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"Thunder, the Indestructible": A meteorite hits the Earth, in Central Europe, lighting up half the world, and sending shock waves throughout the Earth's crust! Allied military arriving at the impact site find a red-hot meteor, from which a superhuman giant enemy emerges, to smash some armored ta

Quote1 Gang, gang! Be careful ... That thing's as powerful as a locomotive! Quote2
Blackhawk

Blackhawk #88 is an issue of the series Blackhawk (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1955.

Synopsis for "Thunder, the Indestructible"

A meteorite hits the Earth, in Central Europe, lighting up half the world, and sending shock waves throughout the Earth's crust! Allied military arriving at the impact site find a red-hot meteor, from which a superhuman giant enemy emerges, to smash some armored tanks. The Blackhawk Squadron arrives, and Blackhawk attempts to talk to the giant alien, but it attacks. This thing is incredibly strong but not all that fast and it telegraphs all its fight moves, so the Blackhawks momentarily survive their first melee with it. Allied soldiers hammer it with machine gun rounds, which bounce harmlessly off, but then it wanders away from the scene of the fight.

Andre is assigned to follow and aerially observe the monster, while the other Blackhawks fly to an important world capital, and convene an international conference of world leaders and men of science. These hastily-assembled leading thinkers are excited to hear about the alien brawler, which one of them gives the name of "Thunder," and decide that the best plan of action is for the Blackhawks to capture this monster alive. But they already tried that and Blackhawk advocates killing the alien menace, which the committee immediately forbids. A belt-radio call interrupts this; Andre reports that the giant fighter is approaching the city where they are gathered.

The Blackhawks split up to gather some bazookas and heavy artillery, planning to reconvene at an H-Bomb Shelter outside of town. Blackhawk runs ahead of them while that's happening, and makes a solo attempt to capture the alien. One of the scientists from the conference interferes with this, idiotically endangering himself and being flung aside by the Indestructible giant. The Blackhawks roll up with two tanks, but they meet Andre on the road to the Shelter, and Andre relays Blackhawk's order, that they should stay clear, while he lures the alien into the shelter where, with their help, he'll trap the menace insaide. Most of that plan works out, but Thunder simply smashes its way out of the Shelter. Then ignoring the Blackhawks, it plods ominously toward the city. The Blackhawks open fire with tank cannons, but it all just bounces off.

At a nearby missile station, Blackhawk lures the Indestructible monster into boarding a supersonic space rocket, which is launched into outer space. At the last possible moment, Blackhawk leaps free of the doomed craft and parachutes to Earth.

Appearing in "Thunder, the Indestructible"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Allied Major
    • his troops

Antagonists:

  • Thunder, the Indestructible (rocketed into space)

Other Characters:

  • Professor Martin
  • four more world leaders

Locations:

  • Central Europe
    • important city, emergency conference site
    • guided missile station, not far away

Items:

  • meteorite spaceship (mostly buried at impact site)

Vehicles:


Synopsis for Chop Chop: "Buddha's Missing Eyes"

This story is reprinted from Blackhawk #59.

Appearing in Chop Chop: "Buddha's Missing Eyes"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • gem thieves

Other Characters:

  • guy who gets everything explained to him by Chop Chop
  • Chinese restaurant cook

Locations:

  • Chinatown

Items:

  • two rubies

Synopsis for "The Incredible Silencer"


Appearing in "The Incredible Silencer"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Professor, observation station boss
  • General Adams
    • his troops

Locations:

  • Pacific Ocean
    • H-bomb test site island
    • H-bomb test observation station island
    • Lago Island, Dr. Hydro's base
    • Dagger Island, Chinese H-bomb test site island, 20 miles from mainland
  • Red China

Items:

  • Hydro's Silencer (Destroyed)
    • "... capable of making an H-bomb explosion no more dangerous than a cap pistol!"

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "The Phantom Sniper"


Appearing in "The Phantom Sniper"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • U.W. General
    • his staff

Antagonists:

Locations:

  • Europe
    • railroad bridge between Le Havre and Paris, France (Destroyed)
    • atomic power plant (Destroyed)
    • military HQ
    • military harbor
    • secret Red hangar

Items:

  • Phantom Sniper's X-ray gun-sight
  • Phantom Sniper's super armor-piercing snub-nose bullets
  • specially manufactured super-alloy bullet shields (ineffective)

Vehicles:

  • Free World's new super bomber (Destroyed)
  • freight train carrying atomic cannon (Destroyed)
  • USS Dolphin, atomic submarine
  • fake USS Dolphin, w/ life raft
  • Blackhawk Lockheed F-90C interceptors (Destroyed)

Notes

  • Thunder, the Indestructible
    • An alien spaceship impacts the Earth like a meteorite, and sends shockwaves across the world. No other details are provided, and afterward this is never mentioned again.
    • An international conference of world leaders and men of science is organized, convenes, and meets, all in the same day.
    • In the 1st panel of the 8th page, it really looks like Andre is kissing Blackhawk on the cheek.
  • Incredible Silencer
    • Doctor Hydro has no visible henchmen. He ends up being dragged away by the Reds, presumably to be shot, off-panel.
    • Blackhawks have a fistfight with the Chinese Red Army. It's broken up by machinegun fire from the Chinese side, but goes on for over half a page before that.
    • Hydro's Silencer is destroyed by the Chinese Army. No mention of any other copy of it is made in the story, so presumably that was the only prototype.
  • Standing on the ground, with a rifle, the Phantom Sniper shoots down all six Blackhawk Jets. These are:
    • Andre's second shoot-down, and his fourth crash.[1]
    • Blackhawk's twenty-second shoot-down,[2] and his twenty-second aircraft crash.[3]
    • Chop Chop's sixth crash.[4]
    • Chuck's fourth or fifth shoot-down,[5] and his fifth crash.[6]
    • Hendrickson's first shoot-down, and possibly his first plane crash.
    • Olaf's second or third shoot-down,[7] and his seventh crash.[8]
    • Stanislaus's second shoot-down,[9] and his third crash.[10]
    • Being a Blackhawk is dangerous.
  • This Phantom Sniper character strongly resembles an Earth-One Blackhawk villain, the Sniper, seen in Blackhawk #118 and #201, who likewise has no real name, and also wears French-looking military uniform with that same type of cap.
  • Also featured in this issue of Blackhawk was:
    • "The Isle of No Return" (text story)



See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

  1. Military Comics #33, Modern Comics #45, Blackhawk #20, & Blackhawk #88
  2. Military Comics #6, Military Comics #13, Military Comics #14, Military Comics #19, Military Comics #28, Military Comics #33, Blackhawk #9, Military Comics #39, Military Comics #42, Modern Comics #44, Blackhawk #10, Blackhawk #12, Blackhawk #13, Modern Comics #69, Blackhawk #18, Blackhawk #21 4th story, Blackhawk #36 1st story, Blackhawk #64 1st story, Blackhawk #80 1st story, Blackhawk #81 3rd story, Blackhawk #85 3rd story, Blackhawk #88 4th story,
  3. Military Comics #1 (3 in one story), Military Comics #4 (2 in one story), Military Comics #6, Military Comics #13, Military Comics #14Military Comics #19, Military Comics #33, Blackhawk #9, Military Comics #39, Modern Comics #61, Modern Comics #83, Modern Comics #91, Blackhawk #64 (2, in two stories), Blackhawk #70, Blackhawk #80, Blackhawk #81, Blackhawk #83, & Blackhawk #88
  4. Military Comics #3, Modern Comics #45, Modern Comics #61, Blackhawk #80, Blackhawk #81, & Blackhawk #88
  5. Military Comics #37, Military Comics #41, Blackhawk #86, & Blackhawk #88
  6. Military Comics #37, Military Comics #41, Modern Comics #78, Blackhawk #86, & Blackhawk #88
  7. Military Comics #41, Modern Comics #45, & Blackhawk #88
  8. Military Comics #16, Military Comics #18, Military Comics #33, Military Comics #41, Modern Comics #45, Blackhawk #25, Blackhawk #45 & Blackhawk #88
  9. Blackhawk #63 & Blackhawk #88
  10. Military Comics #31, Modern Comics #78, & Blackhawk #88
Superboy Vol 4 69
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