First Appearance:
21st June 1975 - No.8
Replacing:
Kung Fu
Last Appearance:
24th March 1979 - No.13
Replaced By:
Dick Turpin
Rating:
7.0
One of the longest running strips in the comics history,
SMDM was also based on one of the most popular programmes in the seventies.
Centred around the exploits of Steve Austin, an astronaut who, whilst on
re-entry from a space shot, crashes and barely survives. He is taken
to a government facility, and his shattered body is given a host of
replacement 'Bionic' parts, (Two legs, an arm and an eye) enabling him to to
have speed, super strength and super vision.
He becomes government property and is sent on a host of missions for the OSI
(Office of Strategic Investigations), headed by Oscar Goldman.
The strips in comparison to the series were very different. A lot of them were quite unbelievable plotlines, with characters that were so off the planet it was quite funny sometimes. The most memorable character has to be Laszlo Cernatz, 'The Toymaker', who with his host of deadly toys set out to take over the children of the world to do his bidding. So popular was the character he made a second appearance a while later.
The strip was written by Angus P. Allan and Drawn by Martin Asbury for the whole run. Martin's most famous pre-Look-in work was probably 'Garth' which ran for many years in the 'Daily Mirror' newspaper.