Quality Comics put out a wide variety of strong, solid material back during the Golden Age of Comics, much of which is largely forgotten today. But they maintained a strong house art style and a commitment to story that made their offerings among the most readable comics of the period. Today, we're going to look … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: SMASH COMICS #36 and the Death of Midnight
The Spirit Section was a stand-along comic book circular that was syndicated to newspapers all across the country that could be included with the rest of their Sunday editions. It was designed to be a pushback against the rising popularity of comic books--comics, "funny pages", had long been a sales driver for newspapers. So the … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Spirit Section, December 28, 1941
It's always been something of a mystery to me how the publishers of the Golden Age determined that one of their secondary features was the thing that was driving the circulation of their anthology series. Case in point: when he was first launched, Plastic Man was a secondary character in the pages of Quality's POLICE … Continue reading The Second Plastic Man Story
My Christmas gifts for the Christmas of 1978 weren't exclusively Marvel based, though they were pretty much all comic book based. I had also asked for and received two issues of Kitchen Sink Press's magazine devoted to Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT, #17 and #18, their two first. Prior to this, I had read one Spirit … Continue reading BHOC: THE SPIRIT #17
The advent of World War II and the patriotic fervor that hit the nation swiftly became a driving force behind comic books. It was clear almost immediately that young readers, with no other real way of engaging the enemy and helping with the battle effort, wanted to live those experiences vicariously through stories. Consequently, all … Continue reading The Other Captain America
We're just about through the extended crossover between the Phantom Lady strip in POLICE COMICS and the Spider Widow strip appearing simultaneously in FEATURE COMICS. But before we get into these final installments, a moment to point out an interesting aspect of the cover to POLICE COMICS #22 above. Plastic Man creator Jack Cole not … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Forgotten Phantom Lady/Spider Widow epic, Part 3
As we detailed last week, artist Frank M. Borth, who was working on both strips, created a six-part epic crossover between his two series, Phantom Lady, which ran in POLICE COMICS, and the Spider Widow, which could be found in FEATURE COMICS. There wasn't any promotion for this crossover, so it appears to be something … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Forgotten Phantom Lady/Spider Widow epic, Part 2
Quality Comics was one of the finest publishers of the Golden Age of Comics. They lived up to their firm's name by featuring a high level of polish in both their stories and their artwork. Quality's most popular features included Plastic Man, Doll Man and Blackhawk, along with reprints of Will Eisner's The Spirit, and … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Forgotten Phantom Lady/Spider Widow epic, Part 1
QUALITY COMICS as an entity has largely been forgotten with the passage of time, although a number of their most popular characters still get some notice from time to time. But in the 1940s and 1950s, Quality was one of the most stable and reliable outfits in the business. Their output was sharp and clean … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: HIT COMICS #32
Quality Comics was one of the best and most consistent publishers of comics books during the years of the Golden Age. The firm is largely forgotten now, but in its heyday, it featured a whole line of memorable characters such as Plastic Man, Blackhawk, The Ray, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, the Human Bomb, Quicksilver, the … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY #2
The Tom Brevoort Experience 