Sally

a.k.a.:

Publisher: IPC

Format: Weekly anthology

First Issue: 14th June 1969

Last Issue: 27th March 1971 (83 issues)

Absorbed: None.

Absorbed into: Tammy

Strips: All Aboard the Dizzy Lizzy, Bad Bella, Broken-Hearted Rebel, The Castle Kids and the Very Important Cow, Cat Girl, Coral Island Nurse, Daddy Come Home, Des and Dink, Dinah and Harry, Farm Boss Fanny, 4 On The Road, The Ghost Hunters, The Girl From Tomorrow, Her Very Own Circus, High Dive Hazel, Judy's Search for Happiness, Jumping Jo, The Justice of Justine, The Legion of Super-Slaves, Little Lulu / Lulu - The Little Terror, Mad Hatter's Castle, Maisie's Magic Eye, Mandy's Secret Diary, My Best Friend's a Cave Girl, Schoolgirl Princess / Sara's Kingdom, School for Eggheads, Sheila's Skeelers, The Silent Shadows, A Sister for Five Brothers, Spiky and Otis, Sue and Prue, Telly Nelly, Thunk, Tiny Tania In Space, Trudy's Way, Twangy Pearl, Winnie's Wacky Zoo

Comments: The "comic for the adventurous girl," Sally lasted for 94 weeks, but only 83 issues, thanks to a ten week gap resulting from a strike, and one week that was skipped for reasons unknown to me. It began that relatively short run with many of its strips focussed on science fiction, fantasy and superheroines. The first issue featured, in order, Farm Boss Fanny, The Cat Girl, Little Lulu (later renamed Lulu - The Little Terror, perhaps to avoid confusion with the American comic character Little Lulu), Legion of Super-Slaves, The Castle Kids and the Very Important Cow, The Girl from Tomorrow, Des and Dink, Tiny Tania in Space, Daddy Come Home, Maisie's Magic Eye, The Justice of Justine, Thunk and 4 on The Road - more on each of these below. Of these, Cat Girl, Little Lulu and Maisie would all last to the final issue and beyond; indeed, from 11th October 1969, the eighteenth issue, Maisie became the regular cover star.

As ever with British weekly comics, the punishing publication pace ensured a rapid turnover of series deemed either less popular or to have reached their natural conclusion, and this in turn saw new series debuting on a regular basis. The Castle Kids, 4 on the Road, Legion of Super Slaves, Tiny Tania in Space and Girl From Tomorrow all soon concluded, Schoolgirl Princess and Coral Island Nurse both joined the comic before the end of 1969, while Twang Pearl, The Ghost Hunters and The Silent Shadows debuted in January 1971, replacing The Justice of Justine and others. By early February the line-up had added All Aboard the Dizzy Lizzy, Bad Bella, Her Very Own Circus, School for Eggheads, Spiky and Otis and Winnie's Wacky Zoo.

Fanny Round had lived with foster parents in Birmingham for as long as she could remember. However, when she was fifteen, a solicitor's letter informed her that her Great-great-uncle Ebenezer Round had died and left her Lazy Hollow Farm in Cheshire.

Moving to the farm with her budgie Bertie, she found it delapidated, but did her best to run it with the help of Ebenezer's scruffy and aging farmhands Sam Slack and Dick Doolittle. Squire Gerald Garlick, her villainous neighbour at Garlick Hall, schemed to get her to sell Lazy Hollow to him, but Fanny was determined to keep hold of the only real home she had ever had. She was sometimes helped out by her eccentric inventor friend, Clarence Clutterbuck.

Farm Boss Fanny began in Sally #1 (14th June 1969), and also appeared in Sally Annual 1972.

The Cat Girl

When Cathy dons a magic cat costume she gains feline super-powers, and proceeds to help her private detective father against the villainous Eagle.

After rescuing a cow, Susan Porter, her sister Penny Porter, and their friends Ralph Dawson and Reginald "Cobweb" Webb seek to prevent the eviction of their friends Mr. and Mrs. Lemmington from the castle they live in, but sinister forces are afoot, and two mysterious men are after the cow!

Little Lulu - "If there's trouble around Lulu will find it."

Des and Dink

Dinky is a mouse living in the large department store Charades. He'd have the run of the place at night, were it not for the caretaker's cat, Des.

Legion of Super-Slaves.

Fourteen year old Tamara Townsend was an exceptional athlete, a runner who qualified for the All-England Championships. Unfortunately, this led to her being kidnapped and taken to secret base on an island half way around the world, hidden within a volcanic crater, the lair of the criminal mastermind who dubbed himself the Grand Termite. He informed her she was to join other similarly kidnapped girl athletes as part of his brainwashed army, the ANTS - assuming she survived the lethal tests administered by the Termite's minion Gerta!

The crater contains a jungle full of monsters that are "freak survivors from a prehistoric age"; no one had set foot in the crater before the Grand Termite found it. Tamara has one ally, Vesta, an ANT who is only feigning obedience.

The Girl from Tomorrow

An overly curious 23rd century teen possessed of advanced psychic powers sneaks into her uncle's laboratory to find out what he is working on, and accidentally steals his new time machine, sending herself back to 1969. Once there she unintentionally ends up on the wrong side of the law after she releases a reformed and wrongly arrested pickpocket from police custody.

Atlanta also appeared in Sally Annual 1971, where she and her pickpocket friend went back in time to ancient Arabia.

For as long as she could remember, Tania had lived with brutal foster parents who ran a smallholding on the edge of Dartmoor. One summer night after a brutal beating and sent to be without supper, she ran away. She is found by a strangely clad man who introduces himself as Shani, and impulsively shares her story. Upon hearing this he decides no one will miss her, tells her she is an excellent specimen, and that he will take her to a wonderful world beyond her imagining where everyone will be her friend. Then he pulls out a rod-like device and shrinks her down to only a few inches tall, and puts her in a test tube, telling her it is necessary for her to survive the journey to Karna, where he intends to display her at a science conference as proof that his reducing technology works.

Alaric, the son of one of the other scientists attending the conference rescues her, and she is restored to full size. She makes a new home on Karna , and visits other planets with Alaric, but Shani's ray has residual effects - she periodically experiences a tingling sensation and shrinks down to a few inches high at random intervals.

Tiny Tania also appeared in Sally Annual 1971.

Daddy Come Home

Fifteen year old Janie Martin and her younger brother Tinker live in Paradise Row in the East End of London until their father Alf joins the forces in 1940. The children are evacuated to Stanbrook, where they are housed with the cruel Mrs. Grimble.

Maisie’s Magic Eye

Maisie Macrae makes a brooch out of a piece of meteorite, which turns out to have first hypnotic and then reality bending powers, which activate whenever the brooch glows. Unfortunately its impossible to predict when the brooch might glow, and Maisie has a penchant for making carelessly worded comments that the brooch might act upon. Hilarity ensues.

As well as lasting the entire run of Sally and making the transition into Tammy, Maisie also appeared in Sally Annual 1972 and 1975

The Justice of Justine

Gifted with magical items by a strange hermit, Justine Jones becomes a superheroine.

Thunk, the funny "thing" from outer space

While piloting its flying saucer in formation with four others, an alien fell asleep and went off course. Waking to find its ship had landed on Earth, the alien obeyed standing instructions that in the event of landing on a foreign planet the ship had to be destroyed, and pressed the emergency button, dissolving his craft.

Stranded but unperturbed, it set off to make friends with Earth people, and, after a couple of missteps when it asked a cow to "take me to your leader" and requested assistance from an angry goat, the alien had better luck with a human girl, Penny Jones. She named the alien Thunk, after the noise its wagging tail made as it knocked against a wooden rabbit hutch.

Also appeared in Sally Annual 1972 and 1975 (though drawn somewhat differently in the latter)

4 on the Road

Lola and Toni are two young Italian siblings living in Milan, who accept a job on behalf of Signor Borani to take two dogs, a dachund and great dane, to an America, Mr. Jeff Morris in Naples.

Schoolgirl Princess / Sara's Kingdom

When the Mir, ruler of Hunzir, dies, he names as his successor the daughter of his late sister Uzura, who left Hunzir after marrying a British explorer. However, the Mir's cousin Abdul Khan wants to ensure he inherits the throne, and sets out to prevent this. Her mother having died when she was five, fifteen year old Sara Nairn is unaware of her heritage until some of Hunzir's agents literally kidnap her from a mountain trek outside of her school and inform her she is now the Rani of Hunzir. Once she makes it to Hunzir, Sara is unhappy to learn that she will be queen in name only until she turns sixteen, and will be on trial until then, her conduct monitored and judged by the regent, dowager Queen Shasti. Should she prove unworthy, other arrangements will be made. Naturally Khan and his allies, including the royal treasurer Hasig Ahmid, seek to exploit this and ensure that Sara fails to win Shasti's approval. In Sara's corner are her schoolfriend Jane, and her lady-in-waiting Mari.

Fifteen year old Sara Nairn leaves her school in the Scottish highlands to become ruler of the small Himalayan state of Hunzir. But the dowager Queen Shasti tells her she is on trial and will be queen in name only until she is sixteen. Meanwhile enemies are plotting against her. Adbur Khan feels he should rule. Eventually she thwarts those who seek to depose her and proves herself to Shasti.

Sara's surname inexplicably changes from Nairn to Blair part way through the series.

Coral Island Nurse

Nurse Carol McColl (Katie Jones in the annual) works for the Lewis Islands Flying Doctor Service in the Pacific, alongside the dishy Doctor Grey.

The series began in Sally #24 (22nd November 1969) and also appeared in Sally Annual 1971

Twangy Pearl is a mischievous girl whose body seems to be made out of elastic, allowing her to stretch, contort and bend any and all parts of her body at will. She attends Landsdowne School, where she torments her overly strict teacher Miss Beaky Beavis with various antics.

Twangy Pearl is apparently her real name, since Miss Beavis uses it when she's taking the register, and Beavis doesn't seem the type who'd use nicknames. Her strip began in the 3rd January 1970 issue of Sally, and also appeared in Sally Annual 1971.

The Ghost Hunters

Two schoolfriends, the blonde American girl Mary Jane and dark haired British girl Julie become partners in Ghost Hunters Inc., investigating spectral sightings, debunking the fakes and putting to rest the real ones.

The Ghost Hunters began in Sally's 24th January 1970 issue, and also appeared in Sally Annual 1971 and 1974 in the adventures Phantom of the Snows and The Phantom Player respectively.


Schoolgirl resistance fighters opposing pro-Nazi teachers. Began in Sally in the 24th January 1970 issue, replacing The Justice of Justine


All Aboard the Dizzy Lizzy, began in Sally by 7th February 1970

Bad Bella, the Girl They Couldn't Tame!

Began in Sally by 7th February 1970

Spiky and Otis

Began in Sally by 7th February 1970

Winnie's Wacky Zoo

Winnie talks to the animals in her zoo, and is constantly trying to get around the nasty Keeper Quirk, who views the animals as inmates.

Began in Sally by 7th February 1970.

Her Very Own Circus

Began in Sally by 7th February 1970.

Sue and Prue, the Clueless 2

Retitled reprints of Cloris and Claire. Began in Sally by 7th February 1970.

School for Eggheads

When Mitzi Milligan, a "duffer" is mistakenly rated as a genius, she is given a place at Cerebrum College, a school for female "eggheads" run by Professor Cranium, where the pupils are so smart they "knocked out" a flying hovercraft in aerodynamics class. Luckily for Mitzi, her father has made her a talking microcomputer, Eggbert, that can answer any question put to it. Mitzi also has a pet mouse, Tweenie. Her classmate, who actually wants a duffer student at the school, is Angelica.

Began in Sally by 7th February 1970.

Broken-Hearted Rebel

Their home destroyed and her mother killed by merciless land-grabbers and crooked lawmen, Tawny Webb and her father travel the West, reckless and free, a law unto themselves. They get separated when her father loses his memory, and she tries to find him.

Began in Sally before 9th May 1970.

Jumping Jo

Coming from a wealthy background, Joanna wants to be an athlete, but her governess Miss Grott disapproves. Luckily for Jo, she has an identical looking friend who can stand in for her at home while she competes, though her friend's more common speech patterns threaten to betray the ruse.

Began in Sally before 9th May 1970.

Judy's Search for Happiness

Judy quits school to become a trapeze artist.

Began in Sally before 9th May 1970.

Mandy's Secret Diary

Given a diary as a holiday souvenir by her gran, thirteen year old Mandy from Ludlow writes down her innermost thoughts of life, love and romance.

The series began in Sally on 4th July 1970, and also appeared in Sally Annual 1972.

Telly Nelly

Telly Nelly, "our telly mad maid," is a girl obsessed with finding a way to appear on TV.

Her strip began in Sally by 11th July 1970, and she also appeared in Sally Annual 1972.

Trudy's Way

On the massively overcrowded Earth of the 53rd Century, humanity lives in mile-high dormitories divided into different age groups, with everyone living to a strict schedule for eating, exercising, etc. to ensure everyone gets fair access to the limited space for facilities. All food is synthetic, made from processed plankton in huge floating sea farms. Unlike her peers, Trudy of Group X73H240BL4963 is dissatisfied with this life, and dreams of a better life. When space explorers discover a new habitable world, AM6H, in the Andromeda Galaxy, Trudy's group is among those chosen to become colonists. Unused to so much empty space, many colonists, including Trudy's friend Linda, struggle to cope on the new planet, and cling to old routines in their cramped colony dome, but Trudy is determined to enjoy her new world.

Trudy's Way began in Sally in September 1970.


Trudy finds a seemingly friendly native species, whom she names Glonks.


Sheila's Skeelers

Started in Sally by 7th November 1970.


A Sister for Five Brothers

After their parents died, teen Patti Morgan quit school to look after her five clueless brothers in the family's farmhouse.

In the image above, the brothers are (left to right): Henry, Joe, Peter, unknown, Cyril. The strip began in Sally prior to 13th February 1971.

Mad Hatter's Castle

Maddie Mason's school was transferred to an old mansion called Mad Hatter's Castle, owned by miserly Hector McHaggish. Deputy headmistress Miss Frumpton is in league with McHaggish's enemy, Black Jock McCracken, who wants the house, but Maddie discovers this and sets out to stop them. Her pal is Susan Strange. The head is Miss Armitage - at one point Jock kidnaps her, but Maddie rescues her.

The story began in Sally prior to 13th February 1971.

High Dive Hazel

A retitled reprint of Pat of the Dolphins. Would-be high diver Hazel is a member of the Neptune Club and being trained by Barney.

The series began in Sally before 13th February 1971.

Dinah and Harry

Dinah Darrell and Harry Beldon are best friends, who investigate the disappearance of fair owner Pa Burgess. They suspect Blackett, a man who seeks to take over the fair.

The series began in Sally before 13th February 1971.

Annabel Rogers is living with her domineering Aunt Nellie in old Sussex town of Steepleton while her widowed father, a travel-writer, is touring the South Downs. Nellie treats her like maid, and the excessive chores make her repeatedly late for school, resulting in detentions and lines from the unsympathetic teacher Mrs Jones, much to pleasure of horrid Mandy Smith. Hoping to win a county prize for her collection of pressed flowers (and beat Mandy's collection), Annabel takes the bus out to the Downs to find specimens, but gets lost. Finding a hollow tree that provides access into a hidden cave, Annabel falls into a vast system of prehistoric caves lit by phosphorescent stalactites, and there she runs into a cave girl. Fleeing in terror, Annabel tries to climb out via an old mine shaft, but the curious cave girl follows, ultimately helping Annabel escape as the shaft collapses as they near the exit. Realising the cave girl is both friendly and unable to return home, Annabel names her Yoo, and, believing Aunt Nellie would put Yoo in a zoo, runs away with her.

The strip began in Sally's 6th February 1971 issue.

Sally merged with Tammy on 2 April 1971, making her the first of six titles that Tammy absorbedduring her 13-year run. Maisie’s Magic Eye and Cat Girl were among the stories that survived into the combined title.

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