Tammy (comics)


Tammy was a weekly British comic for girls published by Fleetway in London from 1971 to 1984, at which point it merged with Girl. Other titles which had merged with Tammy before then include Sally, Sandie, June, Jinty, and Misty.
The first Editor was Gerry Finley-Day, followed by Wilf Prigmore.
It consisted of a collection of many small strips, with the stories themselves normally being three or four pages long. As well as the weekly comic, Christmas annuals were also published. While there were similarities with its Fleetway stablemates Jinty and Misty, each comic had its own focus, with Tammy concentrating on sadder Cinderella-themed stories and dark tales of tortured heroines, most notoriously in Slaves of War Orphan Farm and No Tears for Molly. Tammy's respective merges with Misty brought darker, horror tones, and her merge with Jinty more science-fiction. Despite these, changes in editorship brought Tammy to a more traditional mold in storytelling during the 1980s. The dark, cruel streaks that made Tammy so revolutionary in the 1970s had disappeared, except for Bella Barlow.
Tammy had more long-running regulars than most girls' comics due to her respective merges. The Tammy and Sandie brought Wee Sue in 1973. The Tammy and June merger brought Bessie Bunter and the Storyteller with The Strangest Stories Ever Told in 1974. The Tammy and Misty merger brought Miss T and Misty herself to join the Storyteller, in 1980. The Tammy and Jinty merger brought Pam of Pond Hill in 1981.

Creators

Attribution

Artists and writers were credited in the last few years of Tammy, in a move unusual for girls comics, although 2000 AD had included credits from issue 36.

Artists

Artists featured in the pages of Tammy included John Armstrong, who drew the long-running character Bella Barlow. Others included Mario Capaldi, Jose Casanovas, Tony Coleman, Diane Gabbott, Douglas Perry, Eduardo Feito, Giorgio Giorgetti, Juliana Buch, and Miguel Quesada.

Writers

Writers featured included Jenny McDade, who wrote Star Struck Sister, the first Bella Barlow story and Come Back, Bindi; Benita Brown, who wrote the science fiction story Tomorrow Town; Gerry Finley-Day, who wrote The Camp on Candy Island; Maureen Spurgeon, who wrote the Molly Mills stories; Pat Mills, who wrote Becky Never Saw the Ball, Thursday's Child and Glenda's Glossy Pages; Malcolm Shaw, who wrote E.T. Estate; Ian Mennell, who wrote Namby Pamby and Cuckoo in the Nest; Alison Christie, who specialised in heart-tugging stories such as A Gran for the Gregorys and Cassie's Coach; Jay Over, who wrote Slave of the Clock and Pam of Pond Hill from the Jinty merger; Primrose Cumming, who wrote the later Bella Barlow stories; and Anne Digby, who wrote Olympia Jones; Terence Magee
who wrote The Four Friends at Spartan School, The Witch of Widecombe Wold and Sally In A Shell

List of strips and stories