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 char ...
.
Notable, long-running titles published by Quality include ''
Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to:
Animals
* Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856
* Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus''
* Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii''
* Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...
'', ''
Feature Comics
''Feature Comics'', originally ''Feature Funnies'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the superhero genre.
Publication history
T ...
'', ''
G.I. Combat
''G.I. Combat'' was an American comics anthology featuring war stories. It was published from 1952 until 1956 by Quality Comics, followed by DC Comics until its final issue in 1987. In 2012 it was briefly revived.
Publication history
The focu ...
'', ''
Heart Throbs
''Heart Throbs'' was a romance comic published by Quality Comics and DC Comics from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the book from 1949–1957, when it was acquired by DC. Most issues featured a number of short comics stories, as well advice colum ...
'', ''
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 Bl ...
Plastic Man
Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...
'', ''
Police Comics
''Police Comics'' was a comic book anthology title published by Quality Comics (under its imprint "Comic Magazines") from 1941 until 1953. It featured short stories in the superhero, crime and humor genres.
Publication history
The first issue of ' ...
'', ''
Smash Comics
''Smash Comics'' is the title of an American Golden Age comic book anthology series, published by Quality Comics for 85 issues between 1939 and 1949. It became the series '' Lady Luck'' for #86-90 (Dec 1949–Aug 1950).
''Smash Comics'' had the ...
'', and ''
The Spirit
The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid (paper size), tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday editio ...
''. 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,
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 no ...
,
Lou Fine
Louis Kenneth Fine (November 26, 1914 – July 24, 1971)Louis Fine at the United States
Gill Fox
Gilbert Theodore Fox (November 29, 1915 – May 15, 2004) was an American political cartoonist, comic book artist and editing, editor, and animator.
Biography
Fox began his career in animation at Max Fleischer's studio, but left due to labor unr ...
,
Paul Gustavson
Paul Gustavson (né Karl Paul Gustafson; August 16, 1916 – April 29, 1977) was a Finnish-American comic-book writer and artist. His most notable creations during the Golden Age of Comic Books were The Human Bomb for Quality Comics, and the An ...
,
Bob Powell
Bob Powell (né Stanley Robert Pawlowski; While gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, and gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, Bails and Ware note: "family name corrected by his son, Seth R. Powell July 2006." October 2, 1916
, 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. "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 of ...
in the late 1930s. Deducing that
Depression-era
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The Financial contagion, ...
audiences wanted established quality and familiar
comic strips
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often 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 ter ...
for their hard-earned dimes, in 1937 the enterprising Arnold, formed the suitably titled 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 language, Frenc ...
s: 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
The Frank Jay Markey Syndicate was a small print syndication service that distributed comic strips and columns from the mid-1930s to c. 1950. Although small in size, the syndicate distributed strips by a number of notable cartoonists, including ...
, 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'' 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 ...
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 Dix ...
'' 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
Eisner & Iger was a comic book "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Many of comic books' most significant c ...
shop (from issue #3).
A frequent point of confusion is whether and how comic packaging shop
Harry "A" Chesler
Harry Chesler (January 12, 1897, or January 12, 1898 (sources differ) – December 1981),Harr ...
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.
Gardner "Mike" Cowles Jr. (1903–1985) was an American newspaper and magazine publisher. He was co-owner of the Cowles Media Company, whose assets included the '' Minneapolis Star'', the ''Minneapolis Tribune'', the ''Des Moines Register'', '' ...
, 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
Eisner & Iger was a comic book "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Many of comic books' most significant c ...
, 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, newsp ...
entering the new medium, Quality introduced such
superheroes
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, ...
as
Plastic Man
Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...
and
Kid Eternity
Kid Eternity is a fictional character, a comic book superhero that premiered in ''Hit Comics'' #25 written by Otto Binder, drawn by Sheldon Moldoff, and published by American company Quality Comics in December 1942. All of Quality's intellectual pr ...
, 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 Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
hero
Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to:
Animals
* Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856
* Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus''
* Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii''
* Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...
. Quality also published comic-book reprints of
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 no ...
's "
The Spirit
The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid (paper size), tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday editio ...
", 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 an ...
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, sports ...
.
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 the ...
'' #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 advertisin ...
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 intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
,
humor
Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...
,
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
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, Inc. (also known as NCP or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company, and the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics.
History
The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied P ...
(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 thei ...
), which chose to keep only four series running: ''
Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to:
Animals
* Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856
* Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus''
* Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii''
* Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...
'', ''
G.I. Combat
''G.I. Combat'' was an American comics anthology featuring war stories. It was published from 1952 until 1956 by Quality Comics, followed by DC Comics until its final issue in 1987. In 2012 it was briefly revived.
Publication history
The focu ...
'', ''
Heart Throbs
''Heart Throbs'' was a romance comic published by Quality Comics and DC Comics from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the book from 1949–1957, when it was acquired by DC. Most issues featured a number of short comics stories, as well advice colum ...
'' (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
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
. 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 library is ...
), 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
Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...
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
The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...
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 March ...
'', existed on two separate realities in the
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-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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
continued there until 1973, enabling the Freedom Fighters to continue their fight against the Nazis. ''
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 March ...
'' #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
The Ray is the name of four superheroes in the DC Comics Universe. All versions of the character have the superpower of manipulating visible light in some manner.
The first Ray was Langford "Happy" Terrill, a Quality Comics character. When DC ...
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.
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 ...
*
Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to:
Animals
* Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856
* Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus''
* Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii''
* Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...
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 ...
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 a ...
*
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 tangibl ...
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 and ...
*
Kid Eternity
Kid Eternity is a fictional character, a comic book superhero that premiered in ''Hit Comics'' #25 written by Otto Binder, drawn by Sheldon Moldoff, and published by American company Quality Comics in December 1942. All of Quality's intellectual pr ...
Madame Fatal
Madame Fatal (sometimes referred to as Madam Fatal) is a Character (arts), fictional character and a comic book superhero active during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Madame Fatal was created and originally illustrated by artist/writer Art Pinajia ...
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 ...
Neon the Unknown
Neon the Unknown is a fictional superhero from the Golden Age of Comic Books created by Jerry Iger for Quality Comics. Neon first appeared in a story penciled and inked by Lou Fine in ''Hit Comics'' #1 and was featured on the cover. His stories r ...
*
Phantom Lady
Phantom Lady is a Fictional character, fictional Superhero#Female superheroes and villains, superheroine, one of the first such characters to debut in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books. Originally published by Quality Comics, the character was ...
*
Plastic Man
Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...
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 assigned t ...
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 ...
the Spirit
The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid (paper size), tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday editio ...
(1st Quality Comics & comic book appr. ''
Police Comics
''Police Comics'' was a comic book anthology title published by Quality Comics (under its imprint "Comic Magazines") from 1941 until 1953. It featured short stories in the superhero, crime and humor genres.
Publication history
The first issue of ' ...
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 Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
*
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 Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to:
Animals
* Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856
* Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus''
* Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii''
* Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...
'' #9–107 (1944–1956; formerly ''Uncle Sam Quarterly'' #1–8; ''Blackhawk'' #108–273 subsequently published 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 ...
Kid Eternity
Kid Eternity is a fictional character, a comic book superhero that premiered in ''Hit Comics'' #25 written by Otto Binder, drawn by Sheldon Moldoff, and published by American company Quality Comics in December 1942. All of Quality's intellectual pr ...
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 the ...
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 a ...
'' #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
''Feature Comics'', originally ''Feature Funnies'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the superhero genre.
Publication histor ...
'' #1–20 (1937–1939); ''
Feature Comics
''Feature Comics'', originally ''Feature Funnies'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the superhero genre.
Publication history
T ...
'' #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
''G.I. Combat'' was an American comics anthology featuring war stories. It was published from 1952 until 1956 by Quality Comics, followed by DC Comics until its final issue in 1987. In 2012 it was briefly revived.
Publication history
The focu ...
'' #1–43 (1952–1956; #44-288 subsequently published 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 ...
Heart Throbs
''Heart Throbs'' was a romance comic published by Quality Comics and DC Comics from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the book from 1949–1957, when it was acquired by DC. Most issues featured a number of short comics stories, as well advice colum ...
'' #1–46 (1949; #47–146 subsequently published 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 ...
Kid Eternity
Kid Eternity is a fictional character, a comic book superhero that premiered in ''Hit Comics'' #25 written by Otto Binder, drawn by Sheldon Moldoff, and published by American company Quality Comics in December 1942. All of Quality's intellectual pr ...
Plastic Man
Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...
'' #1–64 (1943–1956)
*''
Police Comics
''Police Comics'' was a comic book anthology title published by Quality Comics (under its imprint "Comic Magazines") from 1941 until 1953. It featured short stories in the superhero, crime and humor genres.
Publication history
The first issue of ' ...
'' #1–127 (1941–1953)
*''Range Romances'' #1–5 (1949–1950)
*'' Robin Hood Tales'' #1–6 (1956; #7–14 subsequently published 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 ...
Smash Comics
''Smash Comics'' is the title of an American Golden Age comic book anthology series, published by Quality Comics for 85 issues between 1939 and 1949. It became the series '' Lady Luck'' for #86-90 (Dec 1949–Aug 1950).
''Smash Comics'' had the ...
The Spirit
The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid (paper size), tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday editio ...
Uncle Sam Quarterly
Uncle Sam is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Based on the national personification of the United States, Uncle Sam, the character first appeared in '' National Comics'' #1 (July 1940) and was created by Will E ...
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 period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Many of comic books' most significant c ...
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Infinite Crisis
"Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, a ...
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing 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 Qualit ...