*Power Comics: Although IPC’s re-invention of the popular Smash! is dismissed by many as an ersatz Valiant – and it’s true it shrank to the standard size and format of a regular IPC/Fleetway weekly – there was a lot more to it than that, and two strips originated during this period, ‘Cursitor Doom’ and ‘Janus Stark’, who went on to lengthy careers and engraved themselves in the hearts of a generation of comics readers. Other popular series from this run were the super-hero ‘Tri-Man’, challenger of the unknown ‘Simon Test’, and ‘Birdman of Baratoga’, another entry in the well-worn ‘feral child raised by random critters’ sub-genre. Plus, favourite comedy strips ‘Bad Penny’ and ‘The Swots and the Blots’ continued over from the old iteration to provide fresh mayhem and laughter! We have thirty copies added to our Smash selection this week, averaging VG-FN, from 1969 through to its final year of 1971.