The two maps above represent Blackhawk Island as envisioned at the opposite ends of it's career in comics. The one on the left is from the earliest days of the Blackhawks in 1941. The one on the right is from 1985, near the end of the Blackhawks publication in their own series (they were to have one more revival in 1989). Click on the images for larger versions.
From Who's Who: the Definitive Directory of the DC Universe 2, April 1985. "Situated somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, Blackhawk Island is home base for the Blackhawks, a paramilitary group known to exist during World War II. The island is not listed on any navigational charts, nor is its location known to any government. Blackhawk Island housed the members of the Blackhawk Squadron, their planes, maintenance equipment, storage facilities, and more (see diagram).
The above description was published shortly after the Evanier/Spiegle series, which was set during World War II. In his Blackhawk novel, William Rotsler identified Blackhawk Island as one of the Orkney islands northwest of Scotland. Toward the end of WW II, when the Blackhawks shifted their campaign to the Pacific to fight the Japanese, a new Blackhawk Island was located somewhere near Japan. In the post-war stories up till 1964, it seems clear Blackhawk Island was still in the Pacific, since several adventures took place on Pacific islands that were "near" Blackhawk Island. At the same time, it was apparently close to the continental United States, since it was a short flight from their "mainland barracks", which seemed to be on the west coast of the the U.S., and they could respond quickly to emergency calls which mostly came from the U.S. The location of Blackhawk Island seemed to be the worst kept secret in history. It was constantly invaded, attacked and bombarded by Nazis, Japanese, Commies, criminals, and aliens.
The general description of an island with strong defenses, laboratories, aircraft hangars, barracks, etc., still apply. One item not shown on the drawing above is the Blackhawk Victory Museum, which housed many trophies like the War Wheel and the Flying Tank that somehow were always turned against the team. June, 1964 saw the creation of the "New Blackhawks" in issue No. 197. The "new" Blackhawks used a floating base disquised as an iceberg instead of Blackhawk Island.
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.
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