A Twice-Told Tale About Nazis Becoming Russkies...and Being SMASHED Both TImes by Different Heroines!

This is a "twice-told tale"...

...demonstrating how similarly WWII Germans and Cold War Russkies could be portrayed in pop culture!

First, a tale starring a long-forgotten heroine from Elliot's Spitfire Comics #132 (1944)...

Secret agent Spitfire Sanders made only two appearances, in successive issues of Elliot Comics' Spitfire Comics, which despite the high numbering of this issue (#132), only had two issues!
(And this was the first of the two!)
The art on this story about an extremely competent female spy is by journeyman artist Paul Cooper, working for the Iger Studios, who also supplied art to Ajax/Farrell (where the re-worked version appeared several years later) and Fox Comics.
It was scripted by "Rick Shawn", which was likely a pen-name since he's only credited with the two Spitfire Saunders tales!

Now we jump a decade to 1954.

The Nazis have been defeated.

Communism is on the rise.

A comic book publisher needs a story about a superheroine to meet a deadline, so Nazi-Crusher Spitfire Sanders becomes...already-existing Russkie-Smasher Phantom Lady!

Oh, and due to space limitations, the original story has to be cut by a couple of pages...

For this presentation in Ajax/Farrell's Phantom Lady #5 (actually #1) from 1954, the brand new (and extremely-restrictive Comics Code also required a reduction in gunplay and use of torture instruments like whips, so a number of panels were reworked...or deleted entirely!

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Phantom Lady

TPB Reprinting the Complete Golden Age Fox Comics Series, Mostly Illustrated by Legendary Good Girl Artist Matt Baker, and with a New Cover by Good Girl Artist Adam Hughes!

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!

Russkie-Smashers BLACKHAWK "Mutiny of the Red Sailors"

Can you really, truly, ever trust a Russkie...

...especially when you want to do so because you fervently believe they're trying to do the right thing?

When DC bought the Quality Comics line (including both already-published stories and unpublished material) in 1956, Blackhawk was one of the few titles they continued without interruption.

DC's first issue, (#108, from which this tale is re-presented) was published the month after #107, Quality's last issue!
As a result, much of the first few DC-published issues featured stories already in various stages of production.
This particular tale, by writer Robert Bernstein, penciler Dick Dillin, and inker Chuck Cuidera had been completed before the transfer.
You'll note it's a straight adventure/espionage tale, without sci-fi/fantasy elements.
Once the inventory was exhausted, DC dropped the Communist/Russian plotlines until the very end of the original series...which you'll see next week!

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