Wham!

Wham! was a weekly British comics magazine 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! Created by veteran cartoonist Leo Baxendale, Wham! was structured like a typical British comic in the mould of The Beano, but it was distinguished by "a racy and anarchic new breed" of humour that inspired later British strips. The initial success of Wham! prompted the creation of sister titles Smash! and Pow! with similar intent; these, in turn, led to the formation of Odhams' Power Comics line, featuring reprints of American Marvel Comics superhero stories. Wham! included short instalments of The Fantastic Four. Overview Odhams' line of "juveniles" (i.e., comics) were managed by Alf Wallace, who had been brought over from Fleetway Publications (formerly Amalgamated Press), both parts of the same Mirror Group. Odhams competed for readers with DC Thomson, publisher of such popular titles as The Beano, The Dandy, and Commando. Wallace had been successful at Fleetway with his line of War Picture Library comics, but had been unable to reverse the declining popularity of Odhams' other comics titles, including Eagle, Swift, and Boys' World. Odhams had acquired Eagle and Swift from Hulton Press in 1960, and by early 1964, Eagle was the only one left, having absorbed Swift and Boy's World. In 1964, Wallace recruited humour cartoonist Leo Baxendale, who had worked for DC Thomson for many years, to create a new, energetic comics weekly. Although Baxendale was paid £8,000 in his first year at Odhams (adjusted for inflation, £140,000 in 2021 terms), he soon realized that there was little other security or money to pay contributors like John M. Burns, Gordon Hogg, Brian Lewis, and Dave Jenner (as Fleetway fought with Odhams for more resources from the parent Mirror Group).