ODHAMS PRESS 'POWER COMICS' FIRST ISSUES COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright relevant owner

The first two didn't begin life as 'POWER COMICS' - that happened somewhere along the way after they'd started reprinting MARVEL strips, but the next three began their runs with the big bold badge emblazoned on their covers.  For a while, all five weeklies were published concurrently, but eventually WHAM! merged with POW!, TERRIFIC with FANTASTIC, then Pow! with SMASH! and, finally, Fantastic also merged with Smash!, which became the sole surviving Power comic until it was revamped and relaunched (without Marvel reprints) in March of 1969. 

Here then are all five first issue covers for you to drool over.

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The COMPLETE POW! And FANTASTIC ANNUAL COVER GALLERY - 1968 TO 1974...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

And now - what you've been waiting for - a gallery of covers from the Annuals for POW! and FANTASTIC, thereby completing the collection of some of the most highly sought-after yearly books from the '60s & '70s.  As you can see, I've included the combined Wham! & Pow! tomes for 1973 & '74, but they're equally entitled to be here seeing as they're every bit as much Pow! Annuals as they are Wham! ones.  (In name only of course, as neither of them reflected the contents of the weekly comics.)

So that's yer lot, as they say, as far as four of the five sometime POWER COMICS go.  Sadly, there doesn't seem to have been a TERRIFIC Annual (unless you know different), presumably because it only lasted for 43 issues.  Having said that, THUNDER only had 22 issues, yet it had three Annuals after its demise.  Go figure!

I'll leave you now to get on with reliving yesteryear.  Enjoy!

Someone seems to have forgotten why IRON MAN was also known as the 'Golden Avenger',
though he did eventually acquire a crimson and silver suit for a while sometime in the mid- '80s