Who's Killer Shark I?

Who's This? A Blackhawk villain (Nazi).

The facts: Okay, the way Who's Who did it is confusing, so let me clarify. When Blackhawk was being published by Quality Comics in the post-War Golden Age, a villain called Killer Shark showed up. Much later, in the 80s, under DC's control, a different Killer Shark was introduced. In publishing chronology - and this is the way Kyle Baker drew it - the Quality character should be Killer Shark I, and the DC character Killer Shark II. But because from Blackhawk's perspective, he encountered the Nazi Killer Shark FIRST, they've made the later character Killer Shark I. And that's who we're talking about. THIS Killer Shark first appeared in Blackhawk #269 (April 1984) and then, the subsequent issue. He was somehow remembered (I'm laying that at Who's Who's feet) and when Hawkman met the modern-day Blackhawks in Hawkworld #11 (May 1991), he was used as a villain. And then again (trading Hawkman for Batman) in Batman Confidential #37-38 (Jan-Feb 2010), in which he finally killed by Lady Blackhawk. 
How you could have heard of him: Have you been in a comic book store where someone spontaneously started arguing who the great Blackhawk villain would be? No? Then, you probably haven't heard of Killer Shark, much less this one. Not to be confused with the Shark, King Shark, or Marvel's Tiger Shark.
Example story: Blackhawk #270 (May 1984) "Killer Shark!" by Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle
General Haifisch (were they going for something that visually looked like Half-Fish?) basically has Captain Nazi's origin. He's a super-soldier created by fascist scientists to do Hitler's bidding. At the top of the issue, he's already captured the ancillary Blackhawks and put them in a makeshift POW camp in Belgium - just a pen, really - to serve as bait for Killer Shark's real target, THE Blackhawk. And while the Blackhawks CAN take care of themselves, their escape attempt fails at the end of mighty slap.
Meanwhile, Blackhawk has smuggled himself out of Germany, found his boys are not at their barracks, and gone off to their last known location in La Resistance! Everything is coming up Herr Shark!
By the time Blackhawk gets there, Killer Shark has moved them to the Channel - water is HIS turf - specifically to his U-boat, which soon starts shooting missiles at our hero's plane.
Blackhawk sacrifices his plane and bails out with a parachute. And we sort of see why Killer Shark wears those Vuarnet sunglasses.
The General walks out onto his sub to see if he can spy Blackhawk's corpse in the water, but the aviator ace is already on the deck and jumps him. But even he admits, that wasn't a good idea.
After almost dying from a bear hug, Blackhawk simply punches a distracted Killer Shark into the water and that's it? He would resurface much later, sure, but that's a bit of an anticlimax, isn't it?

Who's Next? A Blackhawk villain (apolitical).

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