Misty (comics)

Misty was a weekly British comic magazine targeted at girls and published by Fleetway in the late 1970s. Focusing on horror stories, it was one of the few British girls' comics that was also popular with boys. Although Misty lasted less than two years it is remembered and admired to this day.
Misty #1 was published on 4 February 1978. The final issue, #101, came out on 12 January 1980. The following week, Misty merged with Fleetway stablemate Tammy, which then adopted the title Tammy and Misty until September 1981.
Summer and holiday specials were published between 1978 and 1980, as well as eight annuals from 1979 until 1986, long after the weekly Misty had ceased to exist.
Misty was a collection of serial and one-off stories. Both types — complete stories and story instalments — were usually four pages long.
While Misty had similarities with its Fleetway stablemates Tammy and Jinty, each magazine had its own focus. Consultant editor Pat Mills' vision for Misty imagined it as a "female 2000 AD." He saw Carrie and Audrey Rose as models, which would be "modified for a younger audience."
Misty concentrated on supernatural and horror stories, featuring plots such as "pacts with the devil, schoolgirl sacrifice, the ghosts of hanged girls, sinister cults, evil scientists experimenting on the innocent and terrifying parallel worlds where the Nazis won the second world war." One-off stories often had troublemaking protagonists being punished in fantastic fashion.
The taglines for the first three covers emphasized a connection with the mystery genre. Subsequently the horror appeal became prominent, with taglines such as "Stories NOT to be read at night!" and "Dare you read it alone?"
There were no regular characters except for host Misty and the comic strip witch Miss T. Misty, whose appearance was designed by Shirley Bellwood, always welcomed the reader on the editorial page, and occasionally appeared on the cover. Miss T, meanwhile, attracted debate among readers as to whether its comic relief weakened or complemented the dark tones of Misty. After the merger with Tammy, Miss T joined the Tammy's Edie strip, which eventually became The Crayzees when Snoopa joined in the Tammy and Jinty merger on 28 November 1981. The strip continued until the Tammy and Princess merger on 7 April 1984.
The Cult of the Cat and The Black Widow were the only Misty stories to have sequels. The former continued in The Nine Lives of Nicola, the latter in Spider Woman (by then Misty had become part of Tammy).
Misty, following the tradition of British girls' comics, also published short text stories. Those were not present in every issue.
Artists featured in the pages of Misty included John Armstrong (best known for drawing Bella at the Bar for Tammy), María Barrera, Brian Delaney, John Richardson, Jordi Badía Romero, Jesus Redondo, Ken Houghton, Peter Wilkes, Eduardo Feito, Bob Harvey, Honiera Romeu, and Mario Capaldi. Illustrator Shirley Bellwood did many covers for the weekly magazine as well as a number of Misty annuals and specials. Bellwood's ethereal art is a notable aspect of Misty. Joe Collins drew the Miss T strips.
The moon and bat cover logo was devised by Jack Cunningham.
Writers featured included Pat Mills, Malcolm Shaw, Wilf Prigmore, and (possibly) Barry Clements. Mills is credited with Moonchild and Hush, Hush, Sweet Rachel, and Shaw with The Sentinels.
Unlike the comics, text stories seem to have mostly been written by women, with Kitty Punchard and Anita Davies among them.
The Misty back catalogue is now owned by Rebellion Developments, which has reprinted Misty stories in the following volumes:
Since 2017 Rebellion has also published all-new Misty and Scream! & Misty specials.
In 2018 French publisher Delirium released Anthologie Misty. The comics included in the volume were the serials Moonchild, The Four Faces of Eve, and The Sentinels, and the one-off stories "Roots" and "Shadow of a Doubt."