Quality Comics was an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

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. 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 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 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 (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...

History

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

medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

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

comic strips A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

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

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French word ''syndic ...

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

Register and Tribune Syndicate The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a Print syndication, 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 a ...

). 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'' is 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'' 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 freelancers (from the first issue) and the

Eisner & Iger Eisner & Iger was a comic book packager that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s, a period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by Will Eisner and Jerry Ige ...

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 did not always own 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

, a prominent "packager" that produced comics on demand for

publishers Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

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

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

newspapers A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

. 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 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 (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of 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 War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

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 i ...

, 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 National Comics Publications (NCP; later known as National Periodical Publications Inc. or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company. It was the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics. History The corporation was origin ...

(now

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

), 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 their characters are in

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

. The original copyrights for Quality's publications were never renewed, leaving them in the public domain. The trademarks to the characters were sold to DC, which has periodically published stories with them to renew copyright. 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 and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre was a ...

from 1979–1981. The character went on to become a member of the

Justice League The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). Writer Gardner Fox conceived the ...

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 to 1986 American comic book fictional crossover, crossover series published by DC Comics. Written by Marv Wolfman and penciller, pencilled by George Pérez, it was first released as a 12-issue limited ser ...

'', existed on two separate realities in the

DC Multiverse In most of the DC Comics media, the Multiverse is a "cosmic construct" that is composed of the many fictional universes the stories of DC media take place in. The worlds within the multiverse share a space and fate in common, and its structure h ...

: 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

continued there until 1973, enabling the Freedom Fighters to continue their fight against the Nazis. Following the Crisis, the Quality characters are transported to the main universe. 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 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 Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym, a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose ** Pen name, a pseudonym adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name ** Stage ...

*Atomictot * Black Condor * 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 * The Clock *Destiny * Doll Man *Espionage * Firebrand *Ghost of Flanders * Human Bomb * Invisible Hood *

Jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

* Kid Eternity * Lady Luck * Madam Fatal * Magno the Magnetic Man * Manhunter * Merlin the Magician *

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 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

* Mouthpiece * Neon the Unknown *

Phantom Lady Phantom Lady is a fictional superheroine appearing in media published by Quality Comics and DC Comics. She was created by the Eisner & Iger studio, one of the first to produce comics on demand for publishers. The character's early adventures we ...

* Plastic Man * Quicksilver (later DC's Max Mercury) *Raven * Ray * Red Bee * Red Torpedo *

Spider Widow Spider Widow is a fictional superhero character that was published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books. The character was created by writer and artist Frank Borth, and debuted in '' Feature Comics'' #57, which bore a cover dat ...

* Spirit *Stormy Foster * Torchy *

Uncle Sam Uncle Sam (with the same initials as ''United States'') is a common national personification of the United States, depicting the federal government of the United States, federal government or the country as a whole. Since the early 19th centu ...

Wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

Wonder Boy The series, also known as the series, is a franchise of video games published by Sega and developed by Westone Bit Entertainment (formerly Escape). Beginning with the original ''Wonder Boy (video game), Wonder Boy'' arcade game released in April ...

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) *'' Crack Comics'' #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) *'' Doll Man'' #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) *'' Lady Luck'' #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 Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, ...

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