Millie 22

Daily Mirror, Saturday August 25 1990.

This is where the story really starts. I'd been pestering the Daily Mirror to go daily for six months by this time. As far as they were concerned I was serving out a period of apprenticeship. They wanted to make sure that I could sustain the treadmill that a daily strip can become before entrusting one to me.

This strip, which is essentially an entire week's worth of strips distilled down into six single panels with a punchline in each one, was what finally persuaded them I was ready. Two weeks later Millie started appearing on a Monday-Saturday schedule.

The colour scheme in frame two effectively hides a vital bit of information for deciphering the joke. Obscured behind the red stripe on the brim of Gemma's hat are the words 'Kiss Me Quick', a traditional slogan found on hats sold at the coast. They don't appear anywhere inland. I don't know why. They don't sell rock-candy reproductions of full English breakfasts more that 100 yards away from the sea either. I feel a geography thesis coming on...

The Moo for England shirt Sammi is holding up was a reference that that year's must have fashion item  the Inspiral Carpets' 'Mad as Fuck' T-shirt with the picture of the mad cow on it.

Moo.

Feel the Dynamic Tension in frame four.

This was also the summer of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Hero Turtles, name-checked as an ice cream flavour in frame five. The country was in the grip of Turtlemania and the syndicated strip had started to appear in the Daily Mirror, and continued to appear for about a year until the fad blew itself out after a disappointing movie sequel. Note the name change, made after a tabloid scare story about five year old kids throwing nunchucks about. These unnecessary name changes happen occasionally. Top Cat became Boss Cat in the UK because his name was the same as a brand of cat food (though the theme song stayed exactly the same).

All the ice cream vans in Kent and Sussex come from a lair in Hastings. I know this because if I get stuck behind one on the way to work in Tunbridge Wells I usually end up arriving ten minutes late.