Power Comics
Encyclopedia
Power Comics was an imprint
of the British comics publisher Odhams Press
that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics
. Appearing chiefly during the years 1967 and 1968, the Power Comics line consisted of five weekly titles: Wham!
, Smash!, Pow!
, Fantastic and Terrific
. The first three of these titles were essentially traditional Beano
-style British comic papers supplemented by a small amount of Marvel and DC material, while the last two were more magazine-like in style and were dominated by their Marvel content.
stories such as the Fantastic Four
into their existing titles Wham! and Smash!. The Marvel material was reproduced in black and white, and serialized in short instalments alongside the original British strips
which still dominated the content of those comics. "Smash!" also reprinted the Batman
newspaper strip, to cash in on the popularity of the live-action TV show.
Power Comics took more concrete form with the appearance of Pow! and Fantastic early in 1967. 'The first issue of Pow! appeared on 14th January 1967, by which time Wham! had reached issue 136 and Smash! was at issue 51. Pow! was similar in format to the two earlier comics, a mixture of traditional British material and Marvel reprints — in this case Spider-Man
and Nick Fury
.
Fantastic first appeared on 11th February 1967, and was quite different in style from its predecessors. In many ways it looked more like one of the American black-and-white anthology
magazines of the time, such as Creepy
and Eerie
, than a traditional British comic such as The Beano. It was aimed at an older audience than the latter, though a younger one than the American magazines. The content of Fantastic was dominated by Marvel superheroes The Mighty Thor
, the X-Men
, and Iron Man
, with only a minimal amount of British material. In general appearance, style and content, Fantastic can be considered a direct precursor of the Marvel UK
weeklies, such as The Mighty World Of Marvel
, that appeared during the 1970s.
The number of Power Comics titles was increased to five on 8th April 1967 with the first appearance of Terrific, which was similar in format to Fantastic and was again dominated by Marvel reprint material: The Avengers
, Dr Strange
, and the Sub-Mariner.
The Power Comics line remained at five titles for nine months, after which it started to dwindle. Wham! was merged into Pow! on 13 January 1968, while Terrific merged into Fantastic three weeks later. This left three Power titles for just over six months, after which Pow! and Fantastic were merged into Smash! in September and November 1968 respectively. Smash! continued to include some Marvel material till early in 1969. In December 1968 the Power Comics logo was dropped, and in March 1969 Smash! was revamped into virtually a new comic, in the style of established titles such as Lion and Valiant (into which Smash! eventually merged in 1971).
The history of the Power Comics is really a history of the managed decline of the UK comics industry in general during the 1960s, in the face of falling sales resulting from the growing power of television. In the course of that decade the UK television industry introduced a new channel (in 1964), cheaper TV receivers (in consequence of the transistor revolution), hire-purchase (broadening the market so that anyone could afford a television set), and, dealing a death-blow to mass market comics, launched British television into colour at Christmas 1969.
's line of Marvel Comics in the USA. Besides reprinting many of Marvel's most popular series such as Spider-Man and the X-Men, there was also an attempt to create a home-grown British superhero: firstly with Johnny Future, who appeared in Fantastic prior to its merger with Terrific; and subsequently with 'Tri-Man', who appeared in Smash after its merger with Fantastic.
As well as drawing heavily on Stan Lee's creative output, Power Comics also attempted to emulate Lee's chatty style and community building
efforts, through their own Editors, who were known as Alf and Bart on some titles and Alf and Cos on others. In point of fact, "Alf" was Odhams staff editor Alf Wallace, "Bart" was Eagle editor Big Bartholomew, and "Cos" was Albert Cosser who would later be the Editor of TV Times magazine. Each title had its own letter column
(such as "Fantastic Fan-mail"), and also a half-page editorial ("News from the Floor of 64", a reference to the editorial offices at 64 Long Acre in London
, an address common to all of the Power Comics), comparable in style and purpose to Marvel's "Bullpen Bulletins
".
Unlike the otherwise similar Marvel UK reprints of the 1970s, the Marvel material in the Power Comics was frequently edited to replace American spellings and slang with their British equivalents. Dialogue and/or images were also changed occasionally to remove snags in continuity
caused by the lack of synchronisation between reprints of different storylines. The alterations were quite crudely done and easy to spot.
One of the more controversial aspects of Power Comics was the relative lack of credit given to Marvel Comics and the American creators of the material used. For the first few weeks of the Marvel reprints the company was not acknowledged at all, but Odhams then had a change of heart and published a letter from a reader pointing out the origin of the strips. Marvel credit boxes containing the names of Stan Lee and collaborators such as Steve Ditko
and Jack Kirby
were also deleted from the stories' splash pages; the space they occupied was either left blank or covered with drawn-in artwork. Apart from the statutory copyright acknowledgement in small print, the name "Marvel" was never mentioned — wherever it appeared in the strips it was changed to "Power". Marvel continued to be mentioned periodically though. For example, when the Hulk was removed from Smash! the editors admitted the reprints had caught up with the American originals. After a gap of several months, the Hulk reappeared, this time in Fantastic.
A distinctive feature of both Fantastic and Terrific was the full-colour pin-up that appeared on the back cover of most issues. Many of these were reprinted from American Marvel comics, but at least some (including a Johnny Future pin-up) were produced especially for the Power Comics by a young Barry Windsor-Smith
.
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
of the British comics publisher Odhams Press
Odhams Press
Odhams Press was a British publishing firm. Originally a newspaper group, founded in 1890, it took the name Odham's Press Ltd in 1920 when it merged with John Bull magazine. By 1937 it had founded the first colour weekly, Woman, for which it set up and operated a dedicated high-speed print works...
that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. Appearing chiefly during the years 1967 and 1968, the Power Comics line consisted of five weekly titles: Wham!
Wham! (comic)
Wham! was a weekly British comic published by Odhams Press. It ran for 187 issues from 20 June 1964 to 13 January 1968, when it merged into its sister title Pow!...
, Smash!, Pow!
Pow!
Pow! was a weekly British comic published by Odhams Press in 1967 and 1968 from their headquarters at 64 Long Acre, London. Part of their Power Comics imprint, it was printed on newsprint stock, in black-and-white except for its colour front and back covers, and initially comprised 28 pages.Pow!...
, Fantastic and Terrific
Terrific (comic)
Terrific was a weekly British comic published by Odhams Press under the Power Comics imprint. It ran for 43 issues from 15 April 1967 until 3 February 1968, when it was merged with its sister title Fantastic....
. The first three of these titles were essentially traditional Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
-style British comic papers supplemented by a small amount of Marvel and DC material, while the last two were more magazine-like in style and were dominated by their Marvel content.
History
When Odhams obtained the rights to reprint Marvel material in the UK, they began by incorporating superheroSuperhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
stories such as the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
into their existing titles Wham! and Smash!. The Marvel material was reproduced in black and white, and serialized in short instalments alongside the original British strips
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
which still dominated the content of those comics. "Smash!" also reprinted the Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
newspaper strip, to cash in on the popularity of the live-action TV show.
Power Comics took more concrete form with the appearance of Pow! and Fantastic early in 1967. 'The first issue of Pow! appeared on 14th January 1967, by which time Wham! had reached issue 136 and Smash! was at issue 51. Pow! was similar in format to the two earlier comics, a mixture of traditional British material and Marvel reprints — in this case Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
and Nick Fury
Nick Fury
Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is a fictional World War II army hero and present-day super-spy in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, Fury first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 , a World War II combat series that portrayed the...
.
Fantastic first appeared on 11th February 1967, and was quite different in style from its predecessors. In many ways it looked more like one of the American black-and-white anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
magazines of the time, such as Creepy
Creepy
Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. The anthology magazine was initially published quarterly but...
and Eerie
Eerie
Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host...
, than a traditional British comic such as The Beano. It was aimed at an older audience than the latter, though a younger one than the American magazines. The content of Fantastic was dominated by Marvel superheroes The Mighty Thor
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
, the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
, and Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
, with only a minimal amount of British material. In general appearance, style and content, Fantastic can be considered a direct precursor of the Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
weeklies, such as The Mighty World Of Marvel
The Mighty World Of Marvel
The Mighty World Of Marvel was Marvel UK's first-ever title, debuting in 1972, and is also the name of a similar current comic printed by Panini Comics, which bought the Marvel UK titles....
, that appeared during the 1970s.
The number of Power Comics titles was increased to five on 8th April 1967 with the first appearance of Terrific, which was similar in format to Fantastic and was again dominated by Marvel reprint material: The Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
, Dr Strange
Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ....
, and the Sub-Mariner.
The Power Comics line remained at five titles for nine months, after which it started to dwindle. Wham! was merged into Pow! on 13 January 1968, while Terrific merged into Fantastic three weeks later. This left three Power titles for just over six months, after which Pow! and Fantastic were merged into Smash! in September and November 1968 respectively. Smash! continued to include some Marvel material till early in 1969. In December 1968 the Power Comics logo was dropped, and in March 1969 Smash! was revamped into virtually a new comic, in the style of established titles such as Lion and Valiant (into which Smash! eventually merged in 1971).
The history of the Power Comics is really a history of the managed decline of the UK comics industry in general during the 1960s, in the face of falling sales resulting from the growing power of television. In the course of that decade the UK television industry introduced a new channel (in 1964), cheaper TV receivers (in consequence of the transistor revolution), hire-purchase (broadening the market so that anyone could afford a television set), and, dealing a death-blow to mass market comics, launched British television into colour at Christmas 1969.
Style and content
Power Comics was the first attempt to integrate elements of American superhero comics into mainstream British comic publishing, motivated by the huge success of Stan LeeStan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
's line of Marvel Comics in the USA. Besides reprinting many of Marvel's most popular series such as Spider-Man and the X-Men, there was also an attempt to create a home-grown British superhero: firstly with Johnny Future, who appeared in Fantastic prior to its merger with Terrific; and subsequently with 'Tri-Man', who appeared in Smash after its merger with Fantastic.
As well as drawing heavily on Stan Lee's creative output, Power Comics also attempted to emulate Lee's chatty style and community building
Community building
Community building is a field of practices directed toward the creation or enhancement of community among individuals within a regional area or with a common interest...
efforts, through their own Editors, who were known as Alf and Bart on some titles and Alf and Cos on others. In point of fact, "Alf" was Odhams staff editor Alf Wallace, "Bart" was Eagle editor Big Bartholomew, and "Cos" was Albert Cosser who would later be the Editor of TV Times magazine. Each title had its own letter column
Comic book letter column
A comic book letter column is a section of a comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns , letter pages, letters of comment , or simply letters to the editor...
(such as "Fantastic Fan-mail"), and also a half-page editorial ("News from the Floor of 64", a reference to the editorial offices at 64 Long Acre in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, an address common to all of the Power Comics), comparable in style and purpose to Marvel's "Bullpen Bulletins
Bullpen Bulletins
"Bullpen Bulletins" was the news and information page that appeared in most regular monthly comic books from Marvel Comics...
".
Unlike the otherwise similar Marvel UK reprints of the 1970s, the Marvel material in the Power Comics was frequently edited to replace American spellings and slang with their British equivalents. Dialogue and/or images were also changed occasionally to remove snags in continuity
Continuity (fiction)
In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...
caused by the lack of synchronisation between reprints of different storylines. The alterations were quite crudely done and easy to spot.
One of the more controversial aspects of Power Comics was the relative lack of credit given to Marvel Comics and the American creators of the material used. For the first few weeks of the Marvel reprints the company was not acknowledged at all, but Odhams then had a change of heart and published a letter from a reader pointing out the origin of the strips. Marvel credit boxes containing the names of Stan Lee and collaborators such as Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
and Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
were also deleted from the stories' splash pages; the space they occupied was either left blank or covered with drawn-in artwork. Apart from the statutory copyright acknowledgement in small print, the name "Marvel" was never mentioned — wherever it appeared in the strips it was changed to "Power". Marvel continued to be mentioned periodically though. For example, when the Hulk was removed from Smash! the editors admitted the reprints had caught up with the American originals. After a gap of several months, the Hulk reappeared, this time in Fantastic.
A distinctive feature of both Fantastic and Terrific was the full-colour pin-up that appeared on the back cover of most issues. Many of these were reprinted from American Marvel comics, but at least some (including a Johnny Future pin-up) were produced especially for the Power Comics by a young Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith, born Barry Smith is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States....
.