WWI in comics

Willi Von Klugerman · 8 July 2009, 12:26 PM

Enemy Ace

Aces High

Thats all I know,anybody know of any WWI comics of both air combat and ground combat?

Blue Max · 8 July 2009, 02:14 PM

Marvel had the Phantom Eagle, which went pretty unnoticed until Garth Ennis wrote a miniseries on him earlier this year. It's... OK. A bit over-the-top, as far as that goes. It's called War is Hell, the First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.

There have been three archive editions of the Enemy Ace issues, which were spread out through several books. Two were full color (and pricey!) where the recent black and white one is more complete. The complete listing of available work is at DCU | Graphic Novels

Titan has just reprinted the seminal 80's Charley's War, an unflinching look at WWI ground combat.

SCMc · 8 July 2009, 06:19 PM

About 40 - 45 years ago, there was a Ripley's Believe It Or Not issue about WWI. It included segments on both the ground and air. I believe it was my first introduction to Richthofen, though it ended with the false statement that he successfully landed his plane after he had died.

Steve

Tom_Cervo · 13 July 2009, 08:09 PM

Amazon.com: War Is Hell: The First Flight Of The Phantom Eagle TPB: Garth Ennis, Howard Chaykin: Books

Amazon.com: Enemy Ace: War Idyll: George Pratt, Andrew Helfer: Books

Not documentaries, but imaginative works by authors and artists doing serious work.

Gregvan · 13 July 2009, 08:45 PM

Back in the 1960's, Dell published a series called "Air War" which featured at least one WWI story in every issue. The stories were goofy, but I have a soft spot for artist Sam Glanzman, who did all of these.

If you do a search of the forum archives, or a search through the "WWI Aviation books cover art" thread, you'll find several discussions of the great George Evans and various WWI comics.

Gregvan · 13 July 2009, 08:47 PM

Here's the issue of "Ripley's Believe it or Not" that SCMc was referring to:

There was another issue of "Ripley's" that featured

Frank Luke. None of these stories were drawn very well, IMHO.

Gregvan · 13 July 2009, 08:49 PM

Here's another issue of Dell's "Air War Stories":

Gregvan · 13 July 2009, 08:51 PM

You can't go wrong with George Evans:

Before "Aces High" came out, George did several seminal WWI stories for EC's "Two-Fisted Tales" and "Frontline Combat", on Guynemer, McCudden, Immelmann, etc.

Gregvan · 13 July 2009, 08:53 PM

Here's an example of George Evans' work on "McCudden". I only have the black and white reprint. It used the "checkerboard" color scheme that Voss' F.I triplane was believed to have back in the 30's to 50's:

Gregvan · 13 July 2009, 08:59 PM

My Favorite "Enemy Ace" cover by Kubert. The early Hans von Hammer stories were quite realistic, featuring incidents and Allied opponents based on real events and characters. The later stories got too outlandish, IMHO.