Saturday 2 August 2014

PANEL-BY-PANEL - BAD PENNY...


Copyright relevant owner

Time now for some more original art, in this instance BAD PENNY by LEO BAXENDALE, from the back page of SMASH! #156, January 25th 1969.  I've scanned the first two panels as one, as they have a caption running across both of them.  And, although you can enlarge the panels by clicking on them, I've repeated the last one in two bigger halves for greater visual impact.  The strip has been drawn on two thin sheets of card, extended on the right-hand side, then stuck down on a thicker piece of art board.  To give you all an idea of how poorly these pages were treated in storage, this one has footprints on the back, indicating that it was lying face down on the floor at some stage and walked over.  (Or perhaps lay on top of a pile of art used as a step to reach something on a high shelf.)  Shameful, eh?

And look at the street name in the panel below.  Is this what you'd describe as a Nightmare on Elm Street?













And here's the published page as readers would have seen it back in 1969.

5 comments:

George Shiers said...

More fantastic stuff! I'd love to own some original Leo Baxendale artwork - his pages are so lively and fun!

I'd also like to get some more of the Odhams comics - particularly Wham, Smash and Pow.

Kid said...

I'd say that eBay's the place, George, but for Bax artwork I'd guess you'll need to have deep pockets. I saw some Smash! comics on eBay recently - might still be there.

John Pitt said...

Sacrilege!! Walking on masterpieces with muddy clodhoppers!
You know I love all these ( and I'm downloading them! ), don't you ( but purely for my own personal pleasure! )
You can't go wrong with anything from our beloved Power comics! More contenders for Britain's finest.

Anonymous said...

I'm too young to remember Smash! but that art takes me back to the Beano and the Bash Street Kids.

Kid said...

Glad you're enjoying them, JP. Still more to come.

******

Bax used to draw the Bash Street Kids, CJ, and David Sutherland imitated that style for many years afterwards. You can still see a bit of his influence in the strip today.



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