2001
John Byrne, writer, artist, letterer; Trish Mulvihill, colorist
This is a sequel to John Byrne's earlier, very popular, Generations mini-series. As the splash page at right shows, this first issue starts off set in 1942, with the JSA and the Blackhawks going up against a monstrous Nazi war machine. The Blackhawks are secondary players until the war machine launches a missile at a "civilian hospital". The only person who can stop it is Chuck, who does so by intercepting the missile with his airplane. Chuck is killed, and the last we see of the Black Knights is them and the JSA standing by a grave marked with a propeller.
This appearance of the Blackhawks has good points and bad points. It is, at least, set in World War II and shows the original Blackhawks in their original uniforms -- not some replacement team of unknown capabilities and character as in the contemporary Our Worlds At War series. On the minus side, Byrne does an awful job of drawing the Blackhawks' F5F-1 Skyrockets. I was a bit surprised at this as I generally like Byrne's work, and I was impressed with his Batplane in the Batman/Captain American crossover book. But he sure missed on this one. I also did not understand why he felt it necessary to kill off one of the Blackhawks. It did create dramatic scenes, both in Chuck's sacrifice and at the graveside, but they were at the expense of the Blackhawks and produce a sense that the only reason the Blackhawks were included was so that they could die. Obviously, none of the JSA could die, since they are major DC characters. I know this story does not have to adhere to continuity since it is an "imaginary tale" in the Elseworlds line, but I don't see why that justifies callous treatment of my favorite characters.
Thanks to Don Secrease for notice of this new Blackhawk appearance.
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