Judy (comics)

''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.

Publication history

Background

DC Thomson had published its first girls' magazine, ''Bunty'', in 1958. The success of this title led DC Thomson to publish ''Judy'', which was also successful: between them, ''Bunty'' and ''Judy'' achieved a circulation of over one million. DC Thomson went on to publish other similar titles: ''Diana'' (published 1965–1976), ''Mandy'' (published 1967–1991), ''Debbie'' (published 1973–1983), and ''Suzy'' (published 1982–1987).

By 1974, DC Thomson's girls' imprints had fallen off somewhat (''Bunty'', ''Judy'', ''Mandy'', and ''Debbie'' had a combined circulation of 750,000 that year) but remained the market leader. Whether in imitation or not, British girls' magazines of this era typically bore a single female given name as title; besides the DC Thomson titles, other magazines were ''Tracy'', ''Nikki'', '' Sandie'', ''Diana'', ''Sally'', ''June'', '' Tammy'', ''Lindy'', and ''Penny''.

Mergers

As was common in British comics of the period, it was standard practice to merge a comic into another one when it declined in sales. Typically, three stories or strips from the cancelled comic would continue for a while in the surviving comic, and both titles would appear on the cover (one in a smaller font than the other) until the title of the cancelled comic was eventually dropped. ''Judy'' was emblematic of this practice. It absorbed ''Emma'' in 1979 and ''Tracy'' in 1985; as a consequence, the title was known as ''Judy and Emma'' from issue #1027 (15 September 1979) to issue #1049 (16 February 1980), and ''Judy and Tracy'' from issue #1306 (19 January 1985) to some time before issue #1443.

Even though ''Judy'' had debuted earlier than ''Mandy'', when the two titles merged in 1991, ''Mandy'' was listed first in the new merged publication. ''Mandy & Judy'', also known as ''M&J'', merged with ''Bunty'' in 1997.

Content

''Judy'' offered a mix of romance, pathos, school, and girl-next-door stories, thriving well into the era when consumer, fashion, and teen idol fare became popular in girls' magazines. The insouciant Bobby Dazzler was a recurring character.

Among the fare offered by ''Judy'' was stories of girls confronting adversity and overcoming it — for instance, ''Nobody Loves Dixie'' (1964) tells of a shunned girl who wins a trophy and rises from her wheelchair to collect it — or succumbing to it — for instance, in the harrowing ''Nothing Ever Goes Right'' (1981), the heroine, beset with poverty, orphanhood, and health problems, diesRayner, Jac
"Paper Worlds: Why girls' comics were wonderful,"
BBC (18 June 2014). of heart failure while rescuing children from an abandoned house.

Strips

* ''Bess’s Secret Brother'', written by Marion Turner (1984); reprinted as ''Her Brother’s Keeper'' (1990)
* ''Bobby Dazzler''
* ''Bobtail the Beach Rescue''
* ''Boomerang, the Horse that Always Comes Back''
* ''Cold As Charity'', written by Marion Turner (1986–1987); reprinted in ''Mandy & Judy'' (1994)
* ''Cybela'', written by Marion Turner (1979–1980)
* ''The Honourable SJ''
* ''Judy & Co.'' (1985–1991) — starring Judy, the "host" of the comic, and her schoolfriends Emma and Tracy, both of whom joined after ''Judy'' absorbed their respective titles.
* ''Marina and the Monster''
* ''Nobody Loves Dixie'' (1964)
* ''The Nobody of the School'', written by Marion Turner (1982); reprinted as ''The Veiled Lady'' (1988); reprinted as ''The Nobody of the School'' in ''M&J'' (1994)
* ''Nothing Ever Goes Right'' (1981)
* ''Patience in the Saddle''
* ''Part-Time Supergirl'', written by Marion Turner (1983)
* ''Petra the Party Maker''
* ''The Princess Who Never Was'', written by Marion Turner (1986)
* ''The Rivals''
* ''Sally of Studio Seven''
* ''Sandra of the Secret Ballet''
* ''Supergirl'' — Jenny Brown (not related to DC Comics' Supergirl)
* ''Topsy and the Scientist's Secret''
* ''The Unwanted Ones'', written by Marion Turner (1980–1981)
* ''Where Is Melanie Forbes?'', written by Marion Turner (1982); reprinted (1989)

See also

* British girls' comics

References

Sources

*
*

External links

Scan of 1982 Annual

{{D. C. Thomson Comics

1960 comics debuts
1991 comics endings
British girls' comics
Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom
DC Thomson Comics titles
Defunct British comics
Magazines established in 1960
Magazines disestablished in 1991