The Heroes of Quality Comics

This page concerns ony charcters that are considered either costumed and/or super-powered. I have chosen to begin my profiling with these, but you can also see a full character list in the Quality Titles section..

Index of Profiles

Longevity

This list calculates the total number of issues a character appeared in Quality Comics.

Number of Issues Character/Strip Details
166 Plastic Man Police Comics #1-102 (1941-53) • Plastic Man v.1, 64 issues (1943-56)
160 Doll Man Feature Comics #27-139 (December 1939–October 1949) • Doll Man Quarterly #1-47 (Autumn 1941–October 1953)
142 The Blackhawks Military Comics, 43 issues (1940-45) • Blackhawk #9-107 (Winter 1944–December 1956)
99 The Spirit Police Comics #11–87 (September 1942–May 1949) • The Spirit #nn [1]-22 (1944–August 1950)
95 Manhunter Police Comics #8-102 (March 1942–October 1950)
68 Midnight Smash Comics #18-85 (January 1941–October 1949)
67 Quicksilver National Comics #5-71 (November 1940–April 1949)
64 The Jester Smash Comics #22-85 (May 1941–October 1949)
64 The Clock Crack Comics #1-35 (–Autumn 1944) • Feature Funnies #3–20 (December 1937–May 1939) • Feature Comics #21-31 (June 1939–April 1940)
58 The Human Bomb Police Comics #1-58 (August 1941–September 1946)
57 Chic Carter, aka The Sword Smash Comics #1–24 (August 1939–July 1941) • Police Comics #1–18 (August 1941–April 1943) • National Comics #33–47 (July 1943–April 1945)
54 Kid Eternity Hit Comics #25-60 (December 1942–September 1949) • Kid Eternity #1-18 (Spring 1946–November 1949)
53 Uncle Sam National Comics #1-45 (July 1940–December 1944) Uncle Sam Quarterly, #1–8 (Autumn 1941–Fall 1943)
49 Lady Luck Smash Comics #42-85 (April 1943–October 1949) • Lady Luck #86-90 (December 1949–August 1950)
41 Zero, Ghost Detective Feature Comics #32–72 (May 1940–October 1943)
41 Bozo the Iron Man and Hugh Hazzard Smash Comics #1-41 (August 1939–March 1943)
36 Captain Triumph Crack Comics #27-62 (January 1943–September 1949)
32 Invisible Hood Smash Comics #1-32 (August 1939–March 1942)
31 Black Condor Crack Comics #1-31 (May 1940–October 1943)
30 Sniper Military Comics #5–34 (December 1941–November 1944)
30 (Alias) The Spider Crack Comics #1–30 (May 1940–August 1943)
27 The Ray Smash Comics #14-40 (September 1940–February 1943)
26 The Marksman Smash Comics #33–58 (May 1942– April 1945)
26 Merlin National Comics #1-26 (July 1940–November 1942)
26 Wonder Boy National Comics #1–26 (July 1940–November 1942)
25 Bruce Blackburn (Destroying Demon) Feature Comics #32–56 (May 1940–May 1942)
24 Red Bee Hit Comics #1-24 (July 1940–October 1942)
23 Phantom Lady Police Comics #1-23 (August 1941–October 1943)
22 Destiny Police Comics #15-36 (January 1943–November 1944)
22 Madam Fatal Crack Comics #1-22 (May 1940–March 1942)
21 (Joe) Hercules Hit Comics #1–21 (July 1940–April 1942)
20 G-2 National Comics #27-46 (December 1942–February 1945)
20 Red Torpedo Crack Comics #1–20 (May 1940–January 1942)
19 The Unknown National Comics #23-41 (June 1942–April 1944)
18 Yankee Eagle Military Comics #1–8 (August 1941–March 1942) • Smash Comics #38–47 (December 1942–October 1943)
18 Spider Widow Feature Comics #57-72 (January 1942–October 1943) • Police Comics #21-22
17 Neon the Unknown Hit Comics #1-17 (July 1940–November 1941)
17 "Stormy" Foster, the Great Defender Hit Comics #18–34 (Spring 1945–Winter 1944)
17 Tor Crack Comics #10-26 (Februrary 1941–(November 1942)
16 Blue Tracer Military Comics #1-16 (August 1941–January 1943)
15 #711 Police Comics #1–15 (August 1941–January 1943)
13 Raven Feature Comics #60-71 (September 1942–September 1943) • Police Comics #20-22
13 Wildfire Smash Comics #25-37 (August 1941–November 1942)
13 The Mouthpiece Police Comics #1–13 (August 1941–November 1942)
13 Firebrand Police Comics #1-13 (August 1941–November 1942)
11 Doll Girl Doll Man #37–47 (December 1951–October 1953)
9 Black Roger Buccaneers #19-27 (January 1950–May 1951)
9 Magno the Magnetic Man Smash Comics #13-21 (August 1940–April 1941)
8 Ghost of Flanders Hit Comics #18–25 (December 1942–December 1942)
7 Miss America Military Comics #1–7 (August 1941–February 1942)
7 USA the Spirit of Old Glory Feature Comics #42-48 (March 1941–September 1941)
7 The Whistler National Comics #48–54 (June 1945–June 1946)
6 The Voice Feature Comics #32-37 (May 1940–October 1940)
4 Ace of Space Feature Comics #38–41 (November 1940–February 1941)
1 The Hawk Feature Funnies #2 (November 1937)
1 Just 'N' Right Doll Man #1 (Winter 1941)

Hero Chronology

Here is a chronology of Quality's costumed heroes. It reveals some surprising things. Doll Man is often mis-categorized as the first Quality hero. He is the first super-powered hero. Surprisingly, Bozo and the Invisible Hood sneak in a few months before Doll Man. The Hood's powers were part of his cloak; they were not super-human. The Hawk was their first costumed hero. The Clock is considered the first masked hero—period—although he debuted before Quality Comics, in Centaur Comics' Funny Pages vol.1 #6 (November 1936).

+ 1936

  • November, Funny Pages vol.1 #6 (Centaur Comics)
    The Clock

+ 1937

  • November, Feature #2
    The Hawk
  • December, Feature #3 (1st Quality appearance)
    The Clock

+ 1939

  • August, Smash #1
    Bozo the Iron Man and Hugh Hazzard
    Invisible Hood
  • December, Feature #27
    Doll Man

+ 1940

  • May, Feature #32
    The Voice
    Zero, Ghost Detective
  • May, Crack #1
    Black Condor
    Madam Fatal
    Red Torpedo
    The Spider
  • July, Hit #1
    Hercules
    Neon the Unknown
    Red Bee
  • July, National #1
    Merlin
    Uncle Sam
    Wonder Boy
  • August, Smash #13
    Magno
  • September, Smash #14
    The Ray
  • November, National #5
    Quicksilver
  • November, Feature #38
    Ace of Space
  • December, Feature #39
    Destroying Demon (Bruce Blackburn)

+ 1941

  • January, Smash #18
    Midnight
  • Februrary, Crack #10
    Tor
  • March, Feature #42
    USA the Spirit of Old Glory
  • May, Smash #22
    The Jester
  • June 2, The Spirit Section
    The Spirit
    Mr. Mystic
    Lady Luck
  • August, Military #1
    The Blackhawks
    Blue Tracer
    Miss America
    Yankee Eagle
  • August, Police #1
    Firebrand
    The Human Bomb
    The Mouthpiece
    Phantom Lady
    Plastic Man
    #711
    The Sword (Chic Carter)
  • August, Smash #25
    Wildfire
  • Winter, Doll Man #1
    Just 'N' Right
  • December, Hit #18
    "Stormy" Foster, the Great Defender
    Ghost of Flanders
  • December, Military #5
    The Sniper

+ 1942

  • January, Feature #57
    Spider Widow
  • March, Police #8
    Manhunter I
  • May, Smash #33
    The Marksman
  • June, National #23
    The Unknown
  • September, Feature #60
    The Raven
  • December, National #27
    G-2 (Don Leash)
  • December, Hit #25
    Kid Eternity

+ 1943

  • January, Crack #27
    Captain Triumph
  • January, Police #15
    Destiny

+ 1945

  • June, National #48
    The Whistler

1950

  • January , Buccaneers #19
    Black Roger

1951

  • December, Doll Man #37 (1951)
    Doll Girl