Skywolf

This is the picture of Skywolf that appeared
on the first cover of Air Fighters Comics.

The cover of Sky Wolf #1, Eclipse Comics, March 1988.

In November 1942, Hillman Periodicals put a new comic on the newstands. Air Fighters Comics lead feature was Airboy, but second on the roster was "The Prowling Skywolf." Skywolf wore a white wolf's head like a cowl as his distinguishing emblem. He headed a team of three other flyers: "Cocky Roche, tough little cockney with a quick wit and sharp tongue"; "The Judge, an Englishman rejected by the R.A.F. because of his age...but he can still fly rings around most pilots"; and "The Turtle, brave Pole whose tongue was cut out by the Nazis." They flew strange, impractical looking "semi-planes" that split into two separate aircraft when fighting was required.

As Jim Steranko says in his History of Comics, Vol. 2, "Skywolf was Hillman's answer to Blackhawk. Both took their names from creatures of the animal world. One used the swift, sharp-eyed feathered hunter of the skies, the other, a four-footed predator of the forest. Both flying heroes displayed their symbols prominently, as part of their outfits."

Skywolf made his final flight as a Hillman character in January 1947. The Heap, created as a supporting character in Sky Wolf, outlasted its parent strip and went on to have a distinguished career of its own.

In the 1980's, Eclipse Comics acquired the rights to the Hillman titles and brought back Airboy in his own comic. Skywolf was a continuing character in Airboy . His resemblance to Blackhawk was no longer evident, since his team-mates had all died during WW II. Skywolf was older and had traded his wolf's head cowl for a leather mask and a red wolf's head emblem on his chest. Instead of the unaerodynamic semi-planes, he flew a AH-64 Apache helicopter. He was spun off into his own three book miniseries, for which the cover of issue #1 is shown here. The miniseries was set before the Airboy series, during the French war in Viet Nam.

Back to Blackhawk Imitator Page

All characters, pictures, and related indicia on these pages are the property of DC Comics. All text is ©1998-2001 Dan Thompson, except where otherwise noted. This homepage is not intended to infringe on the copyright of DC Comics to its characters, but was created out of gratitude to all the wonderful writers, artists, and editors who created the Blackhawks.