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30-595: The first Black Condor, Richard Grey Jr., was created by Quality Comics writer Will Eisner and artist Lou Fine . He first appeared in Crack Comics #1 (May 1940), and continued through issue #31 (Oct 1943). He also appeared in Uncle Sam Quarterly #2 (Dec 1941). He moved to the DC universe when DC Comics bought the rights to Quality Comics characters. The first Black Condor was a World War II era super hero along with

60-538: A brief time). Eventually, he went to Opal City , where he felt very much at home. In his solo adventures, Kendall sought out Hawkman in hopes of gaining insight into the role of a superhero. He helps in his battle against Karen Ramis, the Post- Zero Hour Lion-Mane . In Infinite Crisis #1, Kendall, as part of the Freedom Fighters, was killed by a powerful beam fired by Sinestro in an ambush by

90-530: A foray into other genres such as war , humor , romance and horror , the company ceased operations with comics cover-dated December 1956. Many of Quality's character and title trademarks were sold to National Comics Publications (now DC Comics ), which chose to keep only four series running: Blackhawk , G.I. Combat , Heart Throbs (each for another 100 or more issues), and Robin Hood Tales (for 8 issues). There has been much confusion over whether

120-649: A golem, and killer robots known as the Spinning Deaths". In the DC Universe, his power was retconned to being caused by exposure to a radioactive meteor (a story which was slightly touched upon in his Quality origin). Here he met Uncle Sam and joined his group, the Freedom Fighters, and later the All-Star Squadron . He was among a group of Golden and Silver Age heroes who helped the JLA repel an Appellaxian invasion in

150-585: A large volume of evidence to the contrary. In 1939, Arnold and the owners of the Register & Tribune Syndicate's parent company, brothers John Cowles, Sr. and Gardner Cowles, Jr. , bought out the McNaught and Markey interests. Arnold became 50% owner of the newly formed Comic Magazines, Inc., the corporate entity that would publish the Quality Comics line. That year Quality released Smash Comics #1 (Aug. 1939),

180-502: A logo that included the word " Quality ". Notable creators associated with the company included Jack Cole , Reed Crandall , Will Eisner , Lou Fine , Gill Fox , Paul Gustavson , Bob Powell , and Wally Wood . Quality Comics was founded by Everett M. "Busy" Arnold , a printer who saw the rapidly rising popularity of the comic book medium in the late 1930s. Deducing that Depression-era audiences wanted established quality and familiar comic strips for their hard-earned dimes, in 1937

210-572: A man who could fly. After numerous attempts, Kendall was the only success. Kendall eventually rebelled and escaped from his grandfather, who made frequent attempts to recapture the youth in order to study and reproduce his abilities. A mysterious telekinetic who kept to himself, Ryan Kendall was adamant when he first appeared as the Black Condor that he was not a superhero. However, time proved him wrong, and he fought alongside other superheroes, notably Primal Force and Justice League International (for

240-491: A protector of the universe, he joins forces with the Freedom Fighters. A Golden Age superhero who possessed the power of flight, the Black Condor was created by writer Will Eisner under the pseudonym Kenneth Lewis, and artist Lou Fine in Crack Comics #1 ( cover-dated May 1940). Initially alternating with the Clock as the cover-featured character, he became the solo cover feature from issues #20-26 (Jan.-Nov. 1942). Fine drew

270-477: A small number of original features. The original material came from various sources, including the company's in-house staff and/or freelancers (from the first issue) and the Eisner & Iger shop (from issue #3). A frequent point of confusion is whether and how comic packaging shop Harry "A" Chesler was involved with the company's early days. Several sources list Chesler as the publisher of Feature Funnies , but

300-669: Is a comic book series published by DC Comics from October 1994 to December 1995 and ran for 15 issues. The series starred the Leymen , a magic-themed superhero team in the DC Universe . The series premiered with Primal Force #0 (October 1994; the "zero" issue number is a result of the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! crossover event during which the series debuted) and ended with issue #14 (December 1995). This DC Comics –related article

330-565: Is revealed to be entombed in the Valhalla Cemetery. Batman later revived him with a Black Lantern Ring. Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #3 introduced a third Black Condor named John Trujillo whose home turf is the Arizona desert. John was given the hereditary powers of the Black Condor by Tocotl , a Mayan Spider Goddess. Trujillo sees himself as a protector of the universe. He first appears when he single-handedly rescues Uncle Sam and

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360-710: The DC Multiverse : Earth-Quality and Earth-X . While Earth-Quality followed much the same history as the main Earths, Earth-X was radically different from most Earths, in that World War II continued there until 1973, enabling the Freedom Fighters to continue their fight against the Nazis. Crisis on Infinite Earths #11 established a new "Post-Crisis" continuity in which the Quality and other DC characters have instead always lived on

390-597: The JLA: Year One miniseries by Mark Waid . He appeared more recently as an ethereal " spirit guide " in the pages of Ryan Kendall's Black Condor series. The second Black Condor, Ryan Kendall , derived his powers of flight, telekinesis, and healing from the genetic experiments of his grandfather, Creighton. A member of an organization called the Society of the Golden Wing, Creighton and his allies had been attempting to create

420-589: The Secret Society of Super Villains . In Nightwing #140, a mystery villain, Creighton Kendall, who gave him his powers, resurfaces in an attempt to resurrect his evil Golden Wing Society, an organization that would dispense "justice" from the skies. In the Blackest Night crossover event, Ryan was reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps . In the pages of Dark Nights: Death Metal , Ryan

450-528: The Condor in flight, his lithe figure soaring across backgrounds seen from dizzying perspectives with a grace Joe Shuster 's barrel-chested Superman could not hope to match, made the series irresistible". According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes , "Black Condor fights femmes fatale, the Eagle Battalion, Yellow Perils , Kite-Men (Japanese agents on flying kites), a Chinese mad scientist,

480-577: The Quality Romance Group, owned by Everett M. and Claire C. Arnold, with an office at 347 Madison Avenue, in New York City, published two titles as Arnold Publications, Inc., two titles as Comic Favorites, Inc., and 14 titles as Comic Magazines, Inc. By the mid-1950s, with television and paperback books drawing readers away from comic books in general and superheroes in particular, interest in Quality's characters had declined considerably. After

510-435: The company's first comic book with exclusively new material. Initially buying features from Eisner & Iger , a prominent "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium, Quality introduced such superheroes as Plastic Man and Kid Eternity , and non-superhero characters including the aviator hero Blackhawk . Quality also published comic-book reprints of Will Eisner 's " The Spirit ",

540-480: The decades, DC revived other Quality characters. Plastic Man has starred in several short-lived series starting in 1966, as well as a Saturday morning cartoon from 1979–1981. The character went on to become a member of the Justice League in the 1990s. According to DC canon, the Quality characters, before the 1985-1986 DC revamping event called Crisis on Infinite Earths , existed on two separate realities in

570-599: The enterprising Arnold formed the suitably titled Comic Favorites, Inc. (in collaboration with three newspaper syndicates : the McNaught Syndicate , the Frank J. Markey Syndicate , and Iowa's Register and Tribune Syndicate ). Comic Favorites, Inc.'s first publication was Feature Funnies , which began primarily with color reprints of hit strips from all three co-owning syndicates (including Joe Palooka , Mickey Finn , and Dixie Dugan [all three from McNaught]) alongside

600-556: The feral child, and taught him to speak English. Richard tracked down and killed the Mongolian bandits who had killed his parents and then departed for the United States where he uncovered a plot to kill United States Senator Thomas Wright. He was too late to save Wright from assassination, and so began to use his identity. He adopted the guise of Black Condor to fight crooked politicians, rum-running bootleggers, and racketeers. The strip

630-545: The first 24 stories, and his feature continued to run through issue #31. As an infant traveling with his parents on an archaeological expedition thorough Outer Mongolia, Richard Grey Jr. survived after his family was killed by the bandit Gali Kan and his men. Rescued by a condor who raised him as her own, he learned to fly, as the origin story stated, by "studying the movement of wings, the body motions, air currents, balance and levitation" of his avian siblings. A mountain hermit , Father Pierre, eventually discovered and civilized

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660-491: The only primary source to mention Chesler is an interview with Arnold in which he describes purchasing content from the shop for Military Comics and Police Comics , neither of which began until 1941. An interview with Will Eisner quoted in The Quality Companion indicates that Arnold was not always an owner of Comic Favorites, Inc., but the authors of that reference were unable to find any corroborating evidence amidst

690-573: The original Quality Comics and/or the characters they published are in public domain . The original copyrights for Quality's publications have never been renewed by either Arnold or DC (as no such renewal is on file with the Library of Congress ), leaving those original stories in the public domain. The trademarks to the characters, and to the titles of the various comic book series, however, were sold to DC in late 1956, which has periodically published stories with them in order to keep their claims alive. Over

720-476: The other Freedom Fighters, who had been defeated by agents of S.H.A.D.E. Trujillo is very serious and seems somewhat uncomfortable interacting with other people. In issue #6, he rebuffs romantic overtures by the Phantom Lady, correctly (as she realizes later) assuming she does not really mean it. The full extent of the third Black Condor's powers remains unrevealed. He can fly at extremely high speeds, control

750-554: The rest of the Freedom Fighters. The second Black Condor, Ryan Kendall, gained the power of flight due to genetic manipulation and initially did not believe he was a superhero. He would later join the Freedom Fighters, but was killed at the beginning of the Infinite Crisis storyline. The third Black Condor, John Trujillo, is of Mayan descent and was given his powers by the Mayan Spider Goddess Tocotl. Seeing himself as

780-830: The seven-page lead feature in a weekly 16-page, tabloid -sized, newsprint comic book, known colloquially as "The Spirit Section", distributed through Sunday newspapers . The name Quality Comics debuted on the cover of Crack Comics #5 (Sept. 1940; see at right). "Seemingly never an official publishing title," the Connecticut Historical Society noted, "the Quality Comics Group is a trademarked name (presumably taking its name from Stamford's nickname of 'the Quality City') encompassing Comic Favorites Inc., E.M. Arnold Publications, Smash Comics, and any other imprints owned by Arnold". A 1954 federal document noted that

810-685: The single, unified DC Earth. New, successor versions of the characters Black Condor and The Ray were introduced in 1992. Both were recruited into the Justice League. The new Ray had his own 1994–1996 series and occasionally appears as a reserve Justice League member. Yet another version of the Ray was introduced in 2011. Some Quality Comics titles, including Blackhawk and Plastic Man , have been reprinted by DC, while lesser-known ones have been reprinted by AC Comics . Quality published comics from 1939 to 1956. Primal Force Primal Force

840-520: The wind, and may possess moderate superhuman strength and speed. The Richard Grey Jr. incarnation of the Black Condor appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Cry Freedom Fighters!", voiced by Jason C. Miller . This version is a member of the Freedom Fighters . Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and

870-515: Was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books . Notable, long-running titles published by Quality include Blackhawk , Feature Comics , G.I. Combat , Heart Throbs , Military Comics / Modern Comics , Plastic Man , Police Comics , Smash Comics , and The Spirit . While most of their titles were published by a company named Comic Magazines , from 1940 onwards all publications bore

900-405: Was popular, and became Crack Comics' featured story starting in issue #3. In American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944 , Kurt Mitchell writes: "The Asian backdrop was deemphasized by the end of the year in favor of urban settings or ornately rendered lost cities, bandits and jewel thieves giving ground to mad scientists, living statues, and sentient weapons of mass destruction. Scene after scene of

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