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| Copyright REBELLION |
Near the end of January 1966, the first issue of a new comic went on sale in British newsagents - SMASH! Cover-dated February 5th, it featured a mix of traditional humour and adventure strips, and was a sister publication to WHAM!, published by ODHAMS PRESS. In April of that year, POW! was launched, but out of the three of them, Smash! was the longest-lasting, managing a relatively impressive five years.
One of the best-remembered strips was BRIAN'S BRAIN, featuring the adventures of BRIAN KINGSLEY, a schoolboy who owned an electronic brain shaped like a skull, which he carried around in a box. Bizarre indeed, but it proved popular with the readers at the time. Just to give all you Criv-ites a taste of what you may've missed, here, for your eyes only, are the first two instalments of Brian's Brain.
Cheers Kid. The macabre design of the Brain is what I remember most about the series.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it had any influence on DC's villainous Brain from New Teen Titans? Obviously, "he" began as a ghastly brain in a jar in Doom Patrol but attained the skull design under Perez. More recently, it was seen in the animated Brave and Bold - and if you haven't seen that, you really should. It's a treat: my nephew's first favourite hero was " Bwoo Beetle".
It seems unlikely that Americans would even be aware of the existence of most British comics (2000 A.D. being the exception), never mind being influenced by them, but it's always possible. Especially as Odhams were reprinting Marvel comics in the '60s, which may have attracted DC attention. Who knows, Perez may have had relatives living in Britain who sent him over some comics when he was a kid. One of my pals used to have American comics sent over by Canadian cousins, and his mum or gran sent D.C. Thomson comics over there in return. Anything's possible, eh?
ReplyDeleteYeah, Brian's Brain was my favourite smash UK strip, closely followed by Rubberman.
ReplyDeleteI think I preferred Rubberman out of the two of them, but both were good.
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