Mike Costa’s Blackhawks represents not so much a reboot of the Blackhawk Squadron, the international team of fighter pilots that debuted in 1941, as a complete remake — really, from the ground up. The new Blackhawks are a top-secret black ops teams working directly under the auspices of the UN; their forte is technology. And, in the first (and only) collected volume of their adventures, technology is their biggest problem.
As the story opens, a group of the Blackhawks (Lady Blackhawk, Atilla, the Irishman, and Kunoichi) are in the process of taking out a group of terrorists who have occupied a major airport — with the attendant hostage situation. Things are going fine until Kunoichi, quite unintentinally, breaches the parameters of the mission, requiring an emergency pick-up, which in turn allows someone to snap a picture of the insignia on the side of their chopper. The UN is not happy, and sends a representative named Schmidt to take the matter up with the group’s leader, Andrew Lincoln. Meanwhile, Kunoichi is feeling a little energetic and drags the Wildman, the team’s communications and computer expert, with whom she’s been having a clandestine affair, off to bed. From there, it’s an easy step to the key word for the series: nanocites, microscopic machines that can alter body functions, enhance abilities, establish direct human/computer links — all the things science fiction is made of. And there’s an operator here, an entity who calls itself “Mother” and is going to transform the world into something like a cybernetic 1984, which will be either good or bad, depending on your point of view.
There’s a second short story arc tucked into this one, in which the team goes after an arms manufacturer with delusions of grandeur, Matteo Bischoff, who not only made most of the team’s equipment, but also plans to take over Mother’s operation — or what’s left of it after the Blackhawks finished with it. But it seems that Mother is more resilient than anyone thought — she’s still around and has worked her way into the team’s headquarters, the Eyrie, from which choice location she intends to take over the world.
OK, short analysis: good stuff, this. It’s got the right combination of action, ideas, characters and solid story lines that makes for a really good action comic series. Writer Mike Costa has put together a smooth, brisk story with some good wrinkles, sharp dialogue, and a very interesting outline. He even manages to subvert a couple of genre tropes. (Warrior vs. bureaucrat? What happens when the bureaucrat moves in with the warriors?) Personalities are distinct and vividly drawn, and it’s just fun to read.
That “fun to read” part is due in no small measure to the art, created by a team in which Graham Nolan takes the lead, although there is good stylistic consistency throughout — no abrupt shifts that jolt the reader. Layouts display a good creativity, still mostly relying on rectangular frames, but pretty adventurous in terms of how they are placed.
And now the sad news: as good as this series looked, it didn’t make the cut when DC decided to clean house. It ran from September, 2011 through April, 2012 as part of “The New 52,” although the cancellation was announced in January, 2012. It’s a shame — this is one of the better new adventure series I’ve seen, and quite a nice change from yet another reboot of ongoing characters.
Oh, well.
(DC Comics, 2012) Collects Blackhawks #1-8.
