Princess Tina

''Princess Tina'' (at times known as ''Princess Tina and Penelope'' and then simply ''Tina'') was a weekly British girls' comic published from autumn 1967 to summer 1973 by the International Publishing Company, initially under the Fleetway Publications banner. Two comics, ''Princess'' and '' Tina'', were merged to form ''Princess Tina''; another title, ''Penelope'', was merged into ''Princess Tina'' in 1969; the publication itself came to an end when it was merged into ''Pink''.

The comic was a key link in a long line of British girls' comics titles that stretched from 1950 to 1980, starting with ''Girl'', then ''Princess'', ''Tina'', ''Penelope'', ''Pink'', and ending with ''Mates''.

Notable creators associated with the publication included Betty Roland, Purita Campos, and D. C. Eyles; its last editor was John Wagner.David Bishop, "John Wagner: The Quiet American", ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' #250, 17 October 2006, pp. 24–30

Publication history

It was standard practice in the twentieth-century British comics industry to merge a comic into another one when it declined in sales. Typically, three stories or strips from the canceled 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 canceled comic was eventually dropped. ''Princess Tina'' was a prototypical example of this phenomenon:
* ''Girl'' was a weekly comic magazine for girls published from 1951 to 1964. It was launched by Hulton Press on 2 November 1951 as a sister paper to the ''Eagle'', and lasted through Hultons' acquisition by Odhams Press in 1959 and Odhams' merger into IPC in 1963. After ''Girl''''s issue of 3 October 1964 (its 675th overall), it was merged into ''Princess''.
* ''Princess'', published under the Fleetway banner, had debuted with a 30 January 1960 issue, publishing 399 issues before the merger with ''Tina''.
* ''Tina'' was launched on 25 February 1967 as "the new schoolgirls paper for 1967." It lasted only 30 issues before the merger with ''Princess''.
* ''Princess Tina'' was launched on 23 September 1967 by merging ''Princess'' and ''Tina''. The featured comic strips from ''Princess'' — ''Alona: The Wild One'' and ''The Happy Days'' — and from ''Tina'' — ''Jane Bond: Secret Agent'' — were carried over to the new publication.
* In late December 1969, the City Magazines title ''Penelope'' was merged into ''Princess Tina''. This merger appears to have been arranged hastily and left some of ''Penelope'''s weekly comic strip serials unfinished, so the endings of these were included in the form of text stories in its final issue, #204 (13 December 1969). The 20 December 1969 issue of the merged title was ''Princess Tina and Penelope''. Despite the combined title, only one comic serial from ''Penelope'' survived the merge, albeit with the format and main character's name altered.
* The title reverted to simply ''Princess Tina'' with the 6 June 1970 issue.
* With the 18 March 1972 issue, the title logo began emphasizing ''Tina'' with ''Princess'' much smaller — from a distance, the title appeared to simply be ''Tina''.
* The magazine went on a publishing hiatus from the 13 January 1973 issue to the 31 March 1973 issue, a gap of about months. When it returned, the title was now simply ''Tina''.
* In August 1973 the publication was merged into ''Pink''.W. R. Logan
Interview with John Wagner
, Class of '79 (undated)
/ref> At first, the merged title remained simply ''Pink'', but by issue #48 (23 February 1974) it was retitled ''Pink & Tina''. By issue #89 (December 1974), the title had reverted to ''Pink''.
* ''Pink'' was merged into its sister IPC title ''Mates'' in 1980.

Annuals and specials

Twelve hardcover ''Princess Tina'' annuals were published between 1968 and 1980 (bearing the cover dates 1969–1981). Other hardcover annuals associated with the title were ''Princess Tina Ballet Book'', dated 1969 to 1977, and ''Princess Tina Pony Book'', from 1969 to 1981. Five annual saddle-stapled magazines were published as ''Princess Tina Summer Extra'' dated 1969 to 1974.The Comic Book Price Guide of Great Britain - Princess Tina Summer Extra
/ref>

Content

''Princess Tina'' continued regular features, text stories and serials, a letters page (''Tell Us About It''), and comic strips. In an unusual gesture, many text and feature writers were credited, but usually only by their first name.

One of the title's most notable strips was Purita Campos' ''Patty's World'', created with writer Philip Douglas, "about the everyday life of 13-year old Patty Lucas." Launched in 1971, the strip survived the merger with ''Pink'', finally moving on to ''Mates'', and then the 1980s relaunch of ''Girl'', finally ending in 1988. As described in Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia'':

Dutch version

Launched in 1967, the Dutch comic ''Tina'' was initially a translated version of ''Princess Tina'' (but unlike the source publication, was from the start executed in color). It became the most notable of the British-inspired girls' magazines which published a lot of comics, predominantly from British origin (albeit mostly drawn by anonymous Spanish Fleetway studios artists), just like ''Sjors'' magazine had at first. And like ''Sjors'', ''Tina'' would provide a platform for Dutch talents like Jan Kruis, Jan Steeman, and Patty Klein to flourish, unsurprisingly perhaps as both magazines were at the time published by Dutch publishing house .

Features

* ''Flower Arranging''
* ''Make This With Jeffy'' written by Jeffy (real name Jennifer)
* ''Pop People''
* ''Princess Tina Cook Book''
* ''Stop 'n' Chat with the Tina Gang'', written by Linda, Jeffy (Jennifer), and Horace
* ''Summer Line-up''

Serials and text stories

* ''Janey'' by Jemma
* ''"Fire!"'' by Horace

Strips

* ''Alona: The Wild One'' by Leslie Otway (from 1967; continued from ''Princess'')"Princess,"
Grand Comics Database. Retrieved 28 February 2021: "Main serials (The Happy Days, Alona The Wild One) continued in Princess Tina (1967)."
* ''Barbie the Model Girl'', illustrated by E. A. Allen (from 1967; continued from ''Princess'') — about the fashion doll of the same name
* ''Briony Andrews'', drawn by Rodrigo Comos
* ''Clueless'' drawn by John Richardson — humour strip about a blundering dog
* ''Freedom Island'', drawn by Juan Solé Puyal
* ''The Happy Days'' by Jenny Butterworth and Andrew J. Wilson (from 1967; continued from ''Princess'')Andrew J. Wilson entry
Lambiek's Comiclopedia. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
* ''Jackie & the Wild Boys''
* ''Jane Bond: Secret Agent'' by Mike Hubbard (continued from '' Tina'')
* ''Jinny below Stairs'', drawn by Julian Vivas
* ''Lassie Come Home'' by Andrew J. Wilson (1968–1969)
* ''No Swimming Allowed!'', drawn by Santiago Hernandez
* ''Patty's World'' by Philip Douglas and Purita Campos (1971–1973; continued in ''Pink'')
* ''Problem Pony'', drawn by Edmond Ripoll
* ''Ross – Student Nurse'', drawn by Colin Merrett
* ''Run, Kristina, Run'' by Terence Magee (continued from ''Princess'')
* ''Space Girls'' by Keith Watson (continued from ''Tina'')
* ''Tina Aims for the Top!'', drawn by Candido Ruiz Pueyo
* ''The Trolls'' by Hugh McNeill
* ''Vicky in Australia'' by Betty Roland and Dudley Pout — reprinted from ''Girl'', where it ran from 1954 to 1958Steve Holland
Betty Roland
Bear Alley, 8 September 2006
* ''Willy the Wily Wolf'' by Hugh McNeill

References

Citations

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Princess Tina
1967 comics debuts
Children's magazines published in the United Kingdom
British comics titles
British girls' comics
Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Comics anthologies
Defunct British comics
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Fleetway and IPC Comics titles
Magazines established in 1967
Magazines disestablished in 1973