It seems inconceivable to imagine now that a weekly print magazine for teenage girls could at its peak sell well over a million copies, and yet that’s what DC Thomson’s Jackie managed to do at one key point in the 1970s. Published for around thirty years from the early 1960s to the early ‘90s Jackie’s combination of pop music coverage, fashion and lifestyle articles, pin-ups, problem pages and comics photos-strips proved to be one of the most successful mags for its demographic. While it has long since disappeared into the void of fond nostalgia Thomson have in recent years compiled material from its pages in the traditional UK Annual format and at the end of 2024 gave us the anniversary special Jackie: 60 Years of Magic.
Jackie, of course, was mostly features and articles so giving some space to 60 Years of Magic here at Broken Frontier is largely at exercise in nostalgia (and a reminder of magazines that would have sat next to the plethora of weekly comics in British newsagents from the 1960s through to the best part of the ‘80s). However, like many similar publications aimed at the girls market, Jackie did run those aforementioned regular photocomics and a number of them are reprinted here. Romantic entanglements and jealousy, family fallings out, Valentine’s Day intrigue, and horsey adventures abound. They’re predictable, often stiffly posed, and sometimes look like some literal cut-and-paste around outlines has been going on. They’re also a gloriously enjoyable guilty pleasure.
60 Years of Magic is split into five sections. ‘Music Matters’ takes us on a journey through pop culture from the Beatles, Marc Bolan and the Bee Gees through to Adam Ant and a very fresh-faced Rick Astley. The ‘Fashion and Beauty’ section is a wonderful reminder of how the seemingly ephemeral can actually provide keen insights into social history. ‘Word to the Wise’ takes us back to the never-to-be-forgotten ‘Dear Cathy and Claire’ problems pages where numerous incarnations of the duo gave readers advice over the years, and ‘Matters of the Heart’ houses those romance comics.
What really makes this as a collection is the final section, though, where past staff members of the Jackie team share their memories of working on the magazine. Jackie was always perhaps more homely and less sensational than some of its contemporaries in the latter years but its enduring legacy is perfectly celebrated in this warmly nostalgic collection.
Maria Welch (Foreword) • DC Thomson, £8.99
Review by Andy Oliver
