School Belle
School Belle | |
---|---|
Author(s) | Keith Reynolds, Tom Paterson |
Current status/schedule | Terminated. |
Launch date | 15 October 1983 |
End date | 4 January 2000. |
Genre(s) | Gag-a-day, Humor comics, School-themed comics |
School Belle was a British comics series, originally published in the first issue of the British comics magazine School Fun on 15 October 1983 until the magazine merged with Buster on 2 June 1984. The strip continued to run in "Buster" until the magazine ceased publication in 2000. The series was written by Keith Reynolds and drawn by Tom Paterson.[1]
Concept
The series centered on a pretty and popular girl named "School Belle", a pun on the terms 'school bell' and belle of the ball, and the attempts of various boys to become her latest boyfriend. A recurring theme was Belle's feud with the unattractive and jealous Grotty Glenda, who would often plot to cause trouble for Belle. Glenda usually enlisted her steady boyfriend, the physically imposing but henpacked Beefy Bernie, to help her; however, he secretly found Belle attractive, and she was often able to distract him from Glenda's schemes by flirting. In 1988 Belle was given a regular boyfriend, public schoolboy Sebastian.
Another theme of the strip was the attempt of various 'nurks' - nerdy and unattractive boys - to gain Belle's attention. The nurks became such a popular feature of the strip that, in 1987, it began featuring a 'Know Your Nurks' breakout box, in which a different comically named nurk (e.g. Cyril Stinkinbottom) would appear in detail alongside an amusing fact about him.
Sometimes the strip would have Belle be on the "losing end", particularly when she got too taken with her personal appearance. One example being where a movie was shooting in Belle's hometown and she found work as an extra. When the leading man is a handsome movie star, Belle (like most other girls) is beside herself. When she arrives on set, she learns the film is actually a horror movie, and she is cast as a vampire, whilst the hunky leading man is a vampire hunter!
In 1990, following comments from readers that Belle was not actually that pretty, she was redrawn in a very different style, with a more modern hairstyle and casual clothing replacing her old-fashioned school uniform. The change was explained in a strip which showed Grotty Glenda dressing up as Belle to pose for the strip's artist, making Belle look bad in the process. Belle's boyfriend Sebastian was also replaced by a more modern counterpart. However, when Buster went fortnightly in the mid-nineties and switched to reprints, the original Belle reappeared.
Sources
- ^ "Buster Special on Sale Now!".
- v
- t
- e
- Comic Cuts
- Film Fun
- Funny Wonder
- Illustrated Chips
- Knockout (stories)
- Radio Fun
- Buster
- Cheeky Weekly
- Cor!!
- Jackpot
- Knockout
- Krazy
- Monster Fun
- Nipper
- Oink!
- School Fun
- Shiver and Shake
- Whizzer and Chips
- Whoopee!
- Wow!
- Wham!
- Smash!
- Pow!
- Fantastic
- Terrific
- 2000 AD
- Action (stories)
- Battle Picture Weekly (stories)
- Boys' World
- The Champion
- The Comet (stories)
- Crisis (stories)
- Diceman
- Eagle
- Eagle (1982 version) (stories)
- Hurricane
- Jag
- Jet
- Judge Dredd Megazine
- Lion (stories)
- Look and Learn
- M.A.S.K.
- Ranger
- Revolver
- Roy of the Rovers
- Scorcher
- Scream!
- Sonic the Comic
- Speed
- Starlord
- Sun (stories)
- Supernaturals
- Thriller Comics
- Thunder
- Tiger (stories)
- Tornado
- Valiant (stories)
- Vulcan
- War Picture Library
- Wildcat
- Girl
- Girls' Crystal (stories)
- Jinty
- June (stories)
- Marilyn
- Misty
- Poppet
- Princess (stories)
- Princess Tina (stories)
- Roxy
- Sandie
- School Friend (stories)
- Serenade
- Tammy
- Tina
- Valentine
- Jack and Jill
- Playhour
- The 10,000 Disasters of Dort
- The 12½p Buytonic Boy
- Ace Trucking Co.
- Action Force
- Adam Eterno
- The Amazing Three
- Anderson, Psi-Division
- The Astounding Adventures of Charlie Peace
- The Astounding Jason Hyde
- Baker's Half-Dozen
- The Ballad of Halo Jones
- Battler Britton
- Bessie Bunter
- Bible John - A Forensic Meditation
- Big Dave
- Billy Bunter
- Billy's Boots
- Birdman and Chicken
- The Black Archer
- Black Beth
- Black Max
- Black Hawk
- Bloodfang
- Bobby's Ghoul
- Bookworm
- The Bootneck Boy
- The Bumpkin Billionaires
- Buster Capp
- Captain Condor
- Captain Hurricane
- The Cat Girl
- Chalky
- Charley's War
- Clash of the Guards
- Cliff Hanger
- Computer Warrior
- Cursitor Doom
- D-Day Dawson
- D.R. & Quinch
- Dan Dare
- Danny Doom
- Dare
- Darkie's Mob
- Death Game 1999
- Death Squad
- Death Wish
- Defoe
- Doomlord
- The Dracula File
- Dredger
- Durham Red
- The Dwarf
- End of the Line...
- Ernie
- Faceache
- Fiends of the Eastern Front
- Fight for the Falklands
- Finn
- Fishboy
- For a Few Troubles More
- Gadgetman and Gimmick-Kid
- Goldtiger
- Grimly Feendish
- Harlem Heroes
- Hellman of Hammer Force
- Hook Jaw
- Hot Shot Hamish and Mighty Mouse
- The House of Daemon
- The House of Dolmann
- The Indestructible Man
- Invasion!
- Invasion 1984!
- Ivor Lott and Tony Broke
- Jack o' Justice
- Jane Bond
- Jet-Ace Logan
- Joe Alien
- Johnny Red
- Joker
- Judge Dredd
- Junior Rotter
- Karl the Viking
- Kid Chameleon
- Kids Rule O.K.
- Kitten Magee
- Lazy Bones
- The Leopard from Lime Street
- Loner
- Look Out for Lefty!
- Luck of the Legion
- M.A.C.H. 1
- Major Eazy
- Manix
- Master Mind
- Mazeworld
- Memory Banks
- El Mestizo
- Mind Wars
- Monster
- Mustapha Million
- Mytek the Mighty
- Nemesis the Warlock
- The New Adventures of Hitler
- New Statesmen
- The Nightcomers
- Nikolai Dante
- Odd Ball
- One-Eyed Jack
- The Phantom Viking
- Rat Pack
- Really & Truly
- Richie Wraggs
- Ro-Busters
- Rob Riley
- The Robo Machines
- Robot Archie
- Rogan Gosh
- Rogue Trooper
- Roy of the Rovers
- School Belle
- Sexton Blake
- Sid's Snake
- The Silent Three
- Sinister Dexter
- Skid Kidd
- Skizz
- Sláine
- The Spider
- The Steel Claw
- Steel Commando
- Store Wars
- Strontium Dog
- The Suicide Six
- Sweeny Toddler
- Sweet Tooth
- Terror of the Cats
- Tharg the Mighty
- Tharg's Future Shocks
- Third World War
- The Thirteenth Floor
- Thunderbolt Jaxon
- Time Flies
- Tom Thug
- Tomboy
- The Tower King
- Tricky Dicky
- The Trigan Empire
- Troubled Souls
- True Faith
- Turbo Jones
- The Vigilant
- Watch Out Beagle's About
- Whacky
- Wonder Wellies
- X-Ray Specs
- Zenith
- Leo Baxendale
- Massimo Belardinelli
- Jesús Blasco
- Brian Bolland
- Eric Bradbury
- Kenneth Bulmer
- Sid Burgon
- Reg Bunn
- Mike Butterworth
- Geoff Campion
- Joe Colquhoun
- John Cooper
- Ted Cowan
- Carlos Ezquerra
- Gerry Finley-Day
- Dave Gibbons
- Ian Gibson
- Scott Goodall
- Alan Grant
- Yvonne Hutton
- Ian Kennedy
- Tom Kerr
- Don Lawrence
- Brian Lewis
- Steve MacManus
- Leonard Matthews
- Mike McMahon
- Trevor Metcalfe
- Pat Mills
- Grant Morrison
- Robert Nixon
- Kevin O'Neill
- José Ortiz
- Frank S. Pepper
- Ken Reid
- Jerry Siegel
- Francisco Solano López
- Lew Stringer
- Barrie Tomlinson
- Tom Tully
- John Wagner
- Keith Watson
- Mike Western
This comic strip–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e