Part of my fascination with comic book house ads is seeing what was inside the titles I did not get to buy, but only caught intriguing glimpses of in advertisements.
For example, what was the Blackhawk team doing fighting a huge theropod dinosaur on the cover of Blackhawk 143 (Dec. 1959), and how would they manage it? They didn’t have superpowers, after all (except every now and then).
The answer to the dilemma in The Time-Monsters involved a steam shovel and a giant spool of telephone cable, as it turned out.
In the issue’s other two stories, we learned that Lady Blackhawk had a rival in Queen Penelope of the island Kingdom of Xenovia, and how Olaf and Hendrickson found themselves in a feud.
“As I got older and I read those older monster and alien issues, I now realize how far Blackhawk had strayed from his original roots,” recalled Paul Zuckerman. “My friend’s brother had collected Blackhawk in the early ’50s and in the mid-’60s. My friend sold me an issue or two for a buck each. What a revelation! The team were true cold war warriors, but it felt so much more organic to the character as freedom fighters. Every issue seemed to have another Eastern European country with a strange name with a threatened Communist takeover, and every issue the Blackhawks would thwart the Reds. DC quickly ejected those storylines from the book when it acquired the strip from Quality.”
Bruce Kanin observed, “I always enjoy reviewing the evolution of DC’s comic books in the ’40s-’60s, especially in that many followed the same path, i.e., solid tales revolving around their time period and nature of the heroes; gradual introduction of fantastic elements like big gorillas, dinosaurs and, er, blobs; aliens arrive; new costumes; Neal Adams arrives (heh); back to gritty, realistic stories before cancellation.
“That applies more or less to Blackhawk, Sea Devils, Challengers Of The Unknown, Doom Patrol and Tomahawk — perhaps others.”
Vincent Mariani:
ReplyDeleteWhile many fans cite a link between Challengers of the Unknown and Marvel's Fantastic Four, I find that Challengers' greatest impact was on DC's own line of publications, essentially bringing forth a number of imitations or influences. The change from the Quality version of Blackhawk to DC's presentation is one example. Suicide Squad, Rip Hunter, Cave Carson, Sea Devils, and Tomahawk's Rangers all became variations on the Challengers theme. The locales may have changed to suit the specific teams, but the adventures and menaces became increasingly similar. It's interesting how easily Blackhawk comics were seamlessly folded into the DC process.
I replied:
I remember that when i was little, I regarded the Challengers and the Blackhawks as essentially the same thing.
Sam Kujava:
ReplyDeleteThe evolution/de-evolution of the DC Silver Age ... take your pick.
George Blake:
ReplyDeleteBlackhawk and his team appealed to me no matter their situations. The men’s devotion to their leader and one another was very appealing.
It was my older brother that brought home that title now and again, so I got my dose of team loyalty that way and it was me that rarely bought a copy for the house, preferring the top DC comics.
My own loyalty came to an end when the uniforms were changed and I winced when they got into even more outlandish get-ups.
I thought there was no more beautiful comic book heroine than Lady Blackhawk.
(Your description of the team taking on a dinosaur with a “steam shovel” brought to mind the 1960 motion picture Dinosaurus, however it looks like they used a bulldozer).
I replied:
They used a bulldozer AND a steam shovel. Tyrannosauruses are a tall order.
Rich Feinberg:
ReplyDeleteI just happened to be reading Blackhawk #203 last night (Dec. 1964, "The Origin of Chop-Chop!") (how could I resist THAT?)....
On the letters page they printed side by side one letter saying "too many creatures and aliens!" and another saying "You need more yarns about super-monsters and invaders from other worlds!" The response was "it would be wonderful if we could put out two sets of books each month" to satisfy both factions, but since they couldn't, they'll just try to vary them from issue to issue.
That wasn't the only DC comic to stray so far from its roots at this time; Tomahawk and Star Spangled War Stories had also become VERY monster-centric!
ReplyDeleteTodd Tamanend Clark:
I only bought BLACKHAWK whenever there was a LADY BLACKHAWK appearance! I found the others to be horrid ethnic stereotypes!