Russkie-Smashers BLACKHAWK "Mission Incredible" Part 3

The "Magnificent 7" fight their final battle...

(BTW: note that this foreign reprint had to modify the cover artwork you saw yesterday since the logo was part of it!)

...as they attempt to rescue a dead scientist's daughter (without using any aircraft) from the Russkies and learn the secret her late father told her!

But the "Dark Knights" are nothing if not resourceful...

After this final Silver Age appearance in DC's Blackhawk #243 (1968), the team wouldn't appear in the DC Multiverse until a one-panel cameo in DC's Justice League of America #107 (1973), where it was revealed the Golden Age (Earth-2) team was killed after traveling with the Freedom Fighters to Earth X, a world where the Nazis won World War II.

Blackhawk was revived for a year in 1976 with the group as mercenaries battling corporate espionage, terrorists, and the occasional elderly Nazi...but no Russkies or Commies.

The Golden Age versions appeared with the Earth-2 Batman in a WWII-set tale in DC's Brave and the Bold #167 (1980).

The final pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths incarnation took place in 1982 when, due to rumored interest from Steven Spielberg in a feature film version, the series was revived, set during World War II...

...along with a tie-in WWII adventure with a time-traveling Superman in DC Comics Presents (1984).
There was also a prose novel by noted sf/fantasy writer William Rotsler (which you can order below from Amazon).
Shortly after this, DC did their first (but certainly not last) major reboot with Crisis on Infinite Earths.
While there have been several revival/revisions of Blackhawk since then, we're not planning on covering them.
But, since there's dozens of Russkie-smashing Golden Age Blackhawk tales, there'll be no shortage of Blackhawk tales in our saga!

Be Here Monday for

a Twice-Told Tale

About Two Heroines

Smashing Both Russkies and Nazis!

It'll Make Sense When You See It!

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Blackhawk

by William Rotsler

Russkie-Smashers BLACKHAWK "Mission Incredible" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

...when Russkies kill an uncooperative scientist and try to force his little daughter to reveal the info he entrusted to her, Blackhawk and his team (without any functioning aircraft) mount an operation to rescue her...

Written by Bob Haney and illustrated by Pat Boyette, this never-reprinted tale from DC's Blackhawk #243 (1968) ended the series which had continued uninterrupted from #9 (when they took over Quality's Uncle Sam Quarterly in 1944) to this issue!
Note: Blackhawk was one of several of Quality Comics titles to continue ongoing publication as DC purchased the company's assets in 1956, including all published and unpublished material!

To Be Concluded...

TOMORROW!

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Blackhawk

by William Rotsler

The only novel based on the comic book!

Russkie-Smashers BLACKHAWK "Mission Incredible" Part One

The final (1968) adventure of their original run returned the "Magnificent 7"...

...(and yes, they had that nickname before the now-classic 1960 Western movie) to their Russkie-smashing 1950s heyday!

Editor's Note: We re-presented that never-reprinted, multi-part adventure HERE, HERE, and HERE!)

Written by Bob Haney and illustrated by Pat Boyette, the Blackhawks are put in an unusual situation since their jet aircraft were likely destroyed during the battle on Blackhawk Island, and the still-operational Hawk Kite was too slow and obvious to airlift her out!
(Though it would've been cool to see them utilizing one of their mothballed, WWII-era XF5F Grumman SkyRockets to do so!)

To Be Continued...

TOMORROW!

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Blackhawk
by William Rotsler
The only novel based on the comic book!

Asian Avengers BLACKHAWK "Operation White Dragon" Part 2

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

...during World War II, the Blackhawks are sent to Japanese-occupied China to help the Resistance against the invaders.

They encounter a costumed hero named The White Dragon who leads a band of rebels harassing the Japanese!

The team then contacts the local leader, who refuses to help them in their operations, to avoid antagonizing the Japanese, and his son, who collaborates with the occupiers!

To appease the Japanese military governor, the leader gives up the location of the White Dragon's headquarters.

When the invaders ambush and capture the hero, he's revealed to be the Chinese leader's son and ordered to be executed...

Though still called "Chop-Chop", Liu Huang was an equal member of the team, even flying his own aircraft (In the old days, he was stuck in the passenger seat of Blackhawk's plane.)
A couple of years later, with sales dropping, DC "updated" the series by making the middle-aged aviators into superhero/spies with outlandish  powers and code-names.
Liu, as the youngest of the group, became "Dr Hands", started speaking hipster jive, and was given a tuxedo...and titanium gloves...

There was never an explanation of how the gloves worked.
At least DC didn't put the team into spandex, considering their ages ranged from mid-30s to mid-50s...

To read the entire sordid story, click HERE and Follow the links at the end of each chapter!

Bonus: Click HERE to read Chop-Chop's Golden Age origin in our "brother" RetroBlog, Not Safe for Work Comics!

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Blackhawk

by William Rotsler

The only novel based on the comic book!

Asian Avengers BLACKHAWK "Operation White Dragon" Part 1

Previously, we brought you the Asian super-hero known as The Green Turtle...

...and we'll be returning to his story shortly!
But now, we present the never-reprinted Silver Age tale of The White Dragon...a Zorro-like character leading the local Resistance against the Japanese in World War II-era China!

The story concludes...

Next Wednesday

Note: writer Bob Haney makes a common mistake!

In China, family names are first, and given names are second.

"Liu Huang" and "Khan Huang" should be "Huang Liu" and "Huang Khan"

And, since "khan" is like "caesar"...a title of office...is it the elder Huang's title or name?

This story from DC's Blackhawk #203 (1964) by Haney, penciler Dick Dillin and inker Chuck Cuidera is radically-different from Chop-Chop's premiere appearance and intro to the Blackhawks in Quality's Military Comics #3 (1941).

DC had a similar problem with it's other characters who had uninterrupted runs from the Golden Age to the Silver Age like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

The creation of Earth-Two, placing the Golden Age versions on a separate world solved most of those problems with the exception of clearly-defining where the Golden Age-related tales ended and where the Silver Age versions began, which varied from character to character.

(It also gave the opportunity for Golden Age and Silver Age versions of the characters to meet!)

BTW, the Quality Comics characters were on Earth-X ((where Nazis won World War II).

The Blackhawks were shown as deceased in DC's Justice League of America #107 (1973), during the annual "Crisis on..." team-up between the Justice League and Justice Society.
So we can take it as given that the post-WWII stories (most featuring Communists) by Quality were part of the Silver Age Blackhawk history.

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Blackhawk

by William Rotsler

The only novel based on the comic book!