Monday, May 4, 2026

Nazi-Punchers BLACKHAWK "Coward Dies Twice"

...this week we bring you his younger self...when he and his crew were first organized to do some serious Nazi-Punching!
Added bonus: the first appearance of their distinctive aircraft, the Grumman Skyrocket!
Scripted/laid-out by Will Eisner, and penciled/inked by Chuck Cuidera, the second appearance of Blackhawk, from Quality's Military Comics #2 (1941) clears up a number of aspects, including the fact the team isn't operating openly as a part of the Allied forces!
(America hadn't entered the war at this pre-Pearl Harbor point in history,)
Besides the core group, we're introduced to Boris (Ukrainian/Russian) and Zeg (country unknown) along with numerous other unidentified personnel.
Zeg appeared several more times during the Golden Age, but Boris disappeared after this issue, popping up again in the Bronze Age as a one-shot villain seeking vengeance against the Blackhawks!
Trivia: Though this was the only appearance of the split-tail Skyrockets in the Golden Age strip, when the Blackhawks made their debut in the animated Justice League series in "The Savage Time", an episode set in post D-Day Europe, the original version of the aircraft was front and center!
(DC's 1980s revival of the WWII version of Blackhawk restored the split-tailed version to pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, helping to define which WWII stories were Earth-One and which were Earth-X)!

Director/Animator Dan Riba even constructed a custom maquette of the Skyrocket and sent it to the Korean animation house for reference in animating aerobatics with the distinctive ship properly!
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Monday, April 27, 2026

Russkie-Smashers BLACKHAWK "Nightmare Cruise"

We're Winding Up a Month of Russkie-Smashing with the Busiest Russkie-Smashers of All...

...awww, you guessed!










Scripted by Robert Bernstein, penciled by Dick Dillin, and inked by Chuck Cuidera, this never-reprinted story from Quality's Blackhawk #105 (1956) showed no matter what environment (air, land, or sea), nothing stops the Dark Knights (yes, they were referred that way long before a certain Caped Crusader) from defending democracy!
Next Week: We're Back to Nazi-Punching...with Blackhawk and his team!
(He was around a loooong time!)

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Monday, April 20, 2026

Russkie-Smashers PLASTIC MAN "Incredible Sleep Weapon"

 Though the Villain of This Tale is Named The Sandman...

...the foul fiend doesn't use sand or knockout gas, as DC's Golden Age hero did!










So, the one-shot Sandman, who used hypnosis, from Quality's Plastic Man #51 (1955) was a sandwoman!
Such a gender-swap has been a moderately-common trope in comics, usually detectible by any or all of the following...
A) villain wearing bulky or shapeless costume.
B) villain using voice-altering mask/filter.
C) villain usually not performing any sort of hand-to-hand combat.
In this story, written by Dick Wood, pencilled by Charles Nicholas, and inked by Chuck Cuidera...it was all three!

Monday, April 13, 2026

Russkie-Smashers DATE WITH DANGER "Spies Walk Alone!"

Not All Russkie-Smashers Wear Costumes...

...because sometimes...to battle spies, you need a spy...like this guy!




Remember, this was the era before we had elegant secret agents in dinner jackets, carrying various kool gimmicks!
(But he still got to make out with the "bad girl"! Some things never change!)
It was a time of down n' dirty action and survival meant using your wits and whatever was at hand!
Illustrated by Ross Andru and inked by Mike Esposito, this never-reprinted story from Standard's Date with Danger #5 (1952) featured a character the publisher might have wanted to do an ongoing strip about, but since the book ended with the next issue, he never returned!

Monday, April 6, 2026

Russkie-Smashers HUMAN TORCH & TORO "Human Torch - Fugitive at Large!"

Since We Spent All of March Punching Nazis...

...it's only fair we dedicate April to kicking Russkie ass, starting with Captain America's fellow Russkie-fighter, the original Human Torch!





Written by Hank Chapman, penciled by Dick Ayers, and inked by Ernie Bache, this tale  from Atlas' Sub-Mariner #35 (1954). is one of the most-reprinted of the 1950s Human Torch stories!
Understandable since its' packed with a lot of action in only five pages!
(BTW, besides appearing in the Men's Adventures and Young Men's anthology comics, the "Big Three" of Captain America, Sub-Mariner, and Human Torch all had backup features in each other's comics!
"Corporate synergy" long before the phrase was coined!)

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