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Odhams Press
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'''Odhams Press''' were a publishing company, originally of newspapers, later also of books, magazines and comics, founded in 1890. It entered the comics market in 1936 with ''[[Mickey Mouse Weekly]]'', a full-colour photogravure comic which included adventure as well as humour strips and lasted until 1957. Aside from ''[[Modern Wonder]]'' in 1939, Odhams didn't expand its comics publishing until 1959, when it acquired [[Hulton Press]], publisher of ''[[Eagle]]'', ''[[Girl]]'', ''[[Swift]]'' and ''[[Robin]]'' as well as a number of magazines and newspapers. For a time it was known as '''Longacre Press'''. In 1961 it merged with [[Fleetway Publications]], and in 1963 Fleetway merged with a number of other publishers to form [[IPC]], but Odhams remained a distinct sub-company until 1968. ''Swift'' merged into ''Eagle'' in 1961. ''[[Boys' World]]'' was launched in 1963 and merged into ''Eagle'' in 1964, the same year ''Girl'' was merged into IPC's ''[[Princess]]''. In 1964 Odhams tempted [[Leo Baxendale]] and [[Ken Reid]] from [[DC Thomson]] with the creation of a new weekly, ''[[Wham!]]''. It's initial success led to the launch of ''[[Smash!]]'', a sister comic in a similar format. In 1966 Odhams acquired the rights to reprint material from Marvel and DC in the USA, starting with ''The Incredible Hulk'' in ''Smash!''. Early in 1967, three new titles, ''[[Pow!]]'', ''[[Fantastic]]'' and ''[[Terrific]]'', which were grouped together with ''Wham!'' and ''Smash!'' under the banner of [[Power Comics]], all of which now included reprinted American material. However, sales declined. In January 1968 ''Wham!'' was merged into ''Pow!'', and three weeks later ''Terrific'' merged into ''Fantastic''. In September ''Pow!'' was merged into ''Smash!'', and in November ''Fantastic'' followed suit, leaving ''Smash!'' as the last of the line. In 1969 Odhams was absorbed fully into IPC, ''Eagle'' was merged into ''[[Lion]]'', ''Robin'' was merged into ''[[Playhour]]'', the Power Comics label was dropped, and ''Smash!'' was revamped. In 1971 ''Smash!'' was merged into ''[[Valiant]]''. ==Titles== *[[:Category:Odhams Press titles|Odhams Press titles]] ==References== *[http://www.dandare.info/history/fleet_index.htm Complete AP/Fleetway Comic Index] [[Category:Publishers]] [[Category:Odhams Press|*]]
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