WHY DID `ODHAM'S FAIL?

[NP]

I would have loved to get all 5 'Power Comics' but I could only afford one- in 1964 it was WHAM! (of course), 1966 SMASH! and 1967 POW! By 1968 it was SMASH! again.
Once or twice I managed to get all 5 in one week- the week The Avengers meet The Minotaur story was in Terrific and Spider-Man vs Electro in POW!- and it felt like a binge! Too much! How they managed to get five comics a week out (even if two were largely all-reprint) was astonishing.
Funnily enough, though I enjoyed most of the strips, I always turned to the letters page first (POW! would sometimes have two full pages of letters!!) and then News From the Floor of 64. It did feel like a club, and a cool one at that.
The only other comic I got every single week was TV21.
To be honest, SMASH! or POW! and TV21 were the coolest comics and I never really took to any others like I did those. I also read Beano, Dandy, Sparky, Beezer, Topper, Buster, Solo, TV Comic, Eagle, Ranger, TV Tornado, Joe 90, my sister's June and Schoolfriend, Marvel Tales, Detective Comics, World's Finest, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Avengers, Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery at various times, whenever they were given to me or I earned a little extra for doing posters or cartoons. But none of them gave me what my regular two did.

[Adam Eterno]

Mid 70s I spent the majority of my pocket money on comics as it was my main hobby but I didn't get any bought by parents so it equated to 3 or 4 a week I think. I bought lots of back issues at local Jumble Sales as well which were sometimes amazing bargains. I remember getting a long run of early MWoM comics for less than a penny each which used up all of my pocket money but were a brilliant bargain. The only negative was that my Gran made me share them with my younger cousin!

[Lew Stringer]

I was allowed two titles a week during the 1960s, but by regularly swapping comics I managed to read dozens more!

I can't remember how many comics I was allowed to have a week when I was a little kid but it may have been half a dozen. However I'd often stop one and have another that interested me more for a while, (e.g.: in 1966 I stopped having TV21 to have Smash! instead). That way I ended up trying pretty much every comic throughout the sixties and seventies.

I know I had Dandy and Beano every week from 1964 to about 1975 (but stopped Dandy for a year in 1968 to have others). Had every issue of Fantastic and Terrific because my aunt bought me those every Saturday. Had most issues of Smash and Pow, had Wham from late 1965 until sometime in 1967.

Plus from 1967 I started having the ocassional American comic too, (mainly Marvel) and also back issues I'd swap at the local market.

Over the years I've managed to get complete runs of all the 'Power Comics' except for Wham! I still have about 30 or 40 missing of those.

[philcom55]

Like Lew I switched my two regular comics quite a lot over the years. After starting with TV Comic I moved on to Boys' World, Wham!, TV21, Eagle, Smash! Pow!, Fantastic Terrific, Champion, Lion and Valiant at various times over the next decade, while spending most of my pocket money on American comics.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

for me it was:


read all my older cousins' comics 'til I was 7/ then start getting my 'own' Sparky for the next 6 years, and much switching around of all the funny comics--getting most of the early copies of all the IPC funnies----- til I was 14.

[was unable to hang onto a single original comic from first time around on account of having four younger siblings who would have ruined them, also my ma chucked the lot into the coal-fire]

Stop buying comics aged 15, took up music, booze and' birds' and film history.

Started getting 2000 AD in 1980 for the next 6 years.

Got back into comics [studying old ones from my time really ] after getting a computer in 2007.


Found this site, which helps loads!

Found my 'Holy Grail' of comics [Sparky 1969-70] on e-bay on my very first day online.

Today, seeking out 1950s-early 70s UK comics especially---keep an eye on new developments in comics, nonetheless.

[SID]

As a kid in the 60s/70s, I don't remember having a set limit on what comics I could have regularly. Unfortunately, I missed the Power Comics as I only discovered comics in 1969 and was fiercely loyal to The Dandy and The Beano. It was only 1974/1975 that I started looking at other comics (Donald and Mickey, Goofy and also Pluto, TVComic, Cracker, etc...). Way after the Power Comics had gone.

[Lew Stringer]

The thing about the Odhams comics is that although Wham! was never the "Super-Beano" that Leo Baxendale intended it to be, it, and its sister papers, had a distinct identity to their rivals anyway. Plus Ken Reid at the top of his game.

It's a shame that IPC quashed the positive aspects when the Fleetway staff had control of the line. Leo returned to do his own thing, better than ever on strips like Swots and Blots and Clever Dick, and Ken did his World Wide Weirdies etc, but imagine how great it could have been if that anarchic attitude of Wham, Smash, and Pow could have been retained throughout IPC's new line of comics.

The Odhams comics may not have been around for long, but most of them had a longer run than some IPC comics that came later.

[alanultron5]

Thanks for such great input everyone! I could only afford `Pow` `Terrific`and `Fantastic` late 67 and when Fantastic swallowed Terrific, I was able to get Smash! Really sad when Fantastic bit the dust! I followed Smash even after its changeover in March 69!

Harking back to Fantastic; by its closing weeks Aug to Oct 68, It was reprinting the rather more complex material that Marvel had progressed to in the late 60s! All in less than a year due to it being a weekly publication unlike the Monthly US mags!

Hence- the strips changed rapidly for UK fans! The X-Men against `Factor Three` Dr Strange in the very convoluted Uma/Zom/Living Tribulal/Mordo/Nebulos saga! Thor meeting `Ego` and the `High Evolutionary` Avengers fighting Ixar etc! My theory is this was leaving fans behind a little, due to the swiftness of the change from the simpler storylines in a quarter of the time that US fans had to adapt.

[alanultron5]

Just to add- similar to Lew; I thought "Moon Madness" and "Legend Testers" were as good as it gets for UK adventure strips. I quite liked "Two Faces of Janus" as well! I just adored the fun strip "Dare-A-Day Davy" where Ken Reid really shone! Ken also transformed "The Nervs" strip, really making it a comedy delight!

I recall that Fantastic ran `Missing Link/Johnny Future` up to the merger with Terrific. I think terrific ran the `Don Starr` strip.