Condor Verlag

The Condor Verlag, also known as Condor-Interpart, ConPart Verlag GmbH or Condor Verlagsgruppe Berlin, is a German comic book publisher that specializes in publishing translated versions of licensed foreign comics. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Condor held the license for German editions of Marvel comics, which included Transformers. Between 1986 and 1991, Condor published a very... interesting selection of both Marvel US and Marvel UK stories. Many of the comics also contain unique text stories... unique to Condor, that is. At least one of the text stories was also published in a M.A.S.K. comic, with swapped out names.

Overview

The Condor Verlag was founded by Wolfgang M. Biehler on January 1, 1973. One of their first titles was a licensed version of Spanish funny comic Mortadelo y Filemón (known as Mort & Phil in English), released under the title Clever & Smart. Other titles were satire magazines such as Kaputt (a licensed edition of Major Magazines' Cracked) and comics aimed at young children such as Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry or Schweinchen Dick (Porky Pig).

In 1979, Condor acquired the license to publish Marvel comics such as Die Spinne (Spider-Man), Die Rächer (The Avengers) or Die Fantastischen Vier (Fantastic Four) when the license of the previous German publisher, Williams Verlag, ran out. Most Marvel comics by Condor were published in a downsized "pocket book" ("Comic-Taschenbuch") format, which usually resulted in extremely truncated dialogue. Some of Condor's more popular titles were later expanded with additional oversized publications ("Comic-Album") about the size as the Marvel UK Transformers issues. Die Spinne was even given a third series (Die Spinne Comic-Magazin) which was more or less in standard US comic book format.

External links

• The Condor Verlag on German Wikipedia
• List of German Transformers comic by Condor including details on reprinted US and UK stories at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators German Edition