Issue No. 110
March 1957The Mystery of Tigress Island - On a hidden island, six beautiful women, each from a different country and wearing uniforms emblazoned with the emblem of a tiger's head, practice all levels of combat skills from pistol shooting to piloting delta-winged jet fighters. Meanwhile, on Blackhawk Island, Andre is training Blackie to perform amazing tricks. As Blackhawk and Chuck discuss their current problem, a master criminal named Kurt Ostrec, one of the Tigress' jets lands on the island. Joan, the leader of the Tigresses, tells Blackhawk she knows where Ostrec is hiding and she tells them about Tigress Island. Blackhawk is outraged at the idea of women trying to emulate the Blackhawks. "How silly can you get?" he says, "This is man's work! Think of the danger you face!" Joan, her head in her hands, says she realizes that now but it is too late. She sees the danger now but can't get the other girls to disband. Only Blackhawk can do that. "You bet I'll talk to them!" he says, "The little fools!" They all fly back to Tigress Island where the "helpless" girls immediately trap the Blackhawks in a seemingly inescapable cell. Blackhawk accused them of being in league with Ostrec and Joan tells him to draw his own conclusions. Ostrec flies to Tigress Island when he learns they have captured the famous Blackhawks, his arch enemies. As the Blackhawks make their escape with the assistance of Blackie, Ostrec realizes that he has been lured to the island so the Tigresses can eliminate him. Seems that he had killed their husbands and they want revenge. They trapped the Blackhawks for two reasons, as bait for Ostrec and because they knew the Blackhawks weren't ruthless enough to kill Ostrec as they want to do. The freed Blackhawks join the fray in time to save Ostrec from the Tigresses and the Tigresses from committing an act they would later regret. (DLT: I liked this story. It did a fair job of poking fun at male chauvinist attitudes of the period in a story with interesting and unexpected twists. Unfortunately, it reverted to stereotype in the last panel, but it was still far better than average.)
The Prophet of Disaster - In a crime-ridden North African town the Blackhawks meet a fortune teller who makes incredible predictions that somehow come true. Some of the team begin to think that he really can see the future and when he predicts death for Blackhawk at a certain time and place they try to keep their leader from going there so he can avoid his fate. Blackhawk will have none of it and sure enough it was all an elaborate scheme to keep the Blackhawks away from a raid on the harbor arms depot.
Duel of Giants - Called to witness the execution of a criminal genius, the Blackhawks are startled when instead of dying when the switch is thrown, Zaroc grows to giant size and breaks out of the prison. Blackhawk immediately figures out that Zaroc has invented a chemical compound that when combined with the electricity caused Zaroc to grow. Even their jets are not enough to keep Zaroc from the electricity he needs to maintain his giant size. Blackhawk finally realizes the only solution is to drink the compound himself and grabbing a high tension wire, he too becomes a giant. He fights Zaroc and tosses him on a tire dump. The two giants begin to shrink and Blackhawk states "I have grounded us both on these rubber tires!" Grounding them causes the electrical charge to seep away, returning them to normal size. Zaroc finally goes completely insane and bolts away from Blackhawk, electricuting himself on a broken neon sign for an ironic ending. Unfortunately, the ending of this story again demonstrates the amazing technical ignorance of the writers. Rubber is an insulator and would have protected them from grounding. If they really wanted to be grounded, they should have grabbed a metal fence or some other conducting object partially buried in the ground. Curiously, right after Blackhawk makes his contradictory statement, the writers have Zaroc make another, "Rubber...it does not conduct electricity...our powers have seeped away!" Since they apparently knew that rubber was an insulator, how they thought this would allow the power to seep away is a mystery. This was a weak story and definately not up to the standards of The Mystery of Tigress Island. Why it made the cover is another mystery.
Thanks to David Chapman for submitting the cover for this issue.
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