![]() Indeed, this tension is at the heart of Blackhawk, a text whose explorations of the difference between reality and fantasy are part of an investigation into the relationship between fascism and mass culture and the question of whether it is possible to mobilize the fantasies of mass culture toward progressive ends.Ĭreated by Chuck Cuidera, Will Eisner, and Bob Powell in 1941 for Quality Comics (and later acquired by DC Comics), Blackhawk and the soldiers who flew alongside him (collectively known as the Blackhawks) battled the Axis powers, but they paradoxically owed much of their appeal to the compelling iconography of fascism. 1 Yet that conversation misses the fact that the difference between “real” and idealized versions of Blackhawk is a major theme in the comic. The question of whether or not Chaykin had remained “true” to Blackhawk was a subject of spirited debate at the time, and the topic remains contentious for some fans. Even more controversial than Chaykin’s depiction of Blackhawk’s politics was his characterization of his protagonist as a man whose heroism was entwined with a smug self-righteousness and a healthy sexual appetite. His political beliefs, however, placed him at odds both with the red-baiting Senator Shadrack Hightower and with Joseph Stalin, who considered him a Trotskyite. In Chaykin’s reimagining, Janos “Blackhawk” Prohaska was a Polish Communist whose heroism in the early days of the war as leader of an international band of airborne freedom fighters had earned him an adoring public following and honorary U.S. When it began its run in late 1987, Howard Chaykin’s three-part Blackhawk mini-series drew admiration from comics readers attracted to his innovative visual style and multi-layered plotting it also inspired condemnation from fans who objected to his less-than-idealistic portrayal of DC Comics’ World War II flying ace. Volume 3, Issue 2: William Blake and Visual Culture.Volume 3, Issue 3: Comics and Childhood.Volume 4, Issue 1: The Comics Work of Neil Gaiman.Volume 4, Issue 3: ImageSexT Proceedings.Volume 5, Issue 3: Convergences Proceedings.Volume 5, Issue 4: Alan Moore and Adaptation.Volume 6, Issue 2: ImageNext Proceedings.Volume 6, Issue 3: Shakespeare and Visual Rhetoric. ![]() Volume 7, Issue 1: Worlds of the Hernandez Brothers.Volume 8, Issue 1: Monsters in the Margins.Volume 9, Issue 2: Mixing Visual Media in Comics.Volume 10, Issue 3: Comics and Fine Art Forum.
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