Thanksgiving Turkey BLACKHAWK "Junk-Heap Heroes: Book II" Part 2

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

 It's 1967!

Why is nobody uttering the classic phrase "He's dead, Jim!"?

Where are the original "Dark Knights"?

Find out tomorrow,

Same Blackhawk Time

Same Blackhawk Channel

Wow, this book was selling over 225,000 copies per issue...and it was on the verge of cancellation?

Publishers today (including DC) would kill for those sales figures!

Note on Page 13 the villains mention several evil groups that sent representatives...SPECTRE (from James Bond), THRUSH (from Man from U.N.C.L.E.), as well as DC Comics baddie cartels O.G.R.E. ("Organization for General Revenge and Enslavement" from Aquaman) and CYCLOPS (from Brave and the Bold)

Oddly, VULTURE (from the Martian Manhunter strip in House of Mystery) isn't mentioned...

And, I stand corrected about not knowing what G.E.O.R.G.E. stood for until the end of the "New Blackhawk Era".

It's right there on Page 17 of this second issue of the "New Blackhawk Era".

Hey, it's been 25 years since I last read this series.

You expect me to remember every detail?

Sheesh...

This middle chapter of DC's Blackhawk #229 (1967) was written by Bob Haney, pencilled by Dick Dillin, inked by Chuck Cuidera.

Thanksgiving Turkey BLACKHAWK "Junk-Heap Heroes: Book II" Part 1

When Last We Left the WWII Aviators Known as Blackhawks...

 What should we think, Mr President, who for some reason has his face obscured despite the fact DC had shown the visage of every President from FDR to JFK (and had already shown this President, LBJ, in several other titles)?

The "Saga That Made Comics History"?

Judge for Yourself...Tomorrow!

The team members are suddenly demonstrating skills and disciplines they never showed aptitudes for (except Andre) in a foreshadowing of what they soon will become.
One warning; the most outlandish is yet to come!

Written by Bob Haney, pencilled by Dick Dillin, inked by Chuck Cuidera.

Thanksgiving Turkey BLACKHAWK "Junk-Heap Heroes" Part 3

When Last We Left Our Heroes.. 

...declared "has-beens" by the US government and Justice League of America, the Blackhawks are given one last chance to prove themselves in a mock battle with a robot.

But, they are forced to leave the testing ground (where they're losing badly) to guard one of their arch enemies, Jolly Roger, from other criminals, since his death would set off bombs in every major city.
As they reluctantly defend the villain from various threats, the Blackhawks are incapacitated one-by-one until only Blackhawk himself remains to battle the final assassin...Queen Killer Shark aka Lady Blackhawk...

To be continued...next week!

Two points I just have to make...

1) Somehow this group, G.E.O.R.G.E., whom we've never seen or heard of, knows the weaknesses of everybody on the team...which even their own teammates who've worked and lived side-by-side for over 25 years didn't know?

Damn, G.E.O.R.G.E. is good at this spy stuff!

(and this was before Google!)

2) We didn't discover until the end of the series what "G.E.O.R.G.E." stood for..."Group for Extermination of Organizations of Revenge, Greed, and Evil".

Easily one of, if not the, lamest acronym in spy history!

OK, now that I've gotten that off my chest...

Written by Bob Haney, pencilled by Dick Dillin, inked by Chuck Cuidera.

Next week: "Junk-Heap Heroes: Book Two"

More tests!

More villains!

And the first of the new Blackhawk costumes...but not worn by a Blackhawk!

Thanksgiving Turkey BLACKHAWK "Junk-Heap Heroes" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

...declared "has-beens" by the US government and Justice League of America, the Blackhawks are given one last chance to prove themselves in a mock battle with a robot.

But, they are forced to leave the testing ground (where they're losing badly) to guard one of their arch enemies, Jolly Roger, from other criminals, since his death would set off bombs in every major city...

Do we really have to say?

To Be Continued...

(One hint; the worst is yet to come!)

Thanksgiving Turkey BLACKHAWK "Junk-Heap Heroes" Part 1

 There are times when you just scratch your head and ask "What the hell were they thinking?"

This is the story of one of those times...

Actually, it'll be continued tomorrow...

As shown in DC Comics' Blackhawk #228 (1967), the World War II-era adventurers were passe in a world of spies and super-heroes.
Comics are notorious for jumping on pop-culture bandwagons.
Look at the current Afterlife with Archie, combining Riverdale's wholesome eternal teens with Walking Dead-style zombies.
But, at the same time, remember Archie and company embraced both the superhero and spy genres in the '60s...with far less success!
Archie Comics even retooled the classic pulp character The Shadow into a purple and green spandex-clad superhero as seen HERE.
In 1967, Blackhawk and his team were facing the deadly threat of declining sales.
Considering the fact that all of them were active during World War II (which was less than 25 years earlier) and thus would be in their late 40s (if not older), the idea that they were still fighting (and beating) giant robots, aliens, and the occasional retired Nazi would seem to be a tribute to their skills and abilities.
BTW, it's not as if DC was downplaying their age.
The backup feature in the book was "Combat Diary", detailing indivudual team members' adventures during WWII, and a number of lead stories involved flashbacks to the War.
Writers including Arnold Drake, Dave Wood, France Herron, and George Kashdan tried different approaches, including playing up fantasy/sci-fi elements, but none seemed to help sagging sales figures.
In an era when everyone in pop culture was a super-hero or spy (or both), DC's powers-that-be decided to throw everything but the kitchen sink into one last try.
Writer Bob Haney, whose titles (including Teen Titans, Metamorpho, and Brave and Bold) were doing well, was given the assignment to reboot the series.
But, instead of a new artist handling the revamp (as was standard practice), the ongoing art team of Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera (who had been illustrating the book for over a decade) was retained.
Trivia: Dillin, who would take over Justice League a year later, and become the longest-lasting artist on the title, got his first opportunity to draw the JLAers in this issue.
And with the unique combination of old-and-new, the transition begins....