User:Byfield/Blackhawk(s) Snarl

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Blackhawk is a Quality Comics character that has a long and eventful publication history, with several different versions which aren't exactly the same. The main team is, in name and appearance, more or less the same in all versions. Blackhawk has been an American, a Pole, an American of Polish extraction and a Pole again. Members of his team have changed names and nationality several times. The Blackhawk Squadron was active after the war as Blackhawk Airways, Blackhawk Express or Blackhawk Industries, or a combination thereof. Two villains named Killer Shark were mixed up. Timelines were altered in Zero Hour.

Timeline

 * 1941: Blackhawk of the Quality Universe is created by Will Eisner.
 * 1957: As DC takes over Quality's stock, it continues publishing Blackhawk stories with . This version isn't firmly established as Earth-One until 1967.
 * 1959: Introduction of Lady Blackhawk.
 * 1967: The Blackhawks, after being reminded they're outdated as a concept, adopt ridiculous superhero names. Well, everyone except Blackhawk, he's supposed to be cool.
 * 1973: Along with several other Quality Comics characters, Blackhawk is introduced on Earth-X. Later appearances establish he is originally from Earth-Two. This version of Blackhawk is Polish, as opposed to earlier versions, who were American.
 * 1976: After being cancelled at #243 in 1968, the series is picked up again with the "New Blackhawk", only to be canceled again at #250. The Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium states it took place on Earth-Thirty-Two, a repository for non-canon "Earth-One" stories.
 * 1983: Mark Evanier picks up the series at #250, setting it into World War II and rewriting most history. This version of the team is now established as the Earth-One Blackhawks by an editorial comment on the letters page of #256. Chop-Chop's old origin is changed, and Lady Blackhawk is absent. The stories are mostly told via flashbacks and do not appear in chronilogical order.
 * 1988: Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Howard Chaykin takes the reins and starts with a fresh series. He gives many members new origins and names, and considerably more characterization. They are a World War II era team, with their last recorded adventure in 1951
 * 1989: Blackhawk, the old Earth-Two version rather than the Chaykin version, is established as a Freedom Fighters member.
 * 1991: Modern day Blackhawks - and an unnamed blonde female who's a dead ringer for Zinda Blake - make a couple appearances ferrying the Suicide Squad.
 * 1994: Zero Hour reshuffles all of the above, seemingly at random.
 * The Chaykin team is largely written out of continuity when Zinda Blake, the original Lady Blackhawk, is plucked out of the timeline. Her subsequent appearances muddle things up even further.
 * With the exception of Blackhawk himself, who is a combination of Earth-One's Bart Hawk and Chaykin's Janos Prohaska, the team is the Evanier-era group, plus Zinda Blake. Unlike earlier versions, this Zinda was active with the Blackhawks during World War II up until at least 1950.
 * Legacy cameos muddle the post-war timeline, though the team seems to have been active until the formation of the Justice League.
 * 2000: Despite not being around since before Zero Hour, Chuck Sirianni gets a mention.
 * 2001: President Luthor forms his own, new Blackhawk Air Corps.
 * 2011: As part of the New 52, the updated Blackhawks, the Blackhawk Program, is introduced.
 * 2017: The Blackhawks are reintroduced, this time lead by Kendra Saunders as Lady Blackhawk.