Publication Date: June 1998
Title: Fantastic Fiends & Mad Machines!
Author: Tony Gleeson
The article starts off with a brief rehash of the beginning of Blackhawk. This section even acknowledges some of the darker aspects of the early stories, including the racism, ethnic slurs and sexism that were common fare in the '40s and '50s comics. The majority of the article however is a relaxed, almost chatty, but knowledgable discussion of Reed Crandall's work on issues from the '50s (#42 to 67, skipping only a couple). Some issues merit only a sentence but some get a whole paragraph. Gleeson obviously knows his subject and it is fascinating reading.
Title: R. Crandall
Author: Roger Hill
Hill's article covers the whole of Crandall's career, so Crandall's work on Blackhawk gets only a few paragraphs. Though many fans think of Crandall first when they think of a Blackhawk artist, and Crandall is closely associated with the title, he is perhaps even better known for his work at EC. Certainly he was a vastly talented artist, if a troubled human being, and Hill does a fine job of describing both aspects of the man.
As always with CBM, the articles are lavishly illustrated with both B&W and color reproductions of the original interior and cover art. Since this issue features two articles about Reed Crandall, it is loaded with his work, and that is some of the best ever done for comic books. There is enough beautiful Blackhawk art to satisfy any fan, plus lots of other great Crandall art. The covers are in brilliant color and the B&W is crisp and clear. And, though it has nothing to do with Blackhawk, I enjoyed the Planet Comics coverage, too.
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