DCnU Roundup: New Solicitations

Catching up to the DCnU Blackhawks!

Before we get to the new stuff, some housekeeping... The DCnU Blackhawks series is a while gone, but I still had a couple of adventures to log. These are included now in the profile at Cosmic Teams! It includes the last issue of their series (#8), and their origin from DC Universe Presents #0.

Phantom Lady #4

I guess DC forgot to add this issue to its solicitations. OMG.
In this concluding issue, Phantom Lady goes to head-to-head with the most unusual adversary of all: Funerella!
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with art by Cat Staggs and a cover by Stephane Rouz. 

Human Bomb #2

• John discovers the secrets of his metahuman gene. • Who are the Men in Black?
Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art and cover by JERRY ORDWAY
On sale January  9, 2013

Human Bomb #3 

The Human Bomb and Joan lead a military invasion into a hidden C.R.O.W.N. installation.
• They discover an alien invasion is in the works!
• Plus: The Human Bomb discovers his new abilities!
Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art and cover by JERRY ORDWAY

On Sale  February 6, 2013

New Things Quality

A few things to note…

Women of the DC Universe:
Phantom Lady Bust

1. Quality Collectibles!

I started a page at Cosmic Teams devoted to collectibles based on Quality characters. See it here!

2. Kid Eternity news!

There's a new interview at Comic Book Resources with Jeff Lemire, who is penning the return of Kid Eternity! Lemire gives up some surprising tidbits concerning the nature of the DCnU, saying:

"As far as I know, and I might be corrected on this, the "National Comics" titles are out of continuity because I know that there is a Madame Xanadu one and it has nothing to do with the New 52 Madame Xanadu. So no, I don't make any reference to any other DC Universe character. It is a self-contained, totally out-of-continuity take on the character. We just kept the original name and stuff."

 Also, he'd originally wanted to include Eternity in his Justice League Dark title.

I'm sensing a theme...
Classic Photography #1 (Autumn 1956)

3. Arnold Magazines!

I've been quietly adding to this section, which focuses at length on Arnold Publications, the offshoot of Quality Comics by Busy Arnold that limped along when the comics ended, from 1956-1958. I daresay it's the most complete list yet, although I'm still missing a few cover scans.

The rarest of all are the pulp digests, which never appear on ebay. I found two on Amazon.

I'll publicize it more when I've written it more fully, but it already contains lots of notable scans from the issues I've acquired:

• Introduction
• The Sweats
• The Pin-Ups
• The Digests

DCnU Quality Watch 4: Eternity! and more

ITEM #1: National Comics!

Wired has broken the news that DC Comics will publish a new title, National Comics! This was the name of the classic Quality Comics title which ran for 75 issues, from July 1940–Nov. 1949.

The original comic book is known for it's anchor character, Uncle Sam, who was relieved of cover duty by the Barker. The characters mentioned in relation to this new title include one called "Eternity" (DC's own solicitations mention the name "Kid Eternity"). The cover image confirms that this is indeed a revival of Kid Eternity. Originally, the character had no alter ego. He was named "Christopher Freeman" by E. Nelson Bridwell at DC Comics, when he was reintroduced in 1977's Shazam! #27 (Jan-Feb 1977).

The official solicitation reads:

NATIONAL COMICS: ETERNITY #1
Written by JEFF LEMIRE Art and cover by CULLY HAMNER
On sale JULY 25 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
An exciting new series of stand-alone comics that feature unique takes on classic characters! JEFF LEMIRE (ANIMAL MAN) and CULLY HAMNER (RED) bring a contemporary approach to the hero we used to know as KID ETERNITY! Can introverted medical examiner Kid Eternity solve a deadly crime in just 24 hours?

These creators are top notch! I'm looking forward to it very much. And wondering what they'll do with the cover logo ;)

ITEM #2: The Ray #3-4

This four-issue mini-series has concluded with an intriguing Quality-related teaser! Read the profile at Cosmic Teams to see how Lucien Gates came to meet this tall, commanding government agent...

ITEM #3: Blackhawks #6-7

This series is one issue from its demise, but it's doing so at breakneck speed! I'm sad this one never had a chance. It has action galore. Try to keep up by reading the profile at Cosmic Teams!

Blackhawk: The Movie Serial (1952)

It's refreshing to find one thing related to Quality Comics that is so thoroughly covered that I have nothing to add!

I recently won this issue of Serial World #11 (Summer 1977), which was all about the Blackhawk Movie Serial made in 1952, starring Kirk Alyn. The article even includes an interview with Alyn, plus a full summary of every episode.

I contacted its former publisher, Norman Kietzer, and he was so kind as to permit me to reprint it for fans online! Please visit Norman's web site at the Westerns and Serials fan club!

The article itself was pretty cleanly scanned and contained a number of great photo stills from the serial, too. I've included all of that in the online version, and uploaded the images for your perusal below.

See the photos after the jump... 

>> Read it at Cosmic Teams! BLACKHAWK: A SERIAL WORLD FILMBOOK by Eric Hoffman

DCnU Quality Watch 3: Madam Fatal

UPDATE #1!
Madam Fatal made a co-starring appearance in this month's The Shade #4.

She's no lady… from The Shade #4 (2012). Art by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone.

Madam Fatal was still active in 1944, when Stanton became an agent of the anti-hero (and sometime villain), the Shade. The Shade employed Madam Fatal to protect his own descendant, Darnell Caldecott. Stanton posed as Caldecott's assistant, Miss Sharp. Sharp escorted Caldecott to safety, and when his life was endangered by Nazis, revealed herself as Madam Fatal. The Shade arrived soon thereafter to relieve Madam Fatal, and presented Stanton with his payment—the information he'd sought for so long... the whereabouts of his kidnapped daughter. It seemed that she eleven years earlier by Dr. Prowl. (The Shade v.2 #4)

DCnU: Quality Watch 2

Blackhawks

(1) Col. Andrew Lincoln, (2) Lady Blackhawk, (3) Attila, (4) Kunoichi, (5) the Irishman, (6) Wildman, and (7) Canada.

My profile for the new Blackhawks is up at Cosmic Teams! This series got off to a rocky start before it even hit stands. The initial creative team of Chuck Austen and Ken Lashley did not end up (fully) doing a single issue of the series. Initial reviews of the book were very mixed and I don't think anyone was wowed. Personally, I was disappointed at first that this was an entirely new Blackhawks, with no homage whatsoever to the classic team. But it has a charm all its own if you can read it on those terms. Mike Costa, ultimately wrote it; he had experience with G.I. Joe for IDW, and his Blackhawks reads somewhat in that vein. Message board chatter at DC seems to indicate that some readers have followed writer Mike Costa into this book.

Cover of Blackhawks #5

Nobody expected this series to sell like gangbusters, and the first issue ranked 77th in sales, with  36,013 copies. This was in the bottom five of the "new 52." Issue #2 came in at number 86 with an estimated 28,534 copies.

Also note that this is the first time that the book has been titled in the plural.

Solicitations for January's issue #5 have ramped up speculation, as it looks like the classic Lady Blackhawk might be making a return. This seems more in line with the "give them what they want" philosophy of the new 52.

Read more at Cosmic Teams.

DCnU: Quality Watch

Yesterday I found two all-new Quality Comics standards in the pages of my Wednesday haul. The stunning spread below featured the unexpected return of the War Wheel (times two!) in the pages of Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #4. The War Wheel has always been a bane to the Blackhawks and first appeared in Quality Comics' Blackhawk #56 (Sept. 1952).

I have a real soft spot for this book, its lead character, and for the Creature Commandos. Ironically, this book's story is linked to others written by the creators of the next series I'm going to mention, The Ray. S.H.A.D.E. played a central role in all of Palmiotti and Gray's post-Infinite Crisis series, including those that dealt with the Freedom Fighters.
   

The War Wheel returns in spades, flanked by an army of G.I. Robots, in Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #4. Art by Alberto Ponticelli. 

Plastic Man and Blackhawk Foldees (1966)

Get ready to LOL, cuz here come those lovable DC Topps Foldees from 1966! See those for Plastic Man and Blackhawk after the jump...

I've owned the whole set for some time now and just realized that these were in there. If you want to know a little more about it, or see the whole set, visit the page on Cosmic Teams! and see the slideshow.

This card set had 44 total, and collecting them was a lot of fun but challenging. Many of them were folded endlessly and suffer from it. The gems are those cards that have never been folded. Foldees were cards with three perforated panels that could be folded over in various combinations that produced supposedly humorous results. Super-heroes were on one side, and other characters on the other. 2-1/2" x 4-11/16". From packs of Topps bubble gum. Unfolded cards are still perforated, but you can tell by testing them if they have been bent.

Mark Evanier discusses Blackhawk and Plastic Man

The writer on his turn with the Quality legend, and on the Plastic Man cartoon!

Conducted by Mike Kooiman on 17 November 2011

Visit Mark Evanier's web site, POVonline!

An homage to Mark Evanier, drawn by his writing
partner, Sergio Aragonés. The two have produced
The Spirit (for DC) and Groo.

Writer Mark Evanier is probably familiar—if not by name, then by the characters he has written—to many cartoon and comics fans, having written for various publishers, producers and networks since the early 1970s. He was a friend to Jack Kirby and was involved with Kirby’s "New Gods" comics for DC in the early 1970s. Evanier is also a frequent collaborator with Sergio Aragonés and a contributor to the Jack Kirby Collector. As a writer, his work for DC Comics is relatively sporadic, but he made a great impression on me and many other fans with his reinvention of Blackhawk in 1982, with artist Dan Spiegle. Over the course of the series, Evanier often revealed behind-the-scenes details about producing Blackhawk, but my talk with him unearthed some fascinating caveats, and other things that I didn’t expect to learn!

Mike Kooiman: Tell me what you’re up to now…

Mark Evanier: Right now the main thing in my life is that I’m writer/producer/voice director of the Garfield cartoon show, seen on Cartoon Network and hundreds of other channels around the world. I’m writing another "Groo" project with Sergio Aragonés for Dark Horse, and I’m writing another new comic that I can’t talk about yet and I’m writing a screen play… I guess all sorts of different things.

MK: How long has it been since you’ve done any work for DC?

Evanier: I’ve done a few forewords—introductions to reprint collections but I haven’t written any comics for them for about two years. I did The Spirit comic for them for a brief time …

MK: I confess I haven’t read the ones you’re written but they’re on my agenda!

Evanier: In those, the stories were all by Sergio Aragonés, I just did the dialogue. It was the same series that was begun by Darwyn Cooke.

MK: You first worked with Dan Spiegle on Scooby Doo... Mystery Comics at Gold Key?

Blackhawk: The 1970s

George Evans redesigned the Blackhawk uniform for a new decade, primarily adding the color red, and the zip-front jacket (frequently worn unzipped—sexy '70s style; from Blackhawk #244 (1976). Art by George Evans.

The 1976 regeneration of Blackhawk was written by Steve Skeates for most of its run, and was edited by Gerry Conway, with assists and story editing by Jack C. Harris. George Evans was the sole artist on the first tale, then he became the finisher over Ric Estrada's art.

DC chose to keep this team's true origins (and continuity) a bit mysterious. No doubt the property posed a similar problem to any of DC's other long-running features: how do you explain the true age of these characters if they were active in the 1940s? In 1976, DC's answer was that the Blackhawk team began in the 1950s (1957 if one mirrors the start of their DC career). The 1970s Blackhawks could not have been from Earth-X (which was overtaken by Hitler), and the 1980s revival was later defined as the Earth-One team.

The Earth-One Justice League appeared in the 1960s Blackhawk, which would place them on Earth-One as well. That was probably the logic at the time, but later Mark Evanier's Blackhawk was explicitly defined as the Earth-One team. Another anomaly was Roy Thomas' use of the characters in All-Star Squadron, where they were on Earth-Two during World War II.
You didn't realize Blackhawk continuity was such a mess, did you? But if one isolates Blackhawk's DC adventures from 1957-1977, they fit easily into Silver Age Earth-One continuity. There are reasons for this in the narrative below.

In the letters column of Blackhawk #244, Jack C. Harris penned a classified memo of sorts which "speculated" about the Blackhawks' origins:

Lady Blackhawks

Today many DC fans know Zinda Blake, the Lady Blackhawk thrust forward in time to become the brassiest member of the Birds of Prey. But before her debut in Blackhawk #133 (Feb. 1959), there had been several aspirants during the Quality era...

The first “lady Blackhawk,” Sugar, from Military #20 (July 1943). Art by Reed Crandall.

The Blackhawks of Earth-One

The Evanier/Spiegle Run, Blackhawk #251-273 (1982-84)

I was completely unprepared for just how good this series would be. I've always been a fan of Howard Chaykin's late 1980s revival, but this one went under the radar. Evanier and Spiegle were in top form throughout this series. If DC is listening, this run is a prime candidate for collection.

From Blackhawk #251 (1982). Art by Dan Spiegle.

The 1982 reboot by longtime collaborators Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle re-envisioned the Blackhawks in a more streamlined fashion, taking all the most prominent aspects of the original wartime adventures and adding a more human dimension to the pilots themselves. The series lasted for 23 issues and appeared to be relatively successful despite its lack of promotion. On his blog, Evanier claimed that,

Interview with Will Eisner about Blackhawk

Blackhawk #260 (1983). Cover art
by Howard Chaykin.

In reviewing this revival of Blackhawk for a new series of profiles, I unearthed the following interview, which adds to the mythos surrounding the creation of “Blackhawk,” which artist Chuck Cuidera consistently maintained was his creation, and specifically not the creation of Will Eisner. 

This 1983 interview with Eisner precedes all of the documented accounts made by Cuidera on the issue. The first of these wasn’t until 1999, the year that Cuidera publicly claimed sole creation of “Blackhawk.” There is anecdotal evidence told to Jim Amash by industry professionals that Cuidera made those same claims as far back as the 1950s/60s. In characterizing Cuidera below, Eisner was probably dancing around his true opinions. Cuidera, on the other hand, rarely minced words on the subject, and held some disdain towards Eisner (again, both witnessed and transcribed by Amash). Naturally, this issue is covered more in the Quality Companion! Read Jim Amash's interviews with Cuidera and Eisner in Alter Ego #34 and #48, respectively.

Written by Cat Yronwode, originally published in the letter column of Blackhawk #260 (July 1983).

Ask the average comic book fan of today who created the Blackhawks and you will get a vague answer. "The Blackhawks? Uh ... didn’t Reed Crandall do them originally... or was it Chuck Cuidera? …no, Reed Crandall ... it was Crandall... I think."