The Society of Modern American Science Heroes, or SMASH, is a team of

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es whose adventures are published by

America's Best Comics America's Best Comics (ABC) is a comic book publishing brand. It was set up by Alan Moore in 1999 as an imprint of WildStorm, an idea proposed to Moore by WildStorm founder Jim Lee when it was still under Image Comics. History ''America's Best ...

and take place on the parallel world of

Terra Obscura ''Terra Obscura'' is a 2003 comic book miniseries spin-off from Alan Moore's ''Tom Strong'' series. The stories are written by Peter Hogan, and drawn by Yanick Paquette and Karl Story with additional flashback sequences drawn by Eric Theriault. ...

History

SMASH first appeared in ''

Tom Strong ''Tom Strong'' is a comic book created by writer Alan Moore and artist Chris Sprouse, initially published bi-monthly by America's Best Comics, an imprint of DC Comics' Wildstorm division. Tom Strong, the title character, is a "science hero", wi ...

'' #11 (January 2001). In 1968, Tom discovers an alternate version of his Earth located on the far side of the galaxy, which he dubs "Terra Obscura". Terra Obscura has the same cities as Earth, but different names for them. Most notably, the big East Coast city is New Lancaster. It also shares a similar history as Earth. On his visit to Terra Obscura, Tom meets his counterpart Tom "Doc" Strange, and the team of science-heroes known as the ''Society of Major American Science Heroes'' (SMASH). All the members of SMASH are based on characters previously published by

Nedor Comics Standard Comics was a comic book imprint (trade name), imprint of United States, American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a Thrilling Publications, variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and pape ...

in the 1940s. With the original publisher's collapse,

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

s on the characters were not renewed upon 28 years of creation and so lapsed into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. One of the Nedor's many titles was ''America's Best Comics'', and when the coincidence of this was pointed out to Alan Moore, he decided to incorporate these characters into his ''Tom Strong'' series. For their 2000 debut, Moore created a

backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of p ...

for them, covering the time periods during which they were not actually being published. The history of the characters (both from Nedor and ABC) follow the conventions established by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

and

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

: the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...

Silver Age of Comic Books The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an int ...

, and

Modern Age of Comic Books The Modern Age of Comic Books is a period in the history of American superhero American comic book, comic books which began in 1985 and continues through the present day. During approximately the first 15 years of this period, many comic book cha ...

Golden Age (Nedor Comics era)

The Golden Age heroes were published in various

titles, including ''America's Best Comics'', the inspiration for reviving the characters. In the updated chronology, Tom Strong reveals that the Golden Age adventures of the Terra Obscura characters are portrayed in comic books on his world, in an echo of the old

DC Multiverse In DC Comics, the Multiverse is a "cosmic construct" composed of the many fictional universes the stories of DC take place in. The worlds in this multiverse share a space and fate in common, and its structure has changed several times in the h ...

Earth-1/Earth-2 relationship.

Silver Age (Moore's Backstory)

In reality, the Nedor characters were not in print during the Silver Age, but flashback sequences in ''Terra Obscura'' reference the era. This includes sequences establishing Tom Strange and the Black Terror as the parallel of the

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' World's Finest'' team. This is the time period when Tom Strong made his first journey to Terra Obscura. After Tom returned to his own solar system, Terra Obscura came under attack when the

moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United St ...

s of 1969 awakened a deadly alien. The lunar invader's power was so great that several members of SMASH were killed (the first time Terra Obscura science-heroes had ever died in battle): The

Black Terror The Black Terror is a fictional comic book superhero who originally appeared in ''Exciting Comics'' #9, published by Nedor Comics in January 1941. The character was popular, and on the strength of the Black Terror's sales, Nedor made ''Exciting Co ...

, Tom Strange's side-kick Mike Ellis and The Ghost. The rest of SMASH were encased in stasis fields orbiting the moon. Tom Strange was able to escape and ran through space for 30 years in order to reach his recent acquaintance and get help.

Modern Age (''Terra Obscura'')

The "Modern Age" stories begin when the two Toms return and free the remaining members of SMASH. After they had been freed, the remaining members of SMASH pooled their efforts for a final attack on the lunar alien, which had been building a giant construct in the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

over the previous 30 years. Meanwhile, Tim Roland, the Black Terror's side-kick, initialized a system which Benton had been working on prior to his death: "Terror 2000", a computer generated version of Benton, able to combat crime using his complete integration into the world's computer networks. Also making a return from the grave was the Ghost. Using his supreme yogic powers he was able to stay in a state of limbo, between this world and the next, and appears when he can as "The Green Ghost". Together they fought and defeated the alien menace, which had been trying to turn the entire planet into a spaceship, with Terror 2000 delivering the final blow. But this final fight was not without its losses; Bruce Carter, the

Fighting Yank The Fighting Yank is the name of several superheroes, first appearing in ''Startling Comics'' #10 (Sept 1941). Fall 1941 was a boom period for patriotic superheroes as the country prepared to enter World War II; during this period, comic book p ...

, was killed in the melee. With the alien menace destroyed, the members of SMASH find it difficult adjusting to life in the 21st century, and decide to disband. Three years later, a new menace arises that draws the former teammates together. A mysterious "technology plague" sweeps through the nation, rendering technology useless and threatens to return Terra Incognita to the Stone Age. The source is traced to the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

, where former SMASH member Mystico is using his mystical powers to fight the megalomaniacal Terror 2003, the computer intelligence based on the mind of the dead Black Terror. Mystico's plague also nullifies the science-based powers of the superheroes; only the Liberator and the Scarab, with their magic-based powers, are unaffected. Mystico is at first able to overpower the Liberator and Tom Strange, and reveals that he is possessed by the spirit of the Egyptian god

Set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

. Meanwhile, Fighting Yank II (who has regained her mystical powers) and Ms. Masque are able to find the source of Mystico's powers and de-activate it. The Scarab asks the goddess

Maat Maat or Maʽat ( Egyptian: mꜣꜥt /ˈmuʀʕat/, Coptic: ⲙⲉⲓ) refers to the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Ma'at was also the goddess who personified these concepts, and regul ...

for help, and is bonded to the god

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a ...

in order to act as a guardian over Mystico/Set. The Grand Canyon is given over to Mystico/Set as the domain of "New Egypt", while the Terror 2003 program is confined to Invertica City. Tom Strange convinces his friends to join him in reforming SMASH. Several years later, SMASH is faced with a new challenge when former SMASH member Captain Future returns. His ship, the ''Thunderbolt'', had been thrown through time after a battle with Dr. X in 1959, and is now causing the timelines to overlap. The Terror 2003, now upgraded to the Terror 2004, tries to use these timeslips as a way of taking over Terra Incognita. In the end, a time-traveling Black Terror from the past arrives and destroys the Terror 2004.

Publishing history

After the Nedor Comics characters appeared in ''Tom Strong'', Moore and Peter Hogan co-plotted a spin-off series that Hogan penned himself. As of 2007 two 6-issue series entitled ''Terra Obscura'' have been published by ABC, with a third possibly in the works. They take place five years after the end of ''Tom Strong'' #12. Collections: * ''Tom Strong (Book Two)'' (): Contains ''Tom Strong'' issues #11 and 12, introducing SMASH. * ''Terra Obscura'' v1 (): Collection of issues #1-6. Takes place five years after end of ''Tom Strong'' #12. Battle with Mystico and Terror 2003, reformation of SMASH. * ''Terra Obscura'' v2 (): Collection of issues #7-12. Return of Captain Future. Special issues: * ''ABC A-Z: Terra Obscura and Splash Brannigan'' (published in January 2006): Background on SMASH and the superheroes of Terra Obscura.

External links