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"Prisoners of the Black Palace": A typhoon forces the Hawks to abandon their planes and land on an uncharted island. There they are made captives by a criminal called Spider Web and forced into an underground prison, whose inmates are stoolies and turncoat thugs, who had double-crossed their own

Quote1 That will have to remain my secret, Andre! You see, even if I explained it to you, you'd wonder if it were the truth! Quote2
Blackhawk

Blackhawk #116 is an issue of the series Blackhawk (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1957.

Synopsis for "Prisoners of the Black Palace"

A typhoon forces the Hawks to abandon their planes and land on an uncharted island. There they are made captives by a criminal called Spider Web and forced into an underground prison, whose inmates are stoolies and turncoat thugs, who had double-crossed their own mob bosses. In this "Black Palace," hundreds of feet below the surface, they all must toil to produce armaments for the underworld.

The Blackhawks are helped to escape by Zollo, a lifelike robot, that they themselves had built, in an (unchronicled) earlier campaign against Killer Shark. (Zollo had worked its way into this mob, because that's what it had been programmed to do, and had ended up imprisoned here.) Blackhawk rebuilt part of Zollo's torso as a makeshift acetylene welding torch, and the Blackhawks were able to make their escape.

Appearing in "Prisoners of the Black Palace"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Spider Web (First appearance)
    • many prison guards
    • many inmates: "Brick" Larson (who tried to take over the Madden Gang), Willie Sloan (who hijacked loot from other racketeers), many others
  • Killer Shark (Mentioned only)

Locations:

Items:

  • Deactivator (aircraft engine killing weapon)
  • Zollo, lifelike robot

Vehicles:


Synopsis for "The Human Torpedo"

The Hawks develop a manually guided torpedo, only to have it and Blackhawk get captured, by Octo and his octopus-sub, the Octopi. Octo threatens to use the weapon, with Blackhawk inside it, on a merchant ship, but the captain heaves to and allows his cargo of silver bullion to be looted. But when Octo attempts to deploy this device a second time, it is stolen away from him by scaly yellow Mermen, using special nets. These silent warriors convey both the torpedo and Blackhawk to their undersea city, under a transparent dome. The Mermen mistakenly believe that Blackhawk uses Octo's machinery, which has damaged their underwater community. They imprison Blackhawk, but one Merwoman, Lenore, slips him a key. Blackhawk escapes his cell, punches out two guards, finds his captured torpedo, and uses the torpedo's generator to power his belt radio. As the Merman troops are catching up to him, Blackhawk's story is accidentally confirmed by a broadcast message from Octo. This prompts the Mermen leader to team up with Blackhawk, and Blackhawk uses his re-captured guided torpedo to puncture the Octopi, without detonating the warhead. This enables the Blackhawks to arrest most or all of the strange vessel's crew.

Appearing in "The Human Torpedo"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Octo (arrested)
    • his crew (most or all arrested)

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

  • Blackhawk Human-guided Torpedo

Vehicles:

  • Blackhawks' new Torpedo Raft
  • " Octopi", Octo's octopus-shaped submarine (damaged)
    • signal-jamming radio transmitters in one tentacle
    • depth-charge launcher in one tentacle (#4)
  • Hawksub (damaged)
  • civilian freighter (looted)

Synopsis for "The Outcast Blackhawk"

During the team's annual workout, Hendrickson purposely loses the bouts in order to leave the team because he believes an old belt radio he lost on Killer Shark's island base could spell disaster for his former teammates.

Appearing in "The Outcast Blackhawk"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Killer Shark (Mentioned only) (in newsreels)
  • Manta Ray, unsuccessful successor to Killer Shark
    • his gang

Locations:

Vehicles:

Notes

  • Black Palace
    • Four Blackhawk Jets are abandoned at sea.
    • Zollo the Robot had a mechanical memory, and the ability to disguise itself.
      • Zollo was built by the Blackhawks, in an earlier adventure, against Killer Shark. That adventure is not recorded in the chronicles, and we have never seen Zollo before.
      • The team took Zollo back to Blackhawk Island and put it in the Blackhawk Museum.
    • Story reveals how the Blackhawks escaped from the under-island prison, but ends right at that point. Reader gets no information about the fates of the other prisoners, the guards, or the warden, Spider Web. Also not shown was the way in which the Blackhawks left the island, or who (if anybody, besides Zollo) went with them.
  • Human Torpedo
    • On the 4th panel of the 2nd page, the Hawksub is "crippled .. sunk under tons of water". We are not told how the Blackhawks escaped the sinking sub, nor if they were able to salvage it.
    • Blackhawk knows the location of the unnamed Mermen's unknown undersea city, but he does not reveal it even to the Blackhawks.
  • Outcast Blackhawk
  • Also appearing in this issue of Blackhawk were:
    • "Danger, Prejudice At Work!" (PSA from National Social Welfare Assembly)
    • Shorty by Henry Boltinoff
    • Lem N' Lime by Henry Boltinoff
    • "Airborne Getaway" (text story)



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