The New Blackhawk by George Evans, Steve Skeates, Ric Estrada, et al.

After eleven years at DC, Blackhawk was finally cancelled in 1968 with issue #243 (see item #6 in the list below); retooling the Blackhawks as superheroes had not worked, and nor did a short-lived back-to-basics approach in the title's last two issues.

But the Blackhawks were not dead. In 1976 not only was the concept revived, but so was the previous title. It's hard to imagine in this modern era, where every time someone sneezes, a series starts over with a new #1, but despite being gone eight years, DC chose to pick the series back up with issue #244 for a new run.

In some ways, this was back to basics; in others, it's an attempt to reposition the team for the 1970s. The actual content of the issues doesn't dwell too much on what happened while the Blackhawks were "gone," they just plunge you right into the new set-up. The Blackhawks (the core seven members all present and accounted for, though "Chop-Chop" is now "Chopper"; Lady Blackhawk does not appear and is not even mentioned) are mercenaries based out of Blackhawk Island. They'll come and save you... if you can pay their fee! Between adventures, though, they (mostly) don't live on the island, but inhabit a variety of alter egos. Blackhawk, Chopper, Chuck, and Stanislaus all work for Cunningham Aircraft, developing and testing new planes; Andre and Olaf reside in Europe (Olaf is a ski instructor who seems to hit on married women; if it's specified what Andre does, I don't remember). Henderson, friend- and family-less aside from the Blackhawks, is the one who stays on the island and maintains it between adventures.

from Blackhawk vol. 1 #250

New allies and enemies are introduced, most prominently Duchess Ramona Fatale, a mercenary who the Blackhawks sometimes battle, sometimes work alongside. (She's nicknamed "Patch" because she has an eyepatch, though I'm not sure why someone who can go by "Duchess Fatale" needs a nickname!) She and Blackhawk have sexual tension, no doubt exacerbated by her tendency to undertake adventures in a bikini. (During her first appearance, this is because her base gets attacked while she's relaxing on the beach, so she has to flee with no other possessions; it's not clear to me why she continues to run around in just a bikini in later stories!) Henderson's daughter eventually turns up (I think this is the first-ever indication of such a character), mad at her father for abandoning her; the letter page in one of the later issues hints she may become a new Lady Blackhawk, but nothing along those lines ever happens in the stories themselves.

They do have new, very 1970s, uniforms, with plunging necklines. Disco Blackhawk!

A text page in issue #244 fills in some background and carries out some retcons, indicating that the Blackhawks emerged after World War II,* and that it was only rumored they battled aliens, and that they were superheroes is just fiction. It also indicates they've been missing since 1968 (and so must have only recently reemerged); the only indication this run is set in the DC universe comes from this page, which says the JLA issued a release of "No comment" when the Blackhawks vanished. "Bart," the name given for Blackhawk in #242, is used in this series, but the text page also says Chopper's real name is unknown even though he received one in #203 (see item #5). At first, there's not a lot of connections to old adventures, but the War Wheel reappears in issues #249-50, and Killer Shark in #250.

from Blackhawk vol. 1 #249

I found that the stories themselves were fine, but the run started stronger and got weaker as it went. I very much enjoyed the first three issues, all written by Steve Skeates with George Evans on art (joined by Ric Estrada for #246). The first is strong opening story setting up the new status quo for the Blackhawks and a fun adventure alongside Duchess Fatale. The next two issues make a two-parter, about the Blackhawks battling the Anti-Man... who turns out to be "Boris," a member of the Blackhawks seen just once in Military Comics, before the line-up was standardized as the seven we know now. This is perhaps a bit silly, but other than that, it's another fun adventure, with mercenary action and good twists; I enjoy the way Skeates is always embedding a lot of flashbacks into his narratives. Evans and Estrada are strong artists, well-suited to the action-heavy style of these issues, but also capturing the appearances of the characters going way back.

David Anthony Kraft takes over with a two-parter after that, and this I did not enjoy; it felt like one of those stories that randomly and arbitrarily piles on twists, and has lots of mediocre fake-outs, where in one issue it seems like someone is dead... and in the next issue the resolution is just, "oops, no I'm not." I did appreciate the presence of James Sherman of future Legion of Super-Heroes fame as guest penciller on #248, though. Skeates returns with #249, but I felt like the series didn't have enough time to get back on track; I totally lost what the "Empire of Death" was actually trying to do in the end, and it was clear every issue had a totally different take on Henderson's daughter Elsa.

from Blackhawk vol. 1 #250

The creators clearly had long-term plans that didn't pan out; incoming editor Jack C. Harris refers to Kraft, Estrada, and Evans as the ongoing creative team on the letter page in #248... even though Kraft would never write another issue! Issue #250 ends on what I suspect was originally scripted as a cliffhanger, with Chuck supposedly dead (and Chopper seriously injured), but the issue leans into its status as the last one, with a final panel caption of "AND NOW... OBLIVION!" and a vignette on the issue's text page about Chuck's funeral that indicates Blackhawk disbanded the team to they could "go their separate ways and lead the private lives that they have never known." It's surprisingly well written...

...and given that the Blackhawks never made another pre-Crisis appearance in the present day, it might even be true! All their future appearances were set during World War II, so there's nothing to contradict the idea that this was their final adventure and that Chuck was actually dead.

from The Brave and the Bold vol. 1 #167

The first of those WWII-set tales would be issue #167 of DC's Batman team-up title, The Brave and the Bold. Writer Marv Wolfman gave us the first wartime tale since the war ended (other than the "World War II Combat Diary" back-up tales featured in issues #196-227, see item #5 below). He was able to make this work as a Batman story by setting the story on Earth-Two and thus teaming the Blackhawks up with the Golden Age Batman—something that could never happened during the actual Golden Age, since at that time, Batman was a National Comics character and Blackhawk a Quality one. (This is also, I think, our first indication that there are Blackhawks on Earth-Two in the pre-Crisis DC cosmology; more on that in a future post.)

It's a fun enough story, though the Blackhawks and Batman actually have very little interaction. In Gotham, Bruce Wayne investigates a mysterious Nazi conspiracy, while on the front lines, the Blackhawks follow a different trail to the same ending. This culminates in a big battle in Gotham Harbor to destroy a Nazi doomsday weapon, where Batman joins the Blackhawks in a Bat-plane. I would have hoped for more interaction, and with eight main characters in seventeen pages, the story feels a bit cramped. But on the other hand, Dave Cockrum delivers on art—great, dramatic action.

But... cancellation at issue #250 doesn't mean there's no issue #251. Stay tuned!

The New Blackhawk originally appeared in issues #244-50 of Blackhawk vol. 1 (Feb. 1976–Feb. 1977). The stories were written by Steve Skeates (#244-46, 249-50†) and David Anthony Kraft (#247-48); pencilled by George Evans (#244-45), Ric Estrada (#246-47, 249-50), and James Sherman (#248); inked by George Evans (#244-46, 248-50), Al Milgrom (#247), and Frank Springer (#250); colored by Liz Berube (#247) and Carl Gafford (#248-50); lettered by Gaspar Saladino (#247-48); and edited by Gerry Conway (#244-48) and Jack C. Harris (#249-50).

"Ice Station Alpha!" originally appeared in issue #167 of The Brave and the Bold vol. 1 (Oct. 1980). The story was written by Marv Wolfman, illustrated by Dave Cockrum & Dan Adkins, lettered by Ben Oda, colored by Adrienne Roy, and edited by Paul Levitz.

This is the seventh post in a series about the Blackhawks. The next installment covers Blackhawk by William Rotsler. Previous installments are listed below:

1. The Blackhawk Archives, Volume 1 (1941-42)
2. Military Comics #18-43 / Modern Comics #44-46 / Blackhawk #9 & 50 (1943-52)
3. Showcase Presents Blackhawk, Volume One (1957-58) 
4. Blackhawk vol. 1 #151-95 (1960-64) 
5. Blackhawk vol. 1 #196-227 (1964-66)
6. Blackhawk vol. 1 #228-43 (1967-68)
   

* That the Blackhawks emerged postwar is confirmed by a flashback in #246, showing them having one of their early adventures on "an old W.W.II beach" during the Cold War.

† Issue #249 is credited to "Harold A. Harvey," but the Grand Comics Database indicates this is a one-off pseudonym for Skeates.

Reading Roundup Wrapup: February 2025

Pick of the month: The Rundelstone of Oz by Eloise McGraw. I didn't read very many books this month... but once again, an Eloise McGraw Oz book is the best one I read. She always does such interesting, character-focused stuff that's distinct from Baum or Thompson yet consonant with it; I wish more latter-day Oz authors took her approach.

All books read:

1. The Rundelstone of Oz by Eloise McGraw, illustrated by Eric Shanower
2. Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
3. Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara by David Fisher

Not my best month! I've been stressed and tired I guess. Hopefully March is better.

All books acquired:

1. The Flash by Mark Waid Omnibus, Vol. 2 by Mark Waid et al.
2. Star Trek: The Next Generation: Available Light by Dayton Ward
3. The Legion: Foundations by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Chris Batista, Chip Wallace, et al.
4. Doctor Who: Warriors' Gate and Beyond by Stephen Gallagher
5. The Flash by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar: The Deluxe Edition by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Paul Ryan, John Nyberg, et al.

Currently reading:

• The Pelican History of England: 4. England in the Late Middle Ages by A. R. Myers
• Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
• Uniquely Human: Updated and Expanded: A Different Way of Seeing Autism by Barry M. Prizant with Tom Fields-Meyer
• The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 8 edited by Neil Clarke
• Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Stories by Ann Leckie
• Doctor Who: Warriors’ Gate and Beyond by Stephen Gallagher
  

Up next in my rotations:

1. The End of the World: Classic Tales of Apocalyptic Science Fiction compiled by Michael Kelahan 
2. Victorians and the Prehistoric: Tracks to a Lost World by Michael Freeman
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation: Available Light by Dayton Ward
4. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
   

Books remaining on "To be read" list: 670 (up 3)

Star Trek: The Destiny Era: Hearts and Minds

2031-67 / late 2386
Way back in installments #1 and 4 of this chronological marathon, I read two original series novels, From History's Shadow and Elusive Salvation, because their events would be referenced in a Destiny-era book. Over seven years later, that connection finally pays off with Hearts and Minds, which provides a third and final installment to Dayton Ward's "secret history" sequence of novels about the Aegis and the U.S. security apparatus. Was it all worth it? Well, I may have appreciated the connections more had I read the books closer together, like they were released. That, I suppose, is the downside of reading in chronological order.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Hearts and Minds
by Dayton Ward

Published: 2017
Acquired and read: December 2024

Like those original series novels, we have two parallel plotlines here. In one, an alien spaceship crashes on Earth in the early twenty-first century; it and its pilot are recovered by I-31, a secretive branch of the U.S. military. In the other, the Enterprise-E continues its exploration of the Odyssean Pass, coming upon an early war civilization... about which Commander Taurik apparently knows a devastating secret.

What I can say about this book is that it's basically fine. I found the twenty-first century plot more engaging than some of the ones in previous "From History's Shadow" books, probably because it's more focused, just revolving around a couple characters and one inciting incident, instead of trying to work in a whole bunch of stuff. That said, there's still the occasional clunky passage where characters think about all the stuff that happened in their plotline since the last time we checked in on them, as opposed to actually seeing this stuff happen.

The future plotline is also stronger than in some of those earlier books, revolving around the Enterprise coming to this planet that has gone through a devastating war, and slowly uncovering the role humanity might have played in it. Like a lot of Ward novels, I'm starting to realize it would play well as a Star Trek Adventures episode, with an away team captured, some technical challenges and puzzles, an escape attempt or two, and a solution based around diplomacy and the extension of trust. I liked this—enough that I wish there had been a bit more to it. I felt like it had room for some more complications if the Enterprise had got to the planet faster, where the real meat of the story resides.

The two storylines don't just intersect from a plot perspective, but also from a thematic one; both are about extending trust to the "other" and foregoing violence even when it seems like the only option.

On the other hand, there's this subplot about Taurik that doesn't really go anywhere. When the Enterprise returned to Federation space for the events of the Prey trilogy, Taurik was debriefed by the Department of Temporal Investigations about a discovery he made regarding future history in Armageddon's Arrow. At that time, the DTI and Admiral Akaar apparently also fill him in on what is known about the Eizand, forbidding him to tell anyone else. Once Akaar and Taurik reveal this to Picard, this creates tension. I thought this was well done...

... but by the novel's end, it's not clear at all 1) why Taurik got this briefing, or 2) why this information had to be kept from Picard. Like, in the novel's final scene, clearly the place it should be explained, it's all just shrugged aside. What point was there in keeping this information from Picard and undermining his command authority? What was Taurik actually expected to do? It's bizarre, like the book forgot about an idea it set up at the beginning in favor of dealing with the repercussions of Section 31: Control.

So overall, it reads fine and quick, but I think with some decent tweaks, it could have been even better.

Continuity Notes:

• The Historian's Note says this takes place before Section 31: Control, but is best read after it; it's probably more accurate to say the two books overlap, with the final 2386 scene here occurring after the main events of Control.
• The Ares IV mission from Voyager's "One Small Step" is fit into Ward's future history. I read this book only a few weeks after Strange New Worlds: Asylum, where the Ares IV mission also plays a role... and in the acknowledgements, writer Una McCormack thanked Dayton Ward for drawing her attention to it. I guess he's got a thing!
• I did like getting to hear about Roberta Lincoln one last time; the book apparently ties into a Strange New Worlds story about 9/11 that I haven't read.
• We learn that in the 2020s, humanity returns to the Moon, but it's an ECON mission that does it. (The ECON is lead by China and India, and also includes Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, and Vietnam.)
• Gary Seven mentions the Optimum Movement as among the organizations threatening humanity's integration into interstellar society; this is a reference to the novel Federation, where its posited as the organization Colonel Green from "The Savage Curtain" and the twenty-first-century soldiers from "Encounter at Farpoint" belonged to.

Other Notes:

• The twenty-first century plotline has a doctor named April Hebert; this character name would also be used (I presume by Ward) for the commodore commanding Narenda Station in the STA scenarios about the Shackleton Expanse. (I used the character in my own STA campaign, but changed her into a man named August Hebert.)
• Picard is a The War of the Worlds fan. I approve.

I read Destiny-era Star Trek books in batches of five every few months. Next up in sequence: The Next Generation: Available Light by Dayton Ward