As All Hallows Eve dawns... is it me, or it is looking a little... Misty

[icon_uk]

Back in the fogs of yesteryear, horror comics are traditionally the realm of those with a Y chromosome, there wasn't a lot aimed at the female contingent.

Horror novels and movies weren't much better, if you were a woman you were either a malevolent witch, vamp (in every sense of the word)  or you got first crack in the role of "Doomed peasant in underwired bra". There were sexual undertones in the Hammer Dracula movies aplenty, but they were all predatory in nature (both in Christopher Lee's sheer screen presence, or the scantiness of the nighties worn by his brides)

Shows like "Bewitched", "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family" were brilliant, but were "comedy macabre" with the emphasis on the comedy, and the less said about the gender politics of "I Dream of Genie" the better.

In comics the dark arts aimed for the female set never really seemed to get much further than "Sabrina" or "Wendy, the Good little witch" and those are hardly good examples.

Nowadays of course, post Buffy, and Charmed and the like, the potters field is a little more open... Laurell K Hamilton is writing the sort of novels that embrace horror and fantasy (and in her specific case, softcore pornography... and lots of it) and Stephanie Meyer is writing... well, okay, that might be overstating the case... a LOT... but she's out there adding to the horror genre (or your horror OF the genre, according to taste)

In the late 70's and early 80's in the UK, there was an attempt to balance the scales a little, but putting together a comic where the focus would be on magic, mystery and horror, and aimed exclusivedly at the young female demographic. The title of this series was

MISTY!




Essentially a standard format British comic in terms of composition, with anthology stories, longer form episodic stories and features, it also had that most standard of standard trends in a such themed comics; a host, Misty herself



Yeah, having her as my guide would make me so much more comfortable about my future...

But least you think she was simply a pretty face (and let's be honest, it IS a pretty face) we got a chance to find out a little bit more about her from time to time. There's something seriously spooky about this lady...





The bit about the legs in particular is a terrific piece of weirdness, you know instantly what she means, but you can hear it in such a sort of... disjointed, ambivalent tone, one gets the feeling she's really not bothered at all.

Now for the trick part. My primary source of material was the "Special Souvenir Issue" of Misty which was published in 2009. It has a lot of stories in it, highlighting the sort of thing the title did; female protagonist (not always a heroine by any mean, there are at least two spoiled brats, one juvenile delinquent and a pickpocket in the stories shown), mysterious events and no guarantee of a happy ending (in fact probably the opposite). Alas they are all four pages long, and our 1/3 rule means that I can only post 1.3 pages, which is a bit of a bind all things considered.

I tried it with one story though, so you can get a feel for the thing...

The story is entitled; "Wolfsbane" and concerns Sara, a city girl staying on her Aunt's farm for the holidays. It's a nice certup, but not what she's used to and is bored out of her mind, but there's a disco on town that night, and she'd love to go. her aunt worries about her crossing the moors to get home in the dark afterwards though.



That's a styling 70's waistcoat she has there...



Looks more like a triffid crossed with a daffodil to me (and for those interested in things botanical, this is what wolfsbane looks like)

Sara is a little creeped out by it for some reason, especially the way Paul keeps going on about the legends... and why is he facing AWAY from her so much...



Ah, a classic wolfman, nice!

Not being a shrinking violet (or even wolfsbane) Sara does the sensible thing and powers away on the bike, leaving Paul far, far behind. However she can't go home because in her panic she drove back towards the town, and doesn't want to risk going near Paul again. So she does indeed head back to town, Stella, the woman who ran the disco, seemed friendly and it's the only place that there are still lights on in the village. Stella does indeed let Sara in, she remembers that she left with Paul, but clearly soemthing has unnerved her, so sits her down and makes her a cup of tea (how very British). Sara relates her story....



dun dun DUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN!

Now, before you go thinking I've skimped on the story here, I confess I have, but I can offer you something much, much better if you want to see more "Misty" stories.

The official Misty website has, with the approval of the licenceholders, reprinted an impressive number of the stories which ran in the original series. Look under the link called "Cavern of Dreams" and you can see these stories for yourself. There is also an interesting breakdown of the history of the title, and it's eventual merger with the much more mundane "Tammy"

Happy Halloween! I may have a little something extra to post later, along my more... typical lines! ;) 

Comments

[katemonkey]

Oh God Misty!

Like five years ago or so, the Mistycomic site had nearly every issue scanned in. All the days of work I wasted just going through it and the awesome stories!

I wish they had something like this in the States when I was growing up - I would've just obsessed over this!

[jkcarrier]

This is really cool, I'd never heard of it before.

Did the old Warren horror magazines (Creepy, Eerie, et. al.) get distributed in England? Because the whole style and mood here makes it look like a sort of "Vampirella for girls", right down to Misty's hair-do.

[icon_uk]

Alongside the usual DC and Marvel comics on the newsagent racks (Lord, remember when comics could be bought in newsagents?) there were usually poorer newsprint paper collections of apparently random sci-fi, superhero and horror comics. I never really got into them, which is probably my loss.

[fajrdrako]

Thanks for this - I didn't know about Misty, and I'm delighted by their website. Wonderful!

[icon_uk]

It's part of the raison d'etre for S_D to be a resource for such things, and it's always a pleasure to be able to do so.

[fullbodytransplant.wordpress.com]

Icon, this is the meatiest treat of the year. Misty magic, with mountains. Yum.

And, although I am really afraid of ruining my reputation further as a scoundrel spamming these forums, I simply must share this. We dressed my grandson as your avatar:

http://sketchcardsaloon.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/happy-halloween/

Happy holiday, everyone.

[icon_uk]

I think, with that handsome and heroic a Boy Wonder as justification, on this one we're more than happy to give you a pass

[skjam]

There was an attempt by DC Comics at this sort of thing, "Sinister Secrets of Haunted House" or like that; the first few issues were in the gothic romance subgenre, but then it shifted to a more generic horror anthology with a shorter title, with a hostess named Eve.

[aelflar]

Oooh, I love the art in the introduction pages. And the intro text itself, very enchanting.

[leikomgwtfbbq]

I'd never heard of this before, but I already think Misty is awesome. :D

[whitesycamore]

If I never appear on S_D again it's because I'm busy on the misty site, k?

[big_daddy_d]

Laurell K Hamilton is writing the sort of novels that embrace horror and fantasy (and in her specific case, softcore pornography... and lots of it)

One of the reasons I have a love/hate relationship with the Anita Blake books. It started off with Anita being a smart mouthed badass...to it becoming a porn script with little to do with the plot...hated it.

[icon_uk]

The Meredith Gentry books are much the same, an interesting idea; a world where the Shee have gone public, and an exiled princess who is trying to make her way as a PI (because it's so mething she's always wanted to do) and accompanied by a positiver harem of male Shee (covering everything from adorable, but politically naive best friend, to brooding warrior type, to... well you get the general idea) and some suitably dark and nasty magical concepts underlying it, but as the books progressed the plot varies in inverse proportion to the boinking.

[big_daddy_d]

As I understood it, MG books at least had sex from the get go. Still..starting to wonder about LKH's writing if all it does is go in the way of a fuck scene every page. Anita Blake does seem to be slowly getting back on track but still kinda.."meh" about it.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Glowing wolfsbane. Oh yes, someone hasn't done their botany homework, I see.
Seriously, though, this is pretty nifty stuff. I like how Misty is so casual about being a shapeshifting immortal - it's no big deal, it's just who she is.

[icon_uk]

Maybe it glows in the presence of a werewolf! :)

And yes, Misty and Death of the Endless would probably be penpals at least.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I suppose that's a workable hypothesis - it's not like it's easy to disprove, anyway.
Yes! Wacky fun between the cute immortal and the perky personification of death!

[icon_uk]

I suppose that's a workable hypothesis - it's not like it's easy to disprove, anyway.

As a bit of impromptu folklore I was quite proud of that, it would explain why it was associated with warding off werewolves. Since, like a perimeter alarm, no matter how isolated your cottage, if you saw your aconite in the garden glow it was time to break out the silver ammo.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Not to be pedantic, but THAT'S strictly Hollywood - any old bullet will do. Don't muck up your folkloric credentials now!

[icon_uk]

As folklore is more or less completely made up, I fail to see how Hollywood isn't as valid a source as anywhere else, considering how humans everywhere always LOVE turning things into stories.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, the way I look at it, Hollywood folklore is stuff you KNOW is made up - traditional folklore has generally been around for a long time, and at least stands a chance of being true. Personally, I'm a bit of a mystical type by inclination, so I prefer to give it the benefit of the doubt.

[icon_uk]

I think I'm more of a Granny Weatherwax type in such things. Folklore is lore told by "folk", and how reliable have people you think of as "folk" ever been? :)

[psychopathicus_rex]

Fairly reliable, actually. I don't live in a terribly 'folksy' area, mind you, but most of the people I know who could be described as 'common folk' are fairly sharp cookies. (Anyway, Granny Weatherwax is also a WITCH who uses MAGIC - she may not put too much stock in folklore, but that's only because she knows which bits of it are flimflam.)

[icon_uk]

True, but mostly the bits that are flimflam are the bits she uses. Granny is an expert head-ologist after all. :)

She knows the power, and danger, of stories, which suck you in an use you just for the sake of being told, or retold, removing your freedom of choice because the story knows how things are supposed to go, and if you start believing that too, then all hope is lost.

She also knows how useful a bit of cod-folklore can be and makes notes of those she hears so she can use them to her own ends, but she doesn't go around believing them.

And like all the best Discworld witches, she uses magic as a last, and almost distasteful resort. It took about nine books before Nanny Ogg was ever seen to cast any sort of a spell (and even then is was creating a small ball of witchfire to light the way). One of my favourite asides is that Sir Terry has put forward his belief that Nanny is a vastly more powerful witch than even Granny Weatherwax, but goes to remarkable lengths to manipulate situations so no one, including Granny, ever suspects that that is the case.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, both of them are in the rather privileged position of having a CHOICE. As witches with a good working knowledge of what's real and what isn't, they can pick and choose between the two categories - the rest of us pretty much have to guess. Personally, I've always been annoyed by the sort of skeptics who go 'oh, come now, you surely don't BELIEVE in all that claptrap, do you?', so I choose to at least believe that everything has a grain of truth in it somewhere, and go from there.

[full_metal_ox]

I think I'm more of a Granny Weatherwax type in such things. Folklore is lore told by "folk", and how reliable have people you think of as "folk" ever been? :)

Smile; you're on Metaquotes!

(This is admittedly a seven-year-delayed response; in the process of establishing a presence on Dreamwidth following the April 4th LJ coup, I'm revisiting my handful of memories.)

[ormardu.blogspot.com]

Seemed like quite a handsome werewolf to me...

[icon_uk]

Maybe Sara is just more of a cat person?

[kiev4am]

Oh my gosh, Misty! Haven't thought of this in years! I'll have to check that website now for the ghastly tale of the girl who ate too many jelly babies and turned into one overnight. Trust me, if you were 9 years old this one scared the shit out of you. No, really.

[greenmask]

Auuhhh, why can I never find any old copies.

Actually, that I can't is kind of spooky in its own right.

Thanks for these! Such good art.