Spellbound Presents: When The Mummy Walks

Spellbound was, as mentioned before, DC Thompson's big Girls Mystery Weekly, which these days feels like a copy of the much better known Misty, even though it actually appeared first.
Personally, I slightly prefer Misty if pushed to decide, though let's not forget, Spellbound had Supercats.
It also had lots of other great stuff, like When The Mummy Walks, the strip that led off the first 10 issues.
It's a cracking mystery strip, with a plucky heroine, a dopy hero and a hissable villain, as well as the spooky Mummy herself, but as so often in Girls weeklies, what's really great about it is the art.
I would've sworn up and down this was by some Spanish artist I'd previously been unaware of, what with it's wibbly-wobbly line and slightly off-kilter look. This guy never worked for Warren, but it's so in that Spanish style I was absolutely convinced.
But according to the site Girls Comics Of Yesterday, this is by an artist called Norman Lee, who presumably was British.
There's no other information about this guy anywhere, as far as I can tell, but a quick look over at the GCBC reveals a Norman Lee who worked for a German mystery book called Vanessa, and the painted covers kind of maybe look like the same artist.
Lee ( whoever he was ) also did the jokier, but equally great I Don't Want To Be A Witch for Spellbound, so who was he really?
A girls mystery comic with a mystery of it's own...

Spellbound Presents: Damian Darke

While Peter Cushing was regaling us with his Terror Tales over at House Of Hammer, your top story teller at Spellbound was the mysterious Damian Darke.
Damian's tales were quite often told by the great Brian Lewis, and though they're obviously a bit safer than HOH's, hey, it's Brian Lewis.
I do feel that the Darkemeister did get a little short shrift tho', as his strip was never actually titled, but just popped up wherever there was room for him and his pet crow.
Damien Darke's Dictionary Of Dread? Dramas At Dusk With Damian Darke? It's not that difficult.
Mind you, Spellbound never had a host either, unlike Misty. Maybe that's why it's not as well remembered.
Anyway, here is the Denizen Of The Darke ( see? It's easy ) with a trio of  terrifying tales, staring with one from my neck of the woods.
Although, I've certainly never heard this allegedly true tale while boating on the Broads, so suspect Dame may be being slightly economical with the truth.

Supercats In: The Imposter

A two-part adventure now for Spellbound's sci-fi superheroines the Supercats, though like all their stories, you kind of wish there were a few more pages to let it breath a bit.
And you've gotta feel sorry for team leader Helen, the Reed Richards of the group. Electra's sorta Johnny and Fauna's sorta Sue, while Hercula is both The Thing AND looks like Thundra. But poor old Helen gets no super powers at all. That ain't right. When I win the lottery, and pay the Romero brothers to bring the gals back, I'm gonna make her telepathic at the very least.

Supercats Double Bill

Been a while since we checked in on those fabulous feline furies the Supercats, so how about a double bill? Or in the case of the first story, a quadruple bill as the gals find themselves up against that hoariest of comic book cliches, the evil robot duplicates of themselves.
Lucky that Warren / 1984's champion sleazemeister Bill DuBay never got his mitts on this strip, or even he would've run out of different words for pulchritudinous. Not to mention probably renaming the team's spaceship to another feline based word beginning with 'P'...

And here the girls get the cover slot, facing off against The Black Queen, Though not the Black Queen from Barbarella else we'd probably have to call Bill again...