Quality Comics was an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call 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 chara ...

. Notable, long-running titles published by Quality include '' Blackhawk'', '' Feature Comics'', '' G.I. Combat'', '' Heart Throbs'', ''

Military Comics ''Military Comics'', later ''Modern Comics'', was a comic book anthology title published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books from 1941 until 1950. The first issue of ''Military Comics'' is notable for featuring the debut of Bla ...

''/'' 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 a logo that included the word "Quality". Notable creators associated with the company included Jack Cole,

Reed Crandall Reed Leonard Crandall (February 22, 1917 – September 13, 1982) Reed Crandall
at ...

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series ''The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was not ...

, Lou Fine, Gill Fox, Paul Gustavson, Bob Powell, and

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

History

Quality Comics was founded by Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, a printer who saw the rapidly rising popularity of the comic book

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation * Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium ...

in the late 1930s. Deducing that Depression-era audiences wanted established quality and familiar

comic strips A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...

for their hard-earned dimes, in 1937 the enterprising Arnold, formed the suitably titled Comic Favorites, Inc. (in collaboration with three newspaper syndicates: the

McNaught Syndicate The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the ...

, the Frank J. Markey Syndicate, and Iowa's

Register and Tribune Syndicate The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a syndication service based in Des Moines, Iowa, that operated from 1922 to 1986, when it was acquired by King Features to become the Cowles Syndicate affiliate. At its peak, the Register and Tribune Syndic ...

). 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 ''Joe Palooka'' was an American comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion, created by cartoonist Ham Fisher. The strip debuted on April 19, 1930 and was carried at its peak by 900 newspapers. It was cancelled in 1984. The strip was adapt ...

'', '' Mickey Finn'', and ''

Dixie Dugan ''Dixie Dugan'' is best known as a long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip published from October 21, 1929 to October 8, 1966. The title character was originally modeled after 1920s film actress Louise Brooks and early stories followed Dixi ...

'' ll three from McNaught alongside 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 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 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), 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 Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, news ...

entering the new medium, Quality introduced such superheroes as Plastic Man and Kid Eternity, and non-superhero characters including the

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

hero Blackhawk. Quality also published comic-book reprints of

's " The Spirit", the seven-page lead feature in a weekly 16-page,

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

-sized,

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has a ...

comic book, known colloquially as "The Spirit Section", distributed through Sunday

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

. The name Quality Comics debuted on the cover of ''

Crack Comics ''Crack Comics'' was an anthology comic book series published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It featured such characters as The Clock, Black Condor, Captain Triumph, Alias the Spider, Madame Fatal, Jane Arden, Molly th ...

'' #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 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 Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and paperback books drawing readers away from comic books in general and superheroes in particular, interest in Quality's characters had declined considerably. After a foray into other genres such as war,

humor Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in ...

, romance and horror, the company ceased operations with comics cover-dated December 1956.

Continuation of characters at other publishers

Many of Quality's character and title trademarks were sold to National Comics Publications (now

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 the ...

), 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 the original Quality Comics and/or the characters they published are in

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...

. 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 The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

), 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 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 "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...

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 "Crisis on Infinite Earths" is a 1985 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. The series, written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, was first serialized as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to Mar ...

'', existed on two separate realities in 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

continued there until 1973, enabling the Freedom Fighters to continue their fight against the Nazis. ''

'' #11 established a new "Post-Crisis" continuity in which the Quality and other DC characters have instead always lived on the single, unified DC Earth. New, successor versions of the characters

Black Condor Black Condor is the superhero name used by three different fictional characters in the DC Comics universe. All three incarnations of Black Condor have been members of the Freedom Fighters and each has been featured in Freedom Fighters comic bo ...

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. Some Quality Comics titles, including ''Blackhawk'' and ''Plastic Man'', have been reprinted by DC, while lesser-known ones have been reprinted by

AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.

Characters/features

* #711 * Alias the Spider *Atomictot *

* Blackhawk * Blue Tracer *

Bozo the Iron Man Bozo the Iron Man is a fictional character, first appearing in Quality Comics series, ''Smash Comics'' #1 (Aug. 1939). The character's adventures were written and drawn by Quality Comics editor George Brenner, using the name "Wayne Reid". Publica ...

Captain Triumph Captain Triumph is a superhero from the Golden Age of Comics who first appeared in ''Crack Comics'' #27, published in January 1943 by Quality Comics. He continued to appear until the end of the series with issue #62 (Sept 1949). The character was ...

* The Clock *

Destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

Doll Man Doll Man is a superhero first appearing in American comic books from the Golden Age of Comics, originally published by Quality Comics and currently part of the DC Comics universe of characters. Doll Man was created by cartoonist Will Eisner and ...

Espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tang ...

* Firebrand * Ghost of Flanders * The Human Bomb *

Invisible Hood The Invisible Hood is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics Universe. He was originally owned by Quality Comics, but was later acquired by DC Comics, along with other Quality characters. He first appeared in ''Smash Comics'' #1 (August 1939), ...

Jester A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Jesters were also itinerant performers who entertained common folk at fairs ...

* Kid Eternity *

Lady Luck Lady Luck, a personification of luck, may refer to: Fiction and mythology * Fortuna, in Roman mythology, goddess of fortune * Tyche, in Greek mythology, goddess of fortune * Lady Luck (comics), a character created by Will Eisner Film * '' ...

* Madame Fatal * Magno the Magnetic Man * Manhunter *

Merlin the Magician Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and l ...

Midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours ...

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

* Mouthpiece * Neon the Unknown * Phantom Lady * Plastic Man * Quicksilver (later DC's Max Mercury) *

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between " crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigne ...

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gr ...

* The Red Bee *

Red Torpedo Red Torpedo is the name of two fictional characters, one originally published by Quality Comics and another currently owned by DC Comics. The original is a superhero named Jim Lockhart while the second is an android created by T. O. Morrow. Jim Lock ...

* Spider Widow * the Spirit (1st Quality Comics & comic book appr. '' Police Comics'' #11) * Stormy Foster * Torchy *

Uncle Sam Uncle Sam (which has the same initials as ''United States'') is a common national personification of the federal government of the United States or the country in general. Since the early 19th century, Uncle Sam has been a popular symbol of ...

Wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

* Wonder Boy

List of titles published by Quality Comics

Quality published comics from 1939 to 1956. *''All Humor Comics'' #1–17 (1946–1949) *''The Barker'' #1–15 (1946–1949) *'' Blackhawk'' #9–107 (1944–1956; formerly ''Uncle Sam Quarterly'' #1–8; ''Blackhawk'' #108–273 subsequently published by

, 1957–1983) *''Bride's Romance'' #1–23 (1953–1956) *''Broadway Romances'' #1–5 (1950) *''Buccaneers'' #19–27 (1950–1951; formerly '' Kid Eternity'' #1–18) *''Buster Bear'' #1–10 (1953–1955) *''Campus Loves'' #1–5 (1949–1950) *''Candy'' #1–64 (1947–1956) *''

'' #1–62 (1940–1949; ''Crack Comics shcan#1) *''Crack Western'' #63–84 (1949–1953; formerly ''Crack Comics'' #1–62; ''Jonesy'' #85(1) 2-8) *''Diary Loves'' #2–31 (1949–1953; formerly ''Love Diary'' #1; ''G.I. Sweethearts'' #32-45 Girls in Love #46-57) *''

'' #1–47 (1941–1953) *''Egbert'' #1-20 (1946–1950) *''Exotic Romances'' #22–31 (1955–1956; formerly ''True War Romances #1–21) *''Exploits of Daniel Boone'' #1–6 (1955–1956) *'' Feature Funnies'' #1–20 (1937–1939); '' Feature Comics'' #21-144 (1939–1950) *''Flaming Love'' #1–6 (1949–1950) *''Forbidden Love'' #1–4 (1950) *''Gabby'' #11; issue numbering restarts,Such renumbering occurred when the U.S. Postal Service discovered a new title distributed under old numbering; the publisher was then forced to not only pay the registration fee, but also to list the correct issue number. #2–9 (1953–1954; formerly ''Ken Shannon'' #1-10) *'' G.I. Combat'' #1–43 (1952–1956; #44-288 subsequently published by

, 1957–1987) *''G.I. Sweethearts'' #32–45 (1953–1955; formerly ''Diary Loves'' #2–31; #46 onward ''Girls in Love'' #46-57) *''Girls in Love'' #46–57 (1955–1956; formerly ''G.I. Sweethearts'' #32–45) *'' Heart Throbs'' #1–46 (1949; #47–146 subsequently published by

, 1957–1972; retitled ''Love Stories'', #147–152, 1972–1973) *''Hickory'' #1-6 (1949–1950) *''Hit Comics'' #1–65 (1940–1950) *''Hollywood Diary'' #1–5 (1949–1950) *''Hollywood Secrets'' #1–6 (1949–1950) *''Intrigue'' #1 (1955) *''Jonesy'' #85; issue numbering restarts, 2–8 (1953–1954; formerly ''Crack Western'' #1–84) *''Ken Shannon'' #1–10 (1951–1953; ''Gabby'' #11 onward) *'' Kid Eternity'' #1–18 (1946–1949; ''Buccaneers'' #19 onward) *''

'' #86–90 (1949–1950; formerly ''Smash Comics'' #1–85) *''Love Confessions'' #1–54 (1949–1956) *''Love Diary'' #1 (1949; ''Diary Loves'' #2 onward) *''Love Letters'' #1–51 (1949–1956) *''Love Scandals'' #1–5 (1950) *''Love Secrets'' #32–56 (1953–1956) *'' Marmaduke Mouse'' #1–65 (1946–1956) *''Military Comics'' #1–43 (1941–1945; ''Modern Comics'' #44 onward) *''Modern Comics'' #44–102 (1945–1950; previously ''Military Comics'' #1–43) *'' National Comics'' #1–75 (1940–1949) *'' Plastic Man'' #1–64 (1943–1956) *'' Police Comics'' #1–127 (1941–1953) *''Range Romances'' #1–5 (1949–1950) *'' Robin Hood Tales'' #1–6 (1956; #7–14 subsequently published by

, 1957–1958) *''Secret Loves'' #1–6 (1949–1950) *'' Smash Comics'' #1–85 (1939–1949; ''Lady Luck'' #86 onward) *'' The Spirit'' #1–22 (1944–1950) *''T-Man'' #1–38 (1951–1956) *'' Torchy'' 1–6 (1949–1950) *''True War Romances'' #1–21 (1952–1955; ''Exotic Romances'' #22 onward) *'' Uncle Sam Quarterly'' #1–8 (1941–1943; ''Blackhawk'' #9 onward) *''Untamed Love'' #1–5 (1950) *''Web of Evil'' #1–21 (1952–1954) *''Wedding Bells'' #1–19 (1954–1956) *''Yanks in Battle'' #1–4 (1956)

References

* *

External links

*Archive o
"Quality Comic Group: A Brief History"
at the Connecticut Historical Society

{{Authority control DC Comics imprints Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Comic book publishing companies of the United States 1937 establishments in New York City Publishing companies established in 1937 Quality Comics Companies based in New York City

History

Continuation of characters at other publishers

Characters/features

List of titles published by Quality Comics

See also

References

References

External links