Blackhawk (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 1968.
Synopsis for "A Blackhawk a Day"
Part 1
One day, the Blackhawks' Hawk-Kite intercepts the Blackhawk Mail Missile courtesy of G.E.O.R.G.E., and each member of the team receives mail except for the Big Eye (Blackhawk) himself. Nonetheless, Blackhawk informs the crew that tomorrow, he will be sending them on a week-long furlough patrol — if they detect any suspicious activity, they must notify him. The following Monday, the Big Eye dispatches the rest of the crew, who were initially excited about the patrol, but once by themselves, they study their letters from earlier and notice that they are confidential letters inviting each of them for demonstrations or challenges appealing to their abilities and expertise on specific days of the week. Today the Weapons Master (Hendrickson) is to visit an arms expert to witness the first test firing of his invisible rifle. Hendrickson locates the nearby indoor firing range specified in his letter, but once inside, he falls into a trap and becomes stripped of his weapons via a magnetic wave. The Weapons Master then unveils his secret weapon, a plastic pistol that fires ice pellets, and threatens the villain to show themself. A man appears and encases the Weapons Master in a prison cylinder, informing him that firing the pistol from within would cause the pellets to ricochet off the casement and kill him. The man introduces himself as Baron Booby-Trap and takes Hendrickson to his castle, where he reveals his plan to capture each member of the Blackhawks on each day of the week, with the end goal of eliminating them all and making a fortune out of it. The Weapons Master is then gassed into suspended animation.
Tuesday comes, and the Leaper (Olaf) answers his mail to meet a robot doppelganger of himself in a volcano laboratory. Just as he discovers that the robot is merely hollow, the entrance is sealed off. The Leaper attempts to make an escape, only to end up bouncing around the room uncontrollably. Once he finally stops, he finds himself too disorientated to defend himself against Baron Booby-Trap, who reveals that he lined the room with rubber foam to disable him. The following Wednesday, the Listener (Chuck) visits a professor who claimed to have made radio contact with another solar system, as per his letter, only to get bolted into the room and bombarded by high-frequency radio waves, for it is yet another trap devised by Baron Booby-Trap.
Part 2
The Listener falls unconscious from the sounds, only to awaken in a prison capsule in Baron Booby-Trap's castle. There, the Baron reveals his plan to profit off the Blackhawks' deaths by auctioning them off to the high echelon of the International Crime Combine. Chuck asks why the Baron sent letters to only six members of the team, and the Baron responds that Blackhawk will surrender himself when his time comes. He then gasses the Listener's cylinder and puts him into the storage along with Hendrickson and Olaf.
On Thursday, the Golden Centurion (Stanislaus) answers his mail from a chemist purported to have discovered a new metal that will revolutionize his armor. As he arrives at the smelting plant, his jetpack is disabled by a wrecking ball and the chemist, who eventually reveals himself as Baron Booby-Trap tries to engulf him in atomized metal. Stanislaus tries to fight back with his ionized pure gold, but he is neutralized and captured upon being dumped into an acid vat. The following Friday evening, and Dr. Hands (Chop-Chop) visits a curio shop to check out a robot idol with hands more powerful than his beryllium gloves. When the vendor offers him to sit in the idol's built-in chair, Chop-Chop declines, saying he's too busy enjoying his furlough and that he'll collect the idol in a few days. The vendor, who yet again turns out to be Baron Booby-Trap forces him to sit, and the idol squeezes him into unconsciousness. Saturday arrives, and M'sieu Machine (Andre) answer's a farmer's mail to check out a supposed alien spaceship filled with high technology. It is, of course, yet another trap courtesy of Baron Booby-Trap, and the spaceship spins Andre into senselessness upon entering.
Finally, it is Sunday, and Baron Booby-Trap contacts Blackhawk, claiming he will spare the rest of the team if he surrenders himself within the hour. the Big Eye agrees, and upon imprisoning him, the Baron reveals his ruse and puts him into suspended animation before contacting the Crime Combine about his collection. As the Crime Combine gathers in the castle, they ask how he would prevent them from taking it over and killing the Blackhawks without the auction. The Baron anticipated this, and both has the Crime Combine under his men's guns and rendered the prison capsules bullet proof. After a near hour of bidding, the Crime Combine select their kills and seemingly eliminate the Blackhawks. Suddenly, the Blackhawks rush in and fight the Baron and the Combine, revealing that what the villains shot up were actually dummies. As they battle, the Blackhawks exposit how they discovered the Baron's scheme — when he captured the Listener, he activated a miniature boot radio, allowing Blackhawk to hear the Baron's plan to auction their deaths off and locate the castle. Blackhawk then contacted the remaining members of the team to deliberately fall for the other traps, as part of his plan to rescue the team and nail the leader of the Crime Combine. After Andre's capture, Blackhawk snuck into the castle to rescue the captive team members and put the dummies in the capsules before returning to the Hawk-Kite to await the Baron's message while the rest of the team hid beneath the stage, waiting for Blackhawk's own capture before replacing him with his own dummy. The Blackhawks defeat the villains and the Big Eye leaves the Baron with a motto: "A Baron a day keeps the Blackhawks at play!"
Appearing in "A Blackhawk a Day"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Baron Booby-Trap (Single appearance)
- his gang
- International Crime Combine (Final appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Phantom Spy"
This story is reprinted from Blackhawk #160.
Appearing in "The Phantom Spy"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Professor Proxy
- his gang
- fake Blackie
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Blackhawk Lockheed F-90Bs
Notes
- Baron Booby-Trap wears a monocle.
- The International Crime Combine's previous appearance was in Blackhawk #232.
See Also