Key Moments in My Comics History 4
In the 1960s, British comics like Smash! (along with Pow! and Wham!) serialised American Marvel and DC Comics stories as well as creating original (usually funny) stories of their own.
The Power Comics line, including Smash!, was published by IPC's Odhams Press division under a three-man editorial team known as Alf, Bart and Cos. Alfred Wallace ('Alf') was the managing editor at Odhams, while Albert Cosser ('Cos') was directly responsible for Smash.
If a particular title was struggling financially, it was common practivce to ‘merge ‘ it with another title, which meant that some favourite stories and characters persisted.
On 14 September 1968, with issue 137, Smash! merged with Pow! (which had previously absorbed Wham!). On 2 November 1968, with issue 144, it merged with Fantastic (which had previously absorbed Terrific), to become Smash and Pow incorporating Fantastic.
On 15 March 1969 it was relaunched without any American superheroes. Further changes followed during the course of 1969 and at the start of 1970, before the final issue was published on 3 April 1971. Smash! then merged into Valiant, forming Valiant and Smash.
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-Grant P. Hudson is the founder of Clarendon House Publications. Download a free catalogue here.