Children's Magazines again

Although the weather has been lousy for most of the week coupled with being very ill I do get out rather than living life behind a screen, interacting with people and that means at the very least I get to go to the general store and newsagent quite a bit.

I had been looking for a while at comics and magazines aimed for children are both displayed and also the kinds of content because in the time I've been on this planet things have changed.

Most comics and magazines are still sold on a "sales or return basis, the newssagent gets a credit for any unsold copies that are gathered up and collected by the distributor but an increasing number are going for direct sales with indviduals taking out subscriptions with copies being posted out in timed intervals to you.

Inspirations for comics can come from anywhere.

This one from the mid 1940's only had a short run came from parents in the United States who felt existing comics wre too sensational, lacking any meaning content and purely escapist and so mixed more wholesome stories, comic strips in with information about what girls could get involved in and interests.

A kind of "mash up" between comic and magazine.

I really like that cover and the concept.

  A more modern co-ed version is this published by Bayard in France which mixes a short story with comics set in the past with features on science, nature and intresets in a way that is lively, leaping off the page and easy to read.

A well written comic or magazine gently pushes language development, introucing new words and concepts and this is aimed more at 8-14 which given my reading problems is about right and guarantees you do get a challenging gripping story to read given I struggle with Young Adult fiction nevermind naytrhing really intended for adults.

Wednesday media round up

There's a few things I'd like to talk about before my next entry sometime next week and I think the first thing is I enjoy light hearted social interaction, it may be a laugh and a joke on a Status update, a journal or say in a chat room.

This week I've been thinking back to my past and the things that were in them  and one thing that certainly was were comics.

Most of the popular comics we had tended to show more co-ed education because I guess they were more for both sexes and that was easier but outside the toppling duo of the Dandy and Beano you moved more into the world I felt more at one with, the girls only comic.

The staple of them was typically at least one all girls boarding school story but Judy had an interesting story of a world where you might be the only Girl admitted to what was a boys school perhaps because it may of been more convenient for your parents.

Just how might such a world of worked out when came to things like team sports given boys schools always did Rugby, Association Football and Cricket.

Could you imagine being in a rugby scrum with a load boys all pushing and shoving trying to get that ball off you?

These kinds of things intrigue me as much as in some ways I 'trailblazed' some changes in real life school and work settings when I'd been very much in the minority.

It's a bit like how in Scouts over here in time it's gone co-ed requiring thought about how to run activities such as Camp.

Spanking on site

This is being written during a period where I am trying to stay calm, reading comics and the odd sports feature like on Women's Soccer and listening a bit to some music to deal with the visit today of that person, probably a woman for the face to face assessment apart from wondering where one cd ordered last week has ended up.

One thing around comics at least as far as  comics from the past go is as was the era I read them they did reference spanking from time to time as the star of the cartoon strip acted all cranky and that.

This as Britishers would recognize is Minnie the Minx from the Beano from the 1977 edition of the Beano Annual judging by the drawing style, clearly in deep trouble with dad being dealt with the way many of us were at home (and I might add at boarding school).

Now in 2019 a number of sites that permit spanking content have a "No actual or depiction of a minor being spanked is permitted" policy which in theory means I couldn't actually post something I read aged nine, bought for me by responsible adults (my parents) from a publication aimed for children.

Equally as I think a number of us are aware spanking was 'at the movies' when we grew up too so again a straight still of which a number can be found easily online  showing either an actual child being spanked (there's a girl in Elvis's "At Happened at the Worlds Fair" from 1963 who is on film or an adult playing a child role who was and ditto tv like Little House On The Prairie or the classic 1969 film Kes where a group of boys are caned.

The aims of such policies is quite right - to prevent the circulation of images of children being spanked as adult titillation and children being abused to provide same - but something is awry in its application on sites.

Another though relevant consideration to someone like me is I'm in a gymslip - an adult by law but looking like a school child - and I was shown bent over chair but clothed with at the edge a person with say a tawse or slipper would that fall foul on grounds of 'depiction or not if submitted?

See, it's not that black and white is it as these things  are written.

Summer Special edition

After all that groan up election stuff on Thursday and the counting bit yesterday let's get back to more agreeable matters shall we?
As we head toward the end of May, we move from Spring into Summer which usually in this country tends to bring warmer weather and lots of Sun, indeed you might remember from last year we kind of over did it with temperatures in the high 20 degrees C range for a long period.
Summer in the UK is marked by the start of school holidays that usually start around the third week of July and run for typically 8 weeks which makes it a highlight of your childhood years and depending on age and in some cases districts marks such milestones as graduating to Juniors or moving on to Secondary schools at 11+ and college/uni at 16 and 18 respectively.
Something else generations of britishers also looked forward to was the publication of unique Summer Specials of their comics that came in full colour on better magazine quality paper with a binding.

They were and are almost like miniature annuals, which are a staple of childhood Christmas's  over here with special cartoon strips, games and things to do in them that you'd pick up before you went off on your summer holidays.
The company D C Thomson are a well known Scottish print media magnet printing magazines, comics and newspapers and two comic titles they are known for is The Beano and The Dandy.
Recently I got my copies of these two Summer Specials.
The Beano is a current comic, read by today's children as well as sizable number of adults who are continuing a enjoyable interest from childhood aimed at both girls and boys  whose cartoon strips have changed by the times with some old ones discontinued for new ones and some changes within the older ones to reflect more the society around today's children.
Thus it features such long established series as Dennis the Menace with his dog, Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, my heroine and the Bash Street Kids set in a working class junior school together with newer ones such as Rubi JJ and Pie Face that feature disabled children and people of colour in an attempt to be more 'inclusive' and all are drawn especially for this years summer special.
It has stickers, games and quizzes too clearly aimed at today's children.
The Dandy's is different because it is no longer published weekly and like the Annual is aimed more at those who remember reading the Dandy as I did as a kid and so has decided to make it a compilation with illustrations of some front covers, of some vintage comic strips featured in past summer annuals.
Reading that does bring back past memories and really childhood nostalgia is where this one is aimed.
Two annuals aimed at different markets all a great summer read.

Comic memories

After last weeks ouchie experiences my mind drifted back a bit to when it was my Gran was still about and not least comics cos she always bought me a comic every week I'd go visit here or if I couldn't they would be saved up until I could.
I didn't generally go much for superman hero type comics but more regular girl or mixed gender ones although I did read the cartoon strips in newspapers .
I also did buy cartoon books usually a yearly annual that collected the whole series on better quality paper and in hindsight it had to be said some of them did have spanking depicted in them because in that era it was just a social norm as it was for us too.

We'd just laugh our socks off at this whole situation envying Superman for his heat resistant can take anything behind.
I also at one time had a annual that had a multi page strip series about the a well to do mother struggling to control her teen daughter using the then contemporary pop psychology of just ignoring episodes as they were 'phases' you'd go through and grown out of which I suspect was a thinly disguised dig at Doctor Spock's child rearing guidance and his followers where she just tears up that guidance and takes her across her lap for a hairbrushing!
Actually this week I've been pretty good, helping out, not making messes and have managed to walk the furthest I've done for years without getting out of breath that helps with weekends as the meals tend to be bigger and more loaded with fats and that although this weekend I had some community magazines to deliver on foot plus a card for Mommy.
I'll just slowly work my way through the easter egg and chocolate concentrating on being good I think.

Christmas report

Christmas here was a bit different for a few reasons one being we didn't go out for lunch between some inter family stuff that tested patience to the limits and Mommy and I being very unwell just before and still recovering  so even if we had, it really would of been a waste as we'd not of eaten much.
With that we ate at home between ourselves,with the Turkey being put in over night to cook right through, vegetables done across the morning and the Christmas Pudding zapped in two minutes flat before eating!
As it was 2015 I had to help out getting stuff out, setting the table, clearing the table and with washing up.
I did have a number of presents this year although somethings are in transit as as I wasn't well enough to organize them to just before Christmas which does give me something to look forward toward I guess.

A perennial with me is comic annuals which are a direct run on from the Christmas presents I has as a child featuring special and sometimes Christmas themed cartoon strips from my all time favourite characters such as the no longer running apart from specials, Dandy which had Korky the cat, Desperate Dan of Cow Pie fame and others in it. 

The BIG comic with me as a Child was Britain's Beano a veritable parallel world for those of us who were of official school age  during the 70's thru 90's it's peak period with it's own school and characters in the form of the Bash Street Kids, my heroine Minnie the Minx and Dennis the Menance who like us also got smacked if they were naughty (and they were!).
As time went by some strips like Lord Snooty got retired and others like Bananaman who did have a tv series too joined the old favourites and the questionable practise of featuring in the news real people like pop stars and the like in story-lines crept in.

To say I like Jacqueline Wilson's stories is an understatement outside of the likes of Enid Blyton and co which I was raised on (and as you may know do have a good number of complete series by), she treads the line well between old school story telling but set in the world of todays children (and sadly some of society's issues) producing funny, very readable and thought provoking work.
This is set of short stories, some Christmas related featuring some of her best loved characters like Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather with quizzes too which is just the sort of thing I like, a more middles take on an annual in a paperback book format.

Mommy bought me  this, Maddie who is a 14 inch soft rag doll who I think is adorable in her pink candy stripped outfit and some grey long school socks which is a very sensible choice for an adult middle like me.

My Auntie brought me a selection box which was a super inspired choice on her part as she not formally known about my Middle side but can tell straight I'm very child-like.

To be honest I'd sooner people either asked ideally or just bought me things more like this because I just so not relate to *adult* likes and that at all so buying for a middle child really is more sensible.

Style chart

(Click on to expand)
This great drawing by Guinevieve is a great attempt to defining by example the various styles of Gothic & Lolita fashion many follow that deserved sharing.
Also I cut and made some classic 'Bunty' paper dolls from the 60's with their dresses having been shown a website that had scans of them so I could print them off which was rather fun as my Nan used to buy me it. 

Comics in our lives

If it was a Thursday, then that always meant something to me namely it was the day the British comic (it’s owners are Scottish so it certainly isn’t English!), the Beano came out which I read as did a good number of my schoolfriends and although I loved Minnie The Minx more, Dennis the Menace was always popular. Always in trouble. Always picking of arch softie Walter.
   In so many ways, they were like us cos we got in trouble at school and at home, like our comic heroes and heroines, we were spanked if not caned at school and like at the end of the strip, it was all over with too with things put right.
   That was our world and I wouldn’t swap it for anything cos we knew where we stood and grown ups always stepped in when needed.

75 years of the Beano

More warm this week as I sit typing up this weeks entry in bits and pieces no doubt.

For a good number of us, our sense of being young is in part at least connected with our actual childhoods and the routines we had back then and for me at least it was the arrival of comics which in the case of this British one came out on a Thursday.

That's right, the Beano which first came out in 1938 apparently although during World War II, it was reduced to fortnightly to save paper which was in short supply.

This is  special kind of a magazine with a softbook binding issued July 24th featuring a background capsule on all the main cartoon strips the comic run and the first strips of each that for me included such favourites as Minnie The Minx, Lord Snooty, Biffo the Bear, Dennis with Gnasher and the school series the Bash Street Kids that was close in some ways to my first school with its' Victorian building. Dennis has only been regularly on the front page from September 1974 taking over from Biffo.

Included in it is four glassy art prints which just adds to the enjoyment of this special issue although I often get the new regular copies and there is a celebratory featured  special issue of the regular comic that I hate to say really doesn't work as part of the appeal is the constant old style art and traditional storylines carefully made just slightly in tune with our times for younger audiences. 

A perfect fit

Not the outcome you expected but one that wasn't unknown as the slipper, perhaps with you having to bring your own slipper to be used to spank you was so normal back in the day.

Regessive replacements III

Equally replace magazines and newspapers by  something really more appropriate

Like this

Or this that also might help teach me Curtsey

Or these with traditional childhood stories and even horse adventures.

Judy

A big influence on me was the comics I read and the series of stories in them some were reprints of older stories while others were more contemporary.
Some were bought for me, some were shared such as those from the big box full my first two schools had that we could read if it was recess and the weather was too bad to be outside playing and others were say second hand annuals, girls annuals specifically.
They usually featured girls dressed in their school uniforms typically Tunics (Brit Speak: Gymslips) in situations subject to adult authority, disciplined as we were as they felt fit as it was in that era.

 

It was a fictional world of girls I followed not least for it allowed me to set myself as one them in my imagination, a what might of been and a clear influence on how now I present as a Junior girl being an adult little and her world.

Comics

When I was younger I grew up reading comics which are usually combinations of short stories written for children in a series of frames with the drawing, speech bubbles for the characters and a little bit of plain text to set the scene of the frame.
The stories are usually centred on universal aspects of childhood, such as parents, authority figures, school, war or adventure stories with heroes and having fun with other kids.
Some comics are written to appeal mostly to one gender but most I read were for both such as the Dandy and the Beano pictured.
In many ways the Beano had it all as far as I was concerned with the adventures of Dennis the Menace,  the lovable roguish boy fighting dad, every authority figure there was, Walter (the goody-goody boy) with every trick in the book. That said in earlier editions he'd get his comeuppance once in a while when Granny would arrive on the scene and spank him with the 'Demon whacker', a notoriously hard leather slipper!
My favourite though was Minnie The Minx. She was a bit like Dennis but with a Tan and obviously a skirt on compared to Dennis flannel shorts but more cunning with a tomboy aspect to her personality always scheming to get her own way . She'd have me in stitches every week!!!
My other favourite as The Bash Street Kids set in a old run down inner city primary school with loads of wacky characters engaged in a constant battle with 'Teach' who carried a cane with him who himself was under pressure from the Headmaster. In older episodes he's cane the kids from time to time for their misdemeanours in class or on trips.
I still love reading them and buy the annuals.

School Uniformed Life

This kind of uniform with blazer over blouse tie and skirt was very much a part of my own experience as a child because this was what girls generally wore to school. You cannot help but notice it just doesn't compliment their appearances but it looks very smart as well as defining you a school girl.
If you were in the 5th form (14 1/2  thru 15) or above you could wear tights usually a plain colour such as tan, blue, black or grey instead of knee socks

Of course any part of being a school child included shared interests of which a big one is comics and for me it was the British Comic, the Beano with it's adventures that we shared especially in my boarding school.
Recently it has been celebrating its 70th anniversary with a special soft back magazine edition that I bought back in July and this exhibition.

The Girl (Comic)

A special offshoot of The Eagle but for Girls:

The Eagle was a iconic British boys comic from the 1950's when boy were boys full of beans, heros and daring-do but girls then were regarded more as dainty, fragile things best kept for marriage and being of use to boys and men.
It was interesting that this comic taking some inspiration from what Women contributed during World war Two when the menfolk were on the frontline helping the War, effort showed a woman at the helm of an important role.
Girls can be aviators too!

Oh boy!

There were many things we read at high school, some by ourselves and some we shared and discussed at length.

These magazines were shared every week between us, having features on pop stars, usually hunky boys and well as stars of tv and the movie theatre.

The members of Duran Duran were something we sure discussed back then, I can assure you!

We also liked Sting

They also had features on fashion, making out and boys! In the pre-internet age apart from siblings it was the best place to find out stuff from.

Photo romance stories also featured and we talked about the issues they raised between each other.

Comics of my youth

We read these comics whenever it rained in our junior school and we were unable to play as they were kept in a big cardboard box and shared at recess.

Here's another long gone we read:

That one's more of a boys comic but it didn't matter that much when you couldn't play out back then.

Cut out fun

This is what I loved doing back in the 1970's, cutting clothes to dress the girl in taking care to do the tabs that you use to keep the outfits on the body whereas with a physical doll you put them over body.

The interest I showed around putting together looks that reflected my idea of femininity and how rather be dressed was an early indication of the extent to which being a sissy was very much part of me, resembling but not being that girl and that sometimes it was more "girlie" than girl peers at the time.

You can call me a Sissy. It's okay.