SMASH, BANG, WALLOP, WHAT A COMIC MAG...

The 1st issue of Smash! (February 1966)

It lasted a total
of 257 issues -

and there would've

been more if not for

a printing strike

lasting for several

weeks in 1970.

It outlasted
companion titles
WHAM! (187 issues),

POW! (86 issues),

FANTASTIC
(89 issues) and 

TERRIFIC (43

issues), essentially

becoming a "best

of" repository for all

of them - but only

for about 6 months.

Then it was out with

the old and in with the new, and what would've been number 163 became

the first issue of the 'NEW' SMASH!, devoid of MARVEL COMICS

reprints and more in line with the traditional British boys' comics like

VALIANT and LION. (It's the 42nd anniversary of that relaunch on

the 8th of this month, unless I'm very much mistaken.)  

SMASH! was a superb comic, and the one in which I was first

introduced to the FANTASTIC FOUR. When ODHAMS PRESS
first reprinted the origin of the FF, they did so in WHAM! and SMASH!

simultaneously - curiously (and erroneously) claiming exclusivity for each

title at the end of the first episode of the two-part tale. Want to read the
conclusion of the Marvel quartet's debut adventure? You could only do so
in the next issue of WHAM! - according to WHAM!, that is. If, however,
you were reading SMASH!, it was claiming sole publishing rights for the
next part of the story. An intentional two-pronged promotion of the good
ol' FF to double their readership potential? Or an emergency measure
necessitated by the non-arrival of a regular strip for SMASH!? I guess
only ALF, BART and COS know for certain - I sure don't.



Art by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta

When I later discovered that REED, BEN, SUSAN and JOHNNY were

regularly appearing in WHAM! ("THE COMIC WITH THE FANTASTIC

FOUR!"), I started buying that title too in order to feed my infatuation with

the INVISIBLE GIRL, but I continued to buy SMASH! as well. Then POW!

(after WHAM! was merged with it) and also FANTASTIC and TERRIFIC.
It's ironic that SMASH!, having been the first 'POWER' periodical I read -

and the one in which I first discovered Marvel's most famous family - was
also the last title standing, as well as the comic in which the FF made their
home for the last few months of their Odhams Press existence.

   

The 1st revamped issue (March 1969)

As mentioned, the

title was relaunched -

in March 1969 - in a

completely different

format, featuring

some stories originally

intended for a comic

called BLACKJACK,

which, for reasons

unknown, was sadly

never published.

(CURSITOR DOOM,

and - eventually -

THE PILLATER

PERIL being but a

couple of examples.)

It lasted for 95 issues

before being merged

with VALIANT on 27th

March, 1971 (issue

dated 3rd April).

 

The Codemaster cards & envelope

All things come to an end, alas - but SMASH! did not die with the

last issue of its regular comic. Click here for the rest of the story.