Blackhawk #181 is an issue of the series Blackhawk (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1963.
Synopsis for "Ultra the Super Robot"
A mad scientist unleashes a morphing mechanical thief that can scale walls and burn through vaults to steal jewels. The Blackhawk Squadron intercepts him, only to have the robot turn into a jet and blast away. It later appears underground with a huge drill burrowing up into a jewelry store. When the Blackhawks show up this time, they are ensnared by an iron cobweb that drags them back to the Master's lair. There, he explains that Ultra is a machine that makes machines and respond to his thoughts. He commands his creation to build a prison for the heroes.
They escape and use a bulldozer to shove Ultra off a precipice. The robot is damaged but not destroyed and splits the Squadron into two camps with one of them trapped in a makeshift stone prison that is rapidly filling up with water in a nearby stream. The other heroes save their colleagues while the villains escape. He goes off to make a small contingent of robot slaves to fight back and the Blackhawks return with two trucks outfitted with electromagnets. The trucks pull Ultra apart into pieces and Blackhawk steals the Master's robotic control helmet and forces the smaller minions to tear themselves apart as well.
Appearing in "Ultra the Super Robot"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Master (First appearance)
- Ultra the Super Robot (Destroyed) (First appearance)
- Ultra's slave robots (Destroyed) (First appearance)
- Ultra the Super Robot (Destroyed) (First appearance)
Locations:
Vehicles:
- Hawk-Copter
Synopsis for "The Tom Thumb Blackhawk"
At 36 inches tall and weighing 77 pounds, Tiny Big has a failing clown act that gets cut from the circus. While walking along the docks trying to think of how he can make money, he hears gunshots in the distance, he starts a cargo cart that tosses a box at the gangsters but accidentally flips him into the ocean. The Blackhawk Squadron arrives just then and Andre fishes Tiny out of the water. Reporters latch onto the story and name Tiny the "Tom Thumb Blackhawk".
The next day, Tiny has a go-cart and a miniature Blackhawk uniform. Wheeling about the streets, he sees the actual Blackhawks on a case and decides to help. As the Squadron sets up around a toy factory to catch the Yellow Raider, Tiny intervenes, disabling the crooks. Blackhawk scolds him that they wanted the thieves to escape so they could be followed back to their hideout and assigns Chuck and Olaf to watch over him and ensure that he doesn't ruin their operation.
The rest of the Squadron finds the Yellow Raider and signals for Chuck and Olaf to join them but Tiny slips away and beats them there where he finds the heroes trapped in a mammoth barrel of cider that will drown them. He frees the Squadron, who easily disable the gangsters. Tiny decides that rather than try to be a vigilante, he'll go back to the circus as the Tom Thumb Blackhawk.
Appearing in "The Tom Thumb Blackhawk"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Yellow Raider
Other Characters:
- Tiny Big, the Tom Thumb Blackhawk (First appearance)
- Mr. Grundy
Locations:
Notes
- Tiny Big appears next in Blackhawk #195.
Trivia
- Also appearing in this issue of Blackhawk were:
- full page ad for DC's ComicPac sets, four current comics for 47¢, prominently featuring the current issue of Superman #158
- 1/3 page ad for the current issues of Batman #153 and World's Finest #131
- Health Myths Debunked! (full page PSA from the National Social Welfare Assembly): Not only rusty nails give you tetanus, don't rub snow on frostbite, don't rub meat on a black eye, and shaving doesn't make hair grow back faster.
- 1/2 page ad for the current issue of Our Army at War #127
- Moolah the Mystic by Henry Boltinoff; Moolah accidentally tricks a guy into thinking that his dry laundry is a ghost.
- Homer by Henry Boltinoffl stunt man Homer has to drive a car though a raging inferno on a movie set for a stunt but isn't willing to walk in the rain to go to the movies.
- 1/2 page ad for the current issue of Showcase #42 featuring Tommy Tomorrow
- Quick Quiz: 1/2 page of random facts: the Earth does not make noise as it rotates in outer space, the cerebral cortex has nine billion nerve cells, eagles can live over 100 years, the term "crocodile tears" comes from a legend that crocodiles would weep for those whom they devour.
- "Secrets of the Sky" (1 page text article): explains various regions of the atmosphere from the tropopause to outer space.
- 1/2 page Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation
- full page ad for the current issues of Superman Annual #6 and Batman Annual #4
See Also