*Girls’ Comics: The distaff counterpart to Eagle went through many changes in its run, but few as drastic as the last couple of years of its existence, 1963 and 1964. Girl shrank down to a smaller magazine size from its traditional half-broadsheet, and started running photo-covers, at first mild ‘battle of the sexes’ jokes, then later on, full-page pin-up covers as the magazine pandered shamelessly to the new pop scene of the time. In terms of comic strips, Belle and Mamie – formerly, famously, of the Ballet School – got a job as half of the ‘Telegang’, bright young things who toured the world making documentaries and having adventures. Schoolgirls ‘Wendy and Jinx’ were still active, as was ‘Lettice’, and there was also the odd (very odd) dash of genteel sci-fi, the strangest example of which ran from V12 #51 to V13 #13, ‘The Day of the Triffids’, adapting the famous novel, but replacing the adult heroine with two school-age girls. Needless to say, things didn’t pan out quite the way John Wyndham originally wrote them! Famous pop-persons frequently featured include the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Cilla Black, while many others – Eden Kane? Johnny Justice? Heinz? – have been lost in the mists of time. (Tell you what, though: that Shane Fenton’s a dead ringer for Alvin Stardust. Eerie resemblance…) The end seemed nigh when, in the latter days of ’64, Princess-alumni like Sue Day and Uncle Lionel started poking their faces in, and sure enough, with V13 #40, 3rd October 1964, (pictured below right) it was the final issue, as Girl slunk off ingloriously to be incorporated into Princess. This selection of around 100 issues new in (occasional duplicates) varies from Fair to Fine, but predominantly hits a solid VG grade throughout.