Blackhawk was a WW II Quality Comics character who was popular enough to have post-war adventures. When DC bought up the Quality characters they kept publishing Blackhawk on a regular schedule until the book was finally cancelled in the late 1960s or early 1970s, although a revival was attempted several years later.
The series was created by Will Eisner & featured Blackhawk & his band of international pilots fighting first the Nazis then other menaces after the war.
When I get the chance I'll nitpick the stories in Blackhawk Archive 1 as well as various reprints from some of my old comics, but unfortunately I have to start off with a lackluster attempt from the 1950s.
The Raid On Blackhawk Island Blackhawk #109 Reprinted in The Greatest 1950s Stories Ever Told
The opening caption states that the Blackhawks without their leader must track down "a madman". Now some might regard this as a nit given who the "madman" really is, but I personally think it's fitting.
The Electronic Brain still has a working disintegrator ray??? You'd think the Blackhawks would have deactivated that. Oddly enough they later say they removed all the fuel from the stolen vehicles for safety reasons.
The broken glass that the Electronic Brain would have had to have gotten through looks too small to accommodate it.
Okay, to find out which of his men would make a good leader should something happen to him, Blackhawk makes it look like he's been killed & three vehicles stolen from the Blackhawks' Victory Museum.
Problem is how the heck could one man operate all three vehicles and get them off the island?
Chuck realized that The Question Mark was really Blackhawk because he had said he would get Chuck & Olaf as they chuted down before they had opened their secret parachutes. Unfortunately the picture shows the chutes open when The Question Mark said that.
Blackhawk feels that all his men did a good job of proving they could be the next leader of the Blackhawks. Wellllll, I don't remember Chop-Chop contributing much here.
The Origin of Blackhawk Military Comics #1 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1 & Secret Origins #6
The title is only on the Table of Contents of the Archive Edition. (DC added titles for all untitled stories.) The original story & the Secret Origins reprint were untitled, although I suppose you could argue that the Blackhawk logo was also it's title.
The Splash page of Secret Origins has credits for the writer & artists. The Writer credit takes up the space that had said "Army Section" & the Artist credit takes up the space that had said "Stories of military action on land Book 1."
In the Archive Edition Will Eisner & Bob Powell are credited as writers of this story, but in the Secret Origins reprint only Will Eisner is credited.
Chuck Cuidera's splash page signature is missing in the Secret Origins reprint.
Blackhawk's plane is described as black, but the Polish planes are purple with pink wings on page 2 panel 5 & on page 3 it is red with yellow wings. In the Secret Origins reprint the polish planes are blue.
One of Von Tepp's prisoners is a Blackhawk, but in neither reprint is he dressed in the usual Blackhawk uniform. In the Archive Edition his uniform is colored grey just like the other male prisoner & in the Secret Origins reprint uniform is brown.
Secret Origins reprint Page 5, Panel 5. The captured Blackhawk (wish they'd given him a name so it doesn't sound like Von Tepp had captured Blackhawk himself) has blonde hair instead of blue.
The first named Blackhawk. A cockney named Baker. He will never be seen again. (And neither will the unnamed English Blackhawk who was captured by Von Tepp.)
On the island in the Secret Origins reprint Blackhawk's planes are orange in the Archive Edition they are green.
The Coward Dies Twice Military Comics #2 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
A Blackhawk logo (a yellow circle with a hawk's head) is added to the uniforms.
The Blackhawks catch some Nazi pilots ambushing some English pilots. One of the English pilots flees. After finishing off the Nazis they surround the English plane and escort him to Blackhawk Island. Frankly I'm not sure why they did this. When they land the pilot wants to know what's going on & he's told that Blackhawks don't speak to cowards (all except Blackhawk himself who shows the guy around the island.) Except for story purposes (the coward sacrifices his life to save the Blackhawks) there's no real reason for why the Blackhawks lead him back to Blackhawk Island instead of letting him fly back home to be dealt with by his English superiors.
The first named recurring Blackhawks. Andre, Boris, Hendricks, Olaf, Stanislaus & Zeg. (All 6 will reappear, but only 4 will last until the end of the series.)
NNAN. Blackhawk says of his men, "each saw his country crushed by the invader!!" While this statement holds true for those 6 men & Blackhawk, in the first issue there were 2 Blackhawks with English accents. (Guess they were killed between issues.)
I hope that radium the Blackhawks are carrying was in lead containers.
The Doomed Battalion! Military Comics #3 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
The intro says that the Blackhawks are 7 men. The first issue featured a virtual army of Blackhawks surrounding Von Tepp's Headquarters. Issue two showed 7 pilots, but 2 men based on Blackhawk Island as well. Are only pilots deemed worthy of the name Blackhawks? Did all those Blackhawks in the first issue die between issues?
Is Jugoslavia supposed to be Yugoslavia or a fictional country?
When Chop Chop shows up he's apparently a servant of Nurse Anne, but after returning Anne and others she's with to England, Chop Chop somehow becomes a member of the Blackhawks. It doesn't even happen in the story. The story ends with Chop Chop upset at the Blackhawks for "dlubble clossing" him (getting him to tie himself up so they can leave him behind on Blackhawk Island) & then on a one page bit following the story (where Blackhawk tells the readers that the next issue will feature a full page layout of Blackhawk Island) Chop Chop shows up apparently a member of the team. Oddly enough Anne first showed up in issue 1 & she asked to stay on Blackhawk Island to 'help' Blackhawk & he declined. (Hmmm, did Wertham mention the Blackhawks & their 'Men only' island in Seduction Of The Innocent?)
Desert Death Military Comics #4 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
The cover calls the story Desert Death, but the Splash page* indicates the story is called Suez!
* A splash page is a full page intro to the story proper sort of an interior cover page
Page 9, Panel 3. Blackhawk is speaking, but the word balloon is pointing to a Nazi plane, not Blackhawk's skyrocket.
The Map Insert shows that Blackhawk Island is somewhere in the North Sea (shown about halfway between Ireland & Canada, close to Greenland & Iceland). However in issue 1, Blackhawk & his men flew Eastward from Von Tepp's Headquarters to their island. Somehow I doubt Von Tepp's HQ was in Canada, so did they fly around the world or did they move?
Scavengers Of Doom Military Comics #5 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
The Cover calls the story Scavengers Of Doom, but the Splash page calls it The Scavengers!! (2 exclamation points? It must be twice as good as stories with only 1 exclamation point. ;-)
The Scavengers all look & dress alike & have ratlike faces (complete with pointy ears & ratlike whiskers), but no explanation for this unusual appearance is given in the story.
Red Laura has brown hair & wears a green shirt. Soooooo why is she called Red Laura?
Page 4, Panel 9. Red Laura's shirt is a darker green than the previous panel.
The Vial Of Death! Military Comics #6 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
One of the Blackhawks is punching a Nazi & says, "Outside Fatso!" except the Nazi isn't drawn as fat.
The Return Of Ghengis Khan Military Comics #7 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
This is the title they gave it for the Table of Contents. The cover mentions "the return of Ghengis Khan", although the splash page has Ghengis Khan! in bold letters which could be deemed the story title.
Okayyyyyyyyy. A Mongol finds a 700 year old man guarding the sword of Ghengis Khan. If the man can pull the sword out of the stone and split a stone plaque with it that is a sign he is Khan reborn. He does so. The guardian proclaims him Khan & dies. Khan then goes amongst the Mongols who accept him as Khan reborn because they recognize the sword.
Wait a minute! The sword of Khan has been hidden for 700 years and the Guardian killed everyone who failed to pull the sword out of the stone to keep the location secret. How would they know what it looks like?
Only one chieftain doesn't believe he is Khan, but when he attacks him his sword shatters on the Khan's body.
This part of the story would have worked better if the chieftain had been the first one Khan had encountered. As it is Khan has built up quite a following so far & no one questioned that he was Khan reborn.
Khan & his Mongol horde heads westward cutting a swath of destruction & death.
Wouldn't it make more sense to head southeast? Haven't the Japanese been attacking China for years at this point?
Churchill & Roosevelt feel this new Mongol horde is more dangerous than Hitler & decide to focus their forces on him.
Okay, this story was published in 1942 so maybe writer Dick French believed that a reborn Mongol horde could be more dangerous than Hitler, although personally I think it's a bad idea to try & call a temporary truce with one enemy you know to try & deal with one you don't. Besides Hitler would be the one in the most danger. England & America would have time. After all, the new Mongol Horde seems to be traveling entirely by horseback. They don't seem to be taking any advantage of modern day weapons & travel.
Hitler is in favor of the truce since it gives him more time & he sends an envoy to ally with Hitler.
Oddly enough we see no sign of anyone else sending envoys to meet with Khan & try to get them on their side.
One of the Blackhawks suggests wiping out Khan & his men, but Blackhawk feels they must reveal Khan as a fraud or he'll become a martyr.
Excuse me? Wipeout Khan & his Mongol hordes & just who will he become a martyr to?
Blackhawk faces the horde alone and challenges Khan to a fight & during the fight he discovers that Khan was wearing armor & this is why that cheiftain's sword broke.
How did Blackhawk know of the sword incident?
Somehow all this demoralizes the Mongol Horde & they turn on Khan & go home.
Say what? So what if he's wearing armor? This guy has lead you to amazing victories over more advanced armies & you all give up because it turns out he was wearing armor?
Also what about the mystical bit at the beginning? Doesn't that indicate that just maybe this guy was the Khan reborn?
The Man In The Iron Mask Military Comics #9 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
Somewhere along the way the Blackhawks lost a man (either Boris or Zeg). At the start of the story 6 Blackhawks are gathered to honor the memory of Andre who sacrificed himself in issue 3.
Another Blackhawk disappears after page 4, but you only notice this if you count the number of figures. Nobody mentions what happened to the other Blackhawk.
Warning! Spoiler!
The man in the iron mask turns out to be Andre, who survived being shot & the avalanche in issue 3, but who's face was horribly scarred. However to hide this the man in the iron mask speaks perfect English (apparently) without the French accent he had before & will regain next issue. (Okay he said one thing in French which clued Blackhawk into his identity.) So if he can speak English without an accent why revert to his accented English later on? (Besides the fact that sometimes the only way a reader could tell who was who was by their accents.)
Trapped In The Devil's Oven Military Comics #10 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
A mad plastic surgeon gives Andre a new face, but it's the face of the Nazi who had tortured him into madness & forced the surgeon's daughter to marry him (marry the Nazi, not her father). After the Blackhawks defeat the Nazi, rescue the daughter (& save some British troops, as well), the surgeon manages to give Andre his face back.
Oddly enough, Andre has more hair after the second surgery than he did after the first surgery.
Fury In The Philippines Military Comics #11 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
The title created for the Archive Edition.
Hendricks has become Hendrickson, although I suppose Hendricks could have been a nickname.
A new Blackhawk has been added, Chuck. Oddly enough other references describe Chuck as an American, but here it's said that each member of the Blackhawks had felt the crush of the Nazis blitzkreig. I suppose it's possible he could have been an American in Europe, Chop Chop after all was a Chinese in Jugoslavia when the Nazis attacked. However the Blackhawks are debating whether to keep fighting in Europe or fly to the Pacific to help the Americans with the Japanese. If Chuck was intended to be an American I would have expected him to be arguing for helping America.
Curse Of Xanukhara Military Comics #12 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
Title made up for Archive Edition.
Dick French's last story (at least in this edition). Thank goodness! He had some nice ideas, but didn't quite have the writing skill to pull off the more outlandish ones.
This story begins & ends with a mysterious figure (God?) narrating events.
In some respects this feels like a rejected Spirit story. Then again I suppose with the Will Eisner shop a lot of things would have a Spirit feel to them.
The story follows this brown attache case & almost everyone who has it dies & the mysterious word Xanukhara accompanies a number of these deaths. The case gets stolen from Blackhawk, but the man who stole it dies & next to his body is a torn piece of paper reading "AKE ISL". Blackhawk immediately guesses this means Quake Island.
Uh, isn't there a Wake Island as well?
Anyway Blackhawk & his men finally find the mysterious & beautiful Xanukhara, who offers Blackhawk the chance to rule the world with her, but he refuses & throws the breifcase into the fire where it explodes & Xanukhara disappears. Then the narrator reappears & says, "as for the contents of that breifcase... I have them... they shall remain a secret forever... because there is no punishment so terrible as revealing a man's future".
Uh, yeahhhhh, right.
Blackhawk Versus The Butcher Military Comics #13 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
The splash page says simply, The Butcher!
Zeg's back. So where the heck was he? (Hey, guys! I was stuck between pages 4 & 5 in issue 9!) I guess William Woolfolk was working with an old cast list when he got the job.
For some reason Page 172 in the Archive Edition is blank. Did the story originally go on for one more page & it didn't get printed? (While the story did feel like it ended rather abruptly, if it did go on for another page it probably would have been mostly padding as the story seemed to end.)
Tondeleyo Military Comics #14 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
Not very smart of Blackhawk to give the Nazis directions to find Blackhawk Island.
Also what happened to those big guns that we saw in previous issues. The Blackhawks take care of the Nazi bombers in planes not from the ground.
Men Who Never Came Back Military Comics #15 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
Title is a bit of a misnomer. While some of the men of the lost battalion do die, most of them come back.
NAN. One of the Indian men says, "Those Ferengi dogs fight like demons!" Blackhawk & his men don't look like the Ferengi! Well, maybe Chop Chop. His ears are drawn a little larger because he's a caricature. ;-)
In his first appearance Chuck had blue-black hair, now he's a redhead.
For some reason the Blackhawks have been summoned to the American Ambassador in India to go out & find a lost Scottish battalion. Didn't the English have Ambassadors in India in the 1940s?
The Scottish battalion has holed up in ruined city and are flying the Union Jack. The colors are black stripes, bordered in red on a white background. That just doesn't sound like a normal Union Jack.
Turns out Zeg was in this story as well. Where's Stanislaus?
The story is narrated in turns by 3 witches, Trouble, Terror & Mystery. Trouble & Terror are typical caucasion haggish crones & don't really interact with anyone in the story. Mystery is an oriental woman who does interact & has apparently fallen in love with Blackhawk & helps him out.
Blackhawk Vs. The Fox Military Comics #16 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
Well, now Blackhawk Island has a base hospital with surgeons. Funny how we never see these support personal in stories where they are not needed, like in issue 14 where the island was being bombed.
The Golden Bell Of Soong-Toy! Military Comics #17 Reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives Volume 1
This story establishes that Chuck is from Texas.
The Blackhawks have just broken into a Tokyo establishment and killed a bunch of Japanese soldiers. The owner of the house points out that one of the soldiers is not quite dead. Blackhawk cannot kill him in cold blood so the woman asks for Blackhawk's gun & when he gives it to her shoots the Japanese soldier.
Why the heck did Blackhawk give his gun to an (apparently) Japanese woman?
In this story the Blackhawks use a big old carrier plane rather than their usual individual planes. Oddly enough it appears drawn the same as their modified Grumman Skyrockets.
Hendrickson is said to be flying the plane, but the artist has drawn Hendrickson as being with Blackhawk's group. (I get the feeling that no one bothered making up an easy reference chart of who the Blackhawks were with a picture of what they are supposed to look like next to the name.)
Now the Blackhawks have an island in the Pacific that they are using for a base. Not as fancy as their island base in the North Atlantic though.
One question that none of these stories answered is, "Where does Blackhawk get the money for all the equipment, planes, ammunition, uniforms, food, drink & whatever else they'd need?"
Blackhawk was a Polish farmer serving in the Polish Air Force. To the best of my knowledge Polish farmers were not wealthy millionnaires.
Over books & TV
We fight to make nit-free
Of death we don't care
We're Nitpickers!
Untitled story Blackhawk #11 Reprinted in Four Star Spectacular #6
The Tigress lives in the jungle wearing native clothing, but high stiletto heels as well. Surprisingly she almost managed to outrun Blackhawk, while she wore those & managed to stand on a rock in the middle of the river without slipping off.
NAN but the Tigress is also the rare villainess who seems immune to Blackhawk's charm.
Jugoslavia is just an alternate spelling for Yugoslavia.
Blackhawk was cancelled in 1968, and revived in '75, lasting for 7 issues. Issue 248 was the second part of a two part story showing the Blackhawks confronting Bio Lord, an android who intended to destroy humanity to save the enviroment. His first step is destroy London and much of the rest of Europe with a giant missile. A rather odd thing for someone to do if they want to prevent harm to the environment. Blackhawk leaps on to the missile, but fails to stop it. He then falls off, but via an outlandish series of acrobatic moves manages to land in one piece. However Chuck manages to pull a framistat out of the control system, "aborting" the missile. Oddly enough no one seems concerned that the missile will randomly come down someplace and blow up.
Understandably pissed off Bio Lord moves to off Blackhawk, but fortunately Andre, Duchess Ramona Fatale, and her girl mercenaries arrive just in time to blow Bio Lord to bits, along with his robot hordes.(The Duchess was a new character introduced with the revival, and one assumes intended to be Blackhawk's love interest. She wore an eyepatch.) But unnoticed by the heroes a capsule pops out of Biolord's head, and he gets a new body to chase after them when they fly off. He shoots down one of the Duchess's planes, and when he outmaneuvers the other fighters Blackhawk jumps out of his plane and unbelievably engages Bio Lord in hand to hand combat in mid air. He wins of course, but looses conciousness when his air hose is slashed, setting up a cliff hanger resolved next issue.
Interestingly enough David Kraft, who scripted the Bio Lord issues, would recycle much of the story for Marvel in issue 265 of Captain America, as detailed here. http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/sultan1.htm
Looking at the link about SULTAN I just realised another thing Kraft lifted from the '70s Blackhawk. SULTAN tries to use a sonic weapon on Cap, but Cap's shield protects him, and the resulting backlash vibrates SULTAN to pieces. This is very similar to what happens to Vibrax, the villain in the first of the '70s Blackhawks. Vibrax uses a gizmo to vibrate things until they fall to pieces. But when he tries to use it on Blackhawk our hero manages to cause a backlash, causing Vibrax himself to shake to bits.
Thanks Tim.
All stories reprinted in Showcase Presents Blackhawk Volume 1
The Threat From The Abyss! Blackhawk #108
Blackhawk says, "That's why the search vessels never found a trace of the destroyed freighters, Hendrickson! They were struck by atomic warheads!"
I should think atomic warheads would leave all manner of suspicious 'traces' behind. They couldn't go with a nice generic death-ray instead?
The Blackhawks are in scuba gear, with flippers, on top of a surfaced Communist submarine & when the crew comes out the Blackhawks run to stop them.
I'm guessing neither the writer nor the artists have ever tried running in flippers before. Not to mention doing it on a wet surface.
Surprisingly the Communist installation has English labels inside.
The installation is on the sea floor. Blackhawk manages to open the airlocks to let in the water. The water appears to flow in like on a sinking ship not shoot in like water under pressure.
Duel Of The Giants Blackhawk #110
Zaroc is being led to the electric chair with a full head of hair instead of having his head shaved.
Menace Of The Machines Blackhawk #111
Eric Munsen makes special prop machines for Epic Pictures. After watching the latest of his inventions get destroyed for a movie he decides to turn to crime.
1. Most studios would go with whomever could produce the cheapest props. How much would these inventions cost?
2. Knowing that these things are to 'be destroyed' you'd think he'd be better prepared when it happens.
3. As gifted an inventor as he is, why waste these things in films instead of turning them into products to sell.
The Blackhawks are described as lawmen, & they are shown fighting this criminal in what seems to be a US city.
Were the Blackhawks really deputized to just go in anywhere & fight crime?
The Doomed Dogfight Blackhawk #112
This story says that Blackhawk was a US fighter.
Goes against the first Blackhawk story where it was shown he was Polish man who led an independent fighting squad. (Although this may or may not be the story that established the retcon.)
The Crimson Vultures
Blackhawk says, "Their own leader brought about their doom with their informal machine".
Informal? Infernal is usually the word used in such instances.
The Eighth Blackhawk
Blackhawk says, "Our special charter limits us to seven members".
What? Why the odd limitation? The early stories certainly showed more than the usual seven.
The Sabotuer Of Blackhawk Island Blackhawk #113
Last issue the location of Blackhawk Island was a secret, this issue we find out that the press visits annually.
How exactly does that keep their location secret?
The Gladiators Of Blackhawk Island Blackhawk #114
This issue a yacht delivers a gift to the Blackhawks.
So much for Blackhawk Island being in a secret location.
The Prisoners Of The Black Palace Blackhawk #116
The Blackhawks are helped by a mechanical man, Zollo, that they built for a previous adventure & was believed lost. At the end of this story Blackhawk says that Zollo will be a permanent fixture in the Blackhawk Museum.
Sounds like they're going to shut him off & use him like a statue, which seems a waste.
The Seven Little Blackhawks Blackhawk #117
Stanislaus finds a gold statuette of himself with a rhyme that later comes true, but Blackhawk dismisses it as a coincidence.
errrr... this isn't some vague horoscope, Blackhawk, chances are pretty good that the two incidents are related.
The Bandit With 1,000 Nets Blackhawk #118
To fool The Net, Blackhawk builds a robot to take his place.
Why not use Zollo, whom you recovered in issue 116?
Blackhawk vs Chief Black Hawk Blackhawk #119
At the beginning of the story, 6 of the Blackhawks are in a centrifuge machine to test their resistance to G-forces. An accident cause the machine to spin out of control & the Blackhawks find themselves in the 18th century. At the end of the story, the Blackhawks fade away to find themselves back in the centrifuge as Chop-Chop has turned down the speed.
Now ignoring the possibility that the story was all a dream, the logic of this form of time travel seems non-existent. I can (barely) extend my suspension of disbelief to cover the dodgy physics of the centrifuge breaking the time barrier, but the idea that the Blackhawks can return just because the centrifuge started slowing down??? No way. (There's suspending your disbelief & suspending your disbelief by the neck until it's dead, Dead, DEAD!)
The Playboy Blackhawk
The Black Seal gang has a boat that can cover its hatches with a bubble & travel underwater. Olaf says, "I ban never see such a tricky gang of thieves!"
Has he just not been paying attention? There've been plenty of tricky thieves in this collection alone.
Secret Weapon Of The Archer Blackhawk #121
NNAN. The villain of the piece, The Shaft, has a giant crossbow plane & rocket arrows, etc., & at one point after getting a shot of The Shaft with his mask off they go to various archery groups to see if anyone can identify him. Surprisingly, at no point does Green Arrow show up. ;-)
The Movie That Backfired Blackhawk #122
The Blackhawks agree to do a movie about their adventures. Filming of the movie is most atypical. For instance to film a WWII scene where the Blackhawks had sailed a U-Boat into a German sub-pen as depth charges are dropped, the Blackhawks are aboard a real sub.
Why? The camera can't see the Blackhawks are on board? The interior would be a set & the sub scene itself would be filmed by a second unit, possibly using miniatures for the actual depth charging.
Turns out an enemy of the Blackhawks had gotten hold of the script & had his people hired as SFX people so they could substitute live depth charges & put magnetic mines near where the sub would be & the sub is blown up.
Surprisingly the producer doesn't seem too upset by the loss of an expensive sub. He seems to think that it was a mistake by someone on the SFX crew & they are now afraid to come forward. Of course, with a real movie the insurance companies would be throwing a fit.
Where exactly do the Blackhawks get the money for their fancy jets & all?
Here they lose 6 jets, but quickly replace them. Given that they tend to donate their money to charity & such you'd wonder how they can afford such stuff.
The Day The Blackhawks Died
This story has the Blackhawks arrest some petty criminals & put them in the prison at the Blackhawks' city barracks.
So not only are they authorized to fight crime anywhere in the US they also have their own prisons???
Also interesting since the Blackhawks are not shown to have any support staff, so how many of these crooks they lock up starve to death when all 7 Blackhawks go on a long mission?
Once again the location of Blackhawk Island is a secret, in contradiction to issues 113 & 114.
The Secret Of The Glass Fort Blackhawk #126
Aliens from Halus XII.
Is that a colony world because you'd think aliens would number their own planet with the number 1?
The planet is threatened by a meteor which will hit their planet is 6 years.
It's only called a meteor when it's burning up in the atmosphere. In space it's a meteoroid or an asteroid. Later in the story it's revealed the world was saved when the meteor collided with an asteroid. Ugh!
The Man Who Collected Blackhawks
At the end when Zardok surrenders he asks Blackhawk to not destroy his shrinking device because he could never rebuild it. Blackhawk, rather callously, says that once he's restored the stolen objects to their proper size he will destroy it.
Seems a great waste. Also out of character giving Blackhawks predilection for keeping souvenirs of previous cases. Heck issue 114 revealed he had kept the Giant-Maker's enlarging device so you'd think he'd also keep Zardok's shrinking machine.
The Show-off Blackhawk Blackhawk #127
After becoming the hit of a charity event & getting offers to have a book written about him & a movie made about him, Olaf gets a swelled head & starts acting alone & performing dangerous stunts.
In issue 122 a movie was being made about the Blackhawks' adventures, so why didn't he get a swelled head then?
The Ghost Of Blackhawk
This story states that Blackhawk Island has a peak named Blackhawk Mountain & it needs a cable car to get to the top.
Seems at odds with previous descriptions of the island, then again there does seem to be multiple Blackhawk Islands, one in the North Atlantic (Military Comics #2), one near the Philippines (Military Comics #11) & who knows how many others. (It's not like the writers were ever consistent.)
---
The series in general:
At the beginning of the Blackhawk series you had Blackhawk, a hero out of the Doc Savage/Bugs Bunny mold who could do anything. He also had a number of companions about whom little was revealed at first, but eventually it was decided there would be 6 of them, each with a different accent & maybe a personality trait to keep them 'different'.
It's rather odd that of the supporting Blackhawks, the most fleshed out was Blackie, the animal mascot, followed by Chop-Chop, the comic relief & cook, Andre, the French ladies man (not that there's a lot of stories to use that skill in), Hendrickson, the oldest Blackhawk, Olaf, the strongman of the team, &... the rest.
Had Blackhawk been less independent then each member of the team could have different skills that would help out the group. As it is most stories focus on Blackhawk & only the occasional story deals with one of the others (with Blackie getting the most in the Showcase Presents collection.)
The Blackhawks are either visible mainly as support, or they are wondering what to do because Blackhawk has been captured/knocked out/believed killed/etc., or they have been captured & Blackhawk has to figure out how to save them.
Well, I guess that's why the book is called Blackhawk & not Blackhawks, only one of them is truly competent.
Blackhawk vs Chief Black Hawk Blackhawk #119
At the beginning of the story, 6 of the Blackhawks are in a centrifuge machine to test their resistance to G-forces. An accident cause the machine to spin out of control & the Blackhawks find themselves in the 18th century. At the end of the story, the Blackhawks fade away to find themselves back in the centrifuge as Chop-Chop has turned down the speed.
Now ignoring the possibility that the story was all a dream, the logic of this form of time travel seems non-existent. I can (barely) extend my suspension of disbelief to cover the dodgy physics of the centrifuge breaking the time barrier, but the idea that the Blackhawks can return just because the centrifuge started slowing down??? No way. (There's suspending your disbelief & suspending your disbelief by the neck until it's dead, Dead, DEAD!)
Actually, Chop-Chop didn't just turn down the speed; he reversed the direction. This still doesn't explain how the other Blackhawks, who were apparently bodily transported through time and space away from the machine, were drawn back.
At the beginning of the Blackhawk series you had Blackhawk, a hero out of the Doc Savage/Bugs Bunny mold who could do anything. He also had a number of companions about whom little was revealed at first, but eventually it was decided there would be 6 of them, each with a different accent & maybe a personality trait to keep them 'different'.
Actually, I can't detect a written difference in accent between Blackhawk, Stanislaus, and Chuck. Maybe that's why Stanislaus seems like such a non-character; I might be reading some of his lines as being Chuck's. (I was really wondering if he was supposed to be mute, until a couple stories in a row had this member of the team with a crew cut talking and I figured out that that was Stanislaus.)
The Ghost Of Blackhawk, Blackhawk 127
In this story the villains Rhett and Dodo learn the location of the Blackhawks' secret base and try to kill them. At the end the two are sent to "the mainland police" but that won't stop them from telling every enemy of the Blackhawks the location of Blackhawk Island.
(NAN, but while the plotting of this particular story was typical, I found that the scripting of The Ghost of Blackhawk seems much tighter than previous stories.)