Bad Penny

Created by Leo Baxendale, Bad Penny debuted in the first issue of Smash! An exceptionally naughty school girl in the vein of Minnie the Minx (though having apparently borrowed at least some of her wardrobe from Dennis the Menace, based on her distinctive jumper), the strip's title explicitly made the link between her nickname and the proverb about bad pennies, depicting her face on a 1 pence coin. Penny's strip, usually a single page enjoyed a lengthy run in Smash!, lasting from the first issue until 24th January 1970, a run of nearly four years.

Penny's long suffering parents were seen but not identified in Smash!, but years later a now adult Penny became one of the main protagonists in Albion, where it was revealed she was the daughter of scientist and adventurer Eric Dolmann (star of Valiant's House of Dolmann), who, along with most of Britain's other superhumans, had been wrongfully imprisoned by the government. Penny recruited the assistance of amnesiac wizard Danny Doom, the criminal Charlie Peace, a rebuilt Robot Archie, and her father's old robots, and led them on a rescue mission. However, though their raid helped free the prisoners, Penny learned to her sadness that her father had passed away some time earlier, and been buried in the prison graveyard.