June/July 1953Black and Blue Hawks: Writer - Harvey Kurtzman, artist - Wally Wood. The lead in says "First there is 'Saddlesore'...six foot lanky Texan, 'Saurbratten'...walrus-mustached Dutchman, 'Robespierre'...suave Parisien from La Belle France, 'Boss Hawk'...leader of the gang, 'Yohnny Yohnson'...fighting Swede, and 'Chop Chop Chop'...camp follower!" The plot is very representative of the stories that appeared all too frequently in Blackhawk of the early '50s. The team learns of a revolution in a friendly country led by an incredibly beautiful enemy agent. 'Boss Hawk' questions her but she knocks him out and escapes in his plane. Chop Chop Chop rescues Boss Hawk, who promptly destroys their plane in midair, setting them adrift on the ocean. When Boss Hawk finally reaches Black and Blue Hawk Island, after shooting Chop to insure his own survival, he discovers the revolution is by his own men against him.
It's a neat, typical MAD twist and we don't mind since Boss Hawk is pretty dispicable. The story is chock full of the sort of sophmoric humor which MAD's fans expected and it does get in plenty of accurate jabs at the Blackhawk formula. I probably would have loved this when I was twelve years old, but now it's just a little too silly for my taste. [Source identified by Neil Hansen. Review by DLT. David Chapman informed me that the story was reprinted in MAD #2, dated Winter 1997, and that's the edition I used for this review.]
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