Preview — ‘Misty: 45 Years Of Fear’ Is “A Perfect Example Of The Hidden Darkness And Depths Of British Girls’ Comics”

It’s 1978 and Pat Mills is about to introduce something new to comics (again) – Misty, the classic cult horror comic for girls. In Misty: 45 Years of Fear, The Treasury Of British Comics has collected together a perfect selection of material to show you just what made Misty so good.

Brit girls comics had been the source of stunning artwork and increasingly complex and true-to-life storylines for years. But Misty took it to another level, featuring some of the best comics talent working on haunting, terrifying tales.

The artwork was gorgeous, the storylines were chilling, and the comic, although short-lived (two years, 101 issues), had a long-lasting impression on a generation of readers.

Moonchild – story by Pat Mills, art by John Armstrong

And of course, it’s all down to Mills, who pitched the comic in the summer of 1977, and went on to assemble the immense talent, including so many great artists from Spanish art studios. Incredibly, it was his fourth new comic for IP, following Battle, Action, and 2000 AD. And it’s no doubt that Mills’ hand was all over the strips, setting the tone of all the vicious cautionary tales within, so different to what had come before.

As Dr Julia Round says in her introduction: “Misty is a perfect example of the hidden darkness and depths of British girls’ comics.”

Nightmare Academy – art by Jaume Rumeu

And now this essential collection, 45 Years of Fears, curates what are described as “the creepiest, campest Misty serials and short stories.”

Inside, there’s a good selection of both the longer serials, including Moonchild, Nightmare Academy, The Loving Cup, and the brilliant The Sentinels, with short stories ‘The Power of Young Melissa’, ‘Twin Catastrophes’, ‘The Day The Sky Grew Dark’, and ‘Mirror Mirror’. And then we have two modern entries from the Misty Specials put out by The Treasury of British Comics – Home For Christmas and The Aegis.

It’s a perfect representation of all that made Misty such an essential comic, both back then and right now, a showcase of all that made these ’70s and ’80s comics so damn great.

 

 

So, time for a little look through the strips on offer and previews of the art now…

MOONCHILD – story by Pat Mills, art by John Armstrong. Originally published in Misty #1-13, Feb-April 1978

Armstrong was the artist on Bella at the Bar in Tammy for 10 years and his beautiful, realistic artwork really elevated Moonchild immediately. As for the story, well Mills has already mentioned Stephen King’s Carrie as an influence here, and it shows, but the manner in which Mills really puts poor Rosemary Black through the wringer is as relentless and sadistic as Armstrong’s artwork is gorgeous.

I mean, we start in court with Rosemary’s widowed mother on a charge for beating Rosemary, and that really does set the tone. After that, as Rosemary’s telekinesis powers begin to manifest, we follow her into darkness.

 

NIGHTMARE ACADEMY – art by Jaume Rumeu. Originally published in Misty #65-76, May-July 1979

Very much a spooky stuff happening at boarding school strip, Nightmare Academy has young Sharon Watts sent away for a year as her parents have to move overseas for dad’s job. But Nightstair Academy, and it’s sinister, whip-wielding headmistress, Miss Nocturne, is no ordinary school, no ordinary headmistress. It’s a place where the girls sleep by day, learn by night, mirrors are forbidden, guard dogs patrol the hallways, and girls are taught to mindlessly obey.

So of course Sharon’s going to explore and of course she uncovers the secrets to the place she’s come to think of as Nightmare Academy. It’s all wonderfully over the top chills but there’s such a joy to it all, with so much of that down to the art of Rumeu, with a real gothic sensibility sitting comfortably alongside the melodrama of the school setting.

 

THE LOVING CUP – art by Brian Delaney. Originally published in Misty #70-82, June-Sept 1979

Another very simple concept tale, Lucy discovers that the family heirloom, an antique cup that’s been handed down through her mother’s family, has ancient powers.

But it does that thing that so many of these great Misty tales did, tied the ridiculously over the top of the supernatural elements into melodrama of the everyday and the same fears that the young readers had about friends, parents, family, fitting in.

So, as Lucy moves from Italy to England after her mother’s death, she has to settle into her new family from her dad’s side and cope with the cursed cup and all that brings. And it’s that mix of the preposterous and the mundane, the supernatural and the melodrama of The Loving Cup that really makes it a worthy entry into this best of Misty volume – not to mention the beautiful lines of artist Brian Delaney that succeeded in capturing everything from the simplest facial expressions to all the insane supernatural occurrences.

 

THE SENTINELS – story by Malcolm Shaw, art by Mario Capaldi. Originally published in Misty #1-12, Feb-April 1978

As David Roach points out in his introduction to my favourite strip in Misty, it’s a comic that shares some of it’s storyline with Philip K. Dick’s The Man In The High Castle, but Shaw and Capaldi definitely take it in it’s own direction.

It’s just a great concept executed superbly by Shaw and Capaldi, concentrated on two tower blocks called ‘The Sentinels’, one a gleaming tower fully occupied by happy residents, the other strangely rundown and empty.

It’s part alternate reality saga, part melodrama, part indicator of modern life and a look at how the country was going under Thatcher’s rule. With Capaldi’s visuals simply stunning in capturing it all.

Jan Richards’ family loses their home and, desperate, moves into the abandoned Sentinel. From the start, strange things happen, there seem to be other versions of her family and herself, she sees her school in flames but the next day it’s intact, and then comes the big reveal; Hitler conquered Britain in 1940 and Britain’s now a German colony under a swastika-emblazoned flag. The Sentinel is a crossing into another reality and a complete nightmare for Jan.

 

As for the short tales, they’ve handpicked a set of absolute greats here, full of everything that made them some of the best things that Misty produced. It’s all dark and dangerous stuff, heroines in peril, but still unusually rebellious, a far cry from the good girls we’d previously seen in girls’ comics of the ’60s.

And the artists involved… well, the opening three have the Jordi Badia Romero artwork, one of the absolute greats of the time. His all too short life, he died just 45 years old, saw so much beatiful artwork produced, full of romance and incredibly dark horrors. Here, we have three prefect examples of the gothic stylings he brought to Misty – full of glamourous yet tortured heroines looking windswept, perfectly pretty, so much perfectly captured expressions, so many flowing dresses, all of it beautifully illustrated by his fine lines and perfect brush work.

And then there’s Isidre Mones Pons’ Mirror Mirror: more sumptuous work by the artist showing us the dangers of wishing for outer beauty and the risks a magic mirror can bring.

Finally, we have two updated tales from the 2020 Misty Specials, with Lizzy Boyle and David Roach’s Home For Christmas brings a haunted house scare up to date with modern tech, all sumptuously illustrated with Roach’s wonderfully evocative artwork. Whilst The Aegis takes Ancient Greek mythology and transplants it into a high school setting, perfect Misty fodder, with it’s different cliques of outcasts and elites facing off.

THE POWER OF YOUNG MELISSA – art by Jordi Badia Romero. Originally published in Misty #97, Dec 1979

 

THE TWIN CATASTROPHES – art by Jordi Badia Romero. Originally published in Misty #67, May 1979

 

THE DAY THE SKY GREW DARK – art by Jordi Badia Romero. Originally published in Misty #22, July 1978

 

MIRROR MIRROR – art by Isidre Mones Pons. Originally published in Misty #37, Oct 1978

 

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS – story by Lizzie Boyle, art by David Roach, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Simon Bowland. Originally published in Misty 2020 Special

 

THE AEGIS – story by Kristyna Baczynski, art and letters by Mary Safro. Originally published in Scream! & Misty 2020 Special

 

MISTY – 45 YEARS OF FEARS

Published by The Treasury Of British Comics/Rebellion on 26th September 2023

Contains the stories…
Moonchild – story by Pat Mills, art by John Armstrong. Originally published in Misty #1-13, Feb-April 1978
Nightmare Academy – art by Jaume Rumeu. Originally published in Misty #65-76, May-July 1979
The Loving Cup – art by Brian Delaney. Originally published in Misty #70-82, June-Sept 1979
The Sentinels – story by Malcolm Shaw, art by Mario Capaldi. Originally published in Misty #1-12, Feb-April 1978

The Power of Young Melissa – art by Jordi Badia Romero. Originally published in Misty #97, Dec 1979
The Twin Catastrophies – art by Jordi Badia Romero. Originally published in Misty #67, May 1979
The Day The Sky Grew Dark – art by Jordi Badia Romero. Originally published in Misty #22, July 1978
Mirror Mirror – art by Isidre Mones. Originally published in Misty #37, Oct 1978
Home For Christmas – story by Lizzie Boyle, art by David Roach, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Simon Bowland. Originally published in Misty 2020 Special
The Aegis – story by Kristyna Baczynski, art and letters by Mary Safro. Originally published in Scream! & Misty 2020 Special