The Super-heroes of the Thirties and Forties starred in Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Captain America, Vigilante, Spy Smasher. I've also watched The Shadow and the Masked Marvel and the later entry, King of the Rocket Men. They tend to be more anodyne, written and played for an undemanding child audience, and redolent of the cultural values of their time. Almost a month ago,
last Christmas Day, I began watching Blackhawk, starring the first Superman of the serials, Kirk Alyn.
Blackhawk is the leader of a vigilante group of aviators, who arises out of an attack on Warsaw in 1939 where his siblings Jack and Connie are killed. I first read his origin story and his revenge against Von Tepp of the Bucher Squadron in Secret Origins 6, first published in late 1973.
Blackhawk is essentially Batman, punching Nazis in the face, like Cap- or crashing into their planes and shooting them. He doesn't just have one punning sidekick, he has an international squad who, strangely, will be an inspiration for the All-New X-Men of 1975. And he doesn't just have a gadget-laden cave- he has a whole island, with a "zeppelin shed" and "disappearing forts"!
The origin tale crafted by Will "Spirit" Eisner and Chuck Cuidera also has a romantic subplot with a feisty English nurse, very like Lee and Kirby's Sgt. Fury. It also introduces the Blackhawk Song:
" Over land, over sea/ We fight to make men free/ Of danger we don't care/ We're Blackhawks!"
I've read two memorable, later stories by artist Reed Crandall, both from 1946 and reprinted in Batman Super-Spectaculars. The first had a charming panel depicting the Blackhawks relaxing: Olaf is served beer by astonishing caricature, Chop-Chop; Hendy is asleep; Andre plays guitar and Chuck (Cuidera?) is drawing Hendy.
The second starred sultry adventuress Fear, a killer of "dirty scoundrels", "busy throughout the world dealing with evil" and whose "heart's interests" are set on Blackhawk.
However, these international intrigues, reminiscent of Indiana Jones,aren't where my heart's interests lie:
In the mid-Sixties,"Zany" Bob Haney transformed the "Junk -Heap Heroes" into quirky, costumed gadgeteers with hep-cat dialogue, working for Mr. Delta, the masked leader of G.E.O.R.G.E. As a blend of tv's Batman and the Man From UNCLE, it couldn't be more Sixties. The hill I'm prepared to die on is this is probably the way to present the Blackhawks today. Even Chuck as the Listener with his ear-decals.
I first discovered the Blackhawks in an Action Double Double comic of the late 60s. The Golden Centurion - Iron Man but powered by gold- remains one of my favourite 60s heroes. This story featured an android named Johnny Vak and a winged villain named Barbarossa. It's completely bananas and the next issue, my second Blackhawk New Era story - a comic from my cousin Jim's collection- was even better:
Not only did it introduce me to the original uniforms but to Zinda, the glamorous Lady Blackhawk.
E. Nelson Bridwell, writing about the various 60s origins of Blackhawk, refers to Stan as "brilliant" but the Golden Centurion is " a big lummox...dumb...brainless...a lout...ox...loveable musclehead"!
Hendy, clearly a German is the eccentric Weapons Master. Andre,as M'sieu Machine has invented an amphibious taxi and a waterwheel elevator which carries him to his converted mill. Chop Chop is a chess champion, who spouts Buddhist wisdom dressed up in groovy slang. Blackhawk ( Bart Hawk) himself is reinvented as the Big Eye, with a huge, hawk-shaped space kite. Olaf as The Leaper, resembles the Michelin Man, powered by a suit similar to Flubber, from 1961's The Absent-Minded Professor.
But the New Blackhawk Era would be over in five issues, killed by this audacious campery.
I was just starting secondary school when Blackhawk was revived as part of Gerry Conway's "Corner" at DC and I bought one issue:
This was a Steve Skeates- scripted adventure, drawn by Ric (Karate Kid) Estrada where Chopper is now a kung fu expert- some two years after Marvel's Shang Chi and Iron Fist - battling with an ex-Blackhawk in an Iron Man knock-off suit of armour. Again. in five issues time, the comic would be cancelled.
Shortly, the classic Blackhawks returned in a cameo in a Dick Dillin JLA issue written by Steve Englehart .
Next, a Cockrum Brave and Bold tale with the Golden Age ( Earth-2) Batman, which I bought at Buchanan Street bus station. But prior to this, Cockrum - co-creator of those All-New X-Men-and Marv Wolfman created a try-out story for a Marvel-Blackhawk pastiche which finally saw print in late 1984 in two issues of Marvel Fanfare.
To my knowledge, Skywolf has never appeared since.
In the vein of his sexy, cynical Shadow revamp, Howard Chaykin revived Blackhawk for a limited series in 1987 but I didn't stick with it. It generated a spin-off regular series, naturally, as most Prestige Format faintly-super-heroic series did. Maybe I'll return to it soon, if only for the splendidly-named villain, Death Mayhew.
The New 52 iteration of Blackhawk reminds me of a cross between SHIELD and Marvel's GI Joe- or what I know of it from Marvel Age- and has currently less appeal for me than Chaykin.
As for the movie serial, it wasn't as dull as Vigilante's adventures but it was a bit of a chore. Naturally for the period, the villains are Commie subversives, led by femme fatale Laska and intent on stealing Element X, a "mystery fuel". In the early episodes, they employ Boris, a double for Stan. Later, the action shifts to Mexico but it's all a bit stodgy and repetitive. Alyn's Blackhawk has really no personality although there's a sense of camaraderie and fun on the few occasions where we see the full team. But Andre and Olaf in particular are hardly used.
The redeeming feature is John Crawford as Chuck, a cheery, husky fellow who enjoys punching villains and driving Blackhawk around ( there are several plane scenes but cliffhangers with cars feature in the serial).
Interestingly, Crawford appeared this week, as I finished the serial, as the chief menace in an episode of Lost in Space: the eponymous Time Merchant, Dr. Chronos. And the Aurora Lost In Space model kit is advertised in the third part of Haney's Junk Heap Heroes!
Coming soon: The War Master.
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