Smash! (comics) strips alongside British humour and adventure strips. Thereafter, it featured only British strips. During 1967 and 1968 "Smash!" was part of Odhams' Power Comics line, absorbing its sister titles "Pow!" on 14th September 1968 (issue 137), and "Fantastic" on 2nd November 1968 (issue 144). As "Pow!" and "Fantastic" had themselves already merged with "Wham!" and "Terrific" respectively, "Smash!" became the last survivor of the "Power Comics" lineup. As with all the "Power Comics", "Smash!" included black-and-white reprints of superhero strips originally published in America by Marvel Comics and DC Comics. The last of these, the "Fantastic Four", ended with issue
Superhero comics World War II and the end of the Great Depression. In comics format, superpowered and costumed heroes like Popeye and The Phantom had appeared in newspaper comic strips for several years prior to Superman. The masked detective The Clock first appeared in the comic book Funny Pages #6 (Nov. 1936). In the Great Depression and World War II era the first Superhero Comics appeared, the most popular being Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and Captain America. After World War II superhero comic books gradually declined in popularity, their sales hindered in part by the publication of "Seduction of the