Blackhawk are a great idea and for a very long time they were an idea and a comic book which found a respectable audience.
The team was created by Will Eisner and Chuck Cuidera. Eventually the team was brought to the big screen in a Columbia serial with Superman himself, Kirk Alyn in the starring role of "Blackhawk".
To be honest, Alyn looks more fitting as Blackhawk than as Superman. His posing seems more rugged and his acting less particular. Being one of many in their well designed fighting togs, the heroes here look good, even if the stories often fall a bit short. But even there, it's a small complaint.
All the Blackhawks are in evidence, even if the older Henderson (Frank Ellis) only ever gets a tiny role, never leaving the hangar where he works on plane continually. The other Blackhawks get screen time with Olaf (Don Harvey) and Andre (Larry Stewart) getting the least. Stan (Rick Vallin) is featured in the first few chapters because he has a double role as his treacherous twin brother Boris. The majority of the action though is seen by Blackhawk and Chuck (John Crawford). There is though one great scene for Chop-Chop (Weaver Levy) who gets to whip up on a guy attempting to hold him hostage.
The villain of the piece is really the Commies, particularly in the form of Laska, a seductive spy played by Carol Forman (who had also been the Spider Lady opposite Alyn's Superman in the first of those serials). She is outstanding as the nefarious and unscrupulous femme fatale, much better here than as the Spider Lady. She looked like a real-life version of Natasha from the Bullwinkle cartoons but much more deadly.
The serial hums along pretty well, with little maguffins showing up all the time to lead the team into some pretty decent fisticuffs. But alas the serial falls off the rails a bit at the end when Blackhawk and Chuck end up in Mexico for several chapters, which separate them form their Blackhawk comrades and also make the show feel like a western in an odd way. It's a shift in tone which hurts the eventual finale which does bring everyone back together.
But all in all this is a fun one and worth the time. Recommended.
Dave Cockrum clearly loved the classic Blackhawks, as this cover demonstrates. The doughty heroes rush at the reader with vigor and violence, all dressed in immaculate black leather save for Chop-Chop who alas is only slightly removed from his vintage stereotype.
Cockrum was clearly inspired by this Quality comics cover by Reed Crandall for the debut issue of Military Comics which saw the very first Blackhawk stories.
This issue echoes that debut but also sadly makes even more of the nasty Chop-Chop caricature which plagued these early stories. They are regrettable signs of the time for sure.
The attack mode those is duplicated in this offbeat Blackhawk era which attempted to make the Blackhawks all different from one another and more purely superheroes which the time seemed unable to get enough of. But as it turned out, there was a saturation point and the Blackhawks found it. I like this era, but many others do not. At least Chop-Chop looks much improved.
And finally we have this Joe Kubert classic for the mid-70's revival of the series. The updated uniforms are pretty neat, though the cut-to-the-navel look is pure Bronze Age. Love the energy on this cover.
Rip Off
To be honest, Alyn looks more fitting as Blackhawk than as Superman. His posing seems more rugged and his acting less particular. Being one of many in their well designed fighting togs, the heroes here look good, even if the stories often fall a bit short. But even there, it's a small complaint.
All the Blackhawks are in evidence, even if the older Henderson (Frank Ellis) only ever gets a tiny role, never leaving the hangar where he works on plane continually. The other Blackhawks get screen time with Olaf (Don Harvey) and Andre (Larry Stewart) getting the least. Stan (Rick Vallin) is featured in the first few chapters because he has a double role as his treacherous twin brother Boris. The majority of the action though is seen by Blackhawk and Chuck (John Crawford). There is though one great scene for Chop-Chop (Weaver Levy) who gets to whip up on a guy attempting to hold him hostage.
The villain of the piece is really the Commies, particularly in the form of Laska, a seductive spy played by Carol Forman (who had also been the Spider Lady opposite Alyn's Superman in the first of those serials). She is outstanding as the nefarious and unscrupulous femme fatale, much better here than as the Spider Lady. She looked like a real-life version of Natasha from the Bullwinkle cartoons but much more deadly.
The serial hums along pretty well, with little maguffins showing up all the time to lead the team into some pretty decent fisticuffs. But alas the serial falls off the rails a bit at the end when Blackhawk and Chuck end up in Mexico for several chapters, which separate them form their Blackhawk comrades and also make the show feel like a western in an odd way. It's a shift in tone which hurts the eventual finale which does bring everyone back together.
But all in all this is a fun one and worth the time. Recommended.
Dave Cockrum clearly loved the classic Blackhawks, as this cover demonstrates. The doughty heroes rush at the reader with vigor and violence, all dressed in immaculate black leather save for Chop-Chop who alas is only slightly removed from his vintage stereotype.
Cockrum was clearly inspired by this Quality comics cover by Reed Crandall for the debut issue of Military Comics which saw the very first Blackhawk stories.
This issue echoes that debut but also sadly makes even more of the nasty Chop-Chop caricature which plagued these early stories. They are regrettable signs of the time for sure.
The attack mode those is duplicated in this offbeat Blackhawk era which attempted to make the Blackhawks all different from one another and more purely superheroes which the time seemed unable to get enough of. But as it turned out, there was a saturation point and the Blackhawks found it. I like this era, but many others do not. At least Chop-Chop looks much improved.
And finally we have this Joe Kubert classic for the mid-70's revival of the series. The updated uniforms are pretty neat, though the cut-to-the-navel look is pure Bronze Age. Love the energy on this cover.
Rip Off
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