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Blackhawk was popular in Mexico during the 1960's, according to Gustavo Rodriguez-Zurita. He remembers reading Spanish translations then, and also that "one of the characteristic things the series brought to me was the sense of international cooperation." The series was published in Mexico by two comic publishers at the same time, for awhile. One used the name "Halcon Negro" (Blackhawk) for the series, while the second used "Halcon de Oro" (Hawk of Gold, or Golden Hawk) instead. Gustavo speculates that the first cited publisher (known as La Prensa after the newspaper they printed) was the first one to print the series, and thus laid claim to the literal translation of the original name. As he recalls, La Prensa did its own stories and art, at least in the final stages of its published series. The second publisher (Editorial Novaro, which produced translations of DC Comics, Archie Comics, and Disney comics, among many other comics) was the one that translated the original series. The archives of both publishers seem to be lost. La Prensa was purchased and the new owner offered the old archives on sale by weight to make room [what a shame:DLT]. Editorial Novaro disappeared during the 1980's.
Gustavo's friend, Ulises Mavridis, expanded on the history of the different Blackhawk comics in the following explanation:
"Blackhawk was published in Mexico by two comic publishers: The first, La Prensa, began publishing Quality's BH back in 1951. Then, when DC acquired the rights of publishing BH, Editorial Novaro, having the rights to publish in Mexico almost any DC title, wanted to publish also BH, which was a very hot title at the time. However, La Prensa, having registered the title El Halcon Negro, refused to give away the rights and after publishing about ten issues of DC's BH, decided to do their own Blackhawk adventures.
Meanwhile, Editorial Novaro published DC's BH comics under the title El Halcon de Oro (Goldenhawk). In each of the Novaro issues appeared at the bottom of the first page an explanation about the change of title and saying that Editorial Novaro was the only Mexican Company authorized by DC to publish the adventures of Blackhawk translated into Spanish.
In the following, you will find the printing history of Blackhawk in Mexico:LA PRENSA published 289 issues of El Halcon Negro
NOVARO published 178 issues of El Halcon de OroEL HALCON NEGRO 1 (Jul 1951) (Blackhawk 41) Published by La Prensa
EL HALCON NEGRO 76 (Nov 1957) (Blackhawk 119) By La Prensa.
EL HALCON DE ORO 1 (Dec 1957) (Blackhawk 120) By Editorial Novaro
EL HALCON DE ORO 131(last BH) (Blackhawk 242) By Editorial NowaroEL HALCON DE ORO 132 - 178: reprints, plus DC's Spectre, Secret Six and Captain Action.
EL HALCON NEGRO 77 - 289 Blackhawk stories and art made in Mexico. Artists: Rafael Viadana, Alfonso Segura, Sixto Valencia and, yes, as Gustavo told you, my late father: Carlos Mavridis (see El Halcon Negro, Issue 286 for examples of his work, DLT). As for the writers I can't remember, but give me a little time and I will get their names to you.
The curious thing about all this is the fact that La Prensa's Blackhawk was a success EVEN when they published their own stories: In 1960, Novaro was selling monthly only 105,000 copies of El Halcon de Oro, while La Prensa sold 200,000 copies per issue in the same month. 400,000 a month if you consider that El Halcon Negro was published twice a month at that time!!"
Carlos M. Federici of Montevideo, Uruguay, has provided some more examples of "El Halcon Negro" from the period when they were reprints of the Quality Blackhawk. He has provided some interesting commentary as well, which I have included with his synopsis of the stories.
The Blackhawk Movie Serial was shown in Mexico as well as in the U.S. Click here to see some of the publicity posters used for this Spanish version of the serial.
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All characters, pictures, and related indicia on these pages are the property of DC Comics. All text is ©1998-2001 Dan Thompson, except where otherwise noted. This homepage is not intended to infringe on the copyright of DC Comics to its characters, but was created out of gratitude to all the wonderful writers, artists, and editors who created the Blackhawks.