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| What could be better? Will Eisner's original Blackhawk and Jack Cole's original Death Patrol are the marquee stories in this volume, but there are lots of other interesting features as well. John Stewart (neither Green Lantern nor the former host of The Daily Show) wrote an intriguing little feature about a spoiled senator's son who can communicate with wild animals. It's wildly improbable, but very high on the novelty factor. Just imagine him as the Avianman just as Aquaman is for the sea. |
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| The Blue Tracer's tank/plane/sub reminds me of classic G.I. Joe vehicles. |
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| This relates to Military Comics #1 and the reliability of Artificial Intelligence such as it is. I asked Bard (Google s Chatbot, about the early uniforms of the Blackhawks. I said that they were originally black, but later changed to blue. Bard was adamant that the Blackhawks had always been in blue (except for the various changes in their later years). So, it was good to see Military #1 confirm my statements. In one exchange, Bard said that its training included comic books -- but so far the AI hasn't been reliable (it insists that Crimebusters costume is bullet proof). CB+ is a reliable source, while the state of the art chatbots seem to hallucinate a lot. |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | August 1941 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: monthly |
| Notes | The Archives volume also lists Gill Fox assisting on the art chores on this cover. |
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| Content | Genre: Adventure; War |
| Notes | The Archives volume also lists Gill Fox assisting on the art chores on this cover. |
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| Comic Story | The Origin of Blackhawk (11 pages) |
| Synopsis | Warsaw, Poland 1939. The Nazis are massing to rout the Polish Air Force, the only obstacle to their victory over Poland, and are being led by the Nazi commander, Captain von Tepp. However, in his attack, the brother and sister of a lone survivor are killed, and this survivor, later to become The Blackhawk, vows to hunt down von Tepp and make him pay personally for their deaths. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; War | Characters: Jack (Blackhawk's brother, introduction, death); Connie (Blackhawk's sister, introduction, death); Ann (Red Cross nurse, unidentified by name in this story, named in issue #3); one unnamed captured soldier; Captain von Tepp (Nazi villain, introduction, death); Captain von Kreck (Nazi villain, introduction, presumably killed); Nazis (villains, many die) |
| Notes | (1) Writer addition of Bob Powell and letterer credit per Chuck Cuidera.
(2) Introduction of Blackhawk. Introduction and death of Blackhawk’s brother Jack and sister Connie (both buried by Blackhawk). Blackhawk (DC, 1957 series) #242 (Aug-Sep 1968) reveals that Blackhawk's civilian name is Bart Hawk, however, the story of Jack's death in that issue is vastly different from the original account, and therefore cannot be considered in the same continuity. Given this, one cannot state unequivocally that the three siblings' last name is "Hawk", or that Blackhawk's first name is "Bart".
(3) A minimum of 8 Blackhawks, including Blackhawk himself, are depicted. Baker, a Cockney Englishman, is the only one named. Based on later revelations of the team's early membership, the 6 unidentified members likely include Andre, Hendrickson, Olaf, Stanislaus, Zeg, Chuck, and/or Boris. Based on his physical appearance, the prisoner referred to as "Blackhawk's man", seen on page 5 panel 4 between the Red Cross nurse and Captain Von Tepp, could be Andre or Zeg. Based on his physical appearance, the man struck in the head by a rock, seen on page 6 panel 9, could be Stanislaus, Olaf, or Boris.
(4) A small map of Blackhawk's Island is depicted.
(5) The lyrics to the song of the Blackhawks are: "Over land over sea, we fight to make men free, of danger we don't care... we're Blackhawks!" |
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| Comic Story | Flying with the Red Dragon (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | The boys lose their contract as test pilots after a crack-up and find themselves being asked to join a group called the Red Dragon Squadron. |
| Content | Genre: Aviation | Characters: Loops McCann (introduction); Banks Barrows (introduction); Gen. Cheng [the Red Dragon] (introduction); the Chinese (villains, some die) |
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| Comic Story | Origin of the Blue Tracer (5 pages) |
| Synopsis | "Wild Bill" Dunn, an American engineer, survives a British scouting expedition in Ethiopia, meets an Australian named Private Jones, and for months they work together to create a war machine from the remains of Fascist equipment that they call the Blue Tracer, and which they hope will provide the capabilities to overcome a local enemy tribe. |
| Content | Genre: Aviation; War | Characters: Captain William "Wild Bill" Dunn (introduction); Private Boomerang Jones (introduction); the M'Bujies (villains, introduction for all, some die) |
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| Comic Story | Episode with a Goat (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | Three British soldiers, looking for help for their battalion under seige, are saved, ironically, by a billy goat, and soon find help with a group of French soldiers. |
| Content | Genre: War | Characters: Archie Atkins (introduction); Jack Bailey (introduction); Achmed (introduction); Billy (a goat, introduction); Major Douglas (introduction) |
| Notes | The Millennium Edition lists Frank Frollo as the artist. |
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| Comic Story | Enlisting the Hard Way (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | An unlikely duo team up to foil the attempts of a Nazi attache who is interested in obtaining information on a secret U.S. fighter. |
| Content | Genre: Aviation | Characters: Colonel Sam Shot (introduction); Slim Shell (introduction); Herr von Slobben (villain, Nazi military attache) |
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| Comic Story | The Coming of the Yankee Eagle (8 pages) |
| Synopsis | A group of Nazi spies work their way into the ranks of America's military services, attempting to turn over to the enemy some of the U.S.'s best ships. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: Jerry Noble (introduction); Sam [the Yankee Eagle] (an eagle, introduction); Senator Noble (Jerry's father, introduction); Captain Webb; Chalky; Nazi spies (villains) |
| Notes | Sam the eagle is referred to as the Yankee Eagle once in this issue only, however, Jerry Noble is referred to as the Yankee Eagle multiple times in issue #8.
Not the same character featured in Smash Comics (Quality Comics, 1939 series) #38-47. |
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| Comic Story | Origin of the Death Patrol (6 pages) |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Aviation; War | Characters: Death Patrol [Del Van Dyne; Butch O'Keefe; Peewee; Hank; Slick Ward; Gramps] (introductions and origins for all); the Nazis (villains, some die) |
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| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: O'Rourke (former Brooklyn taxi driver) |
| Notes | Comprised of 4 independent gag cartoons. |
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| Cartoon | The Machine Gun Drill |
| Synopsis | Sarge orders his men to dismantle, then reassemble their machines guns inside of ten minutes. |
| Content | Genre: Humor |
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| Synopsis | Joan is imbued by the famed Statue of Liberty with special powers in order to help the country against her enemies, foreign and domestic, gaining her name from a man she saved from an attack by thugs. She uses her new powers to deflect a bomb and crush the getaway car of the spies involved. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: unnamed FBI Chief Inspector; Mr. Grost (villain, factory owner) |
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| Text Story | Gone with the Draft (1.67 pages) |
| Synopsis | After discussion of the draft, a letter from a trainee at Fort Wadsworth Training Center in New York discusses what went on during his first week in basic training. |
| Credits | Script: Dick Scopes (signed) | Pencils:? (spot illustrations) | Inks:? (spot illustrations) | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction; War | Characters: Dirk |
| Notes | The text story has three spot illustrations, as well as an illustrated drawing with text about the Garand rifle. |
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| Illustration | U.S. Army Insignias |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction; Military |
| Notes | Illustrated chart of U.S. Army rank insignias. |
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| Comic Story | Sink the Kaiser Adolf (9 pages) |
| Synopsis | The schooner "Albatross" succeeds in capturing the Battleship "Kaiser Adolf," then must take on the Nazis' new battleship, "Kronzprinz Albrecht." |
| Featuring | Q-Boat |
| Content | Genre: War | Characters: Capt. Foghorn (introduction, origin); Bob Wayne (introduction, origin); Dick Martin (introduction, origin); Freckles [Marmaduke Van Weyden] (introduction, origin); Captain von Marz (villain); the Nazis (villains) |
| Notes | Only appearance of this feature. |
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| The data in the additional content section is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
More details about this comic may be available in their page here |
