Cardinal (also known as Harrier) is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is African American. Cardinal was created by Fabian Nicieza and Darick Robertson in New Warriors #28 (October 1992).
Cardinal has appeared in the pages of New Warriors, Night Thrasher, and Thunderbolts.
Donald Joshua Clendenon is a Vietnam War veteran. While on a mission in Rhodesia, he conceives a child named Valerie Barnhardt with fellow mercenary buddy Sprocket (Amelia Barnhardt). At some point, Clendenon is outfitted with a powered suit of armor and took the name Cardinal. Cardinal first appeared as a bodyguard for arms smuggler Jeremy Swimming-Bear (aka "Sea Urchin"). The plot was foiled by the New Warriors. Broken out of prison by his allies, the Air Force, he and the team went after the New Warriors, but were defeated and sent back to prison.
Some time later, Air Force was dispatched to attack Dwayne Taylor and a group of high-powered corporate officials on a jet bringing humanitarian aid to the people of Bosnia-Herzogovina. Taylor, secretly Night Thrasher, defeated Air Force and blackmailed them into assisting in relief efforts in middle Africa.
Harrier Comics (officially known as Harrier Publishing) was a British comic book publisher active in the mid-to-late 1980s. Harrier was notable for putting out black-and-white comics in a mold more similar to American comics than typical British fare. During their short existence, Harrier published more than 120 issues of over 30 titles.
Harrier was founded in 1984 by Martin Lock, a former member of the British Amateur Press Association. The success of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles led to a short-lived explosion of black-and-white independent comics in the United States in the mid-1980s. The U.K. publisher Harrier's titles followed the same mold (unlike most British comics publishers, who favored the comic magazine format). Harrier's aesthetic was also inspired in some ways by the bold design of the UK's Escape magazine. The company's name was an homage to the famous British-designed military jet the Harrier.
Harrier's first title was Conqueror, written by Lock, which ran for nine issues. Its popularity spawned a number of spin-offs and one-shots, published throughout 1984 and 1985. 1985 also saw the first volume of Swiftsure (also written by Lock), which ran for six issues and was followed by a second volume in 1987.