'Misty' and the Horrible History of British Comics (Part 3 of 3) by Julia Round

British girls’ comics were wildly popular throughout the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s: outselling the boys’ titles and circulating millions of copies every week. However by the 1980s circulations had fallen drastically, and very few titles made it out of this decade. The collapse of the industry and the cancellation of popular titles like Misty was likely due to a number of factors. IPC’s corporate structure was absolutely key to the demise, as in the 1970s individual titles were made into ‘cost centres’ and thus had to make a profit every week. Both Wilf Prigmore and Pat Mills agree that the company treated its creative staff as ‘the enemy’, with requests for a fairer deal constantly being ignored. No surprise then that creators sought out more appealing opportunities: leaving to work for the American or European markets, or moving into different media such as children’s paperback fiction, which offered decent advances and the prospect of reprints and royalties if stories proved to be popular. Publishers also abused their readership, as the merging of titles was a common practice. Although each title had a distinct look and identity, it was the fate of most to be merged into each other in pursuit of profit. The merger strategy, known as ‘hatch, match and dispatch’ was a popular way to bolster sales in a dwindling industry. While new titles always sold well on launch, after sales hit a certain low the comic would be merged with another title so their combined circulations would be taken into account: often devastating readers who may have followed one of the titles for years.  

Misty merged with Tammy on 19 January 1980, forming Tammy and Misty in which Misty would appear as the sometime host of the regular feature ‘Strange Stories from the Mist’ (also hosted by the Storyteller: a older male character initially introduced in June and School Friend (1965-74). However, due to Misty’s lack of regular characters and its host’s ethereal nature, her appearances quickly dwindled. By 26 September 1981 Tammy had reverted to its original title (in readiness for the merger of Tammy and Jinty on 28 November 1981), and Misty herself had all but vanished from its pages. Her last appearance in a story in Tammy and Jinty comes nearly six months later, after a long absence, when she bookends ‘The Mists of Time’ (15 May 1982). Reprints of Misty stories continued to appear worldwide: initially in the UK it continued in the annuals (1978-86) and a Best of Misty Monthly (8 issues, 1986). A French-Canadian Misty was launched in 1980 and was published fortnightly, and Misty material was also used in Canada as part of a bigger series of mystery/horror anthologies called Collection Kalédiscope (PAF Loisirs, 1976-80). As the 1980s progressed, Misty reprints continued to appear in the UK in IPC’s Barbie comic (licensed from Mattel, 1985-87) and its Swedish translation (Pandora Press, 1986-89), and Misty stories also appeared in the German comic Vanessa – Freundin der Geister [Friend of the Spirits] (Bastei-Verlag 1982-1990), with Miss T renamed as ‘Scharlotte Schock’. 

The Internet gave those who remembered British comics a new voice, and at the start of the millennium, many fan sites and blogs began to emerge focusing on these titles and begging for the return of comics like Misty. These include ‘Mistycomic.co.uk’ (Chris Lillyman, launched 2002), ‘Girls’ Comics of Yesterday’ (http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com, launched by Lorraine Nolan c.2011), ‘A Resource on Jinty: Artists, Writers, Stories’ (http://jintycomic.wordpress.com, launched by Jenni Scott in April 2014), and ‘Great News for All Readers’ (http://greatnewsforallreaders.com, launched by David Moloney on 31 August 2015). Other British comics sites and blogs such as ‘Blimey!’ (Lew Stringer, launched 2006), ‘Down the Tubes’ (John Freeman, launched 1998) and ‘The Bronze Age of Blogs’ (Pete Doree, launched 2009) are also invaluable repositories for articles and reflections on girls’ comics, alongside numerous forum threads devoted to British girls’ comics (such as www.comicsuk.co.uk) which contain lots of information for the interested reader. 

Misty’s return seemed possible when in Egmont Publishing bought the rights and released a Special Souvenir issue (2009) and the e-book Tales from the Mist 1: The Best of Misty (2012). The rights were then sold to Rebellion Publishing, who have released three collected editions to date (2016, 2017, 2018), along with new material in two Scream! and Misty Halloween specials (2017, 2018).

I’ve been researching Misty for the last four years, as a continuation of my work on Gothic and comics. But my relationship with it goes back much further, and my project was initially sparked by the recurring memory of a story I read in a girls’ horror comic when I was eight or nine years old. It was a about a girl who was not very pretty. She was given a magic mirror and told it would make her beautiful if she followed its instructions correctly. And it worked! But as she got more lovely she also became mean and vain, and one day she did something wrong with the instructions and when she woke up the next day and looked in her mirror her beautiful face was shattered and warped. It ended on the threatening words ‘After all, would you want to face yourself every morning, like this…’ 

I threw the comic away, but I never forgot that story (I remembered the final page and line nearly verbatim, for over thirty years). I now know it was ‘Mirror… Mirror’ (art by Isidre Monés, writer unknown), published in Misty #37 on 14 October 1978. When I found it during my archival research it was a pretty emotional moment. But once I started researching Misty I discovered tons of other stories that also hit and haunted me. I loved its alluring host with her poetic words, its dramatic tales of horrifying fates and karmic justice, and its incredible artwork and striking layouts. I wanted to tell everybody about this comic that continued to surprise me over thirty years later, and found myself summarizing Misty’s most shudder-making stories to anyone who would listen (which now includes you!) 

For me, studying Misty has revealed a lot about the nature and dominance of Gothic horror for girls. My book uses Misty as a lens to explore these ideas and arrive at a working definition of ‘Gothic for Girls’. It is also the first full-length critical history published on any single British comic. It brings together a wealth of primary research taken from archival visits, creator interviews, and online discussions with past readers, and reveals a great deal about the hidden history and production practices of the comics industry in this country. Many of the writers, artists, editors and associates I interviewed have never previously spoken about their work for British comics. Their recollections give a fascinating picture of how the industry operated – one that is in danger of being entirely lost due to a lack of records and the ephemeral nature of these publications.  

It has been a joy to help name the creators of these stories and to finally credit them for their work. The value that the Misty readers placed on ‘their’ comic was also apparent from all the people I spoke to and the level of active engagement in its letters page. These feelings of ownership and the emotional resonance of childhood things (including my own experience) demonstrate the ways in which readers use texts like Misty and other British comics to shape their identities. Misty’s recent revival also demonstrates the power of fandom, if made visible and granted a platform… three cheers for these aca-fans!

Julia’s new book Gothic for Girls: Misty and British Comics is available now!

Much of her supporting research is available open access at www.juliaround.com, including interviews, articles, extracts, and a searchable database of all the Misty stories, with creator and publication details where known.

Julia Round’s research examines the intersections of Gothic, comics and children’s literature. Her books include Gothic for Girls: Misty and British Comics (2019), Gothic in Comics and Graphic Novels: A Critical Approach (2014), and the co-edited collection Real Lives Celebrity Stories. She is a Principal Lecturer at Bournemouth University, co-editor of Studies in Comics journal (Intellect) and the book series Encapsulations (University of Nebraska Press), and co-organiser of the annual International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference (IGNCC). Her new book on Gothic for Girls and Misty is accompanied by a searchable database, creator interviews, and other open access notes and resources, available at www.juliaround.com.