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Black Condor
Blakcond

Real Name

Richard Grey Jr.

First Appearance

Crack Comics #1 (May 1940)

Original Publisher

Quality

Created by

Lou Fine and Will Eisner (as Kenneth Lewis)

Origin[]

Richard Grey Jr. lost his parents during an archeological expedition to Mongolia, where they were killed in an ambush. Richard was raised by giant black condors native to the region, and after studying his condor foster parents, he learned to fly. Later, when he reached adulthood, he befriended a hermit monk named Father Pierre who convinced him that he should use his unique attributes to do good. Father Pierre died soon afterward. Inspired by the monk's teachings, Richard adopted the costumed persona of Black Condor.

At first, he traveled throughout Asia, fighting evil wherever he encountered it. But, after a few adventures, Richard traveled to New York. He operated as Black Condor full-time until Crack Comics #11, when he saw gangsters dump the mortally wounded Senator Thomas Wright down the river. The young senator ran afoul of the Senator Jaspar Crow, who hired the gangsters to get rid of Thomas because he would not vote for the pork-ridden dam appropriation bill. With his dying breath, Thomas asked Black Condor to take him to Doctor Foster, the father of his fiance, Wendy Foster.

Black Condor quickly realized that he and Thomas was physically identical. He took advantage of this resemblance to cast the vote in Thomas' space. At Doctor Foster's urging, he reluctantly assumed the identity of Thomas Wright full-time. This allowed him to rally other senators against Jaspar Crow's political pressure and take on Crow's thugs as Black Condor.

Black Condor continued to act as Thomas Wright out of costume for the remainder of his appearances. And while he was initially troubled at the prospect of deceiving Wendy, he got over that by the end of the issue.

Black Condor's enemies include Ali Kahn, the Black Dragon Society, Jaspar Crow, Eagle Battalion, the Ear, Sihn Fang, the Great Yaho, Kite-Men, Lung Wuo, Sophisticated Lady, and Spinning Death.

Public Domain Appearances[]

  • Crack Comics #1-31

See Also[]

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