Women's Wrestling Comics: Grappling Gertie's Schooldays (1992)

The best women's wrestling comic cover ever? Could be. 

  Back in 2012 I did a post about Gertrude Williams aka Leopard Lily, prim teacher turned lady wrestler and star of the only British comics ever to feature women's wrestling.  (Read it HERE) 

 I said at the time that there was a later prequel and if I ever got my hands on a copy, I'd post some scans. 

Well, it took a while but I finally have a copy of "Grappling Gertie's Schooldays" - a a tale of plucky schoolgirls, Arab princesses, nefarious villains and large, scary women with alliterative names. 

  For the time being I'm just going to concentrate on the in-ring action. Since that's probably why you're here I don't foresee too many complaints. 

 The story opens with masked grappler Leopard Lily pummeling a chunky opponent.

  I just love the look on Lily's face. "Wonderful" is not the word. 

 From there we go into a flashback where Gertrude Williams tells the two pupils who know her secret exactly how and why she donned the leopardskin swimsuit and fetching mask. 

  Weirdly enough, it's a totally different pair of girls to the ones featured in "Grappling Gertie" and the 1992 Bunty Annual. This suggests to me that Gertie is a bit crap at keeping secrets. Or she deliberately seeks out potential acolytes. 

  Anyway, we find that the young Gertrude Williams is that staple of British Girls's Comics - the poor schoolgirl surrounded by people who constantly give her shit. 

  Things take a turn for the better when our heroine starts getting fitness training down her local gym. And wrestling lessons. 

  Shortly afterwards the newly-confident Gertie saves a granny from purse-snatchers and in return, gets taken to see the lady wrestlers down the local bingo hall. 

 And right away, she starts getting ideas. 

   

   Gertie gets a chance to prove it moments later.

What is it with the alliterative names? Seriously? 

Personally I wouldn't get in the ring with that lass unless I had a football helmet and a cattleprod.

Look at her arms!

After  being kitted out with a swimsuit, boots and mask, Gertie is ready to Rummmmbbblleee! 

Initially it seems like our gal's confidence was misplaced. 

I didn't know you could get a fall and a submission. 

Fun fact: Once upon a time wrestlers would actually throw out challenges like this, especially at fairgrounds.  

What usually happened is that the erstwhile challenger got the shit kicked out of him in short order.

 As any long-term pro will tell you, some wrestlers really do know how to handle themselves in a legit scrap. 

I actually once wandered into a bar in Blackpool where they were doing this. I popped in again a bit later and when I saw the same "challengers" have exactly the same matches, I began to suspect that a certain amount of collusion was going on.

Back at school young Gertrude finds herself pulled aside for a quiet chat about overdue school fees.

Clearly she needs to earn a few bob in a hurry so picks up the Leopard Lily mantle once again.

Her opponent this name might be a bit more difficult though.

  "Big Molly Mangler" How very British. Note how much the ref is enjoying his job. 

It took me a while to realise why Molly seemed so familiar.

Then it hit me.

(picture sourced from www.obsessedwithwrestling.com)

The artist just drew Big Daddy then added (bigger) boobs and a pony tail.  

  Kicked right in the boob. That's got to hurt, surely. 

Now the plucky young school girl has a chance to earn some serious money by facing Champ Tiger Tina.

 Can we take a moment to appreciate how much the artist manages to achieve with a few simple lines? 

Classic British comic art is sadly underrated. 

The writer has no idea what these moves are called, has she?

  Everything is going swimmingly up to now but then "Lily" gets distracted.

You see, back at school she got pally with a young Arab girl - who happens to be a princess.  

 Wrestling living up to the nickname "grunt and groan" in spades. 

Match over.

Now Gertie just has to go rescue her royal pal from kidnappers and then explain to her 

teachers why she's bunking off to go fight in a slightly-scandalous swimsuit. 

That, however, is a story for another day. 

 If you like British comics, especially the Girl's side of things, then this is a fun read and it's a shame that Gertie never got more adventures.

 I wonder if there's grappling Gertie fanfiction out there?

Maybe somebody should write some.

If you want your own copy, keep an eye on Ebay. I got lucky. Maybe you will too.   

That's all folks.