Blackhawk #130
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBlackhawk #130 (November 1958) sits at the precise center of DC's Silver Age science-fiction push: it arrived on newsstands the same month as Showcase #17, the debut of Adam Strange, reflecting how thoroughly space-race anxiety had permeated DC's editorial line that autumn. The issue's lead story, 'The Mystery Missile from Space!', mirrors the real-world launch fever ignited by Sputnik and Explorer, embedding the Blackhawk Squadron — a team rooted in World War II dogfighting — into the emerging science-fiction milieu that would define the Silver Age. The presence of Superman and Clark Kent in the character index underscores DC's sustained habit of cross-pollinating its marquee properties with legacy adventure titles to maintain readership continuity across the line.
In "The Mystery Missile from Space!", Blackhawk faces a bizarre threat when Killer Shark’s former henchmen seize control of his massive mechanical Portuguese Man of War and unleash it upon the seas. Disguising himself as the notorious villain, Blackhawk slips behind enemy lines to dismantle the threat from within. Penciled by Dick Dillin with inks by Chuck Cuidera, and featuring a cover by Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff, this 1958 DC adventure blends espionage and sci-fi flair in a gripping tale of deception and daring.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By November 1958 DC had been publishing the Blackhawk series — originally a Quality Comics property primarily created by Chuck Cuidera with contributions from Bob Powell and Will Eisner — for several years following its acquisition from Quality. The DC-era issues were produced by the steady artistic team of Dick Dillin on pencils alongside Charles Cuidera and Sheldon Moldoff, who shared cover duties on this issue; their reliable workmanship kept the squadron's kinetic aerial action intact as the stories pivoted from Cold War military plots toward science-fiction threats. Writer credits for the issue's stories have not been definitively established in publicly available sources.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published November 1958 by DC Comics; cover date places it at the heart of the Silver Age science-fiction wave that also produced Showcase #17 (Adam Strange's debut) the same month.
- Contains three stories: 'The Mystery Missile from Space!', 'A Day with the Blackhawks,' and 'Captives of the Steel Sea Creature!'
- Cover by Dick Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff; interior art on the Blackhawk stories drawn by Dick Dillin and Charles Cuidera.
- Full Blackhawk Squadron roster appears: Blackhawk, Andre, Chop Chop, Chuck, Hendrickson, Olaf, Ollie, and Stanislaus — the seven-member core team that defined the Silver Age iteration of the book.
- Peter Puptent, the squadron's comedic mascot character, is among the indexed supporting cast for this issue.
- Killer Shark — the Blackhawks' most persistent nautical archvillain — appears in cameo, consistent with his recurring presence throughout the 1958 issues.
- Superman (Clark Kent / Kal-El) is indexed as a character in the issue, reflecting DC's Silver Age cross-promotion practices of featuring its flagship character in supporting titles.
- The Blackhawk series holds the distinction of being one of very few superhero/adventure titles published continuously from the 1940s into the 1960s, making every issue of this run a document of that unbroken lineage.
Cast · 12 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Killer Shark's former henchmen gain control of his giant mechanical Portuguese Man of War and attack several ships. Blackhawk disguises himself as Killer Shark to infiltrate and defeat the gang.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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