Fantastic (comics)

"Fantastic" was a weekly British comic published by Odhams Press under the Power Comics imprint. It first appeared on 18 February 1967, and with its 52nd issue on 10 February 1968 it merged with its sister title "Terrific". The 89th and final issue of "Fantastic" appeared on 7 September 1968, after which it was merged into "Smash!".

"Fantastic" was different from the earlier Power Comics such as "Smash!" and "Pow!", which were essentially traditional "Beano"-style British comic papers supplemented by a small amount of material reprinted from Marvel Comics. In contrast, "Fantastic" (and later "Terrific" as well) were more American in appearance, resembling the black-and-white comic anthologies of the time such as "Creepy" and "Eerie". However, they were aimed at a younger audience than such magazines (although an older audience than the "Beano"-style British fare).

The contents of "Fantastic" were also predominantly American, starting in the first issue with reprints of "The Mighty Thor" and the "X-Men", as well as Iron Man stories from "Tales of Suspense". The only original content featured a British superhero called Johnny Future, who started out as a prehistoric "missing link" before evolving (literally) into a superman of the future.

This line-up continued until issue 51, after which "Fantastic" was merged with "Terrific". The "Thor" and "X-Men" features continued to the end of the comic's run, but Iron Man and Johnny Future were replaced by reprints of "The Avengers" and "Doctor Strange", both continuing from "Terrific".

A distinctive feature of "Fantastic" 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 by a young Barry Windsor-Smith.

The Launch of "Fantastic"

Following the successes of Wham! (1964) and Smash! (1966) Odhams were keen to expand their line of weekly "Power Comics" in 1967. In January they launched Pow! with 'Spider-Man' as the lead strip, and a month later saw the arrival of a comic that was almost entirely Marvel reprint: "Fantastic".

"Fantastic" No.1, which launched on Saturday February 11th 1967, had a different format to its three predecessors. Slightly smaller in size and on better paper, it featured a whopping 40 pages and a higher cover price (9d, compared to Smash's 7d for 28 pages). This made it three times more expensive than the 3d cover price of Thomson's perennial Beano and Dandy. Could it sustain a profit in the increasingly-crowded market of sixties comics? Sadly not for long; but it did gain a faithful following and served as a good introduction to Marvel's characters.

External links

* [http://bp3.blogger.com/_448y6kVhntg/Rc9Kk14r9fI/AAAAAAAAAi8/GySjnYBVEUQ/s1600-h/fantastic1.jpg"Fantastic" #1 cover art]
* [http://bp3.blogger.com/_448y6kVhntg/Rc9Hd14r9ZI/AAAAAAAAAhw/-hKnTqbrqTw/s1600-h/ironman_comparison.jpg"Fantastic" #19 cover art]
* [http://bp0.blogger.com/_448y6kVhntg/Rc9HeF4r9cI/AAAAAAAAAiI/mRQwMlL9Z50/s1600-h/alf.jpg"Fantastic" editorial page]
* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/j/jonfutur.htm A page about Johnny Future]