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"The Threat from the Abyss": When several ships disappear in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Navy calls in the Blackhawks to determine the cause. Blackhawk escorts an unmanned dummy ship along the same course as the ones that have disappeared. He witnesses the ship destroyed by an atomic warhead

Quote1 I know that man! I've seen his face in a hundred Red scientific journals! That's Dr. Ivan Algov, Red guided missile expert! Quote2
Blackhawk

Blackhawk #108 is an issue of the series Blackhawk (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 1957.

Synopsis for "The Threat from the Abyss"

When several ships disappear in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Navy calls in the Blackhawks to determine the cause. Blackhawk escorts an unmanned dummy ship along the same course as the ones that have disappeared. He witnesses the ship destroyed by an atomic warhead launched from under the sea. The Blackhawks bomb the area, believing the warhead was launched from a sub. Further investigation reveals a Soviet missile station on the ocean floor, then a USSR submarine also arrives. The Soviets launch an undersea missile at the skin-diving Blackhawks, which they dodge; Blackhawk grabs onto it, rides it, and disassembles it with tools. The Blackhawks board the surfaced Red sub and fistfight their way aboard it, take it over, and turn it over to the U.S. Navy. Then the Blackhawks fail to outfight several dozen Soviet frogmen, get captured, escape, and raid the sea-floor station. They destroy it, capturing the Soviet missile expert Ivan Algov alive in the process.

Appearing in "The Threat from the Abyss"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Reds
    • Dr. Ivan Algov, missile expert
      • his frogmen and technicians

Locations:

  • Atlantic Ocean, East of the Azores
    • Soviet sub-sea missile battery (Destroyed)

Items:

  • Soviet undersea missiles (maneuverable but slow enough for a skin diver to catch)

Vehicles:

  • series of cargo ships (Destroyed)
  • Blackhawk Lockheed F-90Cs
  • U.S. aircraft carrier
  • U.S. submarine
  • Red submarine (captured)


Synopsis for "Killer Shark's Secret Weapon"


Appearing in "Killer Shark's Secret Weapon"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Vehicles:

  • Killer Shark's mechanical whale (escaped)
    • armed with jet-engine-killing electrical-interference broadcasting weapon
  • Blackhawk Lockheed F-90Cs

Synopsis for "The Mutiny of the Red Sailors"

The Blackhawks witness a group of six Soviet seamen trying to defect in Hong Kong. They help the men escape from their countrymen, then Chop Chop and Stanislaus escort them to the authorities. Later, when Chop Chop and Stan fail to show up at the airfield, the other Blackhawks go searching for them. They discover the Soviet crewmen are saboteurs. The supposed defectors have led the Blackhawks into a trap, but the team overcomes the Soviets and stops the saboteurs.

Appearing in "The Mutiny of the Red Sailors"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

Locations:

Vehicles:

Notes

  • This issue is the first one published by DC Comics, d.b.a. National Comics Publications, Inc., after buying the rights from Quality Comics, d.b.a. Comic Favorites, Inc., and the lead story may constitute the first appearance of the Earth-One team of Blackhawks. The adventures published by Quality are said to be those of the Quality Universe Blackhawks.
  • Starting this issue, Chop Chop is a somewhat pudgy normal man, and no longer appears as a pointed-headed, big-toothed, sphere-bodied caricature. He still wears the yellow-and-green outfit.
  • The last panel of the first story of this issue looks like it might be the last time that the Blackhawks fly off singing a jolly chorus of their Blackhawk Anthem.
  • The Threat from the Abyss
    • The Blackhawks have scuba suits with transparent globe helmets.
    • Blackhawk stays up to date on his atomic science research.
  • Killer Shark's Secret Weapon
  • Also appearing in this issue of Blackhawk were:
    • Shorty (1-page gag strip)
    • Buzzy's "Famous Books" Quiz
    • Varsity Vic (1-page gag strip)

Trivia

  • Killer Shark and his crew and their whale have escaped custody, and at the end of this story are being hunted by the U.S. Navy. Blackhawk is not confident that they will soon catch him.
  • This issue's adventures all take place in Real World countries. This was also true of the last issue of the Quality Comics series. The last fictional country to be introduced there was Beldia, in issue #106.


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

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