Spellbound, cover date 3 September 1977
Spellbound ran for just 15 months in the mid-1970s, offering tales of magic and wonder for girls. Normal Lee’s cover for #50 features some of the most popular strips: Marina, Supercats, Damian Darke and Miss Hatherleigh of Cremond Castle.
Marina, blessed with the gift of foresight was a member of a travelling community (often romantically portrayed in comics but stereotypically with mystical powers) adopted by a motor racing team. Art by Eduardo Feito.
Supercats followed the adventures of a spacefaring team of female superheroes. The stories are sometimes a bit thin, but the artwork – usually by one of Enrique or Jorge Badia Romero – was always very dynamic and eye-catching.
Los hermanos Badia Romero may be familiar to fans of Misty, IPC’s spooky comic for girls that followed Spellbound. Theirs is a recognisably European art; at the risk of generalisation I’d describe it as sleeker, faster (and certainly more sexualised) than British horror comic styles.
Readers could join the Supercats Club, with badges and everything. I’d have been jealous of anyone I knew who was a member. It looks like a really great reader interaction initiative and it must have been a shame for members when Spellbound was merged into Debbie.
Enigmatic raven-fancier Damian Darke was regularly on hand to introduce a Chilling Tale of Mystery. This week his story seems to provide an origin story for the lyrics of the folk ballad Scarborough Fair, as two modern girls meet a ghostly man on the Yorkshire moors.
Simeon (from 1699) asks them to give a love spoon to his true love at the fair (Marjoram has a stall selling parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) as he has been press-ganged. Back in the present, the girls tearfully place the spoon on Marjoram’s grave.
Another regular series of one-off stories in Spellbound was the tales of Cremond Castle presented by the severe Miss Hatherleigh. Each episode featured a spooky happening from the the ancient ruin’s history, such as this account of Lady Helena Cremond, who drowned aged just 17.
Helena died in a flash flood tied to a stake, suspected of witchcraft because she has second sight. It’s a parallel to the story earlier in the comic of Marina, also ostracised for a natural gift that could be a blessing for all – but fear of a gifted woman overrules sense.
Spellbound readers had a few spooky stories of their own. These two from the letters page gave me a shiver.
And the back page of the comic is a sign of the times. Red, White & Blue was the theme of the British summer of Silver Jubilee year 1977.
