WWI in comics

[Southside Bucky]

Whoa!...Amazing!

Couldn't you show us them just a little bit larger?

Pretty please?

[Breguet]

OK, OK. Here's The First Aces full size, plus another:

[Southside Bucky]

Thanks a lot Breguet.

A coupla thousand, eh? Truly remarkable!...How long have you been collecting them?

Oh, and what about the 'War Picture Library' comics...Do you have a collection of those too?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm intrigued!

[Gregvan]

Hi All,

Wow! Thanks for posting those brilliant covers, Breguet! A couple thousand? I thought I had a big comics collection! I've run across some of these British comics before on the net, and drooled over them. Is ther interior art as good as the covers?

I hesitate to break into this British portion of this thread, but I thought I might post some more George Evans art that may be unfamiliar to some. In the late '50's and early '60's, George did a lot of work for Gilberton World-Wide Publications' series Classics Illustrated. Often he worked with another great artist, Reed Crandall - Crandall did the pencils and George did the inks. This pair produced some really outstanding art for such tales as The Three Musketeers and A Tale of Two Cities. They also contributed to Gilberton's associated series called The World Around Us, which were lengthier, purely educational comics devoted to a single topic with multiple stories by various artists. Lucky for us, they produced The Illustrated Story of Flight as issue No. 8 in 1959, and got George to illustrate "The Red Knight of Germany"! I would be surprised if George didn't write it as well as illustrating it all by himself, for it bears all of his hallmarks of historical accuracy and an emphasis on the romantic aspect of the story. Ironically, only the first page of the story is devoted to Richthofen's rise - the remaining 7 pages cover the events of 21 April 1918. However, George tells the tale with remarkable detail and fidelity to accuracy. Remember this is for a kid's comic done in 1959! We can forgive the use of an Albatros D.III instead of a D.II for MvR's first victory, etc. The depictions of Richthofen, Brown and Wilfrid 'Wop' May (called 'Willie" in the story) are true portraits, based closely on the available photos.

[Gregvan]

Note the correct serial number on Brown's Camel, the red noses and proper squadron insignia, etc. These stories were generally colored by someone other than the artist himself, but it's obvious George tried to influence the colorist to get it right - despite the yellow wings on the British a/c and other forgivable slip-ups.

[Gregvan]

Today we know the Richthofen didn't make a "perfect landing" and his Dr.I didn't have Iron Crosses, etc. But considering the state of knowledge when this was written (1959), I think it's remarkable. It is head and shoulders above the other stories in the same book (by different artists) and in contemporary comics.

[Breguet]

I started collecting as a boy - now I only pick up the odd aviation related one that I see in second hand shops. I do have some war picture library ones here are a couple others you may not have heard of; Air Ace Picture Library, Battle Picture Library and Combat Picture Library:





Who could forget Battler Briutton and Dogfight Dixon?

[Gregvan]

Hi Breguet,

Great stuff! I envy you - looks like the young readers in countries of the British Empire had far more WWI comics than us poor Yanks.

Anyway, keep 'em coming!!

If you have time - what's the story behind "Old Pilots Never Die", with the juxtaposition of a/c from the two World Wars??

Greg

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Merci mes amis!

Breguet ... those covers posted are remarkable! For what was to be a brief period of time I was able to purchase Air Ace issues and was enraptured ... Greg: for the most part the art was superlative and the stories interesting. It seem so different to read tales in which the foes were able to down aircraft rather than simply being targets for heroes.

I still have some of those editions of Air Ace ... though if memory serves correct, only one features Great War aircraft.

Greg! Thank you so much for posting that work by George Evans ... I had never seen that before! I had, when a child, one of those publications which told of the attack on Pearl Harbour and the actions of Taylor and Welch, but, no more ... and that is long lost ... You are right to note the effort of Evans to be accurate ... there are accounts of the events of the 21st of April, 1918 that appear in books of a learned persuasion that make no reference to the R.E.8s of 3 Squadron A.F.C. ... and also correct to refer to attempts to illustrate colours accurately ... no doubt the colourest of that tale balked at the detail indicated by Evans.

Yet Evans was also one in rapture with the medium as, in addition to skill with pencil, pen and brush, imagination was used as well ... the aircraft going down with cups imposed over the smoking trails: fantastic! ... and what do you think of the panel in the upper left of the second page Greg? ... I wonder if the Nieuport that has been sent down with the letters JS on a wing is a, subtle, reference to the story published by E.C. about Manfred von Richthofen which was illustrated by John Severin ... you will remember that Evans was perturbed by the stationary rotary engines depicted ... and an effort to poke a respected contemporary in the ribs so to speak ...

Merci Encore!
Salut!
Kirk

[Gregvan]

Bonjour Kirk!

Yes, you may be right about that Nieuport with the "JS" marked on it, though I'd never thought of that angle before. Sounds like something one of the old gang of EC artists would do to another one.

I have a black/white reprint of John Severin's "Red Knight" story from EC's Two-Fisted Tales, No. 29, 1952. While I am a great fan of Severin's work, I must admit his Fokker Dr.I is a little crude, and indeed has non-rotating cylinders on its Oberursel!! The story does pay more attention to several of Richthofen's victories, and tries for the usual EC 'shock' ending - and this time, Brown and 209 Squadron aren't even mentioned in regard to MvR's death. The scenes with MvR's Albatros and the various RFC aircraft are quite well done, though. Nonetheless, in this case, I wish they had "let George do it!"

However, Severin's later WWI aviation work in the one issue of "Sgt. Fury" and in several "Enemy Ace" tales (as well as in two stories for Warren's black/white horror comics) was really superb. He could certainly draw Fokker D.VII's and SPAD's with great skill and accuracy.