I just got done reading Chaykin’s '87 BLACKHAWK series from DC. Pretty cool, although he seems to be trying too hard to show his auteurship (auteurism?) by constantly doing the panels he’s famous for. Kind of got annoying since this isn’t AMERICAN FLAGG. Anyway, it was pretty cool, but I’m not up on my Blackhawk history. IIRC, he was a character from WWII era (for all I know he may have been a '60s war comic revival) and…that’s about all. Anyone familiar with the relationships between the characters in the two series (i.e., are they the same guy?). Are there any other series with this character?
Thanks.
Blackhawk is indeed a WWII character, created by Will “The Spirit” Eisner for Quality Comics. That Golden Age publisher hired consistently better artists than DC (IMO, of course), and also published such characters as Uncle Sam, Plastic Man, Phantom Lady, Doll Man, the Ray, Human Bomb… many of the characters who would become the Freedom Fighters over at DC once they bought Quality out.
I don’t know much about Blackhawk’s actual history, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some hardcover DC Archives of the early comics. Chaykin’s series (which I haven’t read yet, but I have coming on their way in the mail) was one of many revivals, but I’m not sure when the others were, or who did them.
If you liked it, scour your back issue bins for Sandman Mystery Theatre #45-48, a four-part serial teaming Blackhawk up with the Golden Age Sandman, Wesley Dodds. It is an excellent story (actually, all of SMT was fantastic), and it is clear that writers Matt Wagner and Steven Seagle drew their characterization of Blackhawk from Chaykin’s miniseries.
Actually, this website should answer all of your questions about Blackhawk better than I just did: http://www.toonopedia.com/blakhawk.htm
Thanks for the info. I do have to say that I thought SMT was absolute crap, although I only read the first nine issues (bought as a pack on the clearance rack). I have to admit that I primarily bought it for Guy Davis’ artwork, but after the first arc, they got someone whe could only be described as godawful. That and the preachy tone of the book’s social justice got to me.
Chaykin’s run led into a forgettable series by Martin Pasko and Rick Burchett. A couple years prior to that, though, there was a wonderful series written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Dan Spiegle and guests (including Alex Toth!).
The series kinda bottomed out in the sixties, when kids tired of reading about a WWII aviator. Some genius tried to turn the Blackhawks into a team of costumed superheroes. “Jump the shark” indeed.