Lady Blackhawk
Encyclopedia
Lady Blackhawk is an alias used by three fictional
comic book
characters appearing in American comic book
s. The first, Zinda Blake, was introduced in a DC Comics
publication in 1959; the second, Natalie Reed, appeared in a DC Comics
title in 1988. The third, as-yet-unnamed, Lady Blackhawk debuted in a DC Comics title in 2011. All three characters were aviatrices and soldiers.
Reed has not appeared since the 1992 one-shot special; Blake was more recently a regular character in the Birds of Prey
comic book from 2004 to 2009, and from 2010 to 2011. The third Lady Blackhawk appears in the Blackhawks comic.
character. She was introduced in Blackhawk
#133 (February, 1959). (Quality's characters having been purchased by DC Comics, DC published Blackhawk from #108.)
However, Military Comics #20 (July, 1943) featured a story about a woman who attempts to become the first woman member of the Blackhawks, who looks, sounds and behaves much like Zinda Blake, although she does not divulge her name, and never calls herself Lady Blackhawk. In the story, she flies to Blackhawk Island, declares herself part of the team, and helps the Blackhawks on a mission behind German lines. Ultimately, she rescues Blackhawk himself. Some say that this is Zinda Blake's true first appearance, but this has never been official.
Her first attempt to join the group came when she helped rescue a member from a modern-day pirate called the Scavenger. Despite her able assistance, Zinda was told that the Blackhawk codes forbade a woman from joining the team.
Zinda followed this exploit by rescuing the entire Blackhawk team from the Scavenger, and in return was told, by Blackhawk himself, that she could become an honorary member of the team.
After a number of adventures with the Blackhawks, Zinda became the victim of the villainous Nazi operative Killer Shark, who used a chemical potion to brainwash her, forcing her to take up the identity of the costumed Queen Killer Shark. Zinda battled her former comrades a number of times before she was freed of the effects of the potion.
, Zinda is now in the present DC continuity, looking as she did in 1959. She has served as a supporting character to Guy Gardner, Warrior
. During Zero Hour, Zinda befriends Guy and other heroes, including an alternate-universe Batgirl. They have several adventures in various time periods, such as the Wild West. Ultimately, the small group is separated by the events of the cross-over. Zinda perceives no time passing before she appears in front of Warrior's, a nightclub that serves as a front of Guy Gardner's latest heroic endeavors. Zinda is instantly accepted by Guy and assists him and his makeshift team against supervillains, often serving as a pilot. Zinda's companions include Arisia
, who is a former Green Lantern
, Buck Wargo, a millionaire adventurer and 'Tiger-Man', a half-tiger, half-man.
In 2004 Zinda began service as the team's pilot in Birds of Prey
. Oracle
recruits Zinda Blake as the team's fourth member. Since Zinda is looking for a change, she gladly accepts. When she leaves the Blackhawk organization (and her stake in the company), Zinda takes with her but one thing: a state-of-the-art jet (the Aerie One) with which she transports the Birds to their various destinations. (Birds of Prey #75 confirms that the other Blackhawks had died.)
Zinda is part of the eight fighters that battle the Silk Brothers in issues #82-85. She bombs the warehouses filled with the illegal goods the Silk Brothers are trying to smuggle.
Zinda first suggested the name Birds of Prey for Oracle's team in Birds of Prey #86.
After leaving Gotham City
, Oracle established a headquarters at the Dalten Tower in Metropolis
. Zinda appeared with a new helicopter, the Aerie Two, and handed out new jackets bearing a modified Blackhawk logo to the other Birds of Prey.
Zinda enjoys cooking and dancing when she's not flying planes and fighting evil. She also claims to know how to order beer in 30 different languages (Birds of Prey #100).
For a time she harbored an unrequited attraction to Creote
, who she did not realize is gay. Upon learning this fact, Zinda exclaimed: "Holy Crow! The boy is fancy?!"
Zinda participates in a mission that sees the deceased heroine Ice
returned to life and removed from the mental influence of a murderous Russian general. Blake resigns from the Birds of Prey in the next issue rather than see Oracle forced to dismiss her under orders from the group's new leader, Spy Smasher
. She marks her resignation by punching Spy Smasher in the face and drawing her guns on the woman. She leaves the team and makes her own way home despite them currently being in the middle of hostile Russian territory. However, she comes to Oracle's aid in Birds of Prey #108, and rejoins the team, which is restored to Oracle's command.
Blake established a close friendship with Big Barda
after she joined the Birds of Prey. Following Barda's death in Death of the New Gods
, Blake travels across the country in order to place Barda's photograph on a wall of honor at a pub near Edwards Air Force Base
in California; the wall features photographs of Blake with her now-deceased colleagues in the Blackhawks. (Birds of Prey #112)
The Killer Shark later returns, apparently still looking as young as he was when he brainwashed Zinda. After some time of stalking and a quick spar, he leaves a map for her to follow, hoping to get her at his side again. Zinda is left contemplating the idea to follow him, as he promises revelations on her past. In fact he's only Killer Shark's grandson, a young genius in marine engineering, heir of the Killer Shark's legacy and a large supply of his brainwashing serum. As his late grandfather never disclosed to him the location of the booty amassed in a lifetime of crime, he simply decides to brainwash Zinda into remembering it for him. The alliance is short-lived, and Zinda immediately freed by Helena Bertinelli.
Natalie Reed (born Natalie Gurdin), the second woman to be known as Lady Blackhawk, was introduced in the 1988 prestige format mini-series Blackhawk written and drawn by Howard Chaykin
.
(at the behest of the Soviet Union
) from 1943 onwards. This retcon established her as the first Lady Blackhawk in the DCU timeline. Natalie's history with the Blackhawks was a chaotic one, comprising the era of World War II and much of the Cold War
that followed.
Brooklyn-born Natalie Gurdin was the child of Benjamin and Lucille Gurdin, card-carrying members of the Communist Party
, U.S.A. They raised their daughter to believe as they did.
At her parents' urging, Natalie entered and won the "Miss Young Communist League" beauty contest in 1937. The title sparked a short-lived modeling career and a role in the low-budget 1938 film Gun Molls in Trouble. Miss Gurdin changed her name to Reed at this time, in honor of John Reed, the American Communist journalist who lived for long periods (and died) in the Soviet Union. Natalie emigrated to Russia in 1940 to live and study.
Natalie became an expert in aeronautical engineering, and chief designer at the Valentine-Prendergast Airplane Factory. Due to the state of competition between the Soviets and the West, it is possible that her adopted country may have provided exaggerated accounts of Reed's skills as a pilot and expertise in aircraft design.
Reed's connection with the Blackhawks came with her contribution to the design and production of the team's modified Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket
planes. Later, while working with Soviet intelligence, she helped defeat Death Mayhew in his plot to destroy Manhattan
. During this period Natalie Reed was dubbed "Lady Blackhawk" by the U.S. press.
Aside from several publicity tours and a brief resumption of her modeling career, little is known of Miss Reed's post-war life. She briefly was employed by Blackhawk Airways in Singapore
in 1947, but dropped out of sight shortly thereafter.
In 1948 Natalie Reed resurfaced in New York, employed as the writer of licensed comic book
adventures about the Blackhawks. She was accused of working Communist doctrines into her scripts, but she was cleared of this charge.
Little is known about the accident that cost her the use of one eye. All files containing information about Natalie Gurdin Reed remain classified, and her current whereabouts are unknown.
Reed had a son with a fellow Blackhawk, Ritter Hendricksen. Hendricksen was lost in a helicopter explosion in the spring of 1948 shortly after discovering he was the father of Natalie's child, Jimmy (born in 1945; Blackhawk Annual # 1).
Jimmy joined the Blackhawk Squadron as a young adult, serving first with the ground crew (circa 1963), and eventually as a pilot.
As a result of internal strife in the 1950s within the ranks of what became the CIA
, which the Blackhawk Squadron was informally allied with, Reed was surgically altered and forced to assume the identity of Constance Darabont, a former paramour of Blackhawk and owner of Darabont Industries, a major defense contractor. She remained in that identity at least until 1968, according to Blackhawk Special # 1(1992).
Reed's current disposition is unknown.
universe, Zinda Blake was a member of Team-7
, an elite unit of soldiers lead by Grifter. Zinda and most of her teammates were ultimately killed during a botched attack on a Jihadist training camp.
tie-in comic. Each member of the team is shown wearing the same outfit as Zinda Blake.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
characters appearing in American comic book
American comic book
An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...
s. The first, Zinda Blake, was introduced in a DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
publication in 1959; the second, Natalie Reed, appeared in a DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
title in 1988. The third, as-yet-unnamed, Lady Blackhawk debuted in a DC Comics title in 2011. All three characters were aviatrices and soldiers.
Reed has not appeared since the 1992 one-shot special; Blake was more recently a regular character in the Birds of Prey
Birds of Prey (comic book)
Birds of Prey is a comic book series published by DC Comics that features the adventures of the heroine Oracle and her group of superheroines. The group is initially based in Gotham City and later operates in Metropolis and then relocates once more to "Platinum Flats", California, a new locale...
comic book from 2004 to 2009, and from 2010 to 2011. The third Lady Blackhawk appears in the Blackhawks comic.
Character history
Zinda Blake, the first Lady Blackhawk, is a fictional DC ComicsDC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
character. She was introduced in Blackhawk
Blackhawk (comics)
Blackhawk, a long-running comic book series, was also a film serial, a radio series and a novel. The comic book was published first by Quality Comics and later by DC Comics. The series was created by Will Eisner, Chuck Cuidera, and Bob Powell, but the artist most associated with the feature is Reed...
#133 (February, 1959). (Quality's characters having been purchased by DC Comics, DC published Blackhawk from #108.)
However, Military Comics #20 (July, 1943) featured a story about a woman who attempts to become the first woman member of the Blackhawks, who looks, sounds and behaves much like Zinda Blake, although she does not divulge her name, and never calls herself Lady Blackhawk. In the story, she flies to Blackhawk Island, declares herself part of the team, and helps the Blackhawks on a mission behind German lines. Ultimately, she rescues Blackhawk himself. Some say that this is Zinda Blake's true first appearance, but this has never been official.
Blackhawks
Zinda Blake, determined to become the first woman member of the famed World War II unit known as the Blackhawks, trained herself to pilot a wide range of modern aircraft and made herself an expert in various forms of combat and weaponry.Her first attempt to join the group came when she helped rescue a member from a modern-day pirate called the Scavenger. Despite her able assistance, Zinda was told that the Blackhawk codes forbade a woman from joining the team.
Zinda followed this exploit by rescuing the entire Blackhawk team from the Scavenger, and in return was told, by Blackhawk himself, that she could become an honorary member of the team.
Lost in time
Due to the time-warping effects of Zero HourZero Hour (comics)
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time is a five-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by DC Comics in 1994. In it, the former hero Hal Jordan, who had until then been a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, mad with grief after the destruction of...
, Zinda is now in the present DC continuity, looking as she did in 1959. She has served as a supporting character to Guy Gardner, Warrior
Guy Gardner (comics)
Guy Gardner is a fictional character, a comic book superhero published by DC Comics. He is a core member of the Green Lantern family of characters, and for a time was also a significant member of the Justice League family of characters.He was created by John Broome and Gil Kane in Green Lantern...
. During Zero Hour, Zinda befriends Guy and other heroes, including an alternate-universe Batgirl. They have several adventures in various time periods, such as the Wild West. Ultimately, the small group is separated by the events of the cross-over. Zinda perceives no time passing before she appears in front of Warrior's, a nightclub that serves as a front of Guy Gardner's latest heroic endeavors. Zinda is instantly accepted by Guy and assists him and his makeshift team against supervillains, often serving as a pilot. Zinda's companions include Arisia
Arisia (comics)
Arisia Rrab is a fictional character, a superhero featured in comic books published by DC Comics. Arisia is a humanoid alien with golden-yellow skin, hair and eyes, and has pointed, elven ears....
, who is a former Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
The Green Lantern Corps is the name of a fictional intergalactic military/police force appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They patrol the farthest reaches of the DC Universe at the behest of the Guardians, a race of immortals residing on the planet Oa...
, Buck Wargo, a millionaire adventurer and 'Tiger-Man', a half-tiger, half-man.
Birds of Prey
Birds of Prey (comic book)
Birds of Prey is a comic book series published by DC Comics that features the adventures of the heroine Oracle and her group of superheroines. The group is initially based in Gotham City and later operates in Metropolis and then relocates once more to "Platinum Flats", California, a new locale...
. Oracle
Barbara Gordon
Barbara Gordon is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and in related media, created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino...
recruits Zinda Blake as the team's fourth member. Since Zinda is looking for a change, she gladly accepts. When she leaves the Blackhawk organization (and her stake in the company), Zinda takes with her but one thing: a state-of-the-art jet (the Aerie One) with which she transports the Birds to their various destinations. (Birds of Prey #75 confirms that the other Blackhawks had died.)
Zinda is part of the eight fighters that battle the Silk Brothers in issues #82-85. She bombs the warehouses filled with the illegal goods the Silk Brothers are trying to smuggle.
Zinda first suggested the name Birds of Prey for Oracle's team in Birds of Prey #86.
After leaving Gotham City
Gotham City
Gotham City is a fictional U.S. city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 . Gotham City is strongly inspired by Trenton, Ontario's history, location, atmosphere, and various architectural styles...
, Oracle established a headquarters at the Dalten Tower in Metropolis
Metropolis (comics)
Metropolis is a fictional city that appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and is the home of Superman. Metropolis first appeared by name in Action Comics #16 ....
. Zinda appeared with a new helicopter, the Aerie Two, and handed out new jackets bearing a modified Blackhawk logo to the other Birds of Prey.
Zinda enjoys cooking and dancing when she's not flying planes and fighting evil. She also claims to know how to order beer in 30 different languages (Birds of Prey #100).
For a time she harbored an unrequited attraction to Creote
Creote
Aleksandr Creote—referred to almost exclusively by his surname alone—is a fictional character from DC Comics. He was created by writer Gail Simone and artist Ed Benes...
, who she did not realize is gay. Upon learning this fact, Zinda exclaimed: "Holy Crow! The boy is fancy?!"
Zinda participates in a mission that sees the deceased heroine Ice
Ice (comics)
Ice is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in publications from DC Comics. Created by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire, she first appeared in Justice League International #12 ....
returned to life and removed from the mental influence of a murderous Russian general. Blake resigns from the Birds of Prey in the next issue rather than see Oracle forced to dismiss her under orders from the group's new leader, Spy Smasher
Spy Smasher
Spy Smasher is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comics published by DC Comics. The first is a superhero that was formerly owned and published by Fawcett Comics...
. She marks her resignation by punching Spy Smasher in the face and drawing her guns on the woman. She leaves the team and makes her own way home despite them currently being in the middle of hostile Russian territory. However, she comes to Oracle's aid in Birds of Prey #108, and rejoins the team, which is restored to Oracle's command.
Blake established a close friendship with Big Barda
Big Barda
Big Barda is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in books published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Mister Miracle #4 , and was created by Jack Kirby....
after she joined the Birds of Prey. Following Barda's death in Death of the New Gods
Death of the New Gods
Death of the New Gods was an eight-issue comic book limited series published in 2007 and 2008 by DC Comics. It was written and pencilled by Jim Starlin.The series follows the final days of the New Gods as they are stalked by a mysterious killer....
, Blake travels across the country in order to place Barda's photograph on a wall of honor at a pub near Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
in California; the wall features photographs of Blake with her now-deceased colleagues in the Blackhawks. (Birds of Prey #112)
The Killer Shark later returns, apparently still looking as young as he was when he brainwashed Zinda. After some time of stalking and a quick spar, he leaves a map for her to follow, hoping to get her at his side again. Zinda is left contemplating the idea to follow him, as he promises revelations on her past. In fact he's only Killer Shark's grandson, a young genius in marine engineering, heir of the Killer Shark's legacy and a large supply of his brainwashing serum. As his late grandfather never disclosed to him the location of the booty amassed in a lifetime of crime, he simply decides to brainwash Zinda into remembering it for him. The alliance is short-lived, and Zinda immediately freed by Helena Bertinelli.
Powers and abilities
Zinda is an ace flyer, able to easily handle any type of aircraft. She is a fine markswoman, skilled in the use of a variety of weapons, and has superior abilities in hand-to-hand combat.Costume
Blake continues to wear her own version of the Blackhawks uniform in Birds of Prey, which consists of a blue tunic, military cap, frilled miniskirt and boots. In her early appearances she was drawn wearing blue tights.Natalie Reed
Howard Chaykin
Howard Victor Chaykin is an American comic book writer and artist famous for his innovative storytelling and sometimes controversial material...
.
Fictional character history
Reed was written to have been a part of the Blackhawk SquadronBlackhawk (comics)
Blackhawk, a long-running comic book series, was also a film serial, a radio series and a novel. The comic book was published first by Quality Comics and later by DC Comics. The series was created by Will Eisner, Chuck Cuidera, and Bob Powell, but the artist most associated with the feature is Reed...
(at the behest of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) from 1943 onwards. This retcon established her as the first Lady Blackhawk in the DCU timeline. Natalie's history with the Blackhawks was a chaotic one, comprising the era of World War II and much of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
that followed.
Brooklyn-born Natalie Gurdin was the child of Benjamin and Lucille Gurdin, card-carrying members of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
, U.S.A. They raised their daughter to believe as they did.
At her parents' urging, Natalie entered and won the "Miss Young Communist League" beauty contest in 1937. The title sparked a short-lived modeling career and a role in the low-budget 1938 film Gun Molls in Trouble. Miss Gurdin changed her name to Reed at this time, in honor of John Reed, the American Communist journalist who lived for long periods (and died) in the Soviet Union. Natalie emigrated to Russia in 1940 to live and study.
Natalie became an expert in aeronautical engineering, and chief designer at the Valentine-Prendergast Airplane Factory. Due to the state of competition between the Soviets and the West, it is possible that her adopted country may have provided exaggerated accounts of Reed's skills as a pilot and expertise in aircraft design.
Reed's connection with the Blackhawks came with her contribution to the design and production of the team's modified Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket
XF5F Skyrocket
|-Notable appearances in media:The XF5F Skyrocket featured in the Blackhawk comic books.-See also:-Bibliography:* Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Four: Fighters. London: Macdonald & Co., 1961. ISBN 0-356-01448-7....
planes. Later, while working with Soviet intelligence, she helped defeat Death Mayhew in his plot to destroy Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. During this period Natalie Reed was dubbed "Lady Blackhawk" by the U.S. press.
Aside from several publicity tours and a brief resumption of her modeling career, little is known of Miss Reed's post-war life. She briefly was employed by Blackhawk Airways in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
in 1947, but dropped out of sight shortly thereafter.
In 1948 Natalie Reed resurfaced in New York, employed as the writer of licensed comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
adventures about the Blackhawks. She was accused of working Communist doctrines into her scripts, but she was cleared of this charge.
Little is known about the accident that cost her the use of one eye. All files containing information about Natalie Gurdin Reed remain classified, and her current whereabouts are unknown.
Reed had a son with a fellow Blackhawk, Ritter Hendricksen. Hendricksen was lost in a helicopter explosion in the spring of 1948 shortly after discovering he was the father of Natalie's child, Jimmy (born in 1945; Blackhawk Annual # 1).
Jimmy joined the Blackhawk Squadron as a young adult, serving first with the ground crew (circa 1963), and eventually as a pilot.
As a result of internal strife in the 1950s within the ranks of what became the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, which the Blackhawk Squadron was informally allied with, Reed was surgically altered and forced to assume the identity of Constance Darabont, a former paramour of Blackhawk and owner of Darabont Industries, a major defense contractor. She remained in that identity at least until 1968, according to Blackhawk Special # 1(1992).
Reed's current disposition is unknown.
New 52 Lady Blackhawk
A new Lady Blackhawk debuted in September 2011's Blackhawks #1 as part of DC's New 52 initiative. Little has yet been revealed about her thus far.Flashpoint
In the FlashpointFlashpoint (comics)
Flashpoint is an American comic book crossover story arc published by DC Comics. Consisting of an eponymous core limited series and a number of tie-in titles, the storyline premiered in May 2011...
universe, Zinda Blake was a member of Team-7
Team 7 (comics)
Team 7 is a comic book superhero team appearing in titles published by Wildstorm Productions. The team has appeared in 3 self-titled miniseries: Team 7, Team 7: Objective Hell and Team 7: Dead Reckoning. The first 5-issue Gen¹³ limited series also involved members of Team 7...
, an elite unit of soldiers lead by Grifter. Zinda and most of her teammates were ultimately killed during a botched attack on a Jihadist training camp.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
A team of jetpack-wearing female soldiers known collectively as the Lady Blackhawks appear in issue #21 of the Batman: The Brave and the BoldBatman: The Brave and the Bold
Batman: The Brave and the Bold is an American animated television series based in part on the DC Comics series The Brave and the Bold which features two or more super heroes coming together to solve a crime or foil a super villain...
tie-in comic. Each member of the team is shown wearing the same outfit as Zinda Blake.
Television
- Lady Blackhawk's distinctive uniform appears in a display case in the ustice League Unlimited episode "I Am Legion."