CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: PART TEN OF SMASH! COVER GALLERY...

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

PART TEN OF SMASH! COVER GALLERY...

Here's SIMON TEST getting up to all sorts of exciting escapades on six covers of SMASH! from 1970. This is the latest in our cover gallery featuring this titanic title from 40-odd years ago, and it was one of Britain's best periodicals for boys in an age when there was still a comics industry in this country, as opposed to the 'craft fair' that exists today.

I've mentioned before that, spectacular as these covers are, I think IPC missed a trick by not alternating the featured character from week-to-week, as it would surely have intrigued potential new readers to see a different face staring up at them from newsagents' counters from time to time. Any thoughts on the matter?

3 comments:

John Pitt said...: Kid, have you put them away again yet? It's just how did he avoid a choppin' on the 11th April? You can't show me a cover like that and leave me wondering! I gotta know!; 25 March 2015 at 13:13
Anonymous said...: The third cover from the top probably wouldn't be allowed now - the image of African savages about to kill a white man would be considered stereotypical and offensive (I suppose).; 25 March 2015 at 14:09
Kid said...: He sneezed, and the snot hit the guy with the chopper in the eye, making him drop it on his toe, whereupon he rapidly bled to death and the others ate him, not wanting to waste a good meal. In the confusion, Simon Test managed to escape. (Can't be @rsed looking to see, JP.)

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Maybe they're not African savages, CJ. It might be taking place in Birmingham, in a large back garden. You'd still get away with the cover today if you said the savages were a forgotten tribe deep in the recesses of a hidden jungle somewhere, and that civilization had passed them by.; 25 March 2015 at 14:44

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

(Although, if you don't allow copying on your own site, then you really shouldn't be copying from others, should you?)

And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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Please also note that this blog is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to, any organisation, business, or group, and is wholly independent.