Reed Crandall - Blackhawk - Military 18

I discovered the Blackhawks as a kid in the 1960s. I always thought it a contrived plot device for ALL of them to parachute from their jet planes and that the plane would miraculously return to base... never explaining how they returned.

That was the Dick Dillin/Chuck Cuidera run on Blackhawk. It was only later that I learned that Cuidera had been a staple of the Eisner Iger shop in the 40s and had been the artist for the first 11 stories of Blackhawk. He is now regarded as part of the team that created Blackhawk since Cuidera designed the characters and costumes.

But, when Cuidera stepped away to work on Captain Triumph for Quality and later became the company's art director, Reed Crandall took over. Blackhawk became one of Crandall's signature features. This is the Blackhawk I have grown to appreciate.

This page comes from Military 18, Crandall's sixth issue on the character. The 15-page story was titled, "The Thunderer". The story has been summarized as saying that a dying British agent tells the Blackhawks that whoever finds The Thunderer in the Gura Mountain Lamassary in Tibet will control the natives. They must beat the Japanese there and stop the revolt. That all happens on this page.

Moreover, this page has a great shot of the Grumman XF5F Skyrocket, the plane the Blackhawks flew during those war years. Beauty! The only thing missing was Blackhawk.

As you can see, stories from that time period were not above using racial stereotypes... such as Olaf's accent and Chop Chop's exaggerated Chinese features and speech. Sadly, this is a reflection of that time. I hope in 2024 we have gone past that... but maybe not.