Blackhawk #118 is an issue of the series Blackhawk (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1957.
Synopsis for "The Bandit with 1000 Nets"
The Net, a criminal mastermind who uses various gadgets and gimmicks involving nets in his high-profile thefts, devises a series of nets to thwart the famed black knights' attempts to capture him. It doesn't work.
Appearing in "The Bandit with 1000 Nets"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Net
- his gang of safecrackers and gunsels
Locations:
- unnamed city, a major port
- Blackhawks' secret city quarters
- Seaman's Bank
- Seaman's Clothing store
- city airport
Items:
- Electrical Blockade Net
- Bazooka Nets
- other similar net-based inventions and gimmicks
Vehicles:
- Blackhawk Lockheed F-90C interceptors
- The Net's freight helicopter
- The Net's supercharged van
Synopsis for "The Blackhawk Robinson Crusoes"
In a submarine battle against the sea pirate Sting Ray, the Hawk-Sub is pinned to the ocean floor by a landslide; Sting Ray escapes. The Hawks evacuate their sub, and take refuge on a local deserted island, where they set up camp. Sting Ray and his crew find them and invade the island. Now the Hawks use the jungle terrain and ingenuity to construct medieval weapons with which to fight the well-armed pirates. They do so well enough to occupy the invaders' attention, while Stanislaus and Olaf capture an enemy torpedo boat, and use it to sink the hoodlum force's surface ships and landing craft.
Appearing in "The Blackhawk Robinson Crusoes"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Sting Ray
- his pirate submarine crew
- his surface ship and boat crews (some are sunk)
Locations:
- South Pacific Ocean
- desert island
Vehicles:
- Hawk-Sub (Destroyed)
- Sting Ray's Submarine
- catapult-launched Sub-Seaplane
- Sting Ray's three surface ships (two destroyed, one captured)
- Sting Ray's four invasion barges (one destroyed)
- Sting Ray's four tanks (one sunk, one disabled)
- Sting Ray's torpedo boats (one captured)
Synopsis for James Gang: "The Town Jesse James Couldn't Rob"
This story is reprinted from Jimmy Wakely #4.
(Nonfiction account of the James-Younger gang's unsuccessful attempt to rob the bank in Northfield, Minnesota)
Appearing in James Gang: "The Town Jesse James Couldn't Rob"
Characters:
- Joseph Howard
- J.S. Allen
- Wilcox (bank teller)
Antagonists:
Locations:
- Northfield, Minnesota
Synopsis for "The Human Clay Pigeons"
The Hawks become bodyguards to a European scientist, Professor Kruger, who has devised a formula for neutralizing atomic radiation. But behind the scenes, Certain political powers hire a hitman called the Sniper to keep the scientist from reaching his destination. The Sniper captures the Blackhawks and the scientist, and shoots the Blackhawks into the sky, on giant clay targets, and threatens to shoot them with a cannon, if Kruger doesn't tell him the secret. But the Black Knights use their special parachute uniforms to escape, and the scientist bluffs the Sniper with a fake "atomic pen."
Appearing in "The Human Clay Pigeons"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Sniper (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Federal Government officials
- Professor Kruger
Locations:
- Washington, D.C.
- remote airfield
- research center
- Lone Bird Island, Sniper's base
Items:
- Kruger's Formula, for Neutralizing Atomic Radiation
Vehicles:
- Blackhawk Lockheed F-90C interceptors
Notes
- Bandit with 1000 Nets
- The Blackhawks bunk in an open-bay barracks in a secret location in an unnamed city.
- At a workbench in this facility, Blackhawk builds a robot duplicate of himself.
- Blackhawk Robinson Crusoes
- The Blackhawk Motto is "Don't give up without a fight!"
- The Blackhawks arrived on their desert island with no firearms.
- At this story's end, Sting Ray and his pirate submarine are alive and uncaptured.
- Human Clay Pigeons
- Andre is shot down, with a jet boomerang. Being a Blackhawk is dangerous.
- Blackhawk uniforms have been tailored with concealed built-in parachutes since the 2nd story of Blackhawk #112. See also Blackhawk #79 Aug 1954: The Quality Universe version of Blackhawk had a jacket with a built-in helium-inflating gas balloon, for high-altitude aerial escapes.
- The Sniper will return in Blackhawk #201. He may have been seen earlier, in Blackhawk #88.
Trivia
- Also appearing in this issue of Blackhawk were:
- full-page ad for the current editions of Hopalong Cassidy and Rex, the Wonder Dog
- Ollie by Henry Boltinoff
- "From Caveman to Classroom" (text article), about the development and use of military maps.
- Professor Eureka by Henry Boltinoff