*Boys’ Adventure & War Picture Libraries: Commencing in 1959, GM Smith/Micron’s Combat Picture Library, despite being relatively obscure compared to the more illustrious Commando, Battle, etc., nevertheless managed a very respectable 1000+ issue run until 1985, outlasting many rivals. We had taken an hiatus from our ongoing Combat restock over the autumn, but we’re back this week, with issues between #256 to #398. A curiosity is that for much of its run to this point, Combat had followed the cover dress common to its rivals – Air Ace, Commando, et. al. With #256, however, a new editor or art director was clearly at the helm, and the covers became lurid, colourful mini-posters reminiscent of a cinematic grindhouse studio, with energetic violence and drama compensating for a lack of finer artistic qualities. These cheap & cheerful battle tales – if you’ll excuse my oxymoron – are extensively replenished this week, 60 new numbers being added between #256 – ‘A Man Must Die’ – through to #398 – ‘Friends of Enemies’. Many more Combat await, but we will be interspersing them with other Picture Libraries to ensure our beloved punters don’t get, ahem, combat fatigue.