I’d like to address, in what is the darkest time I’ve personally lived through, the importance of fictional heroes. Certainly we have our Bat-Men and Pony-Princesses to lean on, but I think we may have overlooked some characters that were popular in days gone by. I’m going to focus on two that I don’t really think get the attention the deserve in 2020.

First, I’d like to discuss the BLACK TERROR.

Now if he seems like a rip-off of the Punisher, I assure you, it’s the other way around. Bob Benton, humble dentist, knocked some chemicals together and got superpowers, as one does. And he proceeded to fight AMERICA’S ENEMIES, as one does.

The thing that was cool about the Black Terror, aside from his costume, was that he came from an unassuming background. He was an ordinary everyday dentist, who, when he acquired superpowers, decided to put them directly into action in the best way he knew how. He didn’t come from an alien planet, his parents weren’t murdered before his very eyes… he just did what he saw needed doing.

That is a context that hasn’t been lost. That’s Captain America all over. But it’s a context that’s been overshadowed by popular culture. We’re addicted to ORIGIN STORIES, we need to know the origin of Batman… OVER AND OVER AND OVER. The idea that some schlub could just come out of nowhere and be a hero somehow REQUIRES EXPLANATION. Peter Parker REQUIRES an Uncle Ben, or what’s a Peter Parker for?

And that context is shared by the other hero I would like to discuss: Blackhawk.

For those unitiated, Blackhawk is set in WW2, and is about an unaffiliated squadron fighting Nazis. And the thing about it, aside from their extremely cool F5F Skyrocket planes, is that while you know that every pilot on the squad comes from a country occupied by the Axis, Frenchy is from France, Olaf is from Norway and so on… Blackhawk HIMSELF is never explained. It’s sort of assumed that he’s Polish, but he could be from anywhere. You don’t know.

This is a quality that’s sort of missing nowadays from our heroes. That blank canvass that you could project yourself onto.

Thoughts & criticisms welcome!