Mike Kooiman

Jim Amash

THE QUALITY COMPANION provides the first dedicated look at the prolific Golden Age publisher which spawned a treasure trove of beautiful art and classic characters, including the modern-day “Freedom Fighters”—UNCLE SAM, PHANTOM LADY, BLACK CONDOR, THE RAY, HUMAN BOMB, and DOLL MAN—as well as PLASTIC MAN, the BLACKHAWKS, and others now under the DC Comics umbrella. It provides the first-ever A-Z in-depth character profile of every Quality costumed hero, many of whom were superbly-produced but are now long-forgotten. It also reprints, in FULL-COLOR, several 1940s key stories of these characters from such rare 1940s collector’s items as SMASH COMICS, POLICE COMICS, NATIONAL COMICS, FEATURE COMICS, and CRACK COMICS, and features Golden Age art by the top artistic talents of that era, including LOU FINE, REED CRANDALL, JACK COLE, CHUCK CUIDERA, MATT BAKER, WILL EISNER, and others! There’s a contextual chronology, a unique oral history featuring commentary by many of the major Quality creators and their progeny, and studies that shed new light on Will Eisner's relationship with Quality! Plus: It covers the characters’ revival from the 1970s to today, including Plastic Man’s short-lived 1960s series, the classic Justice League/Justice Society crossover that introduced the Quality characters into the DC Comics universe, the Freedom Fighters’ own 1970s series, plus the Ray and Black Condor series of the 1990s, up through the current versions of the characters at DC. Creators who were instrumental in the revival of the characters from the 1970s to today are interviewed, including ROY THOMAS, LEN WEIN, JIMMY PALMIOTTI and others! There’s also a new cover drawn especially for this book by the late DICK GIORDANO! Written by Mike Kooiman with Jim Amash.

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