TAMMY & JINTY SPECIAL 2020

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

Last year's one of these was among my favourite comics of 2019, so I was understandably keen for this to come through the letterbox- as part of the bundle deal. That it was delayed for a couple of weeks was suddenly more frustrating than I had expected, so when it eventually arrived, my grin was disproportionately huge.

Would it be as good as the last one? And would it slip past the Sci-fi Special this year as my favourite so far?

Well, the answer is a qualified yes and no. Yes, it is as good as last year, but in a wholly different way. The first strip, Boarding School, is magnificent. Beautifully written and drawn and coloured and lettered, and an almost perfect opener to what could be an ongoing series. It owes a lot to the kind of stories kids used to read (The Secret Garden, The Ghosts- filmed as The Amazing Mr Blunden), versions of which girls' comics seem to have done so well back in the day. It's up there with the Dredd/ Zombo and Kingdom/ Shako stories from the earlier spesh.

The second new strip, the Cat Girl one, is less successful, but serves as a decent enough beginning to a series we may yet get to see.

The reprint of Ping Pong Paula is surprising, in that it shows just how emotionally complex girls' comics used to be- theres an awful lot of character in those few pages, and I'd whisper that I'd like to see that style of strip and characterisation a lot more in modern 2000AD.

Two features, and an ad page that reprints a bit of an upcoming Rebellion trade. I will be buying that one based entirely on that one page.

So, all in all, a worthy follow up to last year- and again one of the best specials Rebellion have so far put out.

And more Boarding School please.

SBT

[IndigoPrime]

Ping Pong Paula was an odd one, and I found it odd that it was scripted by a woman. We of course lack context for the series as a whole, but that fragment gives us a wholly unsympathetic view of the mother. She wants to keep up with the Joneses, and then blames her husband for subsequently spending too much time at work to make that a reality. Presumably, this becomes the crack that leads to the split. I guess shit happens, but something sat oddly with me as I read it.

As for the rest, I’ve not yet read Cat Girl. Boarding School was a solid one-shot, although the last frame was a bit weird.

[Bolt-01]

Boarding school was great-- though it felt like it could have been expanded to say eight parts and really played up with cliff hangers at reveals etc. Thoroughly enjoyed it

[Professor Bear]

I was a bit disappointed by this special.  It looks nice, but the tone is a little toothless and lacking in any kind of urgency even when characters are in danger of dying.  I did actually like that it was only two stories, as it meant that it had more time to develop ideas and characters - in theory.

I found the initial mystery of Boarding School intriguing, but when it all went superhero-y I went off it really quickly.  That final page was just... what was even the point?  What were the themes of this?  What were the characters?  Who were those kids at the end?  Were they streaming or recording?  If the former, then what did the governesses have to lose?  If the latter, what was to stop the governesses - who we already know are capable of killing children because that's what the characters are going there to stop - from just killing the kids and smashing their phones?  In fact, isn't the whole point of their job to keep things under wraps?  If these kids were dangerous, why weren't there any armed guards or security personnel?  How was the male kid "rehabilitated" by being spoiled rotten?  How was the female child not triggered by being treated like shite all the time?

Ping Pong Paula - I get IP's complaint that the mum is a bit of an arse, but I would counter that this isn't an accidental subtext but the story's main engine, as well a broader critique of the disintegration of working-class solidarity that accompanied the increasing number of bourgeoisie.  The story notes at several points that the social housing that Britons of this era are supposed to aspire to move beyond is actually the source of a greater sense of community than could be found in the more affluent suburbs of the (then) ascendant middle classes, and it isn't painted as a good thing for anyone in Paula's family that they suddenly become social climbers - it actually leads directly to the fracturing of the family and the central premise of the series.  My problems with this strip would be more that it romanticises the working class and council estates to a certain extent, and assumes a very gender-normative role for the mother which is certainly par for the time, but still begs the question why she doesn't get a job to help pay for the social mobilty she desires - then again, maybe this is something that comes up later.  I guess we'll never know.
I still liked this, cookie-cutter as it is for this kind of comic of its time.  Also: early Jim Baikie art.  NOICE.

Return Of Cat Girl - a black vigilante in conflict with cops ought to be the source of some pretty cutting social commentar-oh wait it's just some stuff about Youtube and tweeting.  The plot for this was almost identical to Batgirl's origin from Batman Adventures (itself a homage to the character's 1967 comics origin) but to be fair, while I didn't think this story particularly memorable, it does a legacy British superhero a lot better than anything I read in The Vigilant or SMASH.  I suspect the length helped it a bit.

Still, I hope this special at least gets distributed to a few shops where it might find a more appreciative audience than it did when it landed on the doorstep of a joyless old bastard on a comics forum.

[broodblik]

Got this today and enjoyed it, two good solid stories. I liked the idea of longer running story so we can get a little more substance to it.

[Mardroid]

I enjoyed this a lot too. I think the first story had issues at the end in that the girl went from finding out she had powers too, to suddenly being an expert in using them but I appreciate that they didn’t have the space to do that. It’s a story that I think would benefit from being a series.

Return Of Cat Girl - a black vigilante in conflict with cops ought to be the source of some pretty cutting social commentar 

I quite liked the fact the race of the girl (actually mixed race in her case)  was irrelevant to the story just as it usually is when the character is white. Its just a story about people rather than being another social-racial commentary. (Actually I suppose it is a bit of a social commentary when you consider it has a bit of a message concerning the negative aspects of social media.My point is really that not every story involving an ethnic minority character need concern race.) Not that there’s anything wrong with that in the right context, but I’m glad they left that alone here.

[Funt Solo]

I haven't read it yet but it got the thumbs up from the eight-year-old.

[Professor Bear]

Return Of Cat Girl - a black vigilante in conflict with cops ought to be the source of some pretty cutting social commentar 

My point is really that not every story involving an ethnic minority character need concern race.)

The throwaway joke had nothing to do with ethnicity and everything to do with the inference that I was overthinking something.  Fair play for running with it.
However, most critics will tell you that no art exists that is without political commentary - I am pretty sure Ping Pong Paula was not actually meant to be an exploration of home ownership as a wedge issue among the British working classes - so you're probably being a bit optimistic that Cat Girl contains no social or racial commentary.

[Colin YNWA]

Well that was a result.

Return of Cat Girl was solid and brisk. At times the storytelling wasn't the best but overall the art was energetic and fine. The story was pretty straightforward but to be honest I'd more than happily have this back to see this expanded upon and developed. Needs a way to stand out but the whole mum daughter could be interesting.

Boarding School is an unqualified trimuph. Just a wonderful story. Compact, well told, glorious art. Its true genius was how it worked entirely as a self contained one off BUT the end opened up a lot of potential for more. Wonderful stuff.

All wrapped in great filler.

More of this please.

[DrJomster]

Only half way through so far, but just had to jump on here to say how good Boarding School was. Just superb! I really hope this comes back for the next special.