Blackhawk, The - Archives, VOL 01 [Hardcover]

Blackhawk, along with Sgt Rock, is arguably one of the finest war comics ever. Months before America entered World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor, readers thrilled to the adventures of these seven international aviators, none of them American, rallying behind Blackhawk, a Polish flying ace. While these stories are sheer pulp adventure, they possess a hard edge marking them as more than mere kiddie fare. Perhaps not as sophisticated as today's adult-oriented comics, but I found the stories to be engaging and exciting nonetheless. The emphasis is on plot and action, but there is also a surprising amount of character and emotion, compared to other stories from the period. Some of the stories hold up better than others, but overall, this is an entertaining collection.

What truly makes it special, however, is the art. In his introduction, Mark Evanier describes how the late Chuck Cuidera and Reed Crandall were responsible for making Blackhawk one of the best looking comics of its time, and he's not kidding. The art, reminiscent of the great Milt Canniff, is dynamic, expressive, detailed, and cinematic. Even the clunkiest of stories in this book is redeemed by the art.

Having said all that, politically correct readers should be warned that this volume does feature horribly negative stereotypes of Germans and Asians. While this is understandably a by-product of the time in which these stories were produced, I don't think they should simply be dismissed with a simple, "Well, that's how people thought back then." I do think these sorts of stories should be kept in print, warts and all, not just because they are good adventure stories with a great deal of artistic merit. Seeing how recently such racist attitudes were viewed as acceptable helps remind us how far we still have to go in terms of race relations. This sort of casual racism should be acknowledged as having existed, and not swept under the carpet.

Still, occasionally awkward stories and overt racism aside, this is still an excellent volume, and a worthy addition to any comics lover's collection.

It's a wonderful book expressing the mood and feeling of the great war. Of course its not like Blackhawk was in the 50's when he was an Indiana Jones fighter.But the art and the tightly written stories just get better issue by issue. This was the Golden age of books so don't expect anything other than a well told story. It's definatly a treat to oldster's who bought these books as kids and the rest of us who sought old Military comics to enjoy the book. Worth getting and how can you be dissapointed with an original ???

"The Blackhawk Archives: Volume 1" is part of the DC Archive Editions and retains the quality that the company has become known for in reprinting its vintage material offering a quality hardback compilation of vintage material from the golden days of comic book history.

This edition reprints Military Comics #1-#17, originally spanning from August 1941 to March 1943. Running over 230 pages in length, the Blackhawk stories from the Quality Comics all-military title are reprinted in high quality color on equally high quality paper that is much better than that of standard comic book paper, but not so heavy and glossy that it detracts from the overall reading experience and enjoyment.

The great Will Eisner writes the first four adventures in this tale, and some may pick up similarities in the story telling to Eisner’s classic, and at that time contemporary, work known as “The Spirit”. Dick French and Bill Woolfolk continued the writing chores then through issue #17 with equally entertaining quality. Art is done largely by Chuck Cuidera up through issue #11, with Reed Crandall taking up the task for the remaining six issues.

The stories are well executed and very entertaining, especially when one pauses to think about the time period they were published in and the amount of uncertainty that existed in the world. It is with little doubt that Eisner and his staff was able to foresee America entering the Second World War and was able to blend the real life circumstances of the era into comic book pop culture.

My only issue with the book stems from being an aviation enthusiast and historian. No, I’m not faulting the artwork here for accuracy as that needs to be considered given the time in which these stories were originally put together. My issue is with Mr. Evanier’s foreword in which he states of the actual Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket (the plane that served as the model for that of which the Blackhawk team flies in the comic book), “Actually, the Grumman F5F-1 was such a poor plane that it never went into full production.” This is not entirely true, as production of the actual Skyrocket was plagued by things other than overall aircraft performance. “Connie” Converse, Grumman’s test pilot for the Skyrocket program has said that the plane was very good. In the end, while only one Skyrocket was built, it ultimately led to the Grumman F7F Tigercat, which did see full production and became a rather good night fighter during the early part of the Korean War. (If interested in more details, check out “Naval Fighters Number Thirty-One Grumman XF5F-1 & XP-50 Skyrocket” also available through Amazon.)

Foreword aside, it is sensational to be able to read these reprinted pieces of American comic book history in one collection. I highly recommend this title to any comic book fan in general, but particularly to the Eisner and war comic enthusiasts, as it is one great addition to any collection.