SMASH (comics)

The Golden Age heroes were published in various Nedor Comics 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 Earth-1/Earth-2 relationship.

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-Batman 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 landings 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, 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.

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 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, 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. But 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, 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. 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 for help, and is bonded to the god Thoth 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.