SMASH ! COVER GALLERY - PART NINE...

Copyright REBELLION

With the above issue of SMASH!, adventurer SIMON TEST assumed cover star status for the rest of the comic's run.  This resulted in some impressive images from artist ERIC BRADBURY, but I'd have liked to see JANUS STARK and perhaps some other characters appearing on the cover from time to time.  Eventually, of course, Smash! was merged into VALIANT, but while it lasted, it was one of Britain's best comics - featuring 40 pages for only 7d (old money).

Any of these covers ring the bells in memory's belfry?  Then let's hear all about it, chums.  Your comments are often far more interesting than anything I write (though I'd deny it in court).

And don't forget to come back for part ten.

As you can see, the first few issues above contained football cards as free gifts.  Other companion papers also had cards, and one I had at the time was GORDON BANKS (which I re-acquired last year), presented with SCORCHER during my last six months at primary school.  This surprises me, because until I bought the replacement and checked, I'd always associated it with some time in 1967 or '68, rather than the start of 1970, which seems kind of late.  (Not that it matters much I suppose, because the area was exactly the same over that time period.)

Funny how the mind plays tricks like that though, eh?  Just over two years later, I was living in another house in another neighbourhood, but back then, the future lay stretched out in front of me, and I had no inkling that I'd be living it anywhere other than the home I'd known for almost the previous five years.  Ah, the memories contained in just that one card.  As someone once said - "The only thing to look forward to's the past!"