Jane (comic strip)

Jane
The cover of a 2009 reprint volume of some of the Jane comics
Author(s)	Norman Pett
Current status / schedule	Defunct
Launch date	5 December 1932
End date	10 October 1959
Alternate name(s)	Jane's Journal, Or the Diary of a Bright Young Thing
Publisher(s)	The Daily Mirror
Genre(s)	Humor
Followed by	Jane, Daughter of Jane

Jane was a comic strip created and drawn by Norman Pett exclusively for the British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mirror from 5 December 1932 to 10 October 1959.

Jane was born when artist Norman Pett made a wager that he could create a comic strip as popular to adults as the strip Pip, Squeak and Wilfred was to children. Originally Pett's wife Mary modelled for him, but in the late 1930s, she abandoned modelling in pursuit of golf. Pett then teamed up with Chrystabel Leighton-Porter whom he met while she was modelling for a class in Birmingham.

Originally entitled Jane's Journal, Or the Diary of a Bright Young Thing, the salacious comic strip featured the misadventures of the title . The heroine had a habit of frequently (and most often inadvertently) losing her clothes. Her intimate confidant was a pet dachshund named Fritz. Her full name was Jane Gay, a play on the name Lady Jane Grey. The name "Gay" was a reference to her cheerful, fun-loving character and did not connote the modern homosexual implication.

The strip became very popular during the Second World War and was considered morale-boosting, inspiring a similar American version, Milton Caniff's comic strip Male Call. Until 1943, Jane rarely stripped beyond her undergarments, but then she made a fully nude appearance when getting out of a bath and clumsily falling into the middle of a crowd of British soldiers.

Norman Pett's assistant Michael Hubbard continued, beginning in 1948, to develop the cartoon's original storyline until ending in 1959 – with charmer Georgie giving Jane a happy marriage and ending the series. The Mirror tried to revive the character on several occasions. One such comic strip was Jane, Daughter of Jane, who was apparently the original's grown-up offspring, but she lacked her mother's charm and innocence. Another attempt was made during the 1980s.