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.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes Tabloid Edition by Paul Levitz, Mike Grell, Vince Colletta, et al.

Legion of Super-Heroes: The Millennium Massacre

Collection published: 2021
Contents originally published: 1978
Acquired: March 2022
Read: November 2022

Writer: Paul Levitz

Artists: Mike Grell and Vince Colletta, James Sherman and Jack Abel
Lettered by Gaspar
Colors by Jerry Serpe & Tony Tollin

DC has been taking its "tabloid editions" from the 1970—massive oversized comics—and reprinting them as high-quality hardcovers. I previously read the Suerpman vs. Wonder Woman one; most recently, they've reprinted All-New Collectors' Edition #C-54, which depicts the marriage of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad. This story was previously collected in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume One, but I wasn't passing up the chance to see some Mike Grell and Vince Colletta art at jumbo size.

Thankfully it looks great because as a story it's not up to much. Superboy travels to the future to see the wedding, only the timeline has changed, so everyone is mean. He still manages to convince the Legion to look into this; the team splits up into three groups to handle different aspects of a crisis. It has its moments—I do always like some Saturn Girl—but even by the standards of comic-book time travel, I don't think it really makes sense, and the Legion in twentieth-century New York doesn't seem to be worth getting Mike Grell to illustrate at enormous size. Give me something cosmic and epic! Still, I'll take Mike Grell drawing Dream Girl any day, and the new afterword by Levitz providing background and context is nice.

I read a Legion of Super-Heroes collection every six months. Next up in sequence: Before the Darkness, Volume One

Review: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume One by Paul Levitz, Mike Grell, James Sherman, et al.

Every six months, I read a volume of The Legion of Super-Heroes. This time around, it's...

Comic hardcover, 304 pages
Published 2017 (contents: 1977-78)
Acquired June 2017
Read August 2019

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume One

Plotters: Jack C. Harris, Gerry Conway, Paul Levitz, Paul Kupperberg, and Jim Starlin
Writers: Jack C. Harris, Gerry Conway, Paul Levitz, and Paul Kupperberg

Pencillers/Layout Artists: Juan Ortiz, Ric Estrada, Mike Grell, George Tuska, James Sherman, Mike Nasser, Walt Simonson, Jim Starlin, and Howard Chaykin
Inkers/Finishers: Bob Smith, Jack Abel, Vince Colletta, Bob McLeod, Joe Rubinstein, Rick Bryant, and Bob Wiacek
Colorists: Liz Berube, Jerry Serpe, Anthony Tollin, Mike Nasser, Adrienne Roy, and Cory Adams
Letterers: Ben Oda, Milt Snapinn, Gaspar Saladino, and Shelly Leferman

The Legion of Super-Heroes Archives series stalled out at volume 13 in 2012, collecting up through Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #233. The Great Darkness Saga: The Deluxe Edition picks up with issue #284, leaving a fifty-some-issue gap. Thankfully, in 2017 DC published this volume to begin to plug the gap, collecting #234-40, plus assorted other appearances from the late 1970s.

Very ominous! Yet they all do get on pretty well.
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #236 (script by Paul Levitz & Paul Kupperberg, art by James Sherman & Bob McLeod)

Thankfully also, it's good. The Legion Archives were wildly inconsistent. Superboy and the Legion is still somewhat inconsistent, especially since the book has no regular team, but Paul Levitz's developing writing style are beginning to make this the Legion I like best, one with character and history. Levitz is good at bringing out the characters' diverse personalities, aided by James Sherman, whose art is more interested in using different "character angles" and uses close-ups on faces to good effect. Nothing here is as serialized or as dramatic as what Levitz would later do in Great Darkness Saga, but I found it a consistently enjoyable volume, with a lot of neat standalone, character-driven adventures.

That's one big ship. It feels a bit Star Wars-y to me, and judging by its cover date, the issue would have been drawn right around the time it came out.
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #236 (script by Paul Levitz, art by Mike Nasser and Joe Rubinstein & Rick Bryant)

Highlights included Mon-El singlehandledly saving a science platform from a Khund assault; I particularly liked how Mike Nasser drew the space stuff in the more gritty style of DC's Time Warp, instead of the usual Legion style of cheesy early sf. I liked the exploration of Wildfire as team leader. Vhe story where Ultra Boy is a murder suspect was a little contrived, but gave some great moments as Ultra Boy and Chameleon Boy face off against each other. It was nice to discover a little more about Dawnstar.

I like that Cham is somehow both optimistically chipper (as per above) and deeply suspicious. I guess it makes sense as a personality for a friendly shapeshifter.
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #239 (plot by Jim Starlin & Paul Levitz, dialogue by Paul Levitz, art by Jim Starlin & Josef Rubinstein)

That's not to say it's not without its doofy low points. The Composite Legionnaire story was dumb, and the story about how Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad got married packed too much into its length: the idea of how the Time Trapper changed time seemed like it could have had more exploration.

You can overdramatically explain timeline changes to me any day, Princess Projectra.
from All-New Collectors' Edition #C-55 (script by Paul Levitz, art by Mike Grell & Vince Colletta)

I thought it was interesting that Levitz explained how the series could have been running so long but everyone is still a "Lad" or "Lass": the 30th century has life extension knowledge, so people in their twenties are still kids. But Superboy's mind is always wiped of that information, so that he won't be tempted to take it back to the 20th century and save the Kents! (Back in the 1970s, the Kents died before Clark became Superman.) I'm not sure it really needed attention called to it, but the idea that the future represents a temptation to Superboy is an interesting one.

I didn't know Dawnstar was in Legion Academy. I also didn't know she was such a jerk!
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #240 (plot by Paul Levitz, script by Paul Kupperberg, art by James Sherman & Bob McLeod)

Next Week: Back to Star Trek-- on Deep Space 9, it's time to Raise the Dawn!