Thursday, July 6, 2023

DEPARTMENT OF COMICS CURIOSITIES #24: "NOAH'S ARK FROM SPACE" (BLACKHAWK #162, 1960)

 Largely by accident I chanced upon this forgotten issue from the generally forgettable DC BLACKHAWK title that lasted roughly from 1956 to 1970. "Noah's Ark" features a nuclear family of aliens who come to Earth seeking a new home, and who get aid and comfort from the justice-loving Blackhawks. For no explicit reason the three aliens bring along some alien beasts from their dying world, which of course cause some of the story's conflict. Arguably the story's raconteurs did come up with a menagerie of monsters that was slightly more imaginative than the average. 


Not so much the Dridath Bull:



But rather the Lightning-Lion--



And more importantly for Students of DC Anthropoidology, an "Octi-Ape" on the cover.



But what's curious about this 1960 story is that the three aliens are opposed by hostile, prejudiced Earthlings, who call the ETs "Greenies." 




By story's end, exigent circumstances force the ark-aliens to depart. Still, minor though the story is, I'm not aware of any DC superhero stories between 1955 and 1965 that even address any sort of prejudice. Yes, some war stories and PSAs, but not so much the fantasy-content books.

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