Or – “Why ‘New And Different’ Doesn’t Always Equal ‘Better.’ “

Comic books as an art form have been around for over a century now, and many of the characters we read about regularly have been doing their thing for three-quarters of a century.  During those years, many revamps, relaunches and rejiggers have taken place to try and keep the characters relevant.  Batman has gone from gun-toting vigilante to square-jawed smiling sentinel to dark night detective to father-figures, while Superman’s power levels have been up and down like the proverbial whore’s drawers.  In retrospect, it’s clear lot of those re-imaginings haven’t taken root at all: Witness Stephen Strange’s early-70′s run as a masked superhero in light-blue tights, or the controversial ‘New X-Men’ run under Grant Morrison or my own beloved Five-Year-Gap grown-up Legion of Super-Heroes.  For all those (arguable) misfires, though, none has been as lambasted as today’s Hero History entrants.  Seldom have characters been taken so far from their origins and comfort zones, and seldom have the results been so ridiculous.  Still, as a connoisseur of questionable comics, I have to admit there’s a lot of joie de vivre and fun to be had (as well as fun to be made) if you can get past the goofiness of the surface.  This, then, is your Hero History of Andre Blanc-Dumont of France; Olaf Bjornson of Sweden and/or possibly Norway; Chuck Wilson of Texas; Hans Hendrickson of the Netherlands; Stanislaus (first name unknown) of Poland; Liu Hang and/or possibly Wu Cheng of China; Zinda Blake of the United States, and their mysterious leader who may or may not be Bart Hawk:  THE BLACKHAWKS (VERSION 2.0!)

More After the Jump >>