Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: cat-man, Charles Quinlan, Frank Z. Temerson

Charles Quinlan's Spectacular Work on Cat-Man Comics #1, at Auction

Artist/writer Charles Quinlan transformed the character Cat-Man with a series launch that is highly regarded by Golden Age collectors today.

Published Fri, 23 Jun 2023 15:47:09 -0500

by Mark Seifert

Last updated Mon, 16 Sep 2024 16:41:50 -0500

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Article Summary

Charles Quinlan revamped Cat-Man in Cat-Man Comics #1, giving the character a new costume and style.
Created by Irwin Hasen, Cat-Man first appeared in Crash Comics #4 with a unique jungle-based origin story.
Helnit Publishing Co., led by Frank Z. Temerson, used various company names inspired by his family members.
Cat-Man Comics #1 also debuts characters Rag Man and Black Widow, unrelated to later versions in comics history.

The Cat-Man Comics series has become a favorite of Golden Age comic book collectors in recent years. The 32-issue run has stand-out covers by Charles Quinlan and L.B. Cole, and it is Quinlan's unique style, design sense, and ability to depict action that makes the entire series work. Quinlan was not the original creator of the Cat-Man character, but he revamped Cat-Man and made the character his own beginning in Cat-Man Comics #1. There's a CGC VG- 3.5 copy of Cat-Man Comics #1 (Helnit, 1941) up for auction in the 2024 September 26 – 27 Heroes of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40265 at Heritage Auctions.

Created by Irwin Hasen, Cat-Man's origin can be traced back to Crash Comics #4, where he was introduced as a Tarzan-inspired character raised by a tigress in the jungles of Burma and gifted with cat-like abilities and instincts. Upon his return to the US, he fought crime under his civilian identity as a private detective and as his alter ego, Cat-Man. Beginning in Cat-Man Comics #1, Charles Quinlan provided the character with a new costume and a whole new look and feel to his adventures.

Quinlan's credits include work for Temerson, Holyoke, Ned Pines and Quality Comics among others. Besides his now-legendary run on Cat-Man Comics, he's best known for overseeing a completely bonkers stint on Blue Beetle during the title's Holyoke era. Little is known about Quinlan aside from his comic book credits. During the mid-1930s he is said to have contributed illustrations to Lewis De Claremont's Oracle Products Company catalogs and perhaps related publications during the mid-1930s.

Cat-Man Comics #1 publisher Helnit Publishing Co. is one of a number of company names used by Frank Z. Temerson during his comic book publishing career. It's widely known that comics publisher Et-Es-Go as a company name was inspired by shorthand for Temerson's younger sisters Ethel, Esther, and Goldie, and lesser known that publisher Helnit is named after Temerson's nieces, Helen and Anita. Temerson had yet another imprint called Nita as well.

The issue also features the first appearance and origins of characters named Rag Man and Black Widow, though no relation to later versions of characters of those names in either case. Quinlan's work makes the Cat-Man Comics series highly collectible for Golden Age fans, and there's a CGC VG- 3.5 copy of Cat-Man Comics #1 (Helnit, 1941) up for auction in the 2024 September 26 – 27 Heroes of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40265 at Heritage Auctions.