DC Comics Archive Editions

The Enemy Ace Archives Volume 1 & 2

by  Bob Kanigher, Joe Kubert and other artists

Reviewed By  Stephen Bierce, IPMS# 35922

MSRP: $49.95 each ISBN: 1563898969 (v1), 1401207766 (v2) As of now, there are about 130 volumes in the DC Archive Editions series, collecting the best of DC's comics from the late 1930s through the 1970s. While the vast majority of the content being reprinted in this hardback format is from DC's popular superhero comics (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Shazam!), DC isn't ignoring their well-regarded war comics of the 1960s and 1970s. Enemy Ace was the culmination of a trend that started with rival EC's war comics of the 1950s (including Frontline Combat and Aces High). For about ten years, DC presented formulaic stand-alone stories of WW1 aviators in response to the EC example, about plucky American airmen in battles-of-wits against stereotypical aristocratic German villains. These were usually created to fill out page counts in anthology comics. Bob Kanigher realized that DC needed recurring characters in the war comics to keep readers interested. The result of this brainstorm was DC's stable of War Heroes: Sgt. Rock of Easy Company, Gunner, Sarge & Pooch, Johnny Cloud, Mademoiselle Marie, The Unknown Soldier, The Haunted Tank, Captain Storm, Balloon Buster, Viking Prince, and Enemy Ace. Enemy Ace was the longest shot of the bunch. After all, who would want to read the exploits of a German flyer in World War One? The premise worked because of Kanigher's clever structuring of Hans Von Hammer's character ... and because of Joe Kubert's masterful artwork. Enemy Ace was an instant success and stayed in demand at DC for well over 15 years. The first volume of the Enemy Ace Archives contains the first ten Enemy Ace stories; the second has the next ten -- ending with the first crossover with Balloon Buster. Some of these stories haven't been seen since their original printings more than thirty years ago. While the $49.99 price per volume may sound steep, it's still like paying only $5 per issue -- when the original comic books (if you could FIND them) are worth much more than that now. The first volume was published in 2002; the second was released at the end of 2006. DC also did a nice job of remastering the artwork and cleaning them up for reprinting. If anything, the pages look better than they would have originally, with state-of-the-art coloring and high-quality paper! While the writers and artists took great pains to keep this comic true to the era of World War One, technical errors crept in, mainly small things like roundels colored wrong. But a modeler doesn't buy comics as a research tool, he buys them for inspiration ... and to remind him why he got into the hobby in the first place. Thanks to DC Comics, Diamond Distributing and S&G Comics & Collectibles for my review copies.

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