"Enemy ACe" comic

[PFFF]

Years ago-in "Sgt Rock" comics they had a WWI section called "Enemy ACe".
1) What was "Enemy Ace'"'s Name?
2) What he a composite of German ACes such as "Red Baron" and "Udet"?

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by PFFF

Years ago-in "Sgt Rock" comics they had a WWI section called "Enemy ACe".
1) What was "Enemy Ace'"'s Name?
2) What he a composite of German ACes such as "Red Baron" and "Udet"?

It was DC comics (the Marvel mix up was me getting senile.) Sgt. Rock was DC Comics.

DC had the series Enemy Ace featuring Rittmeister Hans von Hammer "The Hammer of Hell." The artist of the series admitted that he was a charactature of MvR.

[Tedders]

Enemy Ace comics were from DC, as well as Sgt. Rock of Easy Co. See the graphic novel "War in Heaven" for their very brief meeting at the end of
WW II. A shame, really; if these two shared a war story, it'd be a wonderful study in contrasts and simularities between the two extremes of the types of soldiers and men found in that conflict.

But, for a better war story, please see "Way Idyll", another graphic novel of Von Hammer. The art is superb: deconstructionist -- which fits the scene of The Great War-- and the entire novel, story and art, was done by one person, George Pratt.

Von Hammer has depths in these two graphic novels, and more that's not yet been plumbed. It should.

Ted Sacher

[Gregvan]

Hi,

Yup, Stephen, as Ted says, Sgt Rock and Easy Co. were DC characters. You may be thinking of Marvel's "Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos" - Sgt. Fury's Dad flew a Sopwith Pup in WWI against Richthofen's red Albatros D.II (I know because I have the issue, #76, superbly illustrated by John Severin)!

Hans von Hammer was the creation of Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, and was at his best when those two worked together on the stories. Yes, I enjoyed "War Idyll" by George Pratt, but I prefer the early comic stories.

Yes, Von Hammer was obviously inspired by Richthofen: a Prussian Nobleman, a Rittmeister who flew an all-red Fokker Triplane, collected silver victory cups and loved to hunt in the woods (a wolf replaced Moritz as his faithful companion). However, von Hammer was a much more troubled and introspective pilot than Manfred, IMHO. In the very early stories, the author had obviously done his homework, and worked real elements from WWI history into the plots. There is the superstition about being photographed before a flight, and opposing Allied characters are sometimes based on real aces - the Canadian ace "The Hunter" was sort of a composite of Ball and Bishop, flew a Nieuport 17 with a red spinner, flew without a helmet as Ball was rumored to do, etc. The stories even contain the occasional mention of real German pilots like Immelmann and Schaefer, and the Allied aircraft encountered are varied and well-rendered - from Bristol fighters to FE2b's, DH 9A's, SPAD's, Nieuports, and even an Italian Ansaldo on loan to the Western Front!

If you're guessing these comics had some influence on me in my carefree youth, you'd be correct. In the later stories, the plots became more outlandish and the opposing Allied pilots were more "superhero-type" which destroyed my enjoyment in the mag. Kubert's work was terrific, and of the other artists who tried to carry on von Hammer, I enjoyed Severin's art very much too.

Enough of this nostalgia trip..
Greg

[werner vontobler]

DC'S "ENEMY ACE" archives volume one and volume two (available this September) can be found on Amazon.com or E-Bay always has "ENEMY ACE" comics for sale . The one good thing about these comics is the still are pretty cheap! War comics never seem to bring alot. I personally have been collecting "ENEMY ACE" stories and comics for the last 20 years ! Anyway good hunting .

Von Tobler

[StephenLawson]

You gents are right I was thinking about Sgt Fury...remember the one where he tells the story of his old man fighting with the British and his combat with MvR? Gad its tough getting old I'll go back and fix it.

Gentlemen,

You too Steve and Greg.

" The Hammer of Hell " appears to be a thread we share in common, along with our mutual friend, A.W.; who at age 9 or 10 was correcting Joe Kubert, in letters to the editor, about the time frame of Fokker aircraft and their appearance on the Western Front !

The " Hunter ". " The Hangman " and his sister. " St. George ". Although my favorite issue was the " Duel with a Bull ".

However, I seem to be the only one who recalls the earlier DC effort, " Lt. Steve Savage the Arizona Balloon Buster ". With his SPAD 13 fuselage emblazoned with two colt 45 six shooters.

Greg, although off the subject, if you want a good laugh, well............. I thought it was funny, ask A.W. about his birthday at the Flying Lady and " Here, let me show you how to climb in a Nieuport " episode.

Jim

[Gregvan]

Hi Jim,

Good to see you back on the Forum.

Yes, I remember "Steve Savage the Balloon-Buster", but mostly through his later duels with von Hammer. I never saw too many of the earlier stories.

Gee, I wonder who HE was based on? An Arizona cowboy, defiant of discipline, always in trouble with his superiors, but who was superbly skilled at using his SPAD 13 to blow up German balloons. Hmmm...I always wondered how he kept that stetson hat on in the slipstream.

I'll have to look through my back issues of "Enemy Ace" and see if I can find any of those letters from A.W. Thanks for that.

Greg

[josef scott]

Really? Severin illustrated some Enemy Ace stories? I always thought the comic series was strictly Kubert! Are these included in the 1st anthology? I loved Severin. He was definitely my hero as an illustrator. Kubert really nailed the mood though...

I first picked up the "St George" issue because it had a knight, but then I was hooked - first nail in the coffin.

[Gregvan]

Hi Josef,

Gee, you guys are really distracting me from working on my next Osprey book, and revealing to the world what an old comics geek I really am!

Yes, John Severin is one of my heroes, too, and he illustrated several stories which served as the back-up story in CD's "Unknown Sildier". I have two of them, but not the rest I'll have to haunt the ebay auctions some time.

Anyway, In "Unknown Soldier" Vol. 31, No. 260, February 1982 (I think this was a re-title of an older title, maybe "Star-Spangled War Stories"?) as the back-up story, it has Part One of "Enemy Ace - I Am My Own Executioner", written by Kanigher but illustrated by John Severin. It's a very lame "evil twin" plot in which von Hammer is wounded and in hospital. The High Command thinks this news would be too much of a morale-buster for the German people, so they bring in a double (complete with cheek scar) to lead von Hammer's Jasta. Von Hammer cannot stand for this, so he sneaks out of the hospital to fly a plane...and the story ends there, to be continued.

The only other Severin/von Hammer story I have is in "The Unknown Soldier" No. 266, August 1982. It is the second part of a story entitled "The Substitute Ace" in which his Jagdstaffel encounters Steve Savage. Sadly, I don't have the rest of these strories, but there must be others.

I love Severin's drawings of WWI aircraft, always clean, accurate and with a wonderful feeling of flight. He has von Hammer leading a bunch of Fokker D.VIIs in his triplane, encountering Spads, Camels and Nieuports. Severin did a few WWI aviation stories in the old EC comics of the 50's ("Frontline Combat" and /or "Two-Fisted Tales"), including the von Richthofen story, which are all great!! It's a pity they didn't use Severin in the EC short-lived "Aces High" comics.

I enjoy Severin and Kubert, but the master of WWI airplane-comic book art will always be the late George Evans. A superb artist with a great love of the subject and a very deep knowledge of it as well, who got his start in the old aviation pulp magazines of the late 30's. I am sorry I never got to meet George, but he knew of my work...He contributed some magnificent pieces to the old "Cross & Cockade" and also to OtF. We miss him.

Greg