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SPY-SMASHER SMITH

lion_cb_621 lion_cb_643 lion_cb_635
 
Full Name: Mr. Smith
Series Name: Spy-Smasher
Codename: Agent 005
Nationality: British
Organization: MI5
Occupation Agent

Creator: Unknown
Time Span: 1964 - 1964

ABOUT THE SERIES

Spy-Smasher Smith is an agent with MI-5.

To quote the opening statement in the first graphic adventure of this individual, "To look at Mr. Smith you would not believe that he is the man who is called when things get too hot for M.I.5 to handle".

His designation is Agent 005. By the mythos of brother agent James Bond, that would give Mr. Smith the license to kill but Smith does not do anything particularly violent. A good number of violent things are done to him but Smith remains an even tempored individual.

A short, middle-aged man nearly bald except for fringes above the ears and a few strands combed over the dome of his head, Smith sports a well-groomed bushy mustache. As this is Britain in 1964, he wears a bowler hat when outside and always is suitably armed with an umbrella in his left hand and a satchel in his right. In the satchel he carries: compass, scout knife, "catapult bubble gun", and red tape. The gum part is a bit confusing to me but the other things will be useful to him a time or two.

Smith answers to Colonel Crossfire, head of counter-Intelligence in M.I.5., a fat bald older man who always seems about to explode with apoplexy.

His arch-nemesis is Doktor Skull, a very short, bulb-headed bald evil genius with a black eye-patch over his right eye. Skull is the head of an international spy organization.

Smith does go through a bit of title changing over the short time we follow him. The name of his chronicles is "Spy-Smasher Smith, Agent 005" for the first 5 segments of the first adventure and "Mr. Smith, Agent 005" for the last. It is "Mr. Smith of M.I.5 1/2" for the next two full adventures, though there is no mention why his department got a half-number bump. In the final adventure's segments, no codename or department name is mentioned with him just being designated "Mr. Smith". There is also no explanation as to why in the beginning he had the nickname of "Spy-Smasher" but then again, why shouldn't he have it?

COMIC BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, AND MANGA

Number of Stories:4
First Appearance:1964
Last Appearance:1964

1 'The Radium Ray' 'The Radium Ray'
Published by Fleetway Publications Ltd.

Copyright: 02/1964

Published in Lion #621-#626 - 1 page each - Professor Prune, the radium ray inventor, has been kidnapped by Doktor Skull. Mr. Smith's job is to get the man back.
Click here to read the story.

2 'The Skullduggers' 'The Skullduggers'
Published by Fleetway Publications Ltd.

Copyright: 04/1964

Published in Lion #627-#634 - 1 page each - Six locations where the beat group The Skullduggers have performed a concert, factories making England's new super dooper sonic bomber have been sabotaged. Mr. Smith is certain one of the musicians is really Doktor Skull.
Click here to read the story.

3 'Rocket Radio Requests' 'Rocket Radio Requests'
Published by Fleetway Publications Ltd.

Copyright: 06/1964

Published in Lion #635-#642 - 1 page each - Plans for the new rocket have been stolen and Mr. Smith must stop them from being broadcast from a secret spy station of Doktor Skull. The location is the Crooked Bones Coffee Bar.
Click here to read the story.

4 The Island of Coo The Island of Coo
Published by Fleetway Publications Ltd.

Copyright: 08/1964

Published in Lion #643-#650 - 1 page each - A criminal genius named Doctor Coo is producing mighty midget atom bombs on his island in the Pacific. Mr. Smith is ordered to go there and destroy the headquarters before he can use the bombs on England. Coo is really Doktor Skull.
Click here to read the story.

MY COMMENTS

When I first went to grade this silly, short but kinda fun series, I gave it a C+. I bumped it to B-, though, when I considered that for only being 8 pages and almost all of them being half-pages at that, the creating team really managed to put in quite a bit of action, more to poor Mr. Smith's discomfort.

From the moment I found these in the pages of Lion while looking for "serious" graphic adventures, I knew I would be entering it into the compendium but I kept putting it off because, well, it looked so silly. Once I forced myself to work on it, I got to like the little fellow.

GRADE

My Grade: B-

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