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The Blackhawks
Created by Will Eisner and Chuck Cuidera
+ History
Post-Crisis
The Golden Age
Janos Prohaska was born on October 31, 1912 in Krakow, Poland amid a country in turmoil. During his young life, he would experience ravages of both the Great War and Poland's war with Russia. His father committed suicide in 1929 and Janos was forced to leave his younger siblings, Józek and Staszka, in the care of his aunt. Janos himself joined the Polish air force where he met his good friend Stanislaus Drozdowski. They gained skills in hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship and aviation. By 1936 they were national heroes. When the political climate in Poland grew sour, the young men went into freelance service, which took them abroad. They served in the Spanish Civil War and traveled aimlessly for a while. (Secret Origins #45)
During this time, Janos went to America with a flying circus in hopes of finding funding for a European resistance group. Instead he was framed for a series of murders. He was ultimately exonerated through the efforts of the Sandman and returned to Poland. A few days later, Wes Dodds and Dian Belmont received a false report that he has been shot down and killed by Nazi fighters in the Mediterranean. (Sandman Mystery Theatre #45-48)
On 1 September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland and Prohaska returned in defense of his home. He was unable to prevent the Nazis from killing his remaining family. Soon thereafter, Jan organized a multinational group of aviators he dubbed the Blackhawks. This original group included: American brawler Capt. Carlos "Chuck" Sirianni; Swedish acrobat Capt. Olaf Friedricksen; the elder, Dutchman Capt. Ritter Hendrickson; ladies' man Capt. André Blanc-Dumont; and Chinese martial artist Lt. Weng Chan. In March of 1942, the Blackhawks shared an adventure with the All-Star Squadron against the wizard, Wotan, in England. (All-Star Squadron #48-49)
After Stanislaus died in a take-off to battle (Blackhawk v.2 #2), the team was joined by Captain Natalie Reed (nee Gurdin, a.k.a Lady Blackhawk), an Russian-American member of the Communist party. A brilliant flight engineer, Reed redesigned the Blackhawks' aircraft (Blackhawk v.2 #1-3). Reed served with the Blackhawks throughout the war and eventually renounced her membership in the Communist party.
Postwar
After the war, the Blackhawks all went their separate ways. Jan found himself in the new nation of Vietnam, where in 1947, he was approaced by Cynthia Hastings with a proposition to retrive lost treasure. This gold was originally stolen by the Japanese in Indochina, found in Hanoi by the French in 1946, and stolen again by their clerk, Robert Massié. The last anyone knew, Massié was then overtaken by a Chinese crime lord known as the Red Dragon. Cynthia hoped to be able to offer the Dragon their services to get the gold out of the country, and then hijack it. Jan agreed to the plan and took a cargo plane and enough whiskey to tempt the Dragon. Before leaving, he also wrote a letter to Blanc-Dumont, asking him to join the mission covertly.
Jan faked engine trouble to land on the Dragon's air strip and the two were taken captive by the Red Dragon. They're suprised to learn that the Dragon is a woman: Sheah Chun Ryan. The Dragon agreed to Jan and Cynthia's proposal, but insisted that Hastings must remain behind as insurance. Cynthia soon revealed her true identity as a Catholic nun and raced after a Buddha among the treasures. She explains thtat when France fell to Germany, Catholic bishops put their artifacts in Buddhist care. The Red Dragon was unsympathetic to her cause and ordered them killed. Just then, lightning struck and allowed them to escape with the statue. André, joined by Chuck Sirianni swooped in to save the day, and the Red Dragon's plane was shot down. (Action Comics #601-608)
In June 1947, Natalie rejoined Blackhawk Airways at their new base in Singapore. Jan used his gold from the Red Dragon case to upgrade the Blackhawks planes (which had been reacquired from Interpol) and start a charter service. In addition, Jan asked Chuck to try to use his O.S.S. connections and to buy two refitted XF5F-1 planes from the U.S. They were approached for hire by an undercover operative of the U.S. Central Intelligence Group named Steve Claiborne. His sister, Marcia Rossiter had disappeared on a mission to obtain a Japanese microwave generator. Her plane had gone down in Sumatra, where another interested party (and 5th Column survivor), Johannes Vander Houten.
Weng and Olaf rejoined the squad for this mission, but when they arrive, Jan exploded over the possibility that Olaf was the father of Natalie's child. Natalie denies that but admitted that the two had slept together. The squad landed at Vander Houten's camp, and were immediately captured. Jan escaped with Marcia and the two holed up in a temple overnight, where things inevitably turned intimate. Though one of Vander Houten's men did discover the generator, the volcano on which it lay began to erupt. The villain gave up on the generator and attacked the Blackhawks, but Jan led him through the cone of the volcano just as it erupted. Jan blamed Claiborned for Marcia's death; she was fatally wounded during their escape. (#615-622)
Natalie found life in Asia difficult but hired Quan Chee ("Mairzey") Keng to help her on the ground. She missed her son, but could not risk moving home because of all the anti-Communist paranoia. For their next mission, the Blackhawks were tapped by the U.S. government itself. At the behest of Admiral Hillenkoeffer, Jan received an invitation to meet with President Truman. Jan was briefed on protocol for their presidential visit by Wendell Hardesty from the State Department. Truman proposed that Jan serve as a special covert operations agent. Further, Blackhawk Airways would be secretly purchased by the U.S. and serve as a front for the nascent CIA, which was "not yet ready" for missions. The operation would also move to Washington D.C.
The Blackhawks accepted this offer, and their first mission: to transport a modified form of LSD from Germany. Its inventor, Dr. Schmeling's office was destroyed and his drug was also coveted by a secret cell of Nazis. He was accompanied on the mission by pharmaceutical head, Constance Darabont. The Nazis' Gretchen Koblenz attacked and replaced Darabont, but Olaf sensed her subterfuge and caught her drugging their coffee. Koblenz shots Olaf then parachuted off the plane with a plan to sell the LSD to the Soviets. The Blackhawks were left mad from the drug and abandoned their plane.
They receive an Claiborne is kidnapped. Natalie is kidnapped. The Blackhawks obtain papers for Mairsey, who joins them in the U.S. (#628-634)
She found herself in rough waters in the late '40s and early '50s, when the "Red Scare" permeated the U.S. Congress. She was forced by the State Department to give up her career in aviation and returned to America as a comic book writer. Though she wanted to write "the facts," her editors censored her in light of growing anti-communist paranoia. (In post-Crisis continuity, Natalie Reed's doctored comic book scripts of the late 1940s represent the Blackhawks' original pre-Crisis adventures.) Also after the war, Reed had a brief affair with Hendrickson, producing a son, James. (Action #630-631, Blackhawk v.3 #1) The two had barely come to terms with their breakup when Hendrickson died in a helicopter explosion over Albania. (Blackhawk Annual #1)
Also, Jan is meant to take some of the anti-communist heat.
In 1958, they were joined by a second Lady Blackhawk, Zinda Blake (Blackhawk #133, 2.59). She served off-and-on for some time before disappearing amid the time fluctuations caused by Zero Hour. She emerged decades in the future.
Later, Weng, Chuck & Jan were called to President Truman's office to be recruited as special agents in covert mission. This operation was administered by the fledgling CIA. At this time, the government offered to buy Blackhawk Airways outright. Their first mission: to escort a U.S. official to Germany to retrieve a dangerous new chemical called LSD. (Action #630) By the 1950s, the Blackhawks were a fully integrated CIA unit, with a cover as an air courier service. New recruits Paco Herrera and Grover Baines also joined in 1955.
The Silver Age
In 1963, the Blackhawks became entangled in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Their former colleague, Blanc-Dumont was working for the CIA and uncovered information implicating U.S. government officials of wanting to escalate involvement in the Vietnam war. This ran counter to the President's feelings, and his enemies killed Blanc-Dumont before he could return to Washington D.C. His killer, code named "Hardwire," left a calling card for the Blackhawks to lure them to Dallas. There, they fail to stop JFK's assassination and its cover-up.
After years of investigation, in 1968, Olaf uncovered Hardwire's identity in Saigon. His name was Stephen Weir, and Janos had evidently killed his parents in the war. Olaf went missing-in-action when Hardwire bombed the embassy; his body was shown floating in a river and it was never recovered. Back in the states, Natalie Reed was again recruited to help Janos watch over Robert Kennedy (she had taken the alias Constance Darabont). She bore witness to RFK's assassination, but was helpless to prevent it. Jan finally had his revenge in 1975, during last days of the Vietnam War. A secret informant revealed Hardwire's location, and the Jan killed him in battle. (Blackhawk Special #1) Jan was still around during the "Silver Age," when he participated in a short-lived "Seven Soldiers of Victory." (The Silver Age: Showcase)
Modern Day
In 1980, Weng Chan became the CEO of the organization's latest incarnation, Blackhawk Express. This charter service specialized in dangerous cargo and boasted all-female flight crews. Chan answered to a secret Board of Directors (whose members may have included some of the original surviving Blackhawks). In one of thier first recorded missions, Chan, R&D man Clay Kendall, and pilot Susan Sullivan were shot down over the country of Sumango by Colonel Diaz. Green Lantern, Superman and Black Canary were called in to rescue them. (Action #635) At a social function, Chan also met Katar Hol, the Hawkman of Thanagar. Katar helped Blackhawk Express when the Killer Shark (Bunther Haifisch) planted a bomb on a plane with sensitive cargo. (The plane used in this story was a Gates Lear-Jet 55C; Hawkworld v.2 #11-12.) Chan's grandson, Nelson Chan also joined B.E. as a mechanic.
Eventually, Blackhawk Island and the Blackhawk Express service were acquired by D.E.O., another U.S. agency which investigates metahuman affairs. The DEO's Director Bones tricked the JSA into driving Kobra from the island. Though the mission resulted in serious damages, the island was salvaged. (JSA #11-12) During the Imperiex War, an all-new Blackhawk fleet was created by combining Brainiac 13 technology with Ferris Aircraft designs. These new warbirds can travel into space.
When Zinda Blake emerged from the 1950s in modern time, she joined Buck Wargo's monster hunters for a time. (Guy Gardner: Warrior #24). Eventually she grew lonely as, according to her, she was the last living original Blackhawk. Later, she was contaced by Oracle and was invited to join the Birds of Prey as their pilot. Craving the adventure, she agreed, leaving the Blackhawk organization (and her share in it). She took with her but one thing: a brand new state-of-the-art plane to courier the Birds to their cases' destinations. (Birds of Prey #75) This was the first official declaration that the other original Blackhawks were dead.
No account has been made of the surviving Blackhawks' last days. Knowing the extent of Jan's sexual exploits, it is quite possible that he fathered children. The fate of Natalie and Hendrickson's son is unknown.
The Blackhawk operation continues to operate in covert and overt capacities for the United States military and espionage operations.
Notes
Blackhawk was one of the properties purchased by DC Comics from Quality Comics in 1956—and one of only two that it continued publishing from its original run. In original continuity, none of the core members ever died. But Howard Chaykin's 1988 mini-series established a new, post-Crisis continuity for the Blackhawks. Though his version drastically changed the personality of Blackhawk himself, it did return the team to it's multinational roots. (As the U.S. entered the war, some of the Blackhawk characters did not appear "sympathetic" enough to the publisher, Quality Comics. For more on this, read the letter column of Blackhawk Annual #1, 1989.)
The era of Blackhawk history which is most suspect in current continuity is the 1970s revival (which began in Blackhawk #244, 1976). Many would assert that Blackhawk #244-250 are no longer in continuity. Another change: Chan's pre-Crisis first name was changed from "Wu" to "Weng," and his nickname, "Chop-Chop" is clearly represented as pejorative.
The pre-Crisis gang also included Kazimierc "Zeg" Zegota-Januszajtis, Boris Zinoviev, Ian Holcomb-Baker (all of whom died before Pearl Harbor); Lt. Theodore R. Gaynor (Blackhawk #266); and Blackie the Hawk (Blackhawk #75).
Their earliest aircraft were based on Grumman F5F Skyrockets & Lockheed P-38s, later Douglas D558-1 & Lockheed XF-90s. See link below for more on their aircraft.
| Operative | First Appearance | Post-Crisis Fate |
|---|---|---|
| Janos Prohaska (Blackhawk) | Military Comics #1 | Believed deceased, revealed Birds of Prey #75; revealed alive Batman Confidential #36 (1.10) |
| Capt. Stanislaus Drozdowski | Military Comics #2 | Deceased Blackhawk v.2 #2 |
| Capt. Carlos "Chuck" Sirianni | Deceased, revealed Birds of Prey #75 | |
| Capt. Olaf Friedricksen | Revealed deceased Birds of Prey #75; had been M.I.A. Blackhawk Special #1 (1988); | |
| Capt. Ritter Hendrickson | Deceased Blackhawk Annual #1 | |
| Capt. Andre Blanc-Dumont | Deceased Blackhawk Special #1 (1988) | |
| Lt. Wu Cheng (Weng Chan) | Military Comics #3 | Deceased, revealed Birds of Prey #75 |
| Capt. Natalie Reed (nee Gurdin, Lady Blackhawk) | Blackhawk v.2 #1 | Deceased, revealed Birds of Prey #75 |
| POST-WORLD WAR II | ||
| Quan Chee ("Mairzey") Keng | Action #628 (1989) | Became Assistant Director of Ground Operations in 1947; wife of Chuck Sirianni; status uncertain |
| Grover Baines | Blackhawk v.3 #2 or 3?? | Status uncertain |
| Paco Herrera | Blackhawk v.3 #?? | Status uncertain |
| Zinda Blake (Lady Blackhawk II) | Blackhawk v.1 #133 (Feb. 1959) | Thrown forward in time and currently active; historically active from 1958-68. |
| Pomeroy ?? | ?? | ?? |
| Modern Day | ||
| Clay Kendall, R&D | Action Comics #635 | Status uncertain |
| Susan Sullivan, pilot | Status uncertain | |
| Nelson Chan, mechanic | Weng Chan's grandson | |
| Lee Cheng | Batman Confidential #36 | Nephew of Wu Cheng |
| Jim | ||
| Cedric, controller | Killed by Gaynor, Batman Confidential #36 | |
+ Powers
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Appearances + References
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