Blackhawk (DC Comics)

Blackhawk is a fictional character and the title of a long-running comic book series published first by Quality Comics and later by DC Comics. Primarily created by Chuck Cuidera with input from both Bob Powell and Will Eisner, the Blackhawk characters first appeared in Military Comics #1 (August 1941). Led by a mysterious man known as Blackhawk, the Blackhawks (or more formally, the Blackhawk Squadron) are a small team of World War II-era ace pilots of varied nationalities, each typically known under a single name, either their given name or their surname. Though the membership roster has undergone changes over the years, the team has been portrayed most consistently as having seven core members.The squadron is inspired by the real life best known as the Black Sheep of World War II fame and for one of its commanding officers, Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, whose memoirs also inspired the 1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep, (later syndicated as Black Sheep Squadron) which dramatized the squadron's exploits during the war. In their most well-known incarnation, the Blackhawks operate from a hidden base known only as Blackhawk Island, fly Grumman XF5F Skyrocket planes, and shout their battle cry of "Hawk-a-a-a!" as they descend from the skies to fight tyranny and oppression. Clad in matching blue and black uniforms (with Blackhawk himself boasting a hawk insignia on his chest), early stories pitted the team against the Axis powers, but they would also come to battle recurring foes such as King Condor and Killer Shark, as well as encounter an array of gorgeous and deadly femme fatales. They also frequently squared off against fantastical war machines ranging from amphibious "shark planes" and flying tanks, to the aptly-named War Wheel, a gigantic rolling behemoth adorned with spikes and machine guns. At the height of his popularity in the early-1940s, Blackhawk titles routinely outsold every other comic book but Superman. Blackhawk also shares the unique distinction of being just one of four comic book characters to be published continuously from the 1940s through the 1960s (the others being Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman). The comic series has spawned a film serial, a radio series and a novel. ==Publication history== ===Creation===Like many of his golden age and silver age comic book counterparts, the creation of Blackhawk has been the subject of sometimes-contentious debate. Will Eisner has at times been considered the characters' primary creator, with Eisner himself acknowledging the contributions of Chuck Cuidera and writer Bob Powell. Over the years, Cuidera became increasingly vocal that he did much more work on Blackhawk than Eisner and that he had in fact already started creating the characters prior to joining Eisner's studio. According to Cuidera, he and Powell fleshed out the concept, deciding on everything from names and nationalities, to the characters' distinguishing traits, uniforms, and the aircraft they would fly. In 1999, Eisner addressed his view of the matter during a Comic-Con panel: "It's not important who created it...it's the guy who kept it going, and made something out if it that's more important. Whether or not Chuck Cuidera created or thought of Blackhawk to begin with is unimportant. The fact that Chuck Cuidera made Blackhawk what it was is the important thing, and therefore, he should get the credit." ===The Quality Comics years===The Blackhawks debuted in August 1941 as the lead feature in the first issue of Quality Comics' anthology series Military Comics, billed as featuring "stories of the Army and Navy." Viewed by Will Eisner as "a modern version of the Robin Hood legend," the team's first appearance was co-written by Chuck Cuidera and Bob Powell, with art by Cuidera. Although the exact nature of Eisner, Cuidera, and Powell's individual contributions to the creation of the Blackhawks will never be known, it is confirmed that each performed some level of writing duties at different times during the first eleven issues, with Eisner working on early covers with Cuidera and Cuidera providing interior artwork. When Cuidera joined the armed services in 1942, Reed Crandall took over as artist, beginning a long association with the characters that would last until 1953. Jim Steranko has observed, "Where Cuidera made Blackhawk a best-seller, Crandall turned it into a classic, a work of major importance and lasting value." It was during Crandall's run that the series hit its sales and popularity zenith. The Blackhawks' success earned them their own title in Winter 1944. That issue, Blackhawk #9, picked up the numbering of Quality's canceled Uncle Sam Quarterly. They meanwhile continued to be featured prominently in Military Comics, later renamed Modern Comics, until that book's cancellation with #102 (October 1950). During the Quality years, a whole host of well-respected talent worked on the character, including writers Manly Wade Wellman, Bill Woolfolk, Bill Finger, and Dick French, as well as artists Al Bryant, Bill Ward, and Dick Dillin. It was French, also an accomplished songwriter, who infused the team with the quirky desire to sing celebratory songs from their cockpits as they swooped in and out of battle. Quality Comics ceased operations with comics cover-dated December 1956, with Blackhawk #107 being the final issue published by Quality. The character and title trademarks were initially leased on a royalty basis to National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics) before eventually being sold in their entirety. ===Acquired by DC Comics===Blackhawk was one of the few Quality series that DC chose to keep running uninterrupted. Penciller Dick Dillon and inker Chuck Cuidera remained on the title, ensuring a near-seamless transition. The duo would stay with the title through nearly its entire first run at DC. Steering deeper and deeper into the realm of science fiction, the Blackhawks found themselves confronting a steady stream of unmemorable and mostly one-off supervillain-like adversaries bent on world domination. The Blackhawks also gained a new ally in Blackhawk #133 (February 1959): Lady Blackhawk, a pilot named Zinda Blake who was determined to become the first female member of the team. After a couple of appearances, she was granted honorary status and became a semi-frequent member of the supporting cast.In pre-Crisis terms, if Quality Comics adventures were all on Earth-X, when DC began publishing Blackhawk, does that make those adventures technically Earth-Two?At DC, the Blackhawks continued under the same art team as at Quality: Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera. Over the years, they began transitioned from fighting big machines to more super-villains (the Killer Shark recurred often), and sci-fi menaces that mirrored the types of stories being produced in DC’s other superhero titles. Regardless of the quality, something was working, and the title kept going into the mid-1960s. (#108-196) In 1958, they were joined by a Lady Blackhawk, Zinda Blake. (Blackhawk #133) In her first adventure, she failed to make the cut, and she appeared off-and-on for some time, and eventually disappeared amid the time fluctuations caused by Zero Hour. She emerged decades in the future. (Guy Gardner #24). She was invited by Oracle to join the Birds of Prey as their pilot. (Birds of Prey #75) In Blackhawk�#197 (June 1964), their uniforms were updated to a red-and-green scheme that was less military and more akin to contemporary adventurers like the Challengers of the Unknown. (#196-227) Lady Blackhawk came under the thrall of the Killer Shark, as Queen Killer Shark. (#200) In order to keep the Blackhawks hip to the times, an embarrasingly bizarre move was made beginning with issue #228 (Jan. 1967) to recast the Blackhawks as true superheroes! That issue featured the Justice League on the cover, and on the next, Blackhawk rather desperately cried to the reader, “Don’t quit on us! Everyone says the Blackhawks are washed up… but you be the judge!” They were now known as the Leaper (Olaf), Dr. Hands (Chop Chop), the Weapons Master (Hendrickson), the Big Eye (Blackhawk), the Listener (Chuck), M’Sieu Machine (Andre), and the Golden Centurion (Stan). (#228-241) Just before it was canceled, DC attempted to return the Blackhawk� to its traditional setting (and uniforms). (#242-243)      In an effort to update the characters, DC gave the team its first ever major wardrobe overhaul in Blackhawk #197 (June 1964), replacing their longtime uniforms with red and black shirts and green pants. On a dramatic level, Lady Blackhawk was transformed into a supervillain, Queen Killer Shark, in Blackhawk #200 (September 1964). Then, in a much more drastic attempt to combat flagging sales due to the rising popularity of superhero books and the Batman TV series, DC proclaimed with Blackhawk #228 (January 1967) the beginning of "the New Blackhawk Era" with a cover featuring Justice League of America members Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and the Flash observing that the Blackhawks are (in Superman's words) "washed up" and (in Batman's words) "junk-heap heroes." In the issues that followed, all but Blackhawk gained a costumed superhero alter ego at the behest of a shadowy government agency. With sales continuing to sink, the Blackhawks were restored to something that more closely resembled their original roots in Blackhawk #242 (August 1968), losing the superhero identities in favor of their traditional blue and black uniforms. It was too late though; the comic was canceled for the first time one issue later. ===1970s===Just over seven years later, DC Comics resurrected the series with Blackhawk #244 (January 1976) as part of the "DC Explosion," a then-recent marketing campaign in which DC began publishing more monthly titles and increased the number of story pages in all of its titles, accompanied by higher cover prices. The Blackhawks were transplanted to the 1970s and now portrayed as mercenaries-for-hire, matching wits against fancifully bizarre new villains, as well as a re-imagined Killer Shark and War Wheel. This run ended with Blackhawk #250 (January 1977), and is therefore not considered a casualty of 1978's DC Implosion.The Earth-One Justice League appeared in the 1960s Blackhawk, which would place them on Earth-One as well. That was probably the logic at the time, but later Mark Evanier's Blackhawk was explicitly defined as the Earth-One team. Another anomaly was Roy Thomas' use of the characters in All-Star Squadron, where they were on Earth-Two during World War II. You didn't realize Blackhawk continuity was such a mess, did you? But if one isolates Blackhawk's DC adventures from 1957-1977, they fit easily into Silver Age Earth-One continuity. There are reasons for this in the narrative below. In the letters column of Blackhawk #244, Jack C. Harris penned a classified memo of sorts which "speculated" about the Blackhawks' origins: "It is believed that in their youth, the Blackhawks fought the forces of Hitler throughout the world. Others speculate that the group first banded together in the fifties to battle a growing number of costumed villains and foes. "There was even talk of them saving the entire planet from invasion from another world! (ref??) Much of this is believed to have been the ravings of the victims of mass hysteria, but some historians are not so sure. "During the changing sixties there was a story that this mighty team had donned costumes and become super-heroes in the 'camp' craze of the troubled times. This remains unconfirmed and is thought today to be mere fiction. "In 1968 the team known as the Blackhawks faded from the public eye. Inquiries into the disappearance led only to dead ends and blank walls. "A joint statement issued by the Justice League of America and the U.S. Government read, simply 'No Comment.' The Blackhawks were gone. The questions were unanswered. Then, in early September of this year, reports began to trickle in on a new group calling themselves the Blackhawks. Extensive investigations into this team's activities have determined that it is not a new team, but the original seven, who have seemingly survived whatever mission they departed on those seven years ago. "It is also clear that these seven have retained the same positions in rank and duties as when they last appeared in public." It went on to list them, adding, "No longer subsidized by the U.S. Government or by the private fortunes of its members, the Blackhawks are now supported by mercenary feeds collected for their deeds." Blackhawk, alias Bart Hawk aka Mr. Cunningham, the silent head of Cunningham Aircraft, one of the largest aircraft corporations in the world. He commands a working knowledge of many branches of science with specialties in aviation and aerodynamics.Stanislaus: Known to be a citizen of Poland, Stanislaus is the financial wizard of Cunningham Aircraft, the suspected front of the Blackhawk operation.Hendrickson: Of Dutch descent, it is believed that Hendrickson spent much of his childhood in Germany. [NOTE: This marries his Quality-era Holland vs. Germany citizencship.] He is the oldest of the group and speculation leads to the belief that his current duty is sentinel of the secret base of the team, Blackhawk Island, location: unknown!Chuck: An American citizen, Chuck is the communications expert and scientist of the team, applying almost the sum total of his knowledge to operations for Cunningham and the Blackhawk project.Chopper (formerly Chop-Chop). Former citizen of mainland China. Chopper is master of Martial arts, but shows more aptitude in being the most skilled flier of the team, save for Blackhawk himself.Andre: A mechanics expert, Andre is one of the three Blackhawks who operate outside the United States. It is known that his base is in France, the nation of his birth, but at this time there is no information as to the European mission.Olaf is also a European operative, with a cover job as a ski instructor at a Cunningham -owned resort. Of Swedish background, the massive man is the youngest of the Blackhawk team. (Blackhawk #244)Lasting only seven issues, the 1976 revival managed to reintroduce classic Blackhawk foes and plot devices and invent some new ones. Skeates set up a whole lot of characterization and potential for the Blackhawks but had to leave many plot threads unresolved. The series opened with the squad rushing into battle against the forces of Anton Vibrax. It was a freelance mission commissioned by a man named Robinson, who wanted them to retrieve some prototype weapon. They easily took down Vibrax's ally, the Collector, in the Sahara. Afterwards, they reported failure to Robinson, and argued with him over payment. When they were relieved of duty, the rest of the squad returned to their private lives. Blackhawk used the alias of "Cunningham" and was now the head of Cunningham Aircraft, ostensibly an aircraft manufacturing company, but in truth more of a cover for their own research and development, and freelance services. Stan was now the company's financial wizard. Chuck worked there too, and Chopper (never "Chop-Chop" in this series) was their #2 pilot. Andre and Olaf returned to Europe, where Olaf used the cover of ski instructor to maintain their European mountain base. Save for Hendrickson, the Blackhawks no longer resided on Blackhawk Island. That day, Hendrickson received a visitor—the Duchess Ramona Fatale aka Patch, a red-haired spitfire with an eye patch. They'd previously fought against and beside her, but now she needed help against Vibrax, who had decimated her own island fortress and crew. (Curiously, the "roll call" on the splash page included Fatale.) Hendrickson summoned the others to Blackhawk Island, where the Duchess had donned a Blackhawk uniform (out of necessity; you see… she'd fled her island wearing only a bikini). At Duchess Island, they caught Vibrax unprepared and Blackhawk tricked the villain into succumbing to his own destructive gauntlet. In the end, Blackhawk found in Fatale's possession the object of their original mission: the American prototype anti-missile device. (#244) Upon returning to Blackhawk Island, Hendrickson was attacked by a plane that dropped a passenger. He rushed in to discovered that it was his own daughter, Elsa! When the Blackhawks arrived, they learned that Elsa was kidnapped by the Anti-Man in Santa Culpa. Meanwhile, Anti-Man ambushed Olaf upon his return to his resort. Olaf was shocked—he recognized Anti-Man as someone he believed long dead. Blackhawk was convinced to take this unpaid mission on Elsa's behalf, and the Blackhawks were soon face-to-face with Anti-Man himself. The villain wasted no time revealing his true identity. He was their long lost former member, Boris, left for dead at Angola! (#245)Boris stopped short of murdering his former comrades and the men recounted their memories of him. Even though he was Russian, the men always gave Boris the benefit of the doubt. [NOTE: This also implies a 1950s/anti-Communist era start to this team's continuity.] Chuck was closest to him, but Stan recalled a time when Chuck narrowly avoided a land mine, and suspected Boris or leading Chuck onto it. Chopper took Boris' place in the line-up and was told of his end. It was in battle against the mad scientist, Professor Distov, and the squad was forced to flee his exploding laboratory, but Boris supposedly perished inside. His new ally, Professor Ortega, explained that Boris' new super-powers came from Mount Sebastion, which lay at the polar opposite end of the globe as Distov's lab. An alien source of anti-matter energy had landed at Sebastion and its energy seeped through the Earth, allowing Boris to survive Distov's explosion. Now his captive, Olaf, used his own brute strength to break his bonds and Blackhawk bypassed Boris' super-powers with naught but his own fists. Boris proclaimed that he preferred death to capture, and set off a chain reaction within the mountain, which disintegrated. (#246)   Everybody shouted in 1976... Patch introduces her all-new, all-sexy fightin' lady squad; from Blackhawk #247 (1976). Art by Ric Estrada and Al Milgrom. The Biolord, from Blackhawk #247 (1976). David A. Kraft penned the next issue, and the writing was of a noticeably lesser quality. While the Blackhawks bickered among themselves, Patch returned, having recruited three new agents: the sexy Tania, Ayn and Prudence. She asked them for help in pursuing Vibrax's employer, and Andre was assigned to accompany them to Belgium. The rest of the squadron was hired again by Robinson (called "Robertson" now) to act as courier form Greenland to Great Britain. Robertson was in truth, the Biolord. and he ambushed the Blackhawks with armored robot soldiers. Biolord was using the same anti-matter lode that had powered Boris. His mission was to preserve ecological balance and to eliminate "human insanity." He used it to build an Anti-Bomb, and prepared to launch it. (#247) Chuck quickly disabled the Anti-Bomb's guidance system and the Biolord unleashed his Metadroids—all while pleading his case. He was a cyborg created to by machines in response to the global environmental crisis; only a machine stood a chance of surviving the apocalypse. He built his lair in Greenland and hired Vibrax and Anti-Man. Just then, Andre returned and blasted the Biolord to bits. As the Blackhawks left, Biolord reconstructed himself and Blackhawk bailed from his plane to engage the cyborg directly. Olaf dove out after his leader. Back on Blackhawk Island, Elsa Hendrickson pulled a gun on her father. She complained that he had deserted her (her mother was now dead), but the two reconciled. (#248) [NOTE: In the letters of the next issue, the editors revealed, "As for your requests for Elsa taking her place as a Blackhawk like her famous father, well, we'll have to tell you to keep with us. It seems your thoughts are very close to our own."]   Elsa, Hendrickson's daughter and the new would-be Lady Blackhawk; from Blackhawk #248 (1976). Art by Jim Sherman and George Evans. Having just escaped from the clutches of the Biolord, Olaf and Blackhawk landed on snowy mountains and were ambushed by a new threat: a skull-headed menace and two wolves on a motor sled! Later in the hospital, Blackhawk recognized Von Gross, a former Nazi SS Colonel who ran an Amazon torture camp. They pursued him into the sky and discovered his giant hovering Sky-Skull, which converted solar to electromagnetic energy and repelled it from the Earth's surface. Blackhawk used his own strength to break a laser gun from its mount, and turned it on Von Gross. The villain tumbled out of the Sky-Skull and Blackhawk dove into the ocean after him. Instead, Blackhawk came ashore on an island, where he found himself in the direct path of their old nemesis, the War Wheel (1st app. Blackhawk #56, Sept. 1952)! On Blackhawk Island, Elsa summoned Hendrickson to see an artifact she had received from her mother. She intended to return this talisman to its "home," but when she produced it, Hendrickson doubled over in pain. (#249) Like disco, this generation of Blackhawk lived fast and died young (thought it didn't burn as brightly). The final issue reintroduced Blackhawk's classic arch enemy, the Killer Shark (1st app. Blackhawk #70, Nov. 1953), who was in command of the War Wheel. When the others arrived to help, all but Chuck were forced to bail from their planes. To save his comrades, Chuck made a kamikaze dive into the War Wheel, sacrificing his life in the resulting conflagration. This shocking conclusion was followed up on the letters page, which described the Blackhawks' return to the island, bearing Chuck in a coffin made from the wing of his plane, and laying him to rest there. (#250) This version was canceled before the "DC Implosion," happened in 1977. Unlike many other titles, there are no "lost" Blackhawk stories or appearances in the two-volume Canceled Comics Cavalcade. Also in that last letters page, the editors admitted that "something never clicked." "We wanted you to forget the Blackhawks of old and recognize the New Blackhawks as the one, the only and the most original. We have to face it, we failed to capture your interest." Notes In comparison to Golden Age times, there was much more "lag time" between an issue's cover date and it's street date. In the 1940s, an April issue was advertised for sale in February. During this 1970s run of Blackhawk, an issue cover dated March/April went on sale in late December. Powers No member of the Blackhawks exhibited metahuman powers. All were exceptional pilots and trained hand-to-hand combatants, each with their own special ===1980s & 1990s===Amid rampant rumors that Steven Spielberg was interested in Blackhawk as a possible film project, DC Comics once again resumed the series. Initially conceived as being published quarterly, editor Len Wein convinced DC to make the book monthly and eventually assembled a team that included writer Mark Evanier and artist Dan Spiegle. Blackhawk #251 (October 1982) returned the team to a World War II setting and restored many of the familiar trappings that had been shed over the years during the various attempts to modernize the characters. Numerous new supporting characters were introduced during the run, most notably Domino, a buxom Nazi assassin and love interest to Blackhawk who was reminiscent of the femme fatales so common during the Quality Comics era. Evanier also reintroduced arch-villain Killer Shark, and has said he would have likely added Lady Blackhawk to the cast had the series lasted longer. But faced with stagnant sales that Evanier attributed largely to DC's lack of interest in publicizing the series, the book was canceled with Blackhawk #273 (November 1984). Though it wouldn't be known at the time, that issue would mark the definitive end of the series' original issue numbering. Dan Spiegle's spectacular opening salvo, from Blackhawk #251 (1982). The 1982 reboot by longtime collaborators Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle re-envisioned the Blackhawks in a more streamlined fashion, taking all the most prominent aspects of the original wartime adventures and adding a more human dimension to the pilots themselves. The series lasted for 23 issues and appeared to be relatively successful despite its lack of promotion. On his blog, Evanier claimed that, "Our run on Blackhawk caused some tumult in the DC halls because most everyone had predicted a quick flop of a book that was only being revived for licensing reasons. It didn't sell well but it sold above all projections and garnered a lot of in-house fans. (The biggest problem was that DC couldn't sell reprint rights to their biggest overseas customer. For some reason, Germany didn't want a comic book that was all about killing Germans.)" Evanier and Spiegle had some history of working together prior to this. Though both were passionate about war comics, they had produced Scooby Doo... Mystery Comics (long before DC published Scooby), at Gold Key. After Blackhawk, they moved on to Crossfire for Eclipse. Spiegle graduated from Los Angeles's Chouinard Art Institute and quickly found gig drawing the "Hopalong Cassidy" newspaper strip, then the Maverick comic for Dell/Western Publishing in the 1950s. When Western became Gold Key, the publisher shifted to funny animal and Dan was put on Scooby. Evanier's career included a lot of TV writing, like 1975's "Welcome Back, Kotter" and countless cartoons—even "Plastic Man"! Evanier wrote often in the letters columns about the decisions affecting the series, and the frequent changes in editors (Len Wein lasted one issue, then Marv Wolfman and Ernie Colon for a handful each, finally Evanier himself). Even though this revival of Blackhawk did not begin with issue #1, it was created as a "clean slate," and was not intended to be in continuity with previous Blackhawk eras. They considered this version to be the Earth-One version of Blackhawk, still based heavily on the Quality Comics adventures. Evanier said in the letters column of issue #257, "The Blackhawk's adventures in this comic are the first-ever exploits of the Blackhawks of Earth-1 and all previous Blackhawk stories took place on Earth-2 or Earth-X (which took place on which, I don't even want to begin to think about). The reason Marv [Wolfman] and I opted for Earth-1 is that, we felt if we chose any other, it would be difficult to do the book and still make it comprehensible to those who don't have the first 259 issues. I don't even have the first 249 issues, though I have a lot of them." He acknowledged that there was still a continuity problem with the (Earth-1) Justice League's appearance in Blackhawk #228 (Jan. 1967). He concluded by saying, "I think you'll find yourself enjoying a number of issues that couldn't have been done if we had to adhere to the constraints of the 'Mythos' of Earth-2 or Earth-X." The freedom allowed for a great sense of continuity within the series, made possible mostly through the establishment of a core group of adversaries and some very distinct personality traits for the Blackhawk members. The squad’s primary adversary was Adolf Hitler himself. Many adventures took place in Germany and the Führer appeared in nearly every issue. Hitler also employed an American man, a profiteer and genius inventor named Hugo Merson. Merson was cast as the inventor of the War Wheel and all of the other strange devices that ravaged the continent. And it wouldn’t have been Blackhawk without the femme fatale. In Evanier’s run, Blackhawk’s recurring nemesis was the beautiful Domino, a humble young woman fashioned into an assassin. Naturally, the two found themselves irresistibly attracted to one another. The series opened in 1940, before the United States’ entrance into World War II. To set the tone, Evanier’s first pages introduced Hitler and briefly described his rise to power. The series read rather like a serial, with plot threads continuing over many months, but not to the detriment of the individual installments. The team's origins were familiar, and recounted in the first issue: Blackhawk was Bart Hawk (this, a name borrowed from earlier DC appearances and first mentioned in Blackhawk #260) a flier from the Polish Reserve who fought the German invasion in 1939, during which time he lost friends and family. After painting his plane black, he took out 20 German planes but when he landed, hoping to bring the good news to his family, he found his home destroyed. His brother, Jack, died before him. Because of his plane, the Polish people dubbed Bart "Blackhawk." He quickly learned that Captain Ernst Von Tepp (first name in #257) was the commander behind the raid and and began gathering intelligence to find Von Tepp. He also met the second member of the squadron, Stanislaus of Warsaw, whose family was similarly killed. Blackhawk and Stan made successful missions using decoy gliders, and after their successes, they added other members. (Blackhawk #251) In #253, Mark Evanier described the members in more detail, saying he was attempting to cross-pollinate the older versions, mixing some of the crazy original Nazi machines and forgotten lands with modern characterization. Evanier had begun reading comics in 1962 and fell in love with DC's Blackhawk, but always felt their adventures were anachronistic. In delving into their Quality appearances, he discovered he preferred them. The new Blackhawks reported directly to Winston Churchill in London, and were volunteers. The location of their base, Blackhawk Island, was top secret. As in their earliest Quality Comics adventures, their planes in this series were the Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrockets. Dan Spiegle (and colorists Carl Gafford and Jo Meugniot) did a better job than even Reed Crandall at distinguishing each squadron member. From Blackhawk #267 (1983). The seven core members all appeared in Blackhawk #251-273, with the exception of Chop-Chop, who appeared in Blackhawk #251-265 & 273. Most issues in the series featured a shorter "Detached Service Diary" that spotlighted one member. Evanier and Spiegle's Blackhawk: tough, handsome—and sensitive. From Blackhawk #269 (1984). Blackhawk (Bart Hawk), was described as a "Polish American," but his family and history were only depicted in Poland. He was thorough, decisive and dedicated, only wanting to end the war. He actually abhorred killing and would do so only to defend his own life. Two characters called him "Bart," an old friend, Bill Leachman, who tried to collect ransom on Blackhawk's head, (#260) and his love interest, Domino II. (#272)Stanislaus was Blackhawk's loyal friend and second-in-command. Stan was more than a tad jealous of his friend's leadership abilities and suffered from a severe lack of confidence. When Stan was gifted a model Blackhawk plane in France, he found that it was tracked his location. Back at Blackhawk Island, he was attacked by a giant flying robot. Once he discovered the tracking device, he lured the robot into the mouth of a volcano. (#257) Stanislaus twice went to the Soviet Union, first to save Stalin, and then to confer about their preparedness for war. He found an infiltrator in the camp of Marshal Svineena, who gorged himself while his men went hungry. Stan found the traitor after the Marshal's wolf/guard dropped dead. (#267) Chuck was from Waco, Texas, and originally joined the British R.A.F. He was also an expert mechanic; he could disassemble and reassemble a plane in a flash. He was drawn with a tougher face, and written with a ruder disposition (Evanier didn't like how all the members had grown to look like each other, and more Aryan). Once when his plane was stolen, he found it in pieces at the local junk dealer, Hocking. Hocking and Chuck were caught by a Nazi commander but Hocking bribed their guard to let them go. Chuck followed the Nazi—who had taken Chuck's Blackhawk engine for his own plane—and was forced to destroy it. (#265) Hendrickson was once again Dutch, as in the original Quality Comics (he was changed to German after the war). From Rotterdam, he was their weapons master and a sharpshooter. Hendrickson was significantly older than the others and often felt underappreciated. Once when he was grounded from a shot in the shoulder, he attended a USO event and took offense the comedy of one Randy Daye. But Daye's skills of observation saved Hendy from a bomb in his plane, planted by Der Morder. (#260) Andre was a former member of the French underground, multlingual, and prone to breaking formation and stunt maneuvers. While he was a junior officer in the French army, in 1937, Andre met Monique from whom he became inseparable. After joining the Blackhawks, he met her again as part of the resistance, but chose the Blackhawks over her group of fighters. (#260) Andre sometimes returned to France covertly, once to stop the Nazi General Hokar from stealing the people's jewels. Andre reclaimed all the riches and left Hokar at the mercy of his superior, who arrested him for profiteering. (#268) Olaf was a tall Swede, a former circus acrobat. His war career began as an allied courier. His height and accent often made him feel (and appear) like a bumbler, but he was a more than capable fighter. He once returned to his old circus just as the Nazis invaded it. Olaf escaped dressed as a clown and saved an allied courier from the Germans. (#266) In a holiday tale told in rhyming verse, Olaf was forced down in Germany and taken in by a Jewish family. When Nazis appeared, he saved the family, shepherding them through a killer snow storm to place of reprieve. (#268) Wu Cheng, aka Chop-Chop hailed from Manchuria, in China. He was the last and youngest member to join, the team's martial arts master. Evanier gave Chop-Chop a real name, "Wu Cheng" (more below), in a tale where he found a Chinese compound in the Swiss Alps. It was tended by Soong Kai-Sen, a former resistance leader who'd fought the Japanese in Manchuria. When the Japanese were "awarded" the area north of the Great Wall, Chop-Chop and his people relocated to the south. He continued to wander until he found the Blackhawks. Cheng saved Kai-Sen from a ninja assassin who then committed hara kiri. Chop-Chop challenged Kai-Sen to return home and lead their people, but Kai-Sen posed the same challenge to Wu Cheng. (#259) The series opened after the team's formation, but before the United States' entrance into the war. On 11 May 1940, the Blackhawks parachuted into Holland and found the locals unwilling to fight the Germans because the town had been entrusted with Holland's most valuable works of art. They locals intended to grant power to the Nazis in a plebescite, or "free election." There Blackhawk was captured by his arch nemesis, Von Tepp and subjected to sodium pentathol. The others rescued their leader but were confronted by a giant super-tank. At the end of the successful battle, they found that the precious Dutch artworks had not survived. (#251) The second issue featured many classic "Blackhawk" standbys, including Blackhawk Island, Von Tepp, and the War Wheel. In the story, Von Tepp prepared a new Nazi assassin, Domino, for her assignment—to assassinate Blackhawk. Meanwhile the Blackhawks flew to southern Belgium. In a town that sheltered resistance fighters, the Nazis had unleashed the giant War Wheel, which Blackhawk deduced was the creation of Professor Hugo Merson. After the machine disappeared, they traveled undercover to Beldorf. Domino was waiting for Blackhawk, whom she quickly disabled. Merson was also there, but the Blackhawks mistakenly believed that the scientist was being forced to work for Hitler. They tried to "rescue" him just as the War Wheel made a return appearance. This time they brought it down with a dose of high voltage. The squad attempted to take Merson prisoner but Domino intervened. Most notably, she chose not to kill Blackhawk when she had the chance. (#252)   == The beautiful and deadly Domino ==  The beautiful and deadly Domino, from Blackhawk #261 (1983). Art by Dan Spiegle. The War Wheel's secret is discovered. From Blackhawk #263 (1983). Art by Dan Spiegle. Evanier's Blackhawks were exceedingly (excessively?) human. His Hendrickson was a veteran of two wars. He left his wife, Violet, on 11 September 1939 and never saw her again; she was killed in a German raid. After this, he continued to write letters to Violet. In them, he boasted about how the others respected him and deferred to his experience—when the reality was the complete opposite. When Allied Command's mail censors read Hendrickson's letters, they assumed he was mad and ordered Blackhawk to discharge him. Hendrickson's equal number was the ace German pilot, Hans Konigsberg aka Der Bussard ("the buzzard"). Before they could confront Hendrickson, the Blackhawks discovered that he had located a secret German air base and followed him there. The Dutchman found himself face-to-face with Der Bussard and the two fired on each other, but only Hendrickson survived. Afterwards, he explained to his fellows that his letters to Violet were therapeutic, like "visiting her grave." (#253) The Blackhawks frequently aided resistance fighters in France. From the water, they managed to take down a U-Boat off the coast near Dieppe. When Adolf Hitler heard of this defeat, he again called upon Domino to humiliate the Blackhawks. Domino was an Austrian clerk whose fiance died in battle. She was trained under the Leipzig Program by Frau Bulle to be the perfect agent—without fear, pain, remorse or compassion. She met Blackhawk again in Berne, capturing him then strapping him to the front of a tank. His friends arrived in time to free him and Domino noticed how they followed Blackhawk because they loved him, not strictly out of a sense of obedience. (#254) Hitler's next plan struck at Blackhawk through his own mind. After a mission, Blackhawk accepted a necklace offered by Magda, a midget "girl" turned spy. It contained a device that transmitted waves to unnerve him. He was lured to a desert, shot down and forced to bail out. Although he didn't remove the necklace, he overcame the hallucinations just as his comrades found him in the killer sun. (#255) It took him some time to recover. Meanwhile, Stan was in charge. In Czechoslovakia they found a lab where Merson and Von Tepp were ready to unleash new monsters, the failed experiments of the Übermeister (super soldier) project. More successful was Merson's Verdoppelung project, in which he created five "twins" of Hitler from similar looking men. They captured Stanislaus and turned him into an Ubermeister just before their base was destroyed. (#256) The now-monstrous Stan demonstrated super-strength sufficient to lift a tank. Hitler ordered him to terrorize the Eiffel Tower in Paris but his teammates overpowered and captured him. In Switzerland, other Blackhawks caught up with Merson, who revealed that the monster was actually Stan. When everyone converged in Paris, Blackhawk was forced to shoot Stan just as the others burst in with an antidote. On Blackhawk Island, Blackhawk watched over his friend's recovery. (#257) Nothing and no one was safe in Evanier's Blackhawk. In this reality, the Germans succeeded in developing their own atomic bomb. Intelligence enabled the Blackhawks to discover the Nazis' lab, and the secret tunnel they used to access it (again using a giant burrower invented by Merson). Himmler was undeterred and ordered a test of the bomb—to be dropped on Blackhawk Island! The Blackhawks barely evacuated in time, to a nearby island. In their haste, they failed to rescue the nurse who'd looked after Stan. (#258) The bomb left the original Blackhawk Island irradiated and quarantined. This radioactivity affected the makeup of an unlikely visitor, one Winslow Shirk. Shirk was a wisp of a man who was inspired by the Blackhawks, but denied U.S. military service. He was determined to join the Blackhawks and traveled to Europe, eventually learning the location of the original Island. When he arrived in his rowboat, he found the signs, but back on land, he discovered that the radiation had made him invisible! He used this ability to tag along with the Blackhawks back to their new island. There he overheard a heart-to-heart conversation between Stan and Blackhawk. Stan confessed his insecurities and Blackhawk revealed some of his own. Shirk then intercepted a message requesting help to guard Churchill. He convinced a mechanic to fly him to England and was in time to prevent the assassination by one of the Hitler "twins." The Blackhawks memorialized this mystery hero with a statue. Winslow's invisibility later wore off but he was a changed man. (#259)  == The Domino Effect ==  In June 1940, Domino successfully killed several allied officer and turned over their secrets to Hitler. The Blackhawks discovered this when they launched a glider attack on a Nazi ship, which they boarded by sea, and found copies of the top secret allied "Blue Code." When Blackhawk caught up with Domino, he found himself unable to fire on her; still she was captured. In response, Hitler called upon his four remaining "Zwillings" (twins) to kill all the Allied leaders. (#261) The Allies were alerted to this plot when they discovered a movie made by Hitler, claiming that he'd killed these leaders. It meant to be distributed in the future. Andre and Chuck easily prevented the murder of Charles DeGaulle, and Chop-Chop and Stan saved Josef Stalin, but each Zwilling detonated a suicide bomb in his chest. (Afterwards, Stalin was forced to rethink his non-aggression pact with Germany and prepare for war.) In England, both Churchill and Roosevelt were saved. During the attempts, Domino was set to stand trial, but easily escaped. Both she and Blackhawk were then given explicit orders to kill one another. (#262) Blackhawk found Domino in Marrakech, where both of them were kidnapped by Rasfa, who planned to collect their ransoms. They escaped and Domino prepared to shoot Blackhawk (but not before revealing her real name: Helga). Her gun was without ammunition and just then, the Blackhawks found them and Hendrickson shot Domino dead. Afterwards, they found that she had bluffed; her gun did have ammo. The squad also took down the War Wheel once and for all. Stan deduced its trick: it was airlifted by zeppelins into fake cloud cover. They shot it down and trapped it in quicksand. (#263) Another frequent Quality-era plot device was the "land that time forgot." Evanier and Spielge recreated that magic in a tale that followed Blackhawk after the Nazi, Der Morder, through snowy mountains. Both of them happened upon a secluded land that was untouched by time and sheltered from the ravages of the wintry peaks. Blackhawk arrived second, and was greeted by Rafsu, an elder who used mental powers to disassemble Blackhawk's gun and render him unconscious. The city was established in the time of Charlemagne by 100 people, and was occasionally infused with new citizens who found it and chose to stay. Those who lived there gained immortality and they believed in non-violence. Both outsiders were ordered to undergo a test, to touch a ruby that would strike them dead if they were dishonest. Der Morder chose not to touch it at all, which exposed him as dishonest. You see, anyone who touched it would emerge with red dye on his hands. Cornered, Der Morder took Rafsu as a hostage and caused the old man to age significantly. Blackhawk saved Rafsu but both were ordered to leave. (#264)  Chop Chop's first move toward "respectability" came at Quality, in the solo feature from Blackhawk #95 (Dec. 1955); art by Paul Gustavson. Chop-Chop loses his nickname forever, now officer Wu Cheng. From Blackhawk #265. Art by Dan Spiegle. == The Graduation of Chop-Chop ==  Chop-Chop might never have become a focal point of this series if Mark Evanier had never learned of an editorial in the Richmond, Virginia, Times Dispatch (Feb. 6, 1983). In it, the writer bemoaned the change of Chop-Chop from his original "funny" Quality characterization and appearance. Evanier was horrified and spent the entire letters column in issue #263 to address it. He also followed up to defend his own ire in issue #267. The editorial hastened Chop-Chop's transformation... For a time, Chop Chop had begun acting strangely. In one mission of "detached service," he heard of the Japanese using a super-weapon against China, and he returned home to find Americans selling arms to the Japanese. The Japanese double-crossed their supplier and agent and attacked she and Chop-Chop with a giant robot. He took it down with the American's grenades, but the sales agent was still unphased by the implications of selling to the Japanese. (#264) He wasn't the same after his return, and the Blackhawks began noticing that Chop-Chop was behaving unusually. He began complaining about tasks such as radio detail and other miscellaneous duties. After a mission to Dalli, France, a little girl asked Chuck why Chop-Chop wore a different uniform, to which Chuck has no reply. Chuck put the question to Chop-Chop himself, to which he replied, "I don't know, Chuck. Why don't I wear a Blackhawk uniform like the rest of you? Maybe I'm not a full-fledged pilot like the rest of you." To exacerbate the matter, a man at a local tavern drew portraits of the men and rendered Chop-Chop in an offensive, stereotypically cartoony manner (the picture looked the same as the original Quality Comics Chop Chop). The Blackhawks threw him out the window for his insensitivity. Their next mission was dangerous and called the lightest among them. Chop-Chop volunteered and faced Merson's newest threat—bomber bats. He succeeded in dropping an engine attached to a parachute from the glider. It drew the bats' attention and they destroyed Merson's lab by following the engine to the ground. Back home at Blackhawk Island, Chop Chop finally went to Blackhawk with his primary concern: sure he was bothered by being treated like less of a member, but what really bothered him was knowing that his people needed him in China. Blackhawk was ready with a different response; he offered Chop-Chop his own official Blackhawk uniform. After putting it on, Wu Cheng officially requested a leave of absence. (#265) In the letters for issue #268, Evanier said, "I've had to ignore most of what's in the old books, apart from the characters and the spirit. So Wu Cheng is a new name one I obtained from an expert on Chinese history with whom I spoke, when I was writing for That's Incredible! some time back." == The Eighth Blackhawk: Lt. Gaynor ==    The cold-hearted Lt. Gaynor, from Blackhawk #266 (1984). Art by Dan Spiegle. Lt. Theodore R. Gaynor was Chop-Chop's replacement. He was born in 1912, in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin and graduated top of his class at West Point. He was recommended for OCS by congressional commission, appointed special attaché, USMC, in 1936. His activities from 1937-39 were classified and unavailable. In May 1940, he joined a special unit of the British Intelligence that answered to Winston Churchill. Churchill then recommended Gaynor to the Blackhawk squadron. Gaynor was a staunch military man with black-and-white views, and from the start, he judged the loosely run Blackhawks to be lacking in discipline. Chuck soon caught a glimpse into Gaynor's psyche. In Port Celtan, Gaynor killed a defenseless German soldier who was already unconscious. Chuck brought the matter to Blackhawk, who was sure there must have been a good reason. Meanwhile, the Germans used Merson's biotechnology to turn Walther Schoener into a Blackhawk look-alike. Blackhawk quickly began to realize that he had a doppelganger running around, and trailed Schoener's trail leads to Merson's new lab. Schoener escaped and managed to kidnap Churchill, but Gaynor was quick to shoot on Schoener, killing him. To their surprise, afterward Churchill offered Merson a job! (#266)   Blackhawk meets the Führer, as "Schoener." Blackhawk #267 (1984). Schoener's death was kept hush and Blackhawk capitalized on it. He impersonated his impersonator and infiltrated Berlin itself! Just before entering the lion's den, Blackhawk met a comely bar maid named Helga, who reminded him of Domino. The two shared the beginnings of a real romance before Blackhawk gained an audience with Hitler himself. He actually agonized over killing Hitler (in fact the entire issue was a morality play about the way in which people regard their enemies). At a public function, Blackhawk seized the gun of a guard and fired on Hitler—but it was unloaded! (#267) On his way out of Germany, Blackhawk stopped to see Helga once again, but afterwards, she was approached by Frau Bulle for service to Hitler. Hitler also unleashed his newest super soldier, General Haifisch, aka the Killer Shark, on La Resistance. The Hawks were already chafing at Gaynor's overbearing nature. He even took control in Blackhawk's absence, cowing Stan and reprimanding Olaf for having mud on his uniform. In the renamed town of La Resistance, France, the men rounded up Nazis and left Gaynor to wait for allied troops; he kills the prisoners in their cage instead. Chuck found evidence of Gaynor's crime just as the Blackhawks were captured by the Killer Shark. (#269) By the time Blackhawk made it to the safety of Spain (in a coffin), he learned of his unit's plight and went to confront the Shark in La Resistance. Blackhawk managed to slug the Shark into the water just as British backup arrived. (#270) The Shark survived but did not reappear during the series' run. The series' final tales borrowed more from the Blackhawk mythos from Quality Comics, like the reintroduction of the Killer Shark. Issue #268 introduced a lady reporter, Virginia Mueller of the New Liberty Magazine. This fearless lady was escorted to Geneva, where she compromised the Blackhawks' safety by letting her agenda slip at the hotel; they narrowly escaped a bombing. (#268) Note: This story was told "out-of-order." Splash from Blackhawk #271 (1984). Gaynor's tenure as a Blackhawk was brief. In Italy, the men met a soldier who knew Gaynor from adolescence. This man, the English Lt. Cooper, attended the same military academy as Gaynor. Gaynor falsely accused Cooper of cheating and the boy was ostracized by the other boys until he left the academy. In Kraait, Merson's metal worm machine returned and Blackhawk finally noticed Gaynor's penchant for barking orders. After its defeat, the men found that Gaynor had killed defenseless civilians. As Gaynor raved about killing Germans, the others turned their backs. Gaynor refused to quit, but he was abandoned. Churchill refused to readmit Gaynor to British intelligence and he was forced into freelance work. In July 1942, his body was found among the casualties of the siege of Sevastopol. (#271) In the next issue, Evanier said Gaynor was inspired by people he'd met—some in television—"counterproductively intense about strange definitions of propriety. … Some of the most insecure, terrified people I've ever met were those who created the hardest shells around themselves." Helga, Domino II is indoctrinated, from Blackhawk #272 (1984). Blackhawk's love, Helga, returned as Domino II. In Berlin, she was noticed by Hitler and transformed by Frau Bulle as Domino had been before her. After months of training, she was tasked with killing Blackhawk. She began by attacking Andre in Algiers, which drew the others. He forced her to surrender by explaining that it was he (as "Schoener") who she'd fallen for before. She was taken prisoner. (#272) Chop-Chop returned to active duty in the last issue of the series. When Cheng returned to China, he sought his elders, who saw no way to fight the Japanese. Cheng's plane was destroyed but he led a successful attack on an enemy base with just his guile and martial arts skills. The Blackhawks received a call from Mali, Cheng's lady friend, and came to his aid, finding Manchuria devastated by the Japanese. They were using a Merson-like fire breathing mechanical dragon, which they followed back to the enemy base. Reunited with his mates, Chop-Chop led the dragon into an explosives shed. They asked him to return with them, and after discussing with Mali, he agreed. They reasoned that the Blackhawks were the inspiration to many, and they should be at full strength. (#273) The book came to an end when Mark Evanier decided to leave it. Spiegle followed him out the door. After that, Evanier was informed that were canceling the book. Bill Dubay and Carmine Infantino had allegedly already begun on #274, and that work was perhaps to be reborn as a Blackhawk mini-series, which never happened. Blackhawk didn't return to DC until 1988, when Howard Chaykin reinvented them for the post-Crisis universe. Notes The letters column of issue #260 contains a priceless interview with Blackhawk co-creator Will Eisner, by Cat Yronwode. I have transcribed it, and you can read it at the Quality Companion Companion! In issue #271, Evanier revealed that he and Marv Wolfman had tried to get Will Eisner to draw something for the book, but Eisner suggested the interview instead. « During this series' run, Blackhawk, the novel was published by Warner Books, written by William Rotsler. It reputedly had had poor distribution and is somewhat rare. Evanier mentions a lunch with Dick Giordano where Blackhawk's unexpected success is a topic. The cover below (by future Blackhawk scribe Howard Chaykin) was originally drawn with Von Tepp as the villain. Mark Evanier explained that it was never used but then repurposed with Hitler drawn in instead. However, the printed cover (left) had miscolored Hitler's arm, so it looks like Blackhawk has a gun to his own head. I recolored it so you could see its true intent (right). Dan Spiegle himself was the inspiration for a character in issue #272, a soldier who painted ladies onto planes. When a Nazi prisoner turned the tables on Hendrickson and took them both hostage, the painter thought quickly and scribbled a warning on the plane. When they landed in London, soldiers were ready to disarm the assassin. Sometime after the cancellation, DC employed writer Bill DuBay and artist Carmine Infantino to produce a Blackhawk mini-series. Though never published, numerous finished pages exist. ==  == Post-Crisis Blackhawks Created by Howard Chaykin == == In 1988, a three-issue mini-series by Howard Chaykin re-imagined the team during World War II yet again, this time with a notably more adult and gritty take on the characters. Chaykin, for the most part, eschewed the team dynamic so familiar to Blackhawk readers, instead crafting a politically-charged espionage thriller that focused prominently on Blackhawk and a new version of Lady Blackhawk. Post-war stories respecting Chaykin's continuity followed in Action Comics Weekly #601–608, #615–622, and #628–635, as well as in a monthly series that restarted with an issue #1 and ran 16 issues from March, 1989, to August, 1990. In 1992, DC Comics published Blackhawk Special #1. Still respecting Chaykin's continuity and set 10 years after the events of Blackhawk #16, the story spans a five year period as Blackhawk seeks to avenge the death of team member André.Blackhawk’s identity as a Polish man was very short-lived in Quality Comics, but Howard Chaykin's redefinition of his origin at DC returned him to the roots set down by Military Comics #1 in 1941. Chaykin's groundwork was laid in the character’s first post-Crisis appearances, in the 1988 prestige format mini-series by Howard Chaykin, and in Secret Origins #45 (Oct. 1989). It is difficult to reconcile the new history with the original Quality adventures; as with most DC characters, these series should be considered "post-Crisis" continuity for the Blackhawks. Chaykin built on the characterization begun by Evanier, but revised the names, personalities, countries of origin, and fates of the cast members. The inaugural mini-series took place during the war, but everything after that was post-war. The lady is a Blackhawk—for real this time! Natalie Reed was a major addition to Chaykin's Blackhawk. She and Janos Prohaska were never intimate but cared deeply for one another. Top image from Blackhawk v.2 #2; bottom from #3 (1988). Art by Howard Chaykin. Weng Chan reacts (bottom) to Natalie's altered comic book representation of him (top). From Blackhawk v.3 #1 (1989). Art by Rick Burchett. Janos Prohaska was born on 31 October 1912 in Krakow, Poland, a country in turmoil. During his young life he experienced ravages of Poland’s war with Russia in 1919. The horrible depression that followed led his father to take his own life, and his mother died of shock in 1929. Young “Jan” was left with his younger siblings, Józek and Staszka, whom he put in the care of his aunt when joined the Polish Air Force. There he met his good friends Stanislaus Drozdowski and Kazimierc “Zeg” Zegota-Januszajtis. They gained skills in hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship and aviation. By 1936 they were national heroes. When the political climate in Poland grew sour, the young men went into freelance service, which took them abroad. They served in the Spanish Civil War and traveled aimlessly for a while. (Secret Origins #45) During this time, Janos went to America with a flying circus in hopes of finding funding for a European resistance group. Instead he was framed for a series of murders. He was ultimately exonerated thanks to the efforts of the Sandman and he returned to Poland. A few days later, Wes Dodds (the Sandman) and Dian Belmont received a false report that he has been shot down and killed by Nazi fighters in the Mediterranean. (Sandman Mystery Theatre #45-48) On 1 September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland and Prohaska returned in defense of his home. He was unable to prevent the Nazis from killing his remaining family. Jan and the others fled to Britain where Churchill sponsored the formation of a multinational group of aviators he dubbed the Blackhawks. This original group included: American brawler Capt. Carlos “Chuck” Sirianni (liaison to the American O.S.S.)Danish acrobat Capt. Olaf Friedricksenthe elder, Dutchman Capt. Ritter Hendricksenladies’ man Capt. André Blanc-Dumontand young Chinese-American martial artist Lt. Weng Chan (a change from Evanier's "Wu Cheng”' the nd his nickname “Chop-Chop” was clearly represented as pejorative)Boris Zinoviev, Ian Holcomb-Baker, and Zeg died during the earliest days of the group. (Secret Origins #45)In March of 1942, the Blackhawks shared an adventure with the All-Star Squadron against the wizard Wotan in England. (All-Star Squadron #48-49) In the midst of the war, Blackhawk lost his best friend, Stanislaus, who died when the team was ambushed by a rival squadron. This Nazi band of flyers called the White Lions was led by Death Mayhew, a British man with sympathies to Tsarist Russia who defected to the Nazis. (Blackhawk v.2 #2) After this, the team was joined by Captain Natalie Reed (née Gurdin, a.k.a Lady Blackhawk), a Russian-American (and former member of the Communist party). A brilliant flight engineer, Reed redesigned the Blackhawks’ aircraft. (Blackhawk v.2 #2–3) Reed served with the Blackhawks throughout the war and eventually renounced her membership in the Communist party. Natalie somewhat harkens to the character of Sugar, from Military Comics #20 (1943). In fact several women during the Quality Comics era "threatened" to join the squadron, but not until Zinda Blake (in the DC era) was there ever a true Lady Blackhawk. There were also other rival bands of aviators during the Quality era. The Red Raiders were ostensibly Russian (Blackhawk #40), Fiendish the Raider (Modern #66), and Captain Suicide. (Blackhawk #24) Three story arcs in Action Comics Weekly by Martin Pasko and Rick Burchett soon followed Chaykin's limited series, resuming Blackhawk's adventures in 1947. After the war, the Blackhawks had all gone their separate ways. Jan found himself in the new nation of Vietnam, where he was approaced by Cynthia Hastings with a proposition to retrieve lost gold stolen by the Japanese in Indochina. The last anyone knew, it had fallen into the hands of a Chinese crime lord known as the Red Dragon. Hastings hoped to offer the Dragon their services to get the gold out of the country, and then hijack it. Jan agreed to the plan and took a cargo plane and enough whiskey to tempt the Dragon. Before leaving, he also wrote a letter to André, asking him to join the mission covertly. Jan faked engine trouble to land on the Dragon’s air strip and they were taken captive. They were suprised to learn the Dragon was a woman, Sheah Chun Ryan, and she agreed to their proposal, but insisted that Hastings must remain behind as insurance. Cynthia soon revealed that she was actually a Catholic nun searching for a stolen statue among the Dragon’s treasures. A lightning strike allowed she and Jan to escape with her statue. André, joined by Chuck, swooped in to save the day, and the Red Dragon’s plane was shot down. (Action Comics #601-608) Quality's Blackhawk once featured a similar Chinese bandit/warlord, Lo Chien, from Blackhawk #30 (April 1950). In June 1947, Natalie rejoined Blackhawk Airways at their new base in Singapore. Jan used the gold from the Red Dragon to upgrade the Blackhawks' planes (reacquired from Interpol) and start a charter service. Jan also asked Chuck to use his O.S.S. connections and to buy two refitted Grumman XF5F-1 planes from the U.S. (Action #615) They were approached for hire by an undercover operative of the U.S. Central Intelligence Group named Steve Claiborne. His sister, Marcia Rossiter had gone down in Sumatra on a mission to obtain a Japanese microwave generator. (#616) All but Hendricksen rejoined the squad for this mission. Since they'd been together last Natalie had borne a child, and Jan exploded when he learned that Olaf might be the father (which Natalie denied, though the two had slept together). (#617) The squad was captured upon landing at the camp of Johannes Vander Houten, who sought the same invention. Jan rescued Marcia but one of Vander Houten’s men found the generator. A volcano eruption forced the villain to give up the generator and by plane, Jan led him through the cone of the volcano just as it erupted. Marcia also died during their escape, which Jan blamed on Claiborne. (#618-622) Natalie found life in Asia difficult but hired Quan Chee (“Mairzey”) Keng to help her on the ground. Natalie missed her son, but could not risk returning to America because of her former membership in the Communist party and the rising Red paranoia. (#628) For their next mission, the Blackhawks were tapped by the U.S. government. The Blackhawks were invited to meet with President Truman, where they met the State Department’s Wendell Hardesty. Truman proposed that Jan serve as a special covert operations agent. Further, Blackhawk Airways would be secretly purchased by the U.S. and serve as a front for the nascent CIA, which was “not yet ready” for missions. The operation would also move to Washington D.C. (#629-630) ==NEW CAST MEMBERS== Left: Chuck married Mairzey and they adopted the son of Natalie and Hendrickson; from Blackhawk v.3 #4 (1989). Art By Rick Burchett. Middle: Grover Baines, from Blackhawk Annual #1 (1989). Art by Tom Zuiko. Right: Paco Herrera was recruited by Blackhawk to help rescue his friends from suspended animation; from Blackhawk #10 (1990). Art by Rick Burchett. The Blackhawks accepted the offer. Their first mission was to transport a modified form of LSD from Germany. The drug was also coveted by a secret cell of Nazis. One of theirs, Gretchen Koblenz, took the place of Jan’s companion, pharmaceutical head Constance Darabont. Olaf sensed her subterfuge and caught her drugging their coffee. Koblenz parachuted off a plane with a plan to sell the LSD to the Soviets and left the Blackhawks mad from the drug. (#631-634) A new Blackhawk ongoing series (also by Pasko and Burchett) began in March 1989, and followed their adventures from Action Comics. It filled in some of Natalie's history. She found herself in rough waters in the late ’40s/early ’50s, when anti-Communism permeated the U.S. Congress. She was forced by the State Department to give up her career in aviation returned to America, and became a comic book writer. She wanted to write truthfully about the Blackhawks’ history, but her paranoid editors censored her scripts heavily. (In post-Crisis continuity, Natalie Reed’s doctored comic book scripts of the late 1940s were published exactly like the Blackhawks’ original Quality adventures, with offensive Chop Chop and all.) The father of Reed's son, James, was revealed as Hendrickson, with whom she'd had a brief affair after the war. The couple had barely come to terms with their breakup when Hendrickson died in a helicopter explosion over Albania. (Action #630-631, Blackhawk v.3 #1-3, Blackhawk Annual #1) Note: The 1989 Annual provided official “Who’s Who” entries for all the active Blackhawks, including new recruit Grover Baines. (Blackhawk v.3 #2) After this, the government provided Natalie with a new identity as “Talia Bryant,” and allowed her entrance back into the U.S. (#4) But men in power considered the Blackhaws to be too rogue for their taste and crafted a suicide mission as part of an elaborate scheme to “neutralize” the squad. Natalie was captured and became the subject of the experimental “grafting” process by Dr. Kermit Grundfest. Her brain was bonded with the physical characteristics of the deceased Constance Darabont. Grundfest and Hardesty intended to subject all of the Blackhawks to this, altering them to become more “manageable.” But when senior officials learned of the project, Truman disavowed any knowledge of it, and Grundfest was ordered to stop. Jan and the others had survived their missions and discovered the subterfuge, but fell in the end to covert forces in mid-1948. (#5-8)   Natalie is transformed by Dr. Grundfest's procedure to look like Constance Darabont. From Blackhawk v.3 #8 (1989). Art by Burchett. The Blackhawks lay in suspended animation for two years. In 1950, Jan awoke. He freed himself, fought his way out of their "prison," and covertly became an employee at Blackhawk Airways. He recruited another man, Paco Herrera, who he learned had been through a simliar "modification." They eventually met up with Natalie, who’d also been free for some time, and at last, they were able to free their comrades and expose the truth. (#9-12) The final four issues were written by Doug Moench and Burchett contined on pencils. By 27 February 1950, Blackhawk Airways was relocated to the island of Pontalba, and they were back to work for the Office of Special Operations and its man, Stanfield. They were tapped to test the newest in avaition technology in Kuala Lampur—the Skywing, which could fly into space! Before landing they encountered a UFO. Meanwhile, two other agents were tapped to spy on them. The Red Dragon returned, captured by the Chinese while trying to smuggle Jade out of Burma. They forced her to spy on the Blackhawks in Kuala Lumpur, and the Russians sent an agent, Gregor Krell. (#13) In the end, the Hawks discovered that they were once again being played by higher powers in U.S. intelligence. And in a strange interlude, Blackhawk and the Red Dragon were seemingly abducted by aliens. Between that and the UFO, it was unclear whether there truly were aliens, or whether it was all a part of another top secret mind-control program, Project Dreamland. (#14-16) 1960s Both Andre and Olaf fall to Hardwire in the 1960s. From Blackhawk Special (1992). Art by Mike Vosburg. In 1963, the Blackhawks became entangled with events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. André was working for the CIA and uncovered information implicating U.S. government officials in the escalatation of involvement in Vietnam. This contradicted Kennedy's stance and the President's enemies killed André before he could return to Washington D.C. His killer, code named Hardwire, left a calling card for the Blackhawks to lure them to Dallas. There, they failed to stop JFK’s assassination and its cover-up. In 1968, after years of investigation, Olaf uncovered Hardwire’s identity in Saigon. His name was Stephen Weir, and Janos had evidently killed his parents in the war. Olaf went missing-in-action when Hardwire bombed the embassy; his body was shown floating in a river and it was never recovered. Back in the states, Natalie Reed was again recruited to help Janos watch over Robert Kennedy (she had taken the alias Constance Darabont). She bore witness to RFK’s assassination and was helpless to prevent it. Jan finally had his revenge in 1975, during last days of the Vietnam War. A secret informant revealed Weir’s location and Jan killed him in battle. (Blackhawk Special #1) Jan was still active when a new age of heroes was waxing. He participated in a short-lived formation of the “Seven Soldiers of Victory.” (The Silver Age: Showcase) 1990s In 1980, Weng Chan became the CEO of the organization’s latest incarnation, Blackhawk Express. This charter service specialized in dangerous cargo and boasted all-female flight crews. Chan answered to a secret Board of Directors (who were obscured and may have included some of the original Blackhawks). In one of their first recorded mission, Chan, R & D man Clay Kendall, and pilot Susan Sullivan were shot down over the country of Sumango by Colonel Diaz. Green Lantern, Superman and Black Canary were called in to rescue them. (Action #635) At a social function, Chan also met Katar Hol, the Hawkman of Thanagar. Katar helped Blackhawk Express when the Killer Shark (Bunther Haifisch) planted a bomb on a plane with sensitive cargo. (The plane used in this story was a Gates Lear-Jet 55C; Hawkworld v.2 #11-12.) Chan’s grandson, Nelson Chan also joined B.E. as a mechanic, and aspiring pilot. (Blackhawk Annual #1) When Chan's was hired to delivery the ransom for a rich kidnap victim, his courier wound up dead, then the kidnapee. The culprit was the butler, who fled in a helicoptor. Chan pursued him in the plane originally used by the Enemy Ace (Hans Von Hammer). (Blackhawk v.3 #7) Eventually, Blackhawk Island and the Blackhawk Express service were acquired by D.E.O., another U.S. agency which investigates metahuman affairs. The DEO’s Director Bones tricked the JSA into driving Kobra from the island. Though the mission resulted in serious damages, the island was salvaged. (JSA #11-12) During the Imperiex War, an all-new Blackhawk fleet was created by combining Brainiac 13 technology with Ferris Aircraft designs. These new warbirds can travel into space. When Zinda Blake emerged from the 1950s in modern time, she joined Buck Wargo’s monster hunters for a time. (Guy Gardner: Warrior #24). Eventually she grew lonely as, according to her, she was the last living original Blackhawk. Later, she was contaced by Oracle and was invited to join the Birds of Prey as their pilot. Craving the adventure, she agreed, leaving the Blackhawk organization (and her share in it). She took with her but one thing: a brand new state-of-the-art plane to courier the Birds to their cases’ destinations. (Birds of Prey #75) This was the first official declaration that the other original Blackhawks were dead. No account has been made of the surviving Blackhawks’ last days. Knowing the extent of Jan’s sexual exploits, it is quite possible that he fathered children. The fate of Natalie and Hendrickson’s son is unknown. The Blackhawk operation continues to operate in covert and overt capacities for the United States military and espionage operations. =====More recent appearances===== Since 1992, mostly modern hints of the team have appeared, usually in the form of the "Blackhawk Express" courier service, or the time-displaced Lady Blackhawk. One of the best examples of this is the 1990s appearance of team member Chop-Chop in a few issues of DC's Hawkworld series. Other Blackhawk air pilot groups have been shown during present time or alternate future events such as Our Worlds At War and Kingdom Come. It is unknown which connection beyond homage and inspiration, if any, those groups have to the classic Blackhawks. Blackhawk at this time is an extension of Checkmate. DC Comics reprinted the Blackhawk features from the first 17 issues of Military Comics in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1 (2001) as part of its hardcover DC Archive Editions series. Blackhawk made an appearance in The Brave and the Bold Vol. 3 #9 (February 2008), teaming up with the Boy Commandos during a World War II tale. The Blackhawks appeared in Superman & Batman: Generations 2, in which they help Superman, the Spectre, and Hawkman battle a robot during the war. During the battle, Chuck sacrifices himself to destroy a missile. During the same storyline in 1997, a heroine named Blackhawk appears, battling Sinestro. According to John Byrne's liner notes in Generations 3 #1, this character is Janet Hall, the granddaughter of the original Blackhawk, as well as Hawkman (Carter Hall) and Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders).When DC Comics relaunched its entire line, the Blackhawks received a thoroughly modern makeover. In an early interview with CBR, writer Mike Costa described his outlook for the book: "It's a corner that really focuses on the technological advancements that occur within the DCU … I don't think you have a place where you're really understanding the scope of what's going on in this universe that's become so much more advanced than ours. … It's also a book about espionage and action and intense emotions." =====The New 52===== In September 2011, DC Comics launched a new monthly series titled Blackhawks with no direct ties to the previous incarnations. The book is set in the present day with no appearances by or mention of prior Blackhawks, although there is a new "Lady Blackhawk". The book shares the setting of the rebooted DC Universe continuity set up in the Flashpoint mini-series and is a part of DC's New 52 initiative. The series ended with Blackhawks #8 (April 2012) to make way for a "second wave" of New 52 titles. Unlike its forebears, the new book was titled in the plural, and did not reuse any of the legacy Blackhawk characters. Instead, a new "magnificent seven" were introduced: 1]The Alpha Team's commander is Col. Andrew Lincoln, who is the Deputy of Operations at their mountain top base, called the Eyrie. It is a remote mountain top location, which aids their secrecy and freedom of movement.2]Lady Blackhawk, the primary field leader. Her eye patch harkens back to that of the post-Crisis Lady Blackhawk, Natalie Reed.3]Attila, the Hungarian ponytailed powerhouse.4]Kunoichi (Nikki Nemser, "female ninja"), a Japanese woman and deadly operative. She was a later addition, and in a relationship with Wildman. She once auditioned for the Japanese pop group called Team A.5]The Irishman (Corporal Costello), a red-haired Ukrainian. His parents had international business in the USSR and he was born there. nickname from from his comrades in the Spetsnatz (the Russan special forces).6]Randall Wildman (deceased) was Communications and Analyst. He grew up in Vanity City and was often paired with …7]Canada, who is from Atlanta but got his nickname because of an incident in Calgary. Canada oversees the team's high-tech gear and planes. He generally detests hand-to-hand combat. The unnamed lieutenant is a Blackhawk abducted in battle with Parademons and coopted by the hive mind called Mother Machine.Their "infantry" men are called Austringers (an obsolete term meaning "keeper of hawks"). These operatives are not all pilots, and their transport vehicles are called Peregrines.Their first recorded mission—when they were were a fledgling unit—was around the same time that the Justice League were fighting Darseid. The Blackhawks fought through Parademons on a mission to recover their lost member, an unnamed lieutenant. They found her enveloped by a nanocyte cocoon. She'd been completely overtaken by the technological hive mind of Mother Machine, and turned on them. The Blackhawks retreated and Mother began her mission to "upgrade" the human race to a hybrid of flesh and silicon. In this battle, Lady Blackhawk lost her left eye. (DC Universe Presents #0) The Blackhawks' lost lieutenant becomes Mother Machine. From DC Universe Presents #0 (2012). Art by Carlos Rodriguez and Bit.covert operation to Kazakhstan, where their secrecy was compromised by civilian photographers. These photos wound up on the Internet, which sparked the attention of the Blackhawks' parent organization, the United Nations. Further, Kunoichi was bitten by an enemy soldier and when she returned to the Eyrie, she found she'd been infected with "nanocites," that granted her super-strength. The nanocites were designed by Mother Machine, a techno-organic being herself, who used the technology to destroy a meta-human detainment facility in Asia. (Blackhawks #1) Titus and Mother Machine, from Blackhawks #2 and 3 (2011-12). Art by Graham Nolan, Trevor McCarthy, and Trevor Scott.When Lady Blackhawk led a team to investigate the prison's destruction, they were met by one of Mother Machine's operatives, Titus. Titus was a ruthless killer and promptly sliced off Irishman's arm. Kunoichi and Lady Blackhawk managed to bring him down but in the process, Kunoichi was exposed as having been infected. Meanwhile, Canada and Wildman were kidnapped and taken to the Mother's hidden city. (#2) They met her minion, Flynn, and learned that Mother Machine's technology was far more advanced than anything they had experienced. She asked them to join her. Meanwhile at the Eyrie, Titus escaped and infected the computer systems. Kunoichi hooked herself via IV into the system and served as a sort of antivirus. (#3)As radiation levels rose in the Eyrie, Kunoichi took down thw weakened Titus. And Canada attacked Mother Machine directly (after learning that her consciousness would take time to upload to a new form). He flew her craft out—into space! (#4) The Blackhawks were docked at Mother Machine's own satellite in orbit, where they hatched an impossible plan to save themselves. When Mother sent it falling to Earth, they used its "kinetic harpoon" to destroy her own facility on Earth. Lady Blackhawk scrambled an A23 Condor on their trajectory and secured a cable to transfer them to safety. (#5)NOTE: The solicitation for issue #5 showed a blonde Lady Blackhawk, which was either a trick or mistake. The final cover depicted the existing Lady, with dark hair. The original solicit, showing a blond Lady Blackhawk (left), and the final issue.With Mother Machine's main facility and body destroyed, she renewed her attacks in other ways. After the Blackhawks released an EMP to disable a horde of machines with "modular intelligence," Schmidt briefed the press (including Clark Kent) about their operation. As Lincoln showed Lady Blackhawk their black ops center called Black Razor, they noticed disruptive technology among the cameramen. Their cameras were equipped with bombs, and when seized, they blew up and killed Wildman. (#6) A design sketch of Col. Lincoln by Ken Lashley.Lady Blackhawk was also seriously injured in the blast, which they learned had been set by Steig Hammer, a Finnish weapons fabricator who originated much of the Blackhawks' own equipment. Lincoln mobilized the entire Alpha Team in vengeance for Wildman, without approval from their diplomatic overseers. On the mission, Kunoichi made her way to Hammer, but he took control of her system and allowed Mother Machine to possess her. (#7)As Mother took over Kunoichi, the Blackhawk was surprised to find the artificial essence of Wildman inside her mind! She learned that while he was in Mother Machine's satellite, she'd copied his consciousness to a nanoccloud, and the cloud was deployed before the satellite was destroyed. (#5) As her consciousness expanded, so did his access to the outside. Wildman encouraged Kunoichi to battle Mother Machine on the artificial plane, where she succeeded. But the Mother was alreday inside the Blackhawks' mainframe, so Lincoln decided to sacrifice the Eyrie with a nuclear explosion. (#8)DC boasted that readers hadn't seen the last of these characters, but given that many of its "New 52" books have been cancelled, any subsequent plans might have also fallen on the cutting room floor.NotesArtist Ken Lashley was cited by Mike Costa as having created the look of the new Blackhawks, although Lashley did not ultimately pencil the series (he did draw the covers). Lashley himself explained the situation at Bleeding Cool: "The problem was that we started really late on the project. Chuck Austen was writing it … l was given the job and we got rolling. DC also provided a layout artist [Graham Nolan] to speed things up … DC decided to make a story change after a few pages were done…but that meant a 4 week delay, because the new writer had to get started, then get approved. … l love comics but its so hard to find the time when you have other commitments."== Powers ==The only member of the Blackhawks Alpha Team with superpowers is Kunoichi, who was infected with nanocites. These give her enhanced endurance and strength, and allow her to interface (with much discomfort) with computers.Their plane, the A23 Condor, was made by S.T.A.R. Labs and Queen Industries. Canada is their ace pilot, and Col. Lincoln and Lady Blackhawk are also pilots.The New 52[edit] ====Fictional biography==== =====Original incarnation===== With the overwhelming forces of Nazi Germany flooding into Poland in September, 1939, only the Polish Air Force remains as the last major line of resistance. Captain von Tepp and his Butcher Squadron swarm the skies in response, outnumbering the Polish four to one. The Germans decimate their foes until just one lone plane — painted jet black — remains. After gallantly shooting down six Nazi planes, the mysterious pilot is forced to crash land on the countryside. Running to a nearby farmhouse, he's tracked from the air by von Tepp, who drops a bomb and destroys the building. The pilot locates his dead sister and mortally wounded brother inside. He vows to kill von Tepp before disappearing into the darkness. Months later, with most of Europe collapsing under the might of the Nazis, the pilot reemerges with his own private squadron and "like an angel of vengeance, Blackhawk and his men swoop down out of nowhere, their guns belching death, and on their lips the dreaded song of the Blackhawks." In France, Captain von Tepp receives a note from Blackhawk demanding the release of one of Blackhawk's men or face death. Infuriated, von Tepp orders the prisoner's execution by firing squad. At dawn, the man and two others, including a cool-headed English Red Cross nurse (identified as "Ann" in Military Comics #3), are lined against a wall and mocked by von Tepp. As his men prepare to fire, the song of the Blackhawks fills the air: "Over land, over sea, We fight to make men free, Of danger we don't care... We're Blackhawks!" With the Blackhawks lining the walls of the courtyard, Blackhawk himself confronts von Tepp. After a brief skirmish, von Tepp is abducted and flown to the Blackhawks' secret base in the Atlantic Ocean, Blackhawk Island. It's there that Blackhawk challenges the Nazi captain to an aerial duel. During the ensuring dogfight, both of the men's planes are crippled and forced to crash. On the ground, von Tepp and Blackhawk, both badly injured, draw guns. Von Tepp falls in a hail of bullets. Blackhawk's team is mostly depicted in Military Comics #1 as shadowy, nondescript soldiers, save for an Englishman named Baker who's never seen or mentioned again. Military Comics #2 (September 1941) expands the role of the team in the featured adventure and introduces five members: Stanislaus, André, Olaf, Hendrick (Hendrickson within a few issues), and Zeg. A sixth, Boris, is also shown, but, like Baker, only makes a singular appearance. The designer of their planes, Vladim, is also mentioned. By Military Comics #3 (October 1941), the roster is firmed up and it's stated that seven men belong to the team. The group also receives a Chinese mascot and cook, Chop-Chop, when his plane happens to crash on Blackhawk Island during a desperate run for help. The adventure concludes with the first on-page death of a team member: André, who seemingly perishes in an avalanche that buries a large group of Nazis. In Military Comics #9 (April 1942), the roster is down to five plus Chop-Chop, with Zeg presumably the absent member. In that adventure, the team crosses paths with the mysterious Man in the Iron Mask; André, in fact, now horribly disfigured, but still an enemy of the Nazis. The most familiar version of the team is finally locked down in Military Comics #11 (August 1942) shown as consisting of Blackhawk, Olaf, Chuck, André (his face now reconstructed), Stanislaus, Hendrickson, and Chop-Chop. In Blackhawk #50 (March 1952), the team's origin is documented. Blackhawk himself is no longer identified as being Polish, but rather an American who is a volunteer flyer in the Polish Air Force. His sidekick in the squadron is Stanislaus, a "brilliant young student" from the University of Warsaw. After facing defeat against the Nazis, Blackhawk attempts to flee to Russia, only to discover that Russian forces are invading from the east. He then seeks refuge in England where he attempts to join the Royal Air Force. It's in London where he and Stanislaus reunite and then meet the four others who will ultimately join them in their crusade: Chuck, another American volunteer; Hendrickson, a recent escapee from a Nazi concentration camp; Olaf, a Swede who had fought for Finland against the Russians; and André, a "valiant Frenchman." The six men wait to enlist in the R.A.F., but because none are British subjects, they are "held up by miles of red tape." Finally, Blackhawk suggests they strike out on their own. They pool their resources and buy planes, setting up a base of operations first on a small island in the Atlantic Ocean, then later in the Pacific. They're eventually joined by Chop-Chop, described in this account as having "fled from China when the Japanese overpowered the Nationalist army." Chop-Chop first acts as the team's cook, but in time becomes an expert pilot and full member of the team. =====Post-Crisis===== After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Blackhawk is once again Polish by birth and now given a definitive name, Janos Prohaska. Having joined the Polish Air Force at a young age, he had already become a national hero by 1936 alongside his trusted friends Stanislaus Drozdowski and Kazimierc "Zeg" Zegota-Januszajtis. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, the trio travel across Europe, providing freelance service and even fighting for a time in the Spanish Civil War as members of the Communist party. At one point finding himself in America in hopes of gathering funds to build a European resistance group, Prohaska is framed for a series of murders. With the help of the Sandman, he's ultimately exonerated, but a report soon surfaces that he has been shot down and killed by Nazis somewhere in the Mediterranean. When the forces of Nazi Germany invade Poland in 1939, Prohaska returns home to help defend his homeland. He's unable to save his younger siblings, Józek and Staszka, and soon forced to flee to Britain with Stanislaus and Zeg. It's there he meets the others who will form the foundation of the Blackhawk Squadron. In the midst of the war, Prohaska finds himself under suspicion by the U.S. government for his Communist ties. Around this same time, the Blackhawks are joined by Captain Natalie Reed (born Natalie Gurdin), a brilliant Russian-American flight engineer who redesigns the Blackhawks' aircraft and is dubbed Lady Blackhawk by the U.S. press. It's with her help that Prohaska is able to stop Nazi agent and onetime Hollywood actor Death Mayhew from detonating an atomic bomb in New York City. The victory restores Blackhawk's reputation. ====Team depictions==== Blackhawk introduced six of his squad in Military #2 (though only Olaf was clearly identified), and he said there were more. In the next issue, those six appeared again, equally obscured. Olaf was played up the most in early stories. After Chop Chop and Chuck were introduced (Military #3 and #10, respectively), there were nine, but only seven survived for the long haul. Very soon, Boris and Zeg fell by the wayside. The final roster might have been the by-product of Cuidera’s final issue, #11, where he identified each member by face and name in a “roll call.” According to the team's co-creator, Chuck Cuidera, Chuck was named after him, and Stanislaus after Bob (Stanley) Powell. In The Steranko History of the Comics vol. 2, he also said Olaf was patterned on Big Stoop from Terry and the Pirates. (Steranko: 58) Modern Comics #48 (April 1946) was the first issue to fully reveal the members’ home countries; they gave their official titles in Modern Comics #99 (July 1950); and their “origins” were officially told in Blackhawk #50 (March 1952). A chart in Blackhawk #85 (Feb. 1955) listed their heights and weights. Operative First Appearance Post-Crisis FateDC COMICS ERABlackhawk, Chief Officer, from the United States (originally Polish) Military Comics #1 Real name never revealed in Quality Comics. The character never spoke with an accent, though he was clearly meant to be Polish in his first appearance. Only he wore the hawk emblem on his uniform.Andre, Second-in-Command and Navigator, from France Military Comics #2 Second only to Blackhawk as a ladies’ man, though perhaps more overtly so. He was sometimes also depicted as a scientist, sometimes an artist and musician. Andre was the first of the Blackhawks to “die,” (Military #3) but he returned very soon afterwards. (#9) No other details were revealed about Andre’s personal history.Boris, from Russia Was named but never identified, in Military Comics #2, and then fell into limbo. Perhaps he moved over to “Death Patrol,” which had a pilot of the same name!Hendrickson (originally Hendrick), Surgeon and Geologist, from Germany (originally the Netherlands) An older, portly German (Dutch in Modern #48). He sometimes served as the team’s doctor. His name was “Hendrick” in Military Comics #2, changed in #5.Olaf, Rocket Engineer, from Sweden (once said to be Norway) The tall, broad, square-jawed Swede (a “Swensk” in Military #22, Norwegian in Modern #48) whose accent was written for humorous effect, though he was never depicted as dumb, per se. In earlier tales, he was featured more prominently than others. Stanislaus, Supply and Armament, from Poland Wore his hair short and his homeland was later described as Poland. He was believed dead in action in Military #31 but returned the next issue and received an eye transplant to restore his vision.Zeg, no details revealed Named in Military #2 and called by name one other time. Last appeared in Military #15. Chop Chop, from Military Comics #3 The excitable cook, who gradually took on more responsibility, becoming a fully active member. He hailed from Chongqing (Chungking) and was awarded his own featurette that ran in Blackhawk #10–95 (Spring 1946–Dec. 1955). Most of these tales were played for laughs, not unlike Plastic Man’s sidekick, Woozy Winks. For his odd looks, Chop Chop managed to garner the attentions of many beautiful ladies. In his more recent DC incarnation, he was the only Blackhawk with heirs. He was never awarded his own plane; he usually rode with Blackhawk but could fly on his own.Chuck Wilson, Assistant Navigator and Observer, from the United States Military Comics #10 The last Blackhawk to appear, Chuck began with black hair which quickly changed to red, and had a freckled face and a short, upturned nose. In the beginning he was one of the lesser played members, but that changed as his American nationality became an asset in storytelling. He eventually took more initiative and overthrew rebels on a solo mission into Lokaria. (#87) He opened up to Blackhawk about his father, a pilot who was lost after World War I. His mother died in the meantime. Blackhawk and Chuck were drawn to a deserted island where Blackhawk learned that Chuck’s father, Wilson, had come to command a band of pirates. Wilson was betrayed by one of his band, and he begged Blackhawk not to tell Chuck the truth; Blackhawk obliged===Original incarnation===After a period of membership fluctuations during the first 10 issues of Military Comics, the team finally settles into its most famous roster. Although minor character details would shift and change over time, this original version of the team would stay largely intact from the characters' debut in 1941 to the end of their first run in 1968. At one point or another, every member of the team except Blackhawk is depicted in ways stereotypical for the time, and over the course of the series several would develop their own catchphrases. * Blackhawk – First Polish, then American, the man known as Blackhawk is portrayed as a strong, decisive leader. He's not always easy on his men—calling Olaf a "big fat-head," for example —but always appears to command their unquestionable respect. At one point late in the first series' run, he's given a name, Bart Hawk. * Stanislaus – Blackhawk's second-in-command. Polish, Stan is initially depicted like his teammates with various ethnic distinctions, but those disappear as the series progresses to the point that he could very well pass for an American. He is often portrayed as an acrobat, then later as the team's strongman. * Chuck – At different times stated as being from Brooklyn or Texas, Chuck is often shown as the team's communications specialist. His words are peppered with frequent American colloquialisms like "I reckon!" and "Dagnabbit!" * Hendrickson – Known as "Hendy" for short, the oldest of the Blackhawks is also their ever-dependable sharpshooter. Heavyset with white hair and a thick, Germanic mustache, he's usually portrayed as Dutch (though German in some accounts), and often exclaims, "Himmel!" (German for "sky" and "heaven") or "Ach du lieber!" (a German phrase akin to "Oh, dear!"). * André – With his pencil-thin mustache and natural born suavity, André's appreciation of beautiful women often leads the team into precarious situations. Their demolitions expert, he frequently utters "Sacre bleu!" (an old French profanity). * Olaf – A giant of a man, Olaf is usually portrayed as Swedish, his brutish size and poor English playing into the "big, dumb Swede" stereotype. He often shouts, "Py Yiminy!" and demonstrates impressive acrobatic abilities (a trait that Stanislaus' character loses over time). * Chop-Chop – Chop-Chop is originally the team's Chinese cook and essentially Blackhawk's sidekick, riding along in Blackhawk's plane as opposed to piloting his own. He evolves over time from comic relief mascot to a valued member of the team proficient in the martial arts. His full name is eventually revealed to be Liu Huang. Other short-term members are Baker, an Englishman, and Boris, a Russian. Both characters only make single panel appearances. Zeg, Polish like Blackhawk and Stanislaus, manages to last a bit longer, but is gone by the Blackhawk's ninth appearance in Military Comics. A significant ally to the team throughout the 1940s is Miss Fear, who never formally joins the group but appears frequently during their Asian missions, developing a romantic interest in Blackhawk himself. The strip's most significant supporting character, however, is Zinda Blake, also known as Lady Blackhawk. After a failed attempt to become the team's first female member, she is eventually awarded honorary status and makes numerous appears from 1959 to 1968, even becoming the villainess Queen Killer Shark for a time. The team acquires an animal mascot in the 1950s, Blackie the hawk. Possessing remarkable intelligence—he can type notes in plain English, among other skills—and fitted with his own miniature belt radio, he's often shown perched on Blackhawk's shoulder. ===1967's New Blackhawk Era===When the Blackhawks are proven by the secret spy organization G.E.O.R.G.E. (the Group for Extermination of Organizations of Revenge, Greed, and Evil) to be inept and ineffective as a modern day fighting force against the evils of the world, the team regroups and dons dramatic new identities that, as the U.S. President happily observes, returns them to their rightful place as one of America's "top trouble-shooting teams." For 14 issues beginning with Blackhawk #228 (January 1967), the Blackhawks become: * The Big Eye (Blackhawk) – Constantly monitoring the activities of his squad from the Hawk-Kite, a mammoth dirigible made to look like a two-headed hawk, Blackhawk is the only one of the seven to not take on a new alter-ego. * The Golden Centurion (Stanislaus) – Clad in the gleaming gold armor of a dead foe, Stan not only gains the ability to fly, but can also fire bolts of "ionized pure gold." * The Listener (Chuck) – Chuck facilitates communication between the team, wearing what resembles pajamas covered with drawings of ears. * The Weapons-Master (Hendrickson) – Hendy is the team's master of weaponry. * M'sieu Machine (André) – André becomes designer of exotic crime-fighting gadgets. * The Leaper (Olaf) – Donning a rubber-titanium outfit reminiscent of a human cannonball circus performer, Olaf's natural acrobatic abilities are now complemented with the ability to leap and bounce great distances. * Dr. Hands (Chop-Chop) – Mixing martial arts with beryllium-encased hands, Chop-Chop is able to "smash through practically anything." The "New Blackhawk Era" ends after just 14 issues when G.E.O.R.G.E. headquarters is unceremoniously destroyed, leaving the Blackhawks with only their classic blue and black uniforms. ===1976–1977===When the series resumes in 1976, it features a mercenary team composed of familiar unaged faces. Their origins and place in the DC Universe are never explained, though it is firmly stated that this version of the Blackhawks consists of "the original seven" and surmises that they had "first banded together in the fifties to battle a growing number of costumed villains and foes." The members of the team are described as follows:  * Blackhawk (also referred to as Bart Hawk and Mr. Cunningham) – The head of one of the largest aircraft manufacturing companies in the world, and a man who commands "a working knowledge of science with specialties in aviation and aerodynamics." * Stanislaus – The Polish "financial wizard" of Cunningham Aircraft. * André – The French mechanics expert. * Olaf – The Swedish junior member of the group. * Hendrickson – The Dutch elder of the group and the full-time "sentinel" of the team's secret base, Blackhawk Island. * Chuck – The American communications expert and team scientist. * Chopper (formerly known as Chop-Chop) – The Chinese master of martial arts and the team's most skilled flier, "save for Blackhawk himself." Early in the run, Boris—"the eighth Blackhawk," as he refers to himself—reemerges as the super-powered villain Anti-Man, hellbent on destroying the team as revenge for leaving him for dead on a long ago mission. Shown in flashback wearing the Blackhawks' classic blue and black uniform, even then as a member he exhibits surprising aggression toward his teammates. With Hendrickson left ailing in the final issue of the run, and Chuck seemingly killed in battle, it's possible that big changes were in store for the team's line-up had the series continued past Blackhawk #250. Two possible replacements are set up, either of whom could have also taken the mantle of Lady Blackhawk: Duchess Ramona Fatale (also referred to as "Patch"), a mercenary with questionable allegiances, but harboring love for Blackhawk; and Elsa, Hendrickson's daughter. =====1982–1984===== With the team's return to a World War II setting, many basic aspects of the original incarnation are restored, complemented by what writer Mark Evanier called "a more contemporary attitude towards characterization." The core members are: * Blackhawk – Described as "Polish American" and referred to as Bart on a few occasions. He abhors killing, doing so only in self-defense. He's strong and level-headed, not always reacting as swiftly or as violently as some of his men might like. * Stanislaus – Blackhawk's Polish second-in-command and loyal friend. Lacking confidence from being in Blackhawk's shadow for so long, he envies Blackhawk's strong leadership capabilities. * André – A former member of the French resistance, he's the team's experienced military planner and full-time ladies' man. * Olaf – A Swede whose tall height and thick accent plays into a common stereotype, but in actuality conceals amazing acrobatic skills and a savvy mind in combat. * Hendrickson – The team's Dutch weapons master and sharpshooter. The oldest of the group, he grapples with feelings of resentment, often left feeling like his much-younger teammates don't always make full use of his wisdom. * Chuck – A Texan who volunteered for the British R.A.F. before bringing his expert piloting and mechanic skills to the Blackhawks. He is portrayed as tougher and more rude than previous depictions. * Chop-Chop – Both the youngest and the newest member of the team, he's a martial arts master named Wu Cheng. Also introduced during the run is Lieutenant Theodore Gaynor of the United States Marine Corps, who joins the team when Chop-Chop takes a leave of absence to fight the Japanese in China. Gaynor leaves the team after it's learned his hardline stance against the Germans includes the execution of not only Nazi soldiers, but also civilians.

1988–Present
After the Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrites the history of the DC Universe, the Blackhawks' own history, both during World War II and after, undergoes yet more transformation. It is this version of the team that is currently featured in DC continuity. The members are: * Major Janos Prohaska (Blackhawk) – Reestablished as being born and raised in Poland, Prohaska is portrayed as the consummate leader, but also as a brash, hard-drinking womanizer. He is also revealed to have been a member of the Communist Party, expelled by Joseph Stalin after opposing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a 1939 treaty of non-aggression between the Soviets and Nazi Germany. * Captain Stanislaus Drozdowski – Longtime friend of Blackhawk's who fights alongside him in the Polish Air Force before becoming one of the earliest members of the Blackhawks—and one of the team's first casualties. * Captain André Blanc-Dumont – An excellent but slightly reckless pilot, the Frenchman is second-in-command of the team, as well as Prohaska's closest confident and frequent co-pilot. * Captain Olaf Friedriksen – Danish in this version, athletic Olaf is a savant with languages and skilled at radio operations. * Captain Ritter Hendricksen – The Dutch marksmen and demolitions expert, as well as the oldest member of the team. * Captain Carlo "Chuck" Sirianni – An Italian-American from New Jersey who served with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services before joining the team and becoming their chief navigation officer. Chuck is also a dabbler in electronics and aeronautic technology. * Lieutenant Weng Chan (Chop-Chop) – Chinese and said to be just 17 when he first joins the team, Weng is a skilled pilot, flight mechanic, and cook. * Captain Natalie Reed (Lady Blackhawk) – Brilliant Russian-American flight engineer who redesigns the Blackhawks' aircraft and fights alongside them. She gives birth to a son in 1945, the product of a brief affair with Hendricksen. Other early members of the team include Russian Boris Zinoviev and Englishman Ian Holcomb-Baker, who, along with Blackhawk's longtime friends Stanislaus and Kazimierc "Zeg" Zegota-Januszajtis, are "the first to fall in battle." Later team members include African-American Grover Baines, Malaysian Quan Chee Keng (known as "Mairzey"), and Mexican Paco Herrera. ====Evolution of Chop-Chop==== Throughout the 1940s and well into the 1950s, Chop-Chop provides comic relief in the Blackhawk strip and is depicted as more of a highly-exaggerative caricature amid the realistic art style that otherwise surrounds him. Fat, buck-toothed, and orange-skinned, he speaks in broken English, wears a queue hairstyle complete with a bow, and dresses in colorful coolie garb. This depiction, although now considered offensive by many, was not atypical of World War II-era depictions of Asians. A popular character at the time, Chop-Chop also appears in his own humor feature in the Blackhawk series from 1946 to 1955. Even in his very earliest appearances, he demonstrates tremendous competency and bravery, arriving on Blackhawk Island in a plane of his own construction, and then, relatively soon after, is shown fighting right alongside Blackhawk in a hand-to-hand melee. Despite this, he's long portrayed as essentially Blackhawk's sidekick, riding along in Blackhawk's plane as opposed to piloting his own and often brandishing a cleaver in battle. In 1952, it's firmly stated that he's a full member of the team, and from 1955 to 1964, he slowly transforms into a more realistically drawn character, changes that culminate when the Blackhawks take on a major uniform change for the first time in their history and Chop-Chop finally joins them in his choice of wardrobe. When the team later reverts to their traditional blue and black uniforms, he dons one for the first time. When the 1980s World War II-set revival of the series begins, Chop-Chop is again shown in a variation of his original outfit (and even clutches a cleaver on the cover of the first issue). It's quickly apparent, however, that the similarities end there and that he's far from comic relief. As the run progresses, it's revealed that he feels slighted by his teammates, not given proper enough respect to even wear the same uniform as them. Realizing their embarrassing oversight, they bestow to him with great ceremony a standard uniform and his own plane to mark him as a respected member of the group. After DC Comics' company-wide crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths revamped and streamlined many of DC's properties, Chop-Chop has almost exclusively been depicted wearing the Blackhawks' standard uniform. His past likeness and role as sidekick is addressed, shown as a character in a comic book about the Blackhawks. =====1983 controversy===== In Blackhawk #263 (October 1983), writer Mark Evanier took over the "Blackhawk Bylines" letter column to address an anonymous editorial written by a staff member of the Richmond Times-Dispatch that ran in the paper's February 6, 1983, edition. Evanier wrote of the piece: "He (let's assume it's a He) complains, "No longer does the Oriental Blackhawk bang no-goodniks on the head with manhole covers, exclaiming: 'Chop-Chop fixee so face look difflunt!'" The writer loves this kind of stuff and then goes on to explain that to not depict Chop-Chop in this manner is the real insult. He writes, "Since Chop-Chop turned up full-grown in 1941, he might well have been born into a village in which the customs of Imperial China sill lingered." Referring to the fact that Chop-Chop no longer sports the ponytail: "Dequeueing him demonstrates not 'tolerance' but cultural imperialism...to the extent that a working class Chinese spoke English, it would be pidgin, not the queen's..." Translation: The fat, stupid version was historically accurate."" An admittedly stunned Evanier readily denounced the column, challenging the editorial writer's assertion that Steven Spielberg, at the time rumored to be interested in making a Blackhawk film, should be faithful to the original depiction of Chop-Chop. Evanier wrote that it's amazing to him that "anyone could believe that Chinese folks were really obese and stupid in the forties," or that Spielberg would ignore the box office and "commit professional suicide by so depicting them." When asked later if the editorial hastened Evanier's own approach to evolving the character, Evanier said he thought he would have pursued the same course regardless, giving the editorial "probably more attention than it deserved." ====Aircraft====

Grumman XF5F Skyrocket
The Grumman XF5F Skyrocket is the twin-engine fighter most identified with the Blackhawks. The team is nearly always shown flying modified versions of the plane during their World War II adventures and for some time thereafter. As Will Eisner remembered: "So we came up with the idea of using a certain model Grumman airplane, which had a very strange configuration. It had tailfins coming out from under a wing. It also apparently had the capacity to make a rapid takeoff from the deck of an aircraft carrier. It was a Navy plane, as I remember, not an Army Air Force plane. Actually, in real life, it turned out not to be as good a plane as everybody thought it would be, but it sure looked sexy!"

Other notable aircraft
Additionally, other planes made appearances during the course of strip: * PZL.50A Jastrząb – This is the plane that Blackhawk flew in Poland during the Nazi invasion of 1939.* Republic F-84 Thunderjet – By the early 1950s, the Blackhawks converted the squadron to jets. This was the Blackhawk Squadron's first jet aircraft.* Lockheed XF-90 – This actual experimental fighter was adapted to become the fictional:: F-90 "B" – The Blackhawks flew this plane from 1950 to 1955.: F-90 "C" – The Blackhawks were flying this model by 1957.* Republic F-105 Thunderchief – The Blackhawks modified this plane to have VTOL capability.* Lockheed F-94 Starfire – This is the plane that Lady Blackhawk flew. ====International incarnations==== The Blackhawk concept and characters proved to be popular on the international market as well as in the United States. Quality Comics licensed the rights along with many of their other characters to London's Boardman Books, which used them in a series of three-color reprints from 1948 to 1954. Boardman also reprinted Blackhawk stories in their Adventure Annual series of hardcover Christmas publications. Many of the British Blackhawk reprints were repackaged by Boardman art director Denis McLoughlin, who created at least one British original Blackhawk story, as well as the illustrations for several Blackhawk text stories. After Boardman's contract lapsed, Strato Publications launched a square-bound 68-page Blackhawk series which ran for 37 issues between 1956 and 1958. ====Early crossover==== In Hit Comics #26 (February 1943), Blackhawk participated in an early example of a fictional crossover when fellow Quality Comics character Kid Eternity summons him to stop a mad scientist. ====Other versions====

Flashpoint

 * In the Flashpoint reality, the Blackhawk Squadron, equipped with F-35s and with Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris among its pilots, respond to attacks on New Themyscira, but are killed by Amazonian forces.  ====In other media====

Television

 * A 1968 "presentation drawing" from Filmation depicts a red-shirted interpretation of Blackhawk and a member of the team fighting a pack of what appears to be four aliens, while Aquaman watches from the foreground. Created during the height of popularity of Filmation's "Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure," the artwork is believed to have been part of an attempt to convince CBS on the animation viability of other DC Comics properties.  [[Image:SavageTime.jpg|thumb|200px|Blackhawk in the Justice League animated series.]]* The [[Justice League (TV series)|Justice League]] episode "The Savage Time" featured appearances by many DC World War II-era heroes, including the Blackhawks. When the Blackhawks join Superman and Hawkgirl in battle, Hawkgirl notices their logo. After Blackhawk salutes Hawkgirl, Superman comments "Friends of yours?", to which Hawkgirl responds "They are now." A lead Blackhawk (presumably Janos Prohaska/Bart Hawk) was voiced by Robert Picardo. * The Justice League Unlimited episode "I Am Legion" featured a now-elderly Chuck (voiced by Academy Award-nominee Seymour Cassel). According to Chuck, he was the only Blackhawk still living and he was married to Mairzey as the character was in the comic books. It was not revealed how the others died. The episode focused on Lex Luthor, The Key, and Doctor Polaris raiding the decommissioned Blackhawk Island in order to steal the advanced technology the Blackhawks had acquired on various missions and stored there (the only item they do steal is the Spear of Longinus). During a chase through the museum on the island, a statue or mannequin of Lady Blackhawk can be seen. * The Arrow episode "Trust But Verify" featured a private security company called Blackhawk Security. An employee, Theodore Gaynor (played by Ben Browder), was John Diggle (Oliver's bodyguard)'s former commanding officer in Afghanistan. Gaynor led a team of other Blackhawk employees in robbing armored cars, until he was killed by Oliver Queen. Other team members were Paul Knox (played by Colin Lawrence). =====Film=====
 * Blackhawk was a 15-part 1952 film serial based on the comic book, produced by Sam Katzman and starring Kirk Alyn as Blackhawk. Alyn had earlier been the first screen Superman. * The Blackhawk squadron appears in the animated DVD movie Justice League: The New Frontier, but the pilots are unnamed. The only spoken line is the cry "Hawk-a-a-a!" from one of the pilots, presumably Blackhawk himself. As in the comic, the squadron intervenes at a crucial point, saving Batman and Green Arrow from being annihilated by the Centre's creatures.

| caption
===| director       = Spencer Gordon Bennet Fred F. Sears===

| producer       = Sam Katzman
===| writer         = Royal K. Cole Sherman L. Lowe George H. Plympton Will Eisner (characters)===

| narrator
===| starring       = Kirk Alyn Carol Forman John Crawford Michael Fox Don C. Harvey Rick Vallin Larry Stewart===

}}
===Blackhawk is a 1952 Columbia movie serial based on the comic book Blackhawk published at the time by Quality Comics. The serial carried the subtitle "Fearless Champion of Freedom"; it was Columbia's 49th serial. ===

===It stars Kirk Alyn as Blackhawk and Carol Forman as the foreign spy that must be stopped from stealing the experimental super-fuel "Element-X"; Alyn and Forman were also the hero and villain of Columbia's earlier Superman. Blackhawk was produced by the famously cheap Sam Katzman and directed by the team of Spencer Gordon Bennet and Fred F. Sears. It is considered relatively cheap and lackluster, made in the waning years of movie serial production.===

Plot
===A flying squadron of World War II veterans, The International Brotherhood, is a private flying investigative force led by Blackhawk. They uncover a gang of underworld henchmen, led by the notorious foreign spy Laska, who reports to the The Leader, a mystery man. During the a serial's 15 chapters, Blackhawk and his flying squadron set about bringing these criminals to justice.===

Production
===Writer George Plympton described a production staff meeting where they listened to a recording of the short-lived Blackhawk radio series. Everyone at the meeting was "aghast at the confusing babble of accents." For Columbia's serial, all of the Blackhawks speak with standard American accents.{{cite book===

Stunts
===In chapter 3 Kirk Alyn performs a potentially dangerous stunt without the use of a stunt double. In order to save the life of squadron member Stan, who's tied to a stake in the path of a taxiing plane, Blackhawk (Alyn) runs up to the vehicle and turns it aside by grabbing the wing. A hidden pilot inside the plane steered it to simulate the movement. When writing this scene, the screenwriters were thinking of a small lighter wood-and-canvas plane, not the heavy metal aircraft used in the final scene; it could have easily killed Alyn if the stunt's timing had gone wrong. ===

}}  Despite this, Blackhawk was the last aviation serial; fliers  had rapidly become less impressive in American popular culture, and science fiction was taking its place.
===Made in the 1950s, Blackhawk was produced after the movie serial's heyday; many from this period were generally inferior to those made in the previous decade. ===

=
=====Radio===== The 1989 series of comics was nominated for the Squiddy Award for New Continuing Series in 1989.
 * The Blackhawk radio series was broadcast Wednesdays at 5:30pm on ABC from September to December 1950. Michael Fitzmaurice portrayed Blackhawk. =====Novel=====
 * A novel titled Blackhawk by William Rotsler was published in 1982, detailing the team's origin. =====Toys=====
 * A limited-edition Blackhawk G.I. Joe action figure was produced in 2002 by Dreams & Visions, licensed by DC Comics and Hasbro. The figure wore the classic blue-black flight uniform from World War II with two additional outfits and accessory sets included: Blackhawk's red and green uniform from the mid to late 1960s, and an Arctic survival uniform in sky blue. * In July 2006 DC Direct released a 6.58" Blackhawk action figure as part of the Series 1 DC: The New Frontier toyline. * In 2009, Mattel released a Blackhawk figure that is part of their Justice League Unlimited toyline. * In 2008, three Blackhawk figures were released for the Heroclix game from Wizkids / NECA. These represent Blackhawk himself, Stanislaus and Hendrickson. All have the standard blue and black squadron uniforms, although only Blackhawk has the hat. Blackhawk and Hendrickson are armed with assault rifles, while Stanislaus is armed with a service revolver. Blackhawk's base has a red edge (Veteran), Hendrickson's has a blue edge (Experienced), and Stanislaus' has a yellow edge (Rookie). All three, not surprisingly, have the "Soldier" keyword, and Blackhawk himself also has the "Leadership" ability. All three figures have the word Blackhawk on the base. ====Awards====