Grover Baines is a fictional character who appeared in the comic book series Blackhawk, published by DC Comics. He was a member of the Blackhawk Squadron, a team of ace pilots who fought against the Axis powers in World War II and later against various threats in the Cold War era. He joined the team in 1989, replacing Andre Blanc-Dumont, who had retired.

Grover Baines was an African-American pilot who had faced racism and discrimination in his homeland. He was a skilled mechanic, engineer, and a brave and loyal fighter. He often clashed with his teammate Quan Chee Keng, a.k.a. “Mairzey,” a former Japanese prisoner of war with a sarcastic and cynical personality. Despite their differences, they respected each other and worked well together in combat.

Some of the little-known facts about Grover Baines are:

– Howard Chaykin created him for his 1988 reboot of Blackhawk, but he did not appear until the second volume of the series, written by Martin Pasko and drawn by Rick Burchett.
– He was named after Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, who was Chaykin’s distant relative.
– He had a romantic relationship with Natalie Reed, a.k.a. “Firebird,” a former Soviet spy who defected to the Blackhawks and became their liaison with the CIA.
– He was one of the few Blackhawks who survived the Crisis on Infinite Earth, a cosmic event that erased and rebooted the DC multiverse. He later appeared in the Blackhawk miniseries by Mike Grell in 1992, where he helped his old friends against a neo-Nazi plot.

Some of the essential storylines that Grover Baines was featured in are:

– Blackhawk: Blood & Iron (1988), where he and the other Blackhawks were introduced as a covert operations team working for the United Nations in the post-war era.
– Blackhawk: Furies (1990), where he and Mairzey infiltrated a rogue Soviet base that was developing a deadly weapon called the Fury.
– Blackhawk: The Dragon Lady Strikes (1991), where he and Firebird were captured by the Dragon Lady, a notorious warlord and enemy of the Blackhawks.
– Blackhawk: Siege (1992), where he and the other surviving Blackhawks reunited to stop a group of neo-Nazis from launching a nuclear missile.