Thanksgiving Turkey SKATE MAN Conclusion

"Criminals are a superstious, cowardly lot...

....so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts!"

Well, that didn't quite work out...

We Have Already Seen...

To avenge the death of his girlfriend by a biker gang, VietNam vet Billy Moon becomes a roller-skating vigilante...

And that's how the story ends, not even a epilogue setting up future issues!

We hope you enjoyed our Thanksgiving Turkey!

Thanksgiving Turkey SKATE MAN Part 1

The phrase "martial arts" encompasses a great many forms and techniques of combat...

...even (believe it or not) this hybrid form in a 40 year-old never-reprinted one-shot comic that we proudly present as our Thanksgiving Turkey!

To Be Concluded

TOMORROW!

Written and illustrated by Neal Adams (with some inking by his Continuity Associates studio), this was intended as a tie-in to a feature film...which was never made.
When the notoriously-slow Adams couldn't meet the deadline for the contracted second issue of Ms. Mystic at Pacific Comics, he offered this project as a stopgap.
Trivia:
The comic sold 70,000 copies, more than almost anything on the stands today!
Kitchen Sink's 1991 World's Worst Comics Awards parody comic named Skateman the "Worst Comic Book of the Past 25 Years"!
Ms. Mystic #2 finally came out a year later, right before Pacific Comics folded!.

Thanksgiving Turkey: BLACKHAWK "My Brother - My Enemy" Part 3: Return to Blackhawk Island!

When Last We Left the Original Magnificent Seven...

...(yes, Blackhawk and crew pre-dated the 1960 movie) with G.E.O.R.G.E., the spy organization that supplied their new super-hero identities and equipment totally-annihilated, the Blackhawks dig out their mothballed WWII uniforms and weapons and seek out the group that wiped out their co-workers.

The only clue is a security camera's footage showing the killers' leader...Black Mask...whom Blackhawk recognizes as his long-believed dead brother, Jack!
An attempt to negotiate or capture Black Mask fails, and as he escapes, Jack tells Blackhawk where they can meet for a duel to the death...

Thus ends the first of two issues under editor Dick Giordano, who intended for Golden Age Blackhawk artist Reed Crandall to illustrate the pair of "return to basics" tales before the book's already-scheduled cancellation.

Unfortunately, personal problems prevented Crandall from doing so, and with two weeks until deadline, Giordano enlisted one of his Charlton art mainstays, Pat Boyette, to do the entire book (24 pages [plus cover] of pencils, inks, and lettering) in just under two weeks!

The finishes are a little rough, but, it's an amazing job!

We hope you've enjoyed our Thanksgiving Turkey (plus dessert) for 2016.

See you on the RetroBlogs next year at this time for more succulent stories!

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Blackhawk: the Movie Serial

starring Kirk (Superman) Alyn

Thanksgiving Turkey: BLACKHAWK "My Brother - My Enemy" Part 2: Fort Fear

We Have Already Seen...

...with G.E.O.R.G.E., the spy organization that supplied their new super-hero identities and equipment totally-annihilated, the Blackhawks dig out their mothballed WWII uniforms and weapons and seek out the group that wiped out their co-workers.

The only clue is a security camera's footage showing the killers' leader...Black Mask...whom Blackhawk recognizes...

...which, in the case of the presentation on this blog, means

TOMORROW!

Long-time fans may note that the Blackhawks are not flying their distinctive Grumman XF5F Skyrockets in the flashback sequence.
This indicates the flashback occurs before the story in Quality's Military Comics #2 (1941), where those aircraft debut!
Of course we won't go into the fact this never-reprinted story from DC's Blackhawk #242 (1968) totally-contradicts the original origin in Military Comics #1 (1941) and modifies the origin's retelling in Blackhawk #198 (1964)...

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Blackhawk: the Movie Serial

starring Kirk (Superman) Alyn

Thanksgiving Turkey: BLACKHAWK "My Brother - My Enemy" Part 1: Black Mask

For almost two years, Blackhawk fans had been subjected to...

...seeing the beloved WWII veteran aviators mutated into Swinging '60s superhero/spies!
(Thank heaven none of the middle-aged warriors were jammed into skintight suits!)

Sales had deteriorated to the point where the book, which had been continuously-published since 1944 and survived switching publishers without an interruption, had been reduced from monthly to bi-monthly publication and was scheduled to be cancelled.

But Dick Giordano, who had just replaced long-time editor George Kashdan, had no intention of just letting the old soldiers fade away...

The Story Continues...Tomorrow!

Plotted by Marv Wolfman (his first professional comics credit), scripted by Bob Haney, and illustrated by Pat Boyette, DC's Blackhawk #242 (1968) was unlike any previous issue of the title.

It not only reversed the superspy/superhero revamp of the strip, but retold the origin of Blackhawk himself, making several changes to the long-established story, including allowing Blackhawk's brother (who died in the very first story in Quality's Military Comics #1) to survive!

Giordano, fresh from a long tenure at Charlton Comics came on board at DC to inject a new attitude into the comics line.

Besides introducing several new titles, he took over a couple of ongoing books, including Blackhawk.

Knowing that the series was being cancelled, Dick decided to return the strip to the basics that made it a favorite among Golden (and to a lesser extent) Silver Age fans.

The details of what happened can be found at the wonderful blog DC Comics 45 Years Ago.

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Blackhawk

by William Rotsler

The only novel based on the comic book!

Thanksgiving Turkey: BLACKHAWK "A Blackhawk a Day" Part 2 (Conclusion)

When Last We Left Our Middle-Aged Guys in Jumpsuits...

...they were being captured, one-by-one by Baron Booby Trap!

With two down and the third about to fall, things are looking grim for the original Magnificent Seven...

With script by Bob Haney, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Chuck Cuidera, the "New Blackhawk Era's" final tale is a mediocre reworking of the classic whodunit "And Then There Were None."
New editor Dick Giordano, moving from Charlton to DC, came in mid-stream during the book's creation, so he didn't have much imput into the content of this story.
But the next issue was another matter...as we shall see tomorrow!

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Official Blackhawk

12" Action Figure