Censored MACH1 art from prog 4

[Richard S.]

The latest #COMPAL auction features lots of lovely comic-y items including a censored page from prog 4.

Details here

https://boysadventurecomics.blogspot.com/2021/11/censored-mach1-art-from-prog-4-up-for.html

Note also that the strip is, at that stage, entitled 'A man called Probe' not MACH1.

[JayzusB.Christ]

That's cool; sometimes it's hard to believe how political and violent kids' comics used to be.  I'd also forgotten how blatant an inspiration The Six Million Dollar Man was; MACH1 was the image of Lee Majors.

[Richard S.]

yes, it's as shameless as rip-off as you could get really - loved it as strip

[sheridan]

Are there any details about it being censored?

[Max Headroom]

Why was this piece of art censored? It doesn't seem that extreme to me.

[sheridan]

That's what I'm wondering, I can see a few changes from the early rough to the final printed version but not of censorship...

[Funt Solo]

I suppose they've made an editorial decision to remove the depiction of Fidel Castro and replace it with a Generic Bond Villain. You *could* call that censorship - but along the same lines as replacing all the Russians with Volgans in early Invasion!

[Richard S.]

I defined it as censorship because the art that was submitted was not the art that was used - it was 'toned down' to make it less controversial