Raising awareness

 

Sometimes a comic may only have a short run such as this, Polly Pigtails, published  by  the Parents Magazine Institute in the 1940's looking for "wholesome" comics but do have a legacy.

Polly Pigtails had half comic, half fact and information format but what is interesting from our point of view was it did having features  on Girl Scouts talking about and telling stories around what scouting as practised in the United States had to offer girls and the kinds of roles she may take on.

Getting the message out has always been a bit of a challenge not least when children's publications seem very much islands of total escapism but series of articles such as these or today the Dandytown Scouts cartoons in the Dandy published in the U.K. do help in creatung a postive awareness of what we're about.

A Walk in the Country

 Inspiration can come from many places and sometimes where you may not expect such as comics where a few did try to do for them what the popular "Why Don't You..." television series on the BBC did and use their medium to encourage children to put down what they were doing and do something like go outside instead.

The girls comic Tammy did a fair bit about being fit and going out exploring the countryside  not just in the regular comics but also in their annuals.

Here from an page in the 1970's they are looking at the things you need on and with you and the things you might do along the way like identify trees, flowers, birds and so on which isn't a million miles removed from what you'd do in Scouts and Girl Guiding but with the advantage anyone anywhere can just do it where there can be waiting lists and in a few places the lack of age appropriate unit for you.

Taking a break

The Boys Brigade, not so talked about today as it was but still very much with us elevating boys to the highest standards in a classic picture probably 50's or early 60's of an older boy still in shorts as you were back then enjoying his comic.

While this blog isn't about it, I read a lot of comics as a boy such as Sparky, Beezer, Warlord, Roy of the Rovers, The Beano and The Dandy at home and saw through sharing Whizzer and Chips, Tiger and 2000AD.

Don't ask what today's liberals would make of many of the scenes in Popeye though!