the cow! |
Little Lulu - "If there's trouble around Lulu will find
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Dinky is a mouse living in the large department store Charades. He'd have the run of the place at night, were it not for the caretaker's cat, Des. |
Legion of Super-Slaves. Fourteen year old Tamara Townsend was an exceptional athlete, a runner who qualified for the All-England Championships. Unfortunately, this led to her being kidnapped and taken to secret base on an island half way around the world, hidden within a volcanic crater, the lair of the criminal mastermind who dubbed himself the Grand Termite. He informed her she was to join other similarly kidnapped girl athletes as part of his brainwashed army, the ANTS - assuming she survived the lethal tests administered by the Termite's minion Gerta! The crater contains a jungle full of monsters that are "freak survivors from a prehistoric age"; no one had set foot in the crater before the Grand Termite found it. Tamara has one ally, Vesta, an ANT who is only feigning obedience.
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An overly curious 23rd century teen possessed of advanced psychic powers sneaks into her uncle's laboratory to find out what he is working on, and accidentally steals his new time machine, sending herself back to 1969. Once there she unintentionally ends up on the wrong side of the law after she releases a reformed and wrongly arrested pickpocket from police custody. Atlanta also appeared in Sally Annual 1971, where she and her pickpocket friend went back in time to ancient Arabia. |
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Alaric, the son of one of the other scientists attending the conference rescues her, and she is restored to full size. She makes a new home on Karna , and visits other planets with Alaric, but Shani's ray has residual effects - she periodically experiences a tingling sensation and shrinks down to a few inches high at random intervals. Tiny Tania also appeared in Sally Annual 1971. |
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![]() Fifteen year old Janie Martin and her younger brother Tinker live in Paradise Row in the East End of London until their father Alf joins the forces in 1940. The children are evacuated to Stanbrook, where they are housed with the cruel Mrs. Grimble. |
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Maisie Macrae makes a brooch out of a piece of meteorite, which turns out to have first hypnotic and then reality bending powers, which activate whenever the brooch glows. Unfortunately its impossible to predict when the brooch might glow, and Maisie has a penchant for making carelessly worded comments that the brooch might act upon. Hilarity ensues. As well as lasting the entire run of Sally and making the transition into Tammy, Maisie also appeared in Sally Annual 1972 and 1975 |
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![]() Gifted with magical items by a strange hermit, Justine Jones becomes a superheroine. |
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Thunk, the funny "thing" from outer space
Stranded but unperturbed, it set off to make friends with Earth people, and, after a couple of missteps when it asked a cow to "take me to your leader" and requested assistance from an angry goat, the alien had better luck with a human girl, Penny Jones. She named the alien Thunk, after the noise its wagging tail made as it knocked against a wooden rabbit hutch. Also appeared in Sally Annual 1972 and 1975 (though drawn somewhat differently in the latter) |
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4 on the Road Lola and Toni are two young Italian siblings living in Milan, who accept a job on behalf of Signor Borani to take two dogs, a dachund and great dane, to an America, Mr. Jeff Morris in Naples.
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Fifteen year old Sara Nairn leaves her school in the Scottish highlands to become ruler of the small Himalayan state of Hunzir. But the dowager Queen Shasti tells her she is on trial and will be queen in name only until she is sixteen. Meanwhile enemies are plotting against her. Adbur Khan feels he should rule. Eventually she thwarts those who seek to depose her and proves herself to Shasti. Sara's surname inexplicably changes from Nairn to Blair part way through the series. |
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Nurse Carol McColl (Katie Jones in the annual) works for the Lewis Islands Flying Doctor Service in the Pacific, alongside the dishy Doctor Grey. The series began in Sally #24 (22nd November 1969) and also appeared in Sally Annual 1971
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Twangy Pearl is apparently her real name, since Miss Beavis uses it when she's taking the register, and Beavis doesn't seem the type who'd use nicknames. Her strip began in the 3rd January 1970 issue of Sally, and also appeared in Sally Annual 1971. |
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The Ghost
Hunters Two schoolfriends, the blonde American girl Mary Jane and dark haired British girl Julie become partners in Ghost Hunters Inc., investigating spectral sightings, debunking the fakes and putting to rest the real ones. The Ghost Hunters began in Sally's 24th January 1970 issue, and also appeared in Sally Annual 1971 and 1974 in the adventures Phantom of the Snows and The Phantom Player respectively.
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Bad Bella, the Girl They Couldn't Tame! Began in Sally by 7th February 1970 |
Began in Sally by 7th February 1970 |
Winnie talks to the animals in her zoo, and is constantly trying to get around the nasty Keeper Quirk, who views the animals as inmates. Began in Sally by 7th February 1970. |
Her Very Own Circus Began in Sally by 7th February 1970. |
Sue and Prue, the Clueless 2 Retitled reprints of Cloris and Claire. Began in Sally by 7th February 1970. |
School for Eggheads When Mitzi Milligan, a "duffer" is mistakenly rated as a genius, she is given a place at Cerebrum College, a school for female "eggheads" run by Professor Cranium, where the pupils are so smart they "knocked out" a flying hovercraft in aerodynamics class. Luckily for Mitzi, her father has made her a talking microcomputer, Eggbert, that can answer any question put to it. Mitzi also has a pet mouse, Tweenie. Her classmate, who actually wants a duffer student at the school, is Angelica. Began in Sally by 7th February 1970.
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Their home destroyed and her mother killed by merciless land-grabbers and crooked lawmen, Tawny Webb and her father travel the West, reckless and free, a law unto themselves. They get separated when her father loses his memory, and she tries to find him. Began in Sally before 9th May 1970. |
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Coming from a wealthy background, Joanna wants to be an athlete, but her governess Miss Grott disapproves. Luckily for Jo, she has an identical looking friend who can stand in for her at home while she competes, though her friend's more common speech patterns threaten to betray the ruse. Began in Sally before 9th May 1970. |
Judy quits school to become a trapeze artist. Began in Sally before 9th May 1970. |
Given a diary as a holiday souvenir by her gran, thirteen year old Mandy from Ludlow writes down her innermost thoughts of life, love and romance. The series began in Sally on 4th July 1970, and also appeared in Sally Annual 1972. |
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Telly Nelly, "our telly mad maid," is a girl obsessed with finding a way to appear on TV. Her strip began in Sally by 11th July 1970, and she also appeared in Sally Annual 1972. |
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On the massively overcrowded Earth of the 53rd Century, humanity lives in mile-high dormitories divided into different age groups, with everyone living to a strict schedule for eating, exercising, etc. to ensure everyone gets fair access to the limited space for facilities. All food is synthetic, made from processed plankton in huge floating sea farms. Unlike her peers, Trudy of Group X73H240BL4963 is dissatisfied with this life, and dreams of a better life. When space explorers discover a new habitable world, AM6H, in the Andromeda Galaxy, Trudy's group is among those chosen to become colonists. Unused to so much empty space, many colonists, including Trudy's friend Linda, struggle to cope on the new planet, and cling to old routines in their cramped colony dome, but Trudy is determined to enjoy her new world. Trudy's Way began in Sally in September 1970.
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Started in Sally by 7th November 1970. |
After their parents died, teen Patti Morgan quit school to look after her five clueless brothers in the family's farmhouse. In the image above, the brothers are (left to right): Henry, Joe, Peter, unknown, Cyril. The strip began in Sally prior to 13th February 1971. |
Mad Hatter's Castle
The story began in Sally prior to 13th February 1971. |
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A retitled reprint of Pat of the Dolphins. Would-be high diver Hazel is a member of the Neptune Club and being trained by Barney. The series began in Sally before 13th February 1971. |
Dinah and
Harry Dinah Darrell and Harry Beldon are best friends, who investigate the disappearance of fair owner Pa Burgess. They suspect Blackett, a man who seeks to take over the fair. The series began in Sally before 13th February 1971. |
The strip began in Sally's 6th February 1971 issue. |
Sally merged with Tammy on 2 April 1971, making her the first of six titles that Tammy absorbedduring her 13-year run. Maisies Magic Eye and Cat Girl were among the stories that survived into the combined title.
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