Sunday, October 7, 2012

Face It Blackhawks, You Just Hit the Jackpot

"Face It Blackhawks, You Just Hit the Jackpot" from Blackhawk vol.1 #133 (DC, 1959) by Dick Dillin and Charles Cuidera

One of the problems facing the Blackhawks, even under Quality Comics, was their divorce from the World War II era. As they headed into the 50s, their adventures became more and more ludicrous, and when DC got a hold of them in 1956, the company's brand of Silver Age madness took them more and more into the realm of science fiction (they basically became the Challengers of the Unknown with planes), at their most extreme, being turned into ridiculous superheroes (from #288 to #241). Among DC's contributions to the strip were the humanization of Chop-Chop and the character seen above in her first ever appearance, Lady Blackhawk! She would eventually become their coolest and most popular member.

Blackhawks ended in 1968 with #243, then briefly returned in the 70s (through #250), then again in the 80s (through #273), this time returning to the WWII adventures. This is when Blackhawk himself was reinvented as a Pole rather than an American. This was followed by a Howard Chaykin mini-series for mature readers, a look and premise (without adult elements) follow-up in Action Comics Weekly, which in turn continued in a short-lived series (once again "mature") in the 90s. Since then, appearances have been pretty meager, with the exception of Zinda's as a member of the Birds of Prey. So here's to Lady Blackhawk!

1 comment:

  1. Woohoo! Zinda! I can't help it, she's my favorite Blackhawk. Although I possess a sneakig fondness for Olaf as well.

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