Issue No. 58
November 1952King Cobra! - The democracy of Gregonia is under attack by the "free-lance Red air ace who calls himself King Cobra!" King Cobra is a sky fighter of supreme skill and until now, no one has ever lived after challenging him. He is also very ugly. He leads a squadron of MiG-15s [all painted the same, a scheme similar to the Blackhawks' - silver fuselage and red wings and tail - though the Cobra's red is much darker. On the cover, the other MiG-15 is overall aluminum with an insignia on the nose in reverse colors. In the story, all of King Cobra's planes are silver and red and only King Cobra's plane bears his insignia of a black cobra's head in a yellow circle, again, a direct parallel of the Blackhawks' insignia, and the insignia is aft of the wing. The first picture of King Cobra's plane shows an eye painted on the nose but that is the only time it is shown like that]. As Blackhawk discusses King Cobra with Gregonia's council, he states that the puzzler is where Cobra's planes come from. They carry only the normal fuel supply for short raids but the Blackhawks have never found Cobra's airbase. One of the councilors asks if they could be coming from an aircraft carrier. Blackhawk responds that they've checked but never found one. Cobra's planes must be coming from a far distance with a short fuel supply. Suddenly, King Cobra's planes appear in the sky, but instead of rushing to their planes, the Blackhawks fight the rebels on the ground who are trying to take advantage of the Cobra's strike. Chuck leaves the fight and takes to the air. In a dogfight, King Cobra out-maneuvers Chuck. Chuck manages to crash land his damaged F-90B [click here for a comparison of the F-90B and the MiG-15]. Blackhawk pulls the unconscious Chuck from the plane just before it explodes, knocking Blackhawk to the ground. The rest of the team decides they must challenge King Cobra to an air duel. They draw straws, but Blackhawk fixes the game so he is chosen. But Blackhawk begins showing uncharcteristic apprehension about the coming fight and once in the air he feels so shaky that he wonders if he is afraid of King Cobra. When his vision blurs he flees, leaving his men on the ground wondering what could have happened. Naturally, King Cobra gloats over his victory, and then follows Blackhawk to where he has landed. He picks up the fainted Black Knight and takes him to his secret base. There Blackhawk learns the secret. MiG fighters with retracting wings and tail are fired from a huge electric cannon three hundred miles out where they extend their wings and start their jet motors. It is then a short hop to the target. Blackhawk manages to escape and call the rest of the team. They set a trap for the Cobra's squadron and shoot them out of the air. Meanwhile, Blackhawk is battling the base quards hand to hand until the other Black Knights show up. When the tide of battle turns, King Cobra runs away but is sucked into the electric cannon and fired! Blackhawk passes out and wakes in a hospital bed. Seems the explosion of Chuck's plane had caused a portion of his skull to press on his brain, causing the symptoms he thought were fear. Silly Blackhawk, he should have known fear was impossible for him. DLT's note: I don't know of any further appearances of King Cobra, which is a shame. He made a good opponent for the Blackhawks. And just because he died at the end of this story is no reason he couldn't have come back. Death has never been a real hindrance to comic book characters.
Chop-Chop - Chop takes a vacation in New York and soon discovers he prefers the relative peace and quiet of fighting supervillains with the Blackhawks.
The Spider of Delanza! - The tiny democratic republic of Delanza is under attack by the mysterious Spider of Delanza. The Blackhawks investigate and when Blackhawk is captured by the Spider's henchmen he learns that the Spider is the beautiful secretary of Delanza's President. Of course, Blackhawk's belt radio is on the whole time, leading the rest of the team to the Spider's hideout. In the ensuing fist fight, the Spider's main lieutenant falls into a pit to be eaten by a giant spider, but the villainess is saved to face justice.
The Assassin - a text story, an assassin is double-crossed by the dictatorship that hired him to kill a diplomat of a free country.
Last Stand on Suicide Island! - During a major battle in an un-named war (but probably Korea), the Blackhawks volunteer to retrieve a new, radar-controlled cannon from an island that is about to be over run by the enemy. After flying through a storm (in a very nice panel showing the F-90Bs in formation in the driving rain) they land on the island and conceal their planes. They use the cannon to drive off an attack by MiGs, but in the battle the Blackhawks' planes are destroyed on the ground. With no way to get off the island, they use the cannon and their small arms to fight off naval and amphibious assaults. One by one, the Blackhawks are wounded and taken out of action until only Andre is left standing. They are about to blow up the cannon and themselves, to prevent their falling into enemy hands, when F-86s appear and sink the enemy. They are awarded medals by the Allied general, who comments that it was nearly a suicide mission. Andre responds that they are most difficult to kill and the other Blackhawks agree from their hospital beds. This was a good story with plenty of tense action. The only real negative was the vagueness of the setting.
Thanks to David Chapman for submitting the cover scan for this issue.
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