Comic Book #11 -- November 18, 2011

Blackhawk was one of my favorite comic book characters, although I first encountered him and his team, the Blackhawks, when DC tried to turn them into costumed superheroes, about 1968.  I found some older issues and even older stories reprinted in books. Blackhawk, an American, led a paramilitary team of ace aviators. In clockwise order from the top, they are Blackhawk, Olav, Chuck, Chop Chop, Stanislaus, André and Hendrickson. The airplane is a Grumman XF5F Skyrocket, a very cool-looking Navy fighter that never reached production.  They started out fighting the Axis in Quality's Military Comics.  The Blackhawks also appeared in their own title.  After the war, Military became Modern Comics.  Their enemies became Communists.  DC took over the Quality line. The series went downhill until it reached its Nadir in the New Blackhawk Era and the superhero experiment.   It died soon after, but it has returned now and then.