Black Condor
| Black Condor | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance |
(Grey) Crack Comics #1 (May 1940) (Kendall) Black Condor #1 (June 1992) (Trujillo) Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #3 (Nov. 2006) |
| Created by |
(Grey) Will Eisner (writer) Lou Fine (artist) (Kendall) Brian Augustyn (writer) Rags Morales (artist) (Trujillo) Jimmy Palmiotti (writer) Justin Gray (writer) Daniel Acuña (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | - Richard Grey Jr. - Ryan Kendall - John Trujillo |
| Team affiliations |
(All) Freedom Fighters (Grey) All-Star Squadron (Kendall) Primal Force Justice League Black Lantern Corps |
| Notable aliases |
(Grey) Thomas "Tom" Wright |
| Abilities | See Below |
Black Condor is the super hero 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. A version of the Black Condor was featured in each of the Freedom Fighter series published by DC Comics.
The first Black Condor, Richard Grey Jr., was created by Quality Comics writer Will Eisner and artist Lou Fine. He moved to the DC universe when DC Comics bought the rights to Quality Comics characters. The first Black Condor was a World War II era super hero along with the rest of the Freedom Fighters. The second Black Condor, Ryan Kendall, gained the power of flight due to genetic manipulation and initially did not believe he was a super hero. He would later join the Freedom Fighters, but was killed at the beginning of the Infinite Crisis storyline. The third Black Condor, John Trujillo, is of Mayan descent and was given his powers by the Mayan Spider Goddess Tocotl. Seeing himself as a protector of the universe he joins forces with the Freedom Fighters.
A Golden Age superhero who possessed the power of flight, the Black Condor was created by writer Will Eisner under the pseudonym Kenneth Lewis, and artist Lou Fine in Crack Comics #1 (cover-dated May 1940). Initially alternating with the Clock as the cover-featured character, he became the solo cover feature from issues #20-26 (Jan.-Nov. 1942). His feature continued to run through issue #31.
As an infant traveling with his parents on an archaeological expedition thorough Outer Mongolia, Richard Grey Jr. survived after his family was killed by the bandit Gali Kan and his men. Rescued by a condor who raised him as her own, he learned to fly, as the origin story stated, by "studying the movement of wings, the body motions, air currents, balance and levitation" of his avian siblings. A mountain hermit, Father Pierre, eventually discovered and civilized the feral child, and taught him to speak English. Richard tracked down and killed the Mongolian bandits who had killed his parents and then departed for the United States where he uncovered a plot to kill United States Senator Thomas Wright. He was too late to save Wright from assassination, and so began to use his identity. He adopted the guise of Black Condor to fight crooked politicians, rum-running bootleggers, and racketeers.
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