Loved reading this..after doing the Princess Tina post I'd thought I'd have another look at girl comics..I only have a few annuals and havn't really read them..But this stood out..
The drawing is done in a great style..I think its the all black cat costume which makes the strip good and that most of the adventures are at misty dark night time..
Also this character can get hurt and you can feel the struggle she goes through unlike the springy Beano's Billy the cat..also the danger is high being set in World War 2..the biggest difference to Billy is she is not very popular with her friends as she seems to have German friends and be on the enemy side..WHAT A COVER!
While Billy is the weak and clumsy in his alter ego..
Will look at some more girl comic/annual characters..
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=140&t=3309&hilit=catch+the+cat+bunty
Please can someone help with the artist...?
I could be wrong but the faces look like the work of Robert MacGillivray.
- Phil Rushton
10 comments:
It is Robert MacGillivray.
Has anyone ever noticed people in this serial always think The Cat is male, even on occasions when they see The Cat up close? The commandant, the collaborator and the gym instructor all see The Cat at close range in this story, but at the end everyone still thinks that she is a he.
Maybe it's to do with Marie being thirteen and perhaps not fully developed. And her voice may be deep for a girl, which could make it sound like a boy's voice.
Did The Cat ever get knocked out or kidnapped by the Germans as she had such a dangerous role? If she did I would love to know how she escaped. In a way the story is quite sad as she is a heroine who all the village think is a coward and her comments about being lonely are quite telling.
The dumb old Commandant never thinks to make his window more secure, though he knows how The Cat can climb. She keeps on eavesdropping on him and even breaking into his office via his window.
Sadly, The Cat never gets her statue. There never is a final moment where the town is liberated, The Cat reveals her true identity, everyone's jaw drops, and there are priceless expressions on the faces of Josee, Burnetta and the Commandant (provided he hasn't already fled back to Germany). All three Cat serials in Bunty ended on open endings that left scope for sequels. The third one has a more closed ending, where Marie is forced to fake the death of The Cat, but swears The Cat will return one day.
Here are links to more discussions about Catch the Cat.
http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2016/10/lucky-charm-25-catch-the-cat/
http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2016/02/the-cat-on-the-trail-of-the-german-flying-bomb-1976/
I don't know of any instances where The Cat gets knocked out or kidnapped by Germans. If there were, I am sure they would unmask her pretty quickly! In her first story (I don't have the second and third ones) she gets captured a few times in her civilian identity - in one case while she's got the cat suit in her bag. A bump in the road enables her to get out of the truck, but she still has to get her suit back, so she breaks into army barracks to do so.
thanks for all the extra info and links...
You know, in this story the Commandant finally makes the correct assumption that The Cat is female when he arrests the gym teacher. Everyone always assumes The Cat is male, even those who see her at close range. Still, he probably went back to thinking The Cat is male when he saw The Cat was not the gym teacher.
Here is a link to a discussion of the second Catch the Cat story in Bunty. http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2016/10/catch-the-cat-first-sequel-1980/
Here is a link to the Catch the Cat game from Bunty-Judy Summer Special 1977. http://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/2016/11/catch-the-cat-game-1977/
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