Judy (girls' magazine)

Judy was a British pre-teen and teen girl's magazine, primarily in comic book form. Judy was extant from 1960 to 1991.[2] From 1991 to 1997 it was combined with another title in Mandy and Judy magazine.[3] Judy was published by DC Thomson.

Not to be confused with Judy (satirical magazine) or Aunt Judy's Magazine.
Judy
The cover of Judy #1 (16 January 1960).
Publication information
PublisherDC Thomson
ScheduleWeekly
FormatNewsprint magazine
GenreSchool, Romance, Drama, Humour
Publication date16 January 1960 – 11 May 1991
No. of issues1,635
Main character(s)Bobby Dazzler
Judy
Emma (from 1979)
Tracy (from 1985)
Creative team
Written byMarion Turner[1]

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.[4] 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).[4]

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.[5] 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.[6]

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.[7] The insouciant Bobby Dazzler was a recurring character.[6]

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[8] — or succumbing to it — for instance, in the harrowing Nothing Ever Goes Right (1981), the heroine, beset with poverty, orphanhood, and health problems, dies[9] of heart failure while rescuing children from an abandoned house.[10]

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

References
  1. lorrsadmin. "Marion Turner – DCT writer," Girls Comics of Yesterday (25th October 2019).
  2. Newson, Kezia (2014). How Has The Pre–teen Girls' Magazine Influenced Girls From The 1950s To Present Day?. p. 6. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  3. Gibson, Mel (2015). Remembered Reading: Memory, Comics and Post-War Constructions of British Girlhood. Studies in European Comics and Graphic Novels. Leuven University Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-9462700307. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  4. "Bunty: 1958 – 2001". 100 Years of Scottish Magazine Publishing. PPA (Professional Publishers Association). Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  5. Chapman, James (2011). British Comics: A Cultural History. Reaktion Books. p. 185. ISBN 978-1861898555. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  6. Jacqueline Rayner (17 August 2012). "Jinty, Tammy, Misty and the golden age of girls' comics". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  7. John Freeman. "Let's Here It For The Girls". Misty. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  8. Newson 2014, pp. 19–20.
  9. Rayner, Jac. "Paper Worlds: Why girls' comics were wonderful," BBC (18 June 2014).
  10. Newson 2014, pp. 23–24.

Sources
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