[MarkWarner]

Last week's comic, The Saint, was a hit on nostalgia front reminding a few grey haired (if they are lucky) members of the group of watching the Saint on television in their youth! I am sure that is why it scrapped through as a "hit".

I thought as we had a British hero in an American book why not this week have an all British book and character.  So here we have the rather "rustic looking" Sensational Acromaid Comics.  https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22601. This claims to be "Printed in England", but apparently it was actually Scotland.

As there are just 8 pages its a cover to cover job!

[Morgus]

Nice art, and the story moves along. Pretty good. Now, not knowing a thing about this character, I have to ask...was this a big time franchise in the UK?

[crashryan]

I appreciated this comic a lot more after Googling creator Dennis Reader and discovering his role in postwar British comics. This obituary from The Independent (written by the late Denis Gifford) explains it all:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-dennis-m-reader-1585282.html

This short story was no worse than many American hero comics of the period. Apparently Reader was in demand because of his American art style. Certainly this could easily have been an American strip. Gifford suggests Reader could draw better than this but cranked the stuff out so fast it didn't show. Still the art is pleasant and the story moves right along.

I found myself wondering about British circuses. This one sure looks like the (comic book) American variety. Did circuses in the UK look the same?

I guess this must have been AcroMaid's only appearance. According to Gifford, Reader created a number of other heroines. It'd be fun to see some of them. In conclusion I give AcroMaid a thumbs-up, even if she isn't  quite "the greatest character since the birth of comics."

[SuperScrounge]

I had read this once before & found a lot to nitpick (i.e. no mask to hide her identity, why is there a trapeze UNDER the safety net, etc.), but otherwise a fast, fun read that could have become an interesting series had she ever re-appeared.

Crash, that was interesting article you linked to. Didn't realize this was supposed to be an "American style" comic as, in retrospect, Acromaid could be seen as a proto-Emma Peel from The Avengers, cool, calm, ready for action and being in the right place to overhear the bad guys because time is short and the writer needs to move the story along ;-).

[paw broon]

I'd agree that this no worse than a lot of American GA comics, it's just that it's in a different format, being only 8 pages with the cover being part of the story.  This wasn't a franchise here, never mind big time, but it was one of a small set of comics issued by Comic Art Productions in Glasgow.  It and many of it's stablemates - Phantom Maid etc. aren't even listed in the British guide, although the guide has a number of omissions and a few errors.  This type of British comic was deliberately styled like this to imitate American comics - as there was no distribution of American comics - but wasn't typical of the majority of British comics, which were of the Eagle/ Beano anthology style. 
Can't answer the query about British circuses as I think I've only ever been to 2 when I was very young, so 50 odd years ago. But there was a big tent, a ring, animals, clowns, acrobats.
I enjoyed the comic.  The story rattles along and the art doesn't interfere.  But Reader did have a talent for drawing shapely female characters, which is a wee bit surprising in kids' comics in '50's Britain - perhaps why some of these comics were popular with a more adult, male audience.  I do have a great affection for these obscure and, nowadays, little known titles.
Reader does seem to have been able to work fast, so it's a shame there is so little about him on comic sites but here's what's on Lambiek:-
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/r/reader_dm.htm

[narfstar]

Being an obscure GA character such as it is I loved it. It had a certain charm. I would say the charm was in looking like an early 40's comic. From a 50's perspective it was pretty crude

[MarkWarner]

I am a bit of a collector, and although I do like "fine" things I am drawn to cruder and more folk-art type items.  This is partly due to financial reasons, but also I like the one off handmade feel of them. Not the best quality, but the result of a fair amount of good honest effort. If this comic was a carving it would be on my shelf. If that makes sense? Well it does to me.

It is handmade! The art is crude, but it has movement. The bottom half of page 1 and
top of page 4 are example of the good side and all the art on page 7 the bad.

The story line matches the artwork. It included a nurse (Acromaid)  pumping a critically ill patient with truth serum (which she happens to have on her person).

Verdict: A hit! I loved it.

[bowers]

Obscure and crude, indeed. Still not without a strange charm. Any heroine who can fling a scalpel like that is ok in my book. And ,as Mark pointed out, has the remarkable foresight to carry around truth serum! Definitely a peek back into comics history. Cheers, Bowers