Misty Shrine

The Fleetway logo as it appears on the 1981 Misty annual

For those who are unfamiliar, Misty was a weekly British comic anthology magazine published by Fleetway. (Yes Sonic fans, the same Fleetway that published those comics) It was horror themed, and targeted at the teen girl demographic. It was popular with boys as well, which was rare for a publication targeted at girls at the time. (And nowadays if we’re being honest) It lasted almost two years from Febuary 1978 to January 1980, before it got merged with another Fleetway publication targeted to teen girls, Tammy. This happened a lot at Fleetway. I actually have a weekly issue of Tammy from 5th November 1977, before Misty was first published. It contains a chapter from the story No Place for Children, which very much has the kinds of horror vibes stories that would later be published in Misty had. The artist was Eduardo Feito, who went on to draw comics for Misty, like Wolf Girl. For more information about this issue of Tammy, and other issues of the comics, check out this cool blog here. For more information about Misty check out the Misty tag on this blog here. For more information about other British girls comics (with occasional Misty posts), check out this blog here. I don't have any of the weekly Misty issues myself :( so these blogs are a really cool resource if you want to find out about them. Anyway, Misty had a big impact despite being short lived, and Fleetway published 7 annuals from 1979-1986, well after the initial run of the magazine ended.

This is the Tammy I have, I found it at a Vinnies Op Shop for 50 cents. Not bad considering it was 30 cents back when it was published lol

I myself have most of the Misty annuals, missing the 1979 and 1985 ones. (The images above are scans of the annuals I have.) The annuals not only include reprints of comics and stories from the weekly Misty comics, but also crafts, recipes, articles, and quizzes. As of the publishing of this page, the 1979, '80, and '81 annuals have been scanned and uploaded to the Internet Archive. (Love that site. One of the best ones on the internet, if you ask me.) I will give a content warning though, not just for disturbing content one may usually find in horror media, such as death and descriptions of blood/bodies, but also for outdated language and some racist/insensitive themes and depictions. Given how the last annual is just under 40 years old, there are bound to be aspects of Misty stories that haven't aged terribly well. I have a content warning list written up for the '80 and '81 annuals here. I credit Misty as one of the major childhood influences that got me into horror, the others being Monster High dolls (which I still collect to this day), the Five Nights at Freddy’s Games (Shout out to MatPat, hope he’s enjoying retirement), The live action Scooby Doo movie, this weird little TV show that was lowkey traumatising called Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, just like so many other indie horror games that YouTubers played…. Bendy and the Ink Machine, Doki Doki Literature Club…. It’s no wonder I love this stuff lol.

The cover of the 1981 Misty Annual, featuring Misty, her cat Habibi, and the iconic two bats featured in the weekly Misty logo

My personal favourite annual is the 1981 one. I adore the cover illustration with Misty and her cat, Habibi. It also has one of my favourite feature articles Pretty Magical, which was like the ABCs of beauty and taking care of yourself, where each letter corresponded to a word relating to magic, folklore, or beauty. For example, B was for Belladonna, which was used in the past to beautify the eyes. The article goes on to say that Misty readers are far too smart to try something so dangerous, and then provides a recipe for making a safe and soothing eyewash, and tips to keep your eyesight healthy. As for stories, it also has some that I really love, but every annual does, and I have a really hard time picking my all time favourites.

From the ‘81 annual, I really liked the poem Alonzo the Brave and Fair Imogene. Partly for the story, but mostly because I thought the illustrations were so gorgeous. I also loved the comic The Evil Garden, about an apothecary who gets taken from her home and grandmother by an evil noblewoman to tend to her garden filled with poisonous plants. Is part of this love based on the fact that the noblewoman is very beautiful and mean to the apothecary for a whole page before she actually gives her the job of taking care of her Evil Garden? Maybe.

There was also more comedic comics, like the Cilla the Chiller comic strips about a school-aged girl ghost causing mischief in the castle she haunted. From the 1981 annual, I also liked the Write Your Own Ghost Story quiz, which was pretty much a spooky themed personality quiz. Lastly, the story The Weird Sisters always disturbed and fascinated me from how in depth it described the body of one of the characters, and how their blood looked.

Going back to The Evil Garden, Misty also played a part in my sexual awakening. A surprising number of stories feature beautiful evil dark haired women as the antagonists. Sometimes vampires looking to drain the blood of the protagonists…. Sometimes evil noblewomen who use the protagonist as a footstool. I won’t say I don’t know how I didn’t figure it out sooner, because it’s been a bit of a struggle for me to sort out my feelings when it comes to romance and sexuality. (Even now I’m not entirely confident they’re sorted, but it’s not like they nescesarilly need to be) But like also. How did I not figure this out sooner.

Misty stories are still being republished today! Good news for all of you guys, since the annuals resell for like 300 NZD. I'm considering buying the 1985 one since it's the only one I don't have that isn't on the Internet Archive lol. Even new Misty specials have come out across the years. There were 2017 and 2020 specials for Misty and Scream!, a 2020 Winter special, and a 2024 special. I believe all of these have new stories, though some might also have reprints. Some books that definitely do have reprints are Misty: 45 Years of Fear and Misty Book 1/2/3. In Misty: 45 Years of Fear, one of the stories is Moon Child, which I quite like. I haven't read any of the other stories in it though. Misty Book 1 also has Moonchild, as well as The Four Faces of Eve which although was really iconic, wasn't reprinted in any Misty annual to my knowledge. Misty Book 2 and 3 also both have stories that weren't reprinted in any Misty annuals to my knowledge. So far there are two artist spotlight books: Misty Presents: The Jaune Rumeu Collection and The Jordi Badia Romero Collection. These books can be purchased on the online shops of 2000AD and the Treasury of British Comics. You could also try your local library to see if they have these books, but you'll probably have better luck if you live in the UK.

If you want to learn more about Misty, I highly reccommend reading Gothic for Girls: Misty and British Comics by Julia Round. She also gave a seminar on this topic that you can find on YouTube

In conclusion, I love Misty. Thanks for reading all the way to the end! If you missed it on my main page, here's another excellent Misty fansite.