"Enemy Ace"

[Hauksbee]

I ran across this while researching John Severin, a comics artist who did wonderful flying stories (among others). Severin spent some time as an inker on "Enemy Ace". I dimly recall the series, but by the time it was launched (1969) I had college behind me, plus two years in the Army, and was no longer reading comics. That would change in the early 70's when I discovered the San Francisco-era Underground comics. I can recall seeing the covers on the newstands, thought it was an interesting idea, seeing WWI from the German point of view, but never bought one. It seems that later on, after they'd run dry on WWI stories, von Hammer (dumb name!) survives WWI and flies again in WWII. Now he has an all-red Me-109 (on which he pointedly refuses to have a swastika on the tail...to the chagrin of his squadron commander who's a party member) and by war's end even gets an all-red Me-262. (how cool is that?)Here's what Wikipedia has to say about "Enemy Ace".

 

Enemy Ace first appeared in Our Army at War # 151, (February 1965) It was a backup story that quickly gained popularity. As a World War I pilot flying for the Germans, his stories told the German side of the war, in which Hans von Hammer was a man of honor and chivalry, a flying knight in his Fokker Dr.I, but he was haunted by his duties and the constant death surrounding them.

 

The early series stories centered around World War I Air Combat and the strategies, tactics and honor employed by the early knights of the air. The stories were often a stark contrast between the dark brooding character Von Hammer and his softer, kinder side as in Star Spangled War Stories No 148 where Von Hammer rescues a little dog he names "Schatzi" and proceeds to befriend him, even introducing him to his dark hunting companion the gray wolf who accepts little Schatzi rather than eating him. But the Von Hammer stories were not big on happy endings, and Von Hammer goes on to lose Schatzi in a haunting scene by dropping him accidentally from his Fokker during air combat. He grieves the loss of the dog, then proceeds to massacre the remaining British pilots in an act of bloody revenge. Von Hammer was a dark character, portrayed as the inevitable result of war.

 

Created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, the Enemy Ace was taken loosely from the real-life Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. Both flew Crimson Red Fokker DR1 Triplanes. Both were of aristocratic blood. Both awarded themselves a trophy with each downed enemy plane. Both were the highest scoring flying ace of the First World War. The main difference between the two was that Von Hammer survived to old age, whereas Von Richthofen was shot down and killed before the war ended.

 

The character's stories have been praised as among DC's strongest war stories of the Silver Age of comic books. He was revived for a few graphic novels. The first was Enemy Ace: War Idyll (1989) by George Pratt, where Hammer is revealed to have lived until 1969, dying peacefully upon turning over his memoirs and concluding his interviews with a troubled Vietnam War veteran-turned-journalist.

Edited October 2, 2011 by Hauksbee

[Hellshade]

I remember reading a few Enemy Ace comics when I was a kid. I LOVED it back then, but rarely could find them. It was so different from all of the other comic book stories too.

 

Hellshade

[carrick58]

Must have missed that one. I used to read Batman, Black Hawk, Flash, Adam Strange, as I grew older I read Japanese Comics, and Fritz the Cat.