Airboy #44



Dinosaur! Big Dinosaur! Eat Hot Lead, Dinosaur!

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-writer, Gary Kwapisz-pencils, Ricardo Villagran-inks, Wayne Truman-letters, Reuben Rude-colors, cat yronwode-editor.
Skywolf: Chuck-writer, Alberto Maldonado-art, Bill Pearson-letters, Olyoptics-colors, cat-editor.
Interesting that Olyoptics isn't coloring the main story; wonder if it is a sign of Eclipse's financial situation at that point? Could just be the amount of work they were doing, as they had become one of the top color services. They were doing the color separation for Akira, at Marvel/Epic, which earned Steve Oliff an Eisner Award, in 1992.

Also from Eclipse: Aces #4, Appleseed #2, Area 88 #34 & 35, Legend of Kamui #34 & 35, Merchants of Death #3, New York Year Zero #4, Phaze #2, Pigeons From Hell, Prowler in White Zombie #1, Scout: War Shaman #7, Skywolf #3, Tales of the Beanworld #11, Total Eclipse #3, Xenon #21 & 22. Manga continues to be strong for Eclipse and we have more international stuff, from Europe and Argentina. Skywolf was way late, which is why I covered it early. Prowler gets a one-shot, where he is inserted into the Bela Lugosi film White Zombie, which was one of the inspirations for the character and series. Total Eclipse continues Eclipse's 10th Anniversay celebration. Pigeons from Hell features Scott Hampton adapting a Robert E Howard horror story. The story was published in Weird Tales, in 1938, after Howard's death, but had been written in 1934. It is considered by some, including Stephen King, to be one of the finest horror stories ever written, certainly in the 20th Century. Joe Lansdale later adapted it for Dark Horse Comics.

Synopsis: Davy and Les are flying n Birdie, over an island, off the coast of North Carolina...



Looks like Les has father issues, too. Who's writing this, Steven Spielberg? They land and Les recounts that he and his mother left his father and moved to New Jersey. They have a very bad relationship. Then, Les and Davy run into a dinosaur...



It's a fake, created by Rackman. Les said he turned down a buyout offer from Disney for them. They go inside the mansion, which looks like it was furnished by Trader Horn. Soon, Davy is introduced to Rackman and his cyborg cat.



Take that Raul!

They play catch up, as Rackman recounts the Prowler's visit (Revenge of the Prowler) and Davy mentions Iron Ace, who Rackman thought dead, and Chuck writes some inside jokes into the dialogue. Les asks his dad for a new exo-skeleton. Rackman turns him down and tells him to man up...



You know, he's got a pretty good point, as Les proved in the previous few issues he didn't really need to suit. Les fires back about Rackman's use of the suit, which he retorts was created for a purpose, to fight the evil schemes of Les' grandfather (Heck of a family tree they got there!). He refuses and leaves the room and Les is depressed and angry. Les and Davy leave and Davy tells Les his father has a point and Les points out the fantasy world his father lives in, suggesting he's afraid of the real world. Les has an idea and they go back to Napa to see Iron Ace. As they lift off, Rackman watches from a window, tears in his eyes.

Les is introduced to Iron Ace and he suggests some built-in armament for the suit, and then proceeds to subtly give Les some advice, relating why he never tried to have a human body facade and tells Les he is a whole man. Grass is greener and all that.

Les tries out his knew prosthetics, which are lighter and more maneuverable. He is happy until Valkyrie cheerfully whistles and asks to have the first dance. Les doesn't react well to it...



Les runs inside and removes the prosthetics, while Davy tries to talk to him. Les is okay with Hirota or Davy or onald seeing him in the suit, but not a woman. Val tries to come in the room, but Davy holds up a han and she and Ronald stay in the shadows of the doorway.

Later, Les tries the legs on again, in clothes and is happy, then Ronald attacks him as a combat test, out of the blue. Iron Ace taunts Les into fighting back, calling him a dwarf and Les gets mad and grabs a wrench and starts parrying Ronald's strikes. Ronald keeps goading him about measuring up to his father, pushing his buttons, keeping him angry. Les knocks him down with a strike, then helps Ronald up and let's him know he sees what he was doing.

Skywolf: Down in Mexico, a man gets out of a pickup truck, at a gas station, kicks a dog out of his way, and walks into the business end of a shotgun, held by none other than....



Sky knows he is with the bank robbers and he forces the man to lead him to the others. The man takes him to his partner and tries to draw him out, but the man smells a rat and shoots his partner dead. Sky heads for cover as the hood unloads at him. The third crook grabs his weapons and we see two women and a child with them. The crook, Handy, sends the other, Charlie, outside to have a look for Sky. He reluctanly goes out and gets a hay bale dropped on him. Sky calls out and says he has a dozen Texas rangers and an army of Federales surrounding the house. handy isn't buying it and takes the Mexican woman and her child out as a shield, despite the protests of the blond woman. He takes her out, instead, threatening to shoot her if Sky doesn't put down his weapon. He thinks Sky wants him for the robbery, but is taken aback when Sky says he wants him for damaging Laverne's plane...



The woman kicks Handy in the shins and falls away as Sky plugs him. Sky buys the pickup from the Mexican woman and drives Charlie and the blond woman back to the states to turn them in, though he tells the woman he needs her to explain things to Laverne.

Thoughts: Chuck does a pretty good job in the main story of developing Les further, beyond his exo-suit, showing him he doesn't need it to be who he is. Some good emotional stuff there. Rackman, Craig Mansfield, developed the exo-suit to fight crime, with the gimmick that he is a dwarf. Chuck has kind of turned that on its head, with Les, showing he didn't need the suit to fight crime, just his brains and the will.

Skywolf wraps up the previous story with a standard crime fiction showdown. Nothing groundbreaking; but, nicely handled. Albert Maldonado is very classic in his style, which is a bit stiff, in some spots and Skywolf's mask looks rather cartoony, as he draws it. He also seems to mixing a double barrel shotgun with a pump action one, then Chuck's dialogue says he has a rifle. There are pump-action .22 cal rifles, but not pump action double barrel weapons. Maybe it is just meant to be part of the stock, but is seems like Maldonado can't make up his mind.

Sadly, this is the end for Skywolf, as a solo feature, as the cancelation of the series put a kibosh on Chuck's planned storyline, where Skywolf ends up in the Cuban Revolution, aiding Fidel Castro against the Batista dictatorship. Funny to recall when Castro was considered a hero of the people, who overthrew a brutal dictator, until he turned out to be cut from the same cloth (though his history in Cuba and the development of the nation is pretty complex).

Next issue features an odd story for Davy and Chuck drags out his fake aviation hero, Zero Hunter, from his Jolly Farmer fiction, introduced in Strike!

Next, Prowler in White Zombie.


ps  For those wondering, Raul was a talking cat in Howard Chaykin's American Flagg.  At one point, Raul gets cybernetic "hands," which allows him to type and operate vehicles, including a storyline where he takes over control of the robot deputy, Luther Ironheart.  Take my word for it....better yet, read it, it's damn good stuff!

Reuben Rude was one of Steve Oliff's assistants at Olyoptics.

Airboy #45



Looks like some of the rubber band-powered planes my Dad used to design and build, when I was a kid.

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-story & dialogue, Jim Longstreth-story & layout, Mark Johnson-pencils, Stan Woch-inks, Wayne Truman-letters, Reuben Rude-colors, cat yronwode-editor
Zero Hunter: Chuck Dixon-story, Scott Pelligrini-art & letters, Mel Johnson-colors, cat-editor

Jim Longstreth is not a name I am familiar with and I didn't find any info in future letters columns. he is credited as creator of the characters Kate Mulligan and James Buffalo Lizard, who appear in the story.

Also from Eclipse: Appleseed #3, Area 88 #36, Fusion #12, Last Kiss #1, Legend of Kamui #36 & 37, Merchants of Death #4, Scout: War Shaman #8, Total Eclipse: the Serphim Objective #1, Xenon #23, Zot #22
Pickings are pretty slim from Eclipse, this month; just some manga, the last issue of the Merchants of Death magazine anthology, a Total Eclipse tie-in (which features New Wave) and an issue of Zot. Last Kiss was an Acme press book, the British group that eclipse had a distribution deal with. This features material from John Watkiss and includes an interview, at the end, which shares feelings about certain artist's work that might rile some; but, you know what they compare opinions to... Eclipse was also attempting to distribute on newsstands and had a deal with Waldenbooks, who previously had a deal with Marvel for a branded spinner display and who were expanding more and more into comic trades and graphic novels, as more were published. You could walk in there and usually find the Donning/Starblaze Elfquest books, some of the Turtle collections and some DC or Marvel or idie, depending on the store and the timeframe. The Marvel spinner would carry their graphic novel line and comics; but, when the deal ended, many stores used them for comics from other companies. Comico also tried to go this route, but, the cost of producing for newsstand distribution vs comic shops was too draining and the collateral damage the experiment brought to both companies contributed to their bankruptcy (Comico more directly; for Eclipse, it further damaged their cash flow and their output became more and more sporadic).

Synopsis: On the Round Valley Indian Reservation, anthropoligist Kate Mulligan is visiting the "dreamtime", possibly chemically. She is watched over by James Buffalo Lizard, who taught her how to enter the dreamtime.



...then Birdie appears in the dreamtime and strafes her and she is nearly clipped by a mechanical "lobster." Heavens to Timothy Leary! She comes out of it and starts raging about an evil aircraft entering the dreamtime and that she must find and destroy its real world counterpart. Bad trip, man!

Meanwhile, Davy is test flying Birdie and tells Hirota that she isn't responding the way she used to, like something is missing. Hirota actually buys this junk, that Birdie is more than mechanical and suggests investigating further. He lands and meets his visitors, Kate Mulligan and James Buffalo Lizard, and hears a wild tale...



She has dinner with Davy, Hirota and Valkyrie and tells of her dream and they all buy into this hokum and agree to an experiment to try to cure Birdie's nightmare. Kate takes them into the dreamtime, though how is left kind of vague, though the smokey effect of the word balloons suggests an herbal catalyst. Davy finds himself in a model kit plane, as do Hirota and Valkyrie. Kate has wings and a metal bikini. She confirms that their planes are rubber band-powered models, which are their spirit aspects; aviation without military trappings (what, a Piper Cub or a Cessna isn't?) They say "hi" to dreaming wales and dolphins and fly past sequoias and horses and then arrive over an industrial site, where they are attacked by military planes, including Birdie...



Hirota has a Zero on his tail, but figures out that focus and a letting go of the past makes it disappear. Val faces her Nazi past...



Birdie acts like a jilted lover and accuses Davy of being a killer, like his father and tries to strafe Davy, until he tells Birdie he loves her...



That does the trick. They all come out of it and Davy announces that Nelson Aviation is out of the munitions game, permanently.

Zero Hunter: An American fleet is steaming for Bungo Island, to relieve the marines, when they are attacked by Zeros. They are saved from destruction by Cliff "Zero" Hunter, and his sidekick, Reb Tolliver...



The treacherous Japanese strafe life rafts, but not the valiant Americans, as he downs a plane and makes sure he is rescued by the sailors. He then locates their base, on a flying aircraft carrier....



Neither SPECTRUM nor SHIELD (or UNIT) command the thing, as it is full of "Japanazis." Cliff lands on the flight deck, unloads with a tommy gun and never takes any returning fire from the Japanese. He shoots up the passageways below and dumps some dynamite on the ship's captain...



Reb pilots their plane as Cliff jumps on the wing and isn't torn off by the slipstream. they manage to escape before the few sticks of dynamite destroy the entire massive ship. They head for home.

Thoughts: Well, I assume this appealed to cat's hippie sensibilities but I found this issue rather laughable. There are better ways to explore psychological issue related to the past and present in our characters than some third-rate trippy scenario that isn't wild enough to be an Underground, or thoughtful enough to be a Vertigo story. I give Chuck points for trying something different; but, I hate pseudo-mystical mumbo jumbo and it reads like it is supposed to be a peyote trip but they were too cowardly to depict the actual use (probably because of the Waldenbooks deal). This is supposed to be indie comics, not Code-Approved stuff. It reads like typical white guy twisting native practices to fit is own worldview, stripping away the spiritual and cultural elements to represent his own POV. Chris Claremont was doing the same thing in X-Men, with the aborigine character who opens up the dreamtime to the mutants. This doesn't quite have the same cultural sensitivity that Tim Truman displayed, with Scout's vision quest rituals or sweat lodge healing ceremonies. Truman was very careful in his research and made sure of his details. This reads more like a generic gloss of that kind of thing, from someone who just sees it as a story device. It really serves no purpose, as Hirota made peace with his past ages ago and Valkyrie did with hers, in her first mini-series. Davy had decided to end Nelson's involvement in munitions earlier; so, it just seems like he is rehashing old stuff.

Mostly, I think Chuck just needed a palate cleanser after the Afghan mission and came up with this, possibly after being approached by Longstreth (or cat suggesting it, or some combination). It doesn't really lead anywhere, as we see next issue that Chuck, instead, explores the end of WW2 and how Valkyrie became a prisoner of Misery. That storyline plays out until the final issue of the series, #50. Maybe he explained his motivation better in the Airboy Archives, though I haven't seen the final volume (only the first 4).

Zero Hunter is one of the fake Jolly Farmer comics, from Strike! and this story is supposed to be from All-Thrill Comics #4...



Sgt Strike we know and White Hunter was a Tarzan pastiche that was presented in one of the Strike! "reprints," as was The rattler (a Shadow pastiche). I don't recall how he described Gale Force; probably a Domino Lady or Blonde Phantom type. The story itself is supposed to be a parody of the jingoistic and bloodthirsty Golden Age comics from Hillman and Fiction House (more Fiction House, really) and other publishers of the 40s. Japanese are presented as sneaky and treacherous, while Americans are virtuous, though at least they stopped short of the buck-toothed caricatures (well, not very short, if you look at the art). It tries to be like a National Lampoon comic book parody but isn't quite as sophisticated (if that really applies) as some of those were. It's a bit too faithful to be ironic and not really madcap enough for something like Mad. Black 'N' Blue Hawks it ain't. At least it actually addresses how the Japanese aren't swept off the carrier deck (magnetic boots) which seemed to escape some artists when they handled the Hellicarrier (though Zero Hunter is lacking said boots and isn't caught in a slipstream, on the carrier or the wing of his own plane). The end result is a parody that is just as offensive as the real thing. The amazing thing is that cat yronwode is okay with that!

Really, the glory days of Airboy are long over and some would argue they had been ever since Bogantilla. The real draw, in terms of great story, was Skywolf and he is absent from this issue because of a Hurrican in the Yucatan, which affected Alberto Maldonado. I believ this was supposed to be the Cuba adventure, or, at least, the set up. The note in the letters column said chaotic conditions prevented it from arriving in time to print; but, there are no more Skywolf stories, through the next 5 issues, suggesting Eclipse decided not to print it, at all. Instead, we will have various Hillman reprints.

Next, Ernie Colon joins as artist as Chuck explores what happened to the Air Fighters, as the war came to an end.

Next: Scout: War Shaman #8

Airboy #46



Back to some pulp, after last month's head trip.

Those firearms look huge! I think Ernie spent a little too much time drawing Richie Rich.

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-writer, Ernie Colon-artist, Reuben Rude & Mel Johnson-colors, cat yronwode-editor
The Death Lights: Unknown-story, Fred Kida-art, Mel Johnson-recoloring

Also from Eclipse: Appleseed #4, Brought to Light TPB, Dirty Pair #1, Dreamery #13, Reid Fleming #3, Zot #23 & 24. Eclipse is a bit sparse on offerings for December, 1988. I had just graduated from Supply Corps School and was on leave, en route to my first command. Dirty Pair is a new manga title, involving a pair of future troubleshooters in a sci-fi setting. The concept was inspired by All-Japan Women Pro Wrestling and their stars, the Beauty Pair (Jackie Sato & Maki Ueda) who were a popular tag-team and had a hit pop single. They would inspire future stars, including the Crush Gals, Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo, who were wrestling and pop stars in the 80s, spawning a massive explosion of popularity with Japanese women's pro wrestling (known as Joshi puroresu). Reid Fleming was a sporadic title, from the start and Zot had gaps, periodically, depending on Scott McLoud's plate. Brought to Light was a biggie, with a central feature ("Shadowplay: The Secret Team") from Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz, detailing the CIA's involvement in the drug trade in Central America and their activities in other aspects, throughout the region. The second half featured a piece from Joyce Babner and Tom Yeates, "Flashpoint: The La Penca Bombing." Paul Mavrides provided a 2-page "30 Years of Covert War." Moore and Sienkiewicz teaming up was a big deal; but, the political content severely reduced interest from fans who wanted a superhero feature from them.

Synopsis: Davy is in San Diego, raising hell at Nelson Aviation. He is confronted with the reality of what his plants will manufacture in place of weapons, to fulfill his promises that no one will lose their jobs. When one exec invokes his father's name and chastises Davy for being off adventuring in his silly costume, he is fired.



In the mess he created, Davy finds a key, from his father's personal effects. It doesn't match anything in the office and Davy thinks it must be for something back home. He returns to the monastery and tries to find the lock the key fits. Hirota sees the key and seems to know what it reveals but says nothing. the key has a lion's head and Davy eventually traces it to a lion's head piece of decor on a wall. It opens a secret cupboard, in which is Volume 2 of his father's memoirs, which he had been unable to locate. Davy sits down to read it...



The time is May, 1945 and Davy Sr and Val enter Hamburg, Germany, with the British Army. Hamburg was Valkyrie's home and she surveys the damage to it, which isn't much, compared to other cities. Val is given flowers by two small children and thanks them, then becomes very emotional. She is near her old home and speaks of her mother's death and her father moving them away, to the family estate, at Magdeburg. Val's father, Graf Karl von Schellendorf, was a WW1 aviator and suffered survivor's guilt. He became isolated and was angered by the rise of the Nazis. he took his own life. After his death, Val uses her inheritance to pursue their one shared love, flying, and she becomes the "Amelia Earhart of Germany." She became a popular celebrity, especially among the Nazis and Hermann Goering and is promoted as the embodiment of German Womanhood. Liselotte Von Schellendorf becomes The Valkyrie and heads up a special squadron, the Airmaidens (or Luft Madchen).



Val's reminisces bring her back to the present and switching sides to the Allies, for love of Davy Nelson, Airboy. they go off to be alone.

Elsewhere, the Heap is in Berlin, drawn to the city that was his home, in life. he sees a child scavenging in the ruins, then is drawn to the sound of laughter. It is Misery...



Misery has grown powerful under the death and despair of Berlin and the Nazi Regime. The Heap senses it does not belong in this world and moves to attack, but Misery has grown powerful enough to affect reality and sends robot soldiers to attack the Heap.

Meanwhile, on Okinawa, Skywolf is with a group of GIs, preparing to face a banzai charge. In the Netherlands, the Flying Dutchman receives word of a convoy, possibly retreating Germans. He goes to look and strafes the column, then gets word not to attack, that it carries liberated slave workers from a Ducth SS camp.



Davy and Val return to London and witness the rejoicing on VE Day, but are not happy. They know the war isn't over, yet, for them. They return to bed for more living.

The Death Lights:

At a German base, a party goes on, but the German commander, Von Klepp, plans on destroying Valkyrie and the Air Maidens. His lover shows jealousy and he shoots her, to show he is evil.



He has a plan to use a powerful light beam to destroy bomber missions.

In England, at an RAF base, Val is the center of a party, but she has eyes only for Airboy. A wounded pilot stumbles in, reporting the blinding light and failed mission. Davy decides to go after the weapon, in Birdie and is blinded, but Birdie lands safely. he tries to attack the Germans ont he ground and is captured. Val leads the Air Maidens on a daylight mission. The base is camouflaged; but, Birdie gets out from under coveer, alone, and is spotted by Valkyrie. She attacks and destroys the interceptors that are sent after her, while Davy leads a breakout from the prison (with the downed British crews). Davy hops in Birdie and takes to the air, aiding the Air Maidens in destroying the Germans, as Valkyrie kills Von Klepp. The return to England, safely.



Thoughts: The back-up is a typical Hillman Airboy story, with Valkyrie and her Air Maidens front and center, to mirror the focus on Val, in the main story. We see Germany as the Allies have entered it, as the country collapses in the wake of Hitler's death. It is hardly a time of celebration for Valkyrie, as it reminds her of what she has lost. Meanwhile, we see the source of the Flying Dutchman's curse, as we know he is a servant of Misery, as seen in past issues and Total Eclipse. His bloodthirstiness led him to attack a column, rather than scout it, killing innocent civilians, who were the victims of the Nazis.

The Heap is in Berlin, where Misery is strongest and tries to stop him, but Misery is too powerful. So, we see the despair in Valkyrie, at the destruction of her home and unhappy memories of family and her life under the Nazis. Heap sees Von Emmelman's home in ruins. Dutchman kills innocents and Skywolf faces certain death on Okinawa. Misery is strong, indeed.

This story chronicles how Valkyrie became the hostage of Misery, allowing him to force Davy Nelson into arms manufacturing and sale, creating further misery in the world. There is strong psychological stuff going on here. What is a bit jarring is Ernie Colon's stylized art, which borders on "cartoony." Colon had done plenty of fantasy and adventure, but had spent a lot of time at Harvey Comics, doing Richie Rich. I like the art, as that stylization lends itself well to horror, much like Joe Staton, who illustrated many horror comics at Charlton, while also doing the comic adventures of E-Man. That exaggeration of reality takes the story into more extreme areas, giving it a nightmarish quality than more illustrative art doesn't always achieve, much like the effect of Picasso's "Guernica."

Colon was a controversial choice, though the readership of the series had dropped off, between visibility, due to the glutting of the market to a lack of superheroes for the mainstream, Airboy was a cult book, with a title that worked against its content. The art in the book had largely been handled by Kubert School alumni, in styles reminiscent of their mentor. Colon is a departure; but one I enjoy. However, cat yronwode would use him as a scape goat for sales, as there were delays in getting out the later chapters of the story. No mention is made that Colon is penciling, inking and lettering each issue, rather than just the one job, not Eclipse's own problems with publication and financing.

Valkyrie is finally given a name, Liselotte Von Schellendorf. Uh-hunh. At Hillman, she was just the Valkyrie and that continued here, until this story. Not certain of why Chuck chose Liselotte, for her given name (there was a German Communist resistance fighter, who was executed by the Nazis, in 1938); but, the surname is a fake and is likely an homage to Shel Dorf, founder of the San Diego Comicon (and also worked in art, in commercial design), though he might possibly have gotten the name from Fritz Bronsart von Schellendorf, a German officer who was a liason to the ottoman Empire (and was instrumental in the Armenian Genocide) and was a supporter of Hitler and the Nazis, int he 30s. However, that would seem an odd choice, given Karl's hatred of the Nazis. In the flashback, Von Schellendorf is described as an equal to Von Richtofen, Von Emmelman (aka The Heap) and Von hammer (aka Enemy Ace, at DC, a tribute to co-creator Joe Kubert).

Valkyrie's past as an aviatrix is, in part, inspired by Hanna Reitsch, who was a noted female German pilot, who also acted as a test pilot for many German aircraft, including the helicopter the Focke-Achgelis Fa 61. She loved publicity and her blond hair, blue eyes and achievements made her perfect for Nazi propaganda. During the siege of Berlin, she landed a Storch spotter plane near the Brandenburg Gate and tried to convince Hitler to leave. he gave her a poison capsule which she accepted. She was captured, along with Luftwaffe head (and friend) Robert Ritter von Griem, by US military intelligence officers. She was held for 18 months and released, despite being devoted to Hitler. After the war, German citizens were banned from flying powered aircraft, for a time, but gliding was opened up again and she took it back up. She was later invited to India, by Nehru and created a glider school, which led to further work doing the same in Ghana. John F Kennedy invited her to the White House, in 1961. In her latter days she gave interviews and held onto her Nazi beliefs and statements that Goering told her the stories of the Germans killing Jews was a lie, created by the British and Americans. Whether she actually believed that is not present in the quote and the citation I found has no further context.

Airboy #47



Terrific cover, from Ernie Colon!

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-writer, Ernie Colon-art & letters, Mel Johnson-colors, cat yronwode-editor

Also from Eclipse: Dirty Pair #2, Fusion #13, Night Music #8, Scout: War Shaman #9. Eclipse has really fallen off, with its output. Much of it is being done outside, such as the 4 Winds line and the Acme Press material. Viz has broken away from them, taking Area 88 with them (Xenon and Legend of Kamui had finished). So, not much is coming out from them, on a regular basis. Eclipse spent a lot of money on Total Eclipse, which didn't end up being a huge success, as it appeared on a crowded newsstand. Eclipse also gambled on newsstand distribution and places like Waldenbooks, but didn't have the cash to really market it. Their output for 1989 will be much scaled back, though we will see them venture into the trading card world, while also producing more graphic novels and book collections, as well as one-shots and smaller projects.

Synopsis: Davy continues to read his father's diary, about the latter days of the war, with Germany having fallen.



We are told that Sgt Strike is still classified and not likely to be seen, which mostly means Eclipse was done with it, since he flopped. Davy and Val (Or Lisel) are headed for the Pacific, where Skywolf is already fighting, on Okinawa. We cut to August and Skywolf has survived Okinawa and is on Tinian, refueling, and he is shooting the S234 with a pilot, named Tibbets...



Skywolf heads off and hears a noise, but dismisses it as rats, missing the Japanese soldier who is raiding the garbage, for food. He sneaks back past the sentries, into the jungle and to a cave, where he presents it to his officer, Hirota. Hirota despairs that Bushido is no match for the industrial might of America. We cut to 4 days later, as Misery sits in the rubble of Hiroshima and basks in his power.



We move ahead to the 15th, and the Air Fighters meet up in mainland China, so celebrate VJ Day...



Val proposes that the group meet every year, and the Astoria Hotel, in New York, to relive old times. The group seconds it and continues their celebration.

Ernie gets the month wrong, as we move to the 27th (he lettered April, instead of August) and we see that the Chinese Civil War has resumed. we see one of Chiang Kai-Shek's warlords, Lu Hiang Po, who is losing the battle against the Communists and turns to misery for more aid; but Misery is done with him. Misery leaves him to look for a better candidate to drag out the suffering of the war.

in California, Davy writes that Val has a letter from the Black Angel, who is retiring. in Rotterdam, the Flying Dutchman, in civies, buys a meal with a starving man who had been a laborer in the slave camps of the SS and remarks about how their convoy was strafed, even as they were near freedom.

Back in California, Davy & Val are in birdie, chasing after some bank robbers, who have a hostage tied up in the back seat. they are having the time of their life, reliving a life of danger...



They nab the car with Birdie's claws and lift it off the ground. Davy climbs out and sticks his pistol in their face and gets the hoods to dump their heaters. he flies them back to land, since dumping them in the ocean, like Nazis, isn't the thing to do anymore (not to mention the hostage, who is still tied up in the back) and he lands back on the coast and turns them over to the cops.

Meanwhile, in Nuremberg, Germany, in October 1946, Misery finds his vessel to prolong the suffering of the war...



He finds one of the most miserable pilots of all, Hermann Goering, who has committed suicide via cyanide capsule, rather than the executioner's knot. He takes Hermann to his realm and attires him in his gaudy Reichsmarschall uniform. He shows him the Airtomb and says Goering will fly it to attack America. Glen miller isn't impressed...



Another Hillman reprint follows, from Airboy #7, from 1943...



Hermann Goering watches as two of his aces duel with live ammo in their planes, with Youth Kultur shooting down Baron Krool...



Later, a balloon is spotted off the US cost and an alert is sounded. the balloon is scouted by Airboy, who blasts it, setting it ablaze, but revealing Youth Kultur in his small plane, as it was a Trojan Horse. They dogfight and the Nazi escapes. Davy realizes that the stunt was more than an attack on him and searches for Kultur, eventually finding him, near an aluminum plant. Davy stops him from throwing bombs into the plant, from a freight train and they battle on top of the cars. It gets pretty nasty...



Davy escapes in Birdie and they re-engage, in the air. They battle it out, as Davy discovers that the plane has props at both ends, allowing it to reverse course, but he attacks from above and destroys it, sending it into the ocean.

Thoughts: Chuck continues to build our anticipation of what Misery is about to unleash, as he basks in the radioactive glow of Hiroshima and then collects the dead Goering, to fly the Airtomb. Connect the dots and I think you will see what he is planning.

We see some happy times for the Air Fighters and post-war thrills for Davy and Val, reminding us that the original Hillman comics continued after the war, until 1953 (about 11 years), when Hillman closed down its comic book line, to focus on magazines and books. We know the fates of some, as Flying Dutchman will end up in Misery's realm and Valkyrie will be his hostage, forcing Airboy to do his bidding. Link Thorne, Riot O'Hara and Skywolf will all be involved in the Chinese Civil War and Cocky, Judge and Turtle will be shot down, under orders of the CIA, with only Skywolf surviving. His exploits would continue on, as seen in the back-up stories, through Korea and into Indochina, for the fall of Dien Bien Phu. Will still have to learn how Dutchman and Valkyrie end up in Misery's clutches and what Misery's full plan is.

Colon is still great with both the adventure and the horror, though his art style caused grumblings, from fans.

Airboy #48



Sounds like the film title for a dramatization of a Wrong-Way Corrigan bombing mission!

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-writer, Ernie Colon-art & letters, Mel Johnson-colors, cat yronwode-editor & blamethrower

The letters column was written by cat yronwode, instead of Chuck and it throws Ernie Colon under the bus for issue #49 being late. It was published 4 months after this one. At the same time, she claims that issue 50, featuring work from the Kuberts was in house and completed; yet, it was published 4 months after issue 49. Sounds to me like cat is using Colon as an excuse for Eclipse's growing erratic schedules. Just a few months later, they published the first issue of Mike Grell's James Bond: Permission to Die, the first of a 3 issue mini-series. Issue 2 came out 6 months later and issue 3 came out a year and a half after the first (my old collection index card records indicated 2 years). I met Mike Grell a few years back and asked him about that delay, with a suspicion in mind, based on things I read about the latter days of eclipse, in the following years. sure enough, he said that Eclipse had the whole thing, in house and on time; but, could not get them printed on time because they had burned too many bridges with printers and bounced checks and had to pay cash up front to get their titles printed. Alan Moore had disputes with cat on his last few issues and Neil Gaiman later had disputes over payment. cat later threw Dean Mullaney under the bus for bounced checks, especially after their divorce/split. I've read some accounts that throw shade in dean's direction; but, I've also read just as many about cat, as an editor; so, I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle, with the pair of them being poor business people and not as friendly and lovable as their editorial pages would have you believe. Then again, I knew someone who worked for Eclipse who thought the world of cat; so, who knows?

Anyway, on with the show....

Synopsis: When we last left, Misery had colelcted the soul (or whatever) of Hermann Goering, to pilot the Airtomb, in a bid to prolong the suffering of WW2 and its aftermath. The splash page indicates Davy's journal, noting Goering's suicide and that he and Valkyrie will not have to testify at Nuremburg and Val's troubled past-associations. We move on to Misery's briefing of der Reichsmarschall. Goering loves it, Glen Miller seems unimpressed...



He is introduced to his crew, including Generaloberst Hans Jeschonnek (Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe, under Goerring), Hideo Koga (a Japanese pilot, possibly a Hillman character), Generaloberst Ernst Udet (Nazi and early head of research and procurement, who committed suicide, in 1941), Oberst Werner Molders (Germany's top ace, the first with over 100 victories, before his death) and Youth Kultur (a Hillman character, from last issues reprint story). Then, he is introduced to the pilot for the mission, The Flying Dutchman...



Goering decides where they will strike....New York City. the Air Tomb takes off, as Glen Miller plays them out.

We cut to New Years eve, 1946, in New York, where the Air Fighters are having their reunion. Present are Davy & Valkyrie, Skywolf, Cocky, Judge, Turtle, Link Thorne, Wing Ding, Riot O'Hara and Iron Ace. Black Angel is retired and misses the show and Bald Eagle is off treasure hunting in Peru. No one knows where the Flying Dutchman is. Davy confides to Skywolf that he intends to propose to Val that evening and shows him the ring. he says he will slow down, but isn't entirely planning on retirement. they then notice the sky, with weird lights and cloud formations. Davy recognizes it from past encounters with Misery. They then see the Air Tomb and head off to get the others. Goring begins their bombing run over the city. and the crew unload from the machine gun positions...



The radio reports of the attack and destruction and asks where the Air Force is? Well, it hasn't been established yet, unless they mean the Army Air Force. Doesn't matter, because the Air Fighters are scrambling....



Davy sends a signal to Birdie and she takes off from Flushing Airport, in Queens, without a pilot. Skywolf and his bunch head for Bennett Field, where their P-38 Lightnings are parked. Davy and Val rendezvous with Birdie and take off. While crossing Manhattan Bridge, Skywolf notices the Air Tomb above them and the bomb bay doors open, launching Youth Kultur and his fore-and-aft propellered aircraft and asks for the BAR under the seat, but is handed a stylized Thompson (so either Ernie drew it wrong or Chuck screwed up....looks closer to a German Stg 44 than a Thompson, the way Colon drew it).



They try shooting him down from the car, but can't get a bead on him. They remark that the though he was dead, having been killed by Airboy (last issue's reprint), then stop the car to unload, in force.

Meanwhile, above the Air Tomb, Davy starts his attack run and hits the machine gun positions and blows out the rear section of the aircraft. Goring gets POed. Davy tries a frontal assault and gets a surprise, as the Air Tombs nose section opens up like the mouth of a dragon, complete with teeth!



There follows a reprint of a Black Angel story, from Air Fighters #9, from 1943 (art by John Cassone).



Black Angel is attending an RAF ball and has accessorized her black strapless evening gown with her skullcap. She dances with the dashing Black Prince, aka Col Prince, of the RAF. He makes a fast move and plants one on her, before duty calls and he is whisked away to a reconnaissance mission, over the Ruhr. Since there is no such thing as Operational Security in comic books, Black Angel hears his mission and soon joins him, in the air. Meanwhile, Black Angel's foe, baroness Blood, hears a BBC radio broadcast, with gossip about Black prince and Black Angel, which is fast work, since they just met. She is in love with Black Prince (she keeps his wanted poster on her wall)



and gets a report that the pair have been spotted over the Ruhr. She goes to report to the Air Marshall (Goring, I presume). he's got the hots for Black Angel and would make her his frau, if she were on their side. Baroness goads him into ordering a mass interception, despite his unpatriotic assertion that it would be suicide...



The battle rages and a suicide pilot (um...the Luftwaffe wasn't into that kind of thing...that was the Japanese territory) crashes his plane into Black Prince's wing and doesn't ignite any fuel, but he has to bail out. Black Angel also gets hit and hits the silk. They are captured and interrogated by their German suitors, which gets kind of embarrassing for the Sieg Heil crowd...



Goring has the heroes married and put in front of a firing squad. baroness orders that blanks only be used for Black Prince (without Goring's knowledge). Goring performs the ceremony (I don't think he is ordained), then orders the soldiers to fire. the couple survive and escape in a plane. baroness rages at Goring, who reveals he had blanks loaded for Black Angel. The couple returns to England, but don't consumate the marriage, as Black Angel ends up back at her aunt's castle, with a rather frustrated look...



Thoughts: poorly rendered weapons aside, this is pretty exciting stuff, as the Air fighters battle the Air Tomb. Funny enough, the plot of this issue has parallels, perhaps deliberately, with and outside source: the first Wilc Cards novel, edited by George RR Martin. The Wild Cards series grew out of a role playing game, where Martin was gamemaster, with a group of sci-fi authors, with a superhero theme. Martin was intending to write a novel of his character, The Great and Powerful Turtle (a telekinetic hero, operating from an armored VW Bug); but needed other characters. This led to creating an anthology, with the various writers adding their owns stories, of their characters. The lead story was titled, "Thirty Seconds Over Broadway," by Harold Waldrop, and featured the character Jetboy, as he tries to stop an old foe from unleashing a bomb, with an alien virus, over New York, in the post-War period. Jetboy fails to stop the release and the Wild card virus, as it becomes known, is unleashed upon the earth. Most victims are killed outright (drawing the Black Queen), while others become deformed mutants (Jokers) and a small percentage gain beneficial powers (Aces). The virus was developed by an alien race, who had been fighting a civil war, with the weapon designed to attack the genetic purity of the rival faction. The weapons was sent to earth to be tested, but a member of the race (known as Dr Tachyon), attempts to stop the experiment and fails. Jetboy was inspired by Airboy, while Dr Tachyon was inspired by Dr Who. This issue of Airboy appeared 2 years after the release of the first Wild Cards book. Coincidence? I doubt it. Alan Moore would use a similar plot in Top Ten: The Forty Niners, about the birth of the Neopolis, where Skyshark (a Blackhawk analog) sets out to bomb the slums of Neopolis, in a eugenics-inspired plot.

The letters page has one from regular commenter TE Pouncey, who takes issue with the lettering, which is uncredited. cat once again throws Colon under the bus, as he did the lettering. The criticism is valid, as certain letters are hard to read, with the wavy lines. Otherwise, despite the drastic change in style, I like Colon's work on this. The cartoony style adds horrific touches to things and his layouts are very dynamic. It is rather stylized; but, not negatively so.

The reprint is a hoot (if rather sexist, but it is from 1943, from a comic aimed at young boys), with our lovers and their German counterparts. Black Angel's stories could get a bit kinky, as bondage and torture were a regular dramatic device; but, this shows they could also be lighthearted and fun. You could almost see this as a Looney Tunes short (like the 1944 one, "Plane daffy," where Daffy Duck confounds Goring, or "Herr Meets Hare," where Bugs Bunny messes with the fat guy). The silliness does make last issues reprint of Airboy vs Youth Kultur seem like something from the History Channel (before they started doing "documentaries" about ancient alien civilizations and other fantasies). Still, I would buy a collection of her stories, if this is a good example of the majority. In general, my experience with Hillman's Air Fighters and airboy comics is that they were pretty darn good, especially for the era. Not Blackhawk, but a cut above a lot of what was out there, in the 40s. They were popular enough to last into the 1950s, which was a better track record than a lot of companies from the 40s.

Most of Goring's crew were real people. Hans Jeschonnek was a WW1 veteran, who started as an infantry officer and transferred to the Luftstreitkrafte, the imperial air corps and shot down two planes, earning an Iron Cross. he continued to serve in the Reichswehr, after the war, under the Weimar Republic. He was an admirer of Hitler and the Nazis and buddied up to goring and, with the Nazis in power, quickly rose from Hauptman (captain) to Generalmajor, in 7 years (jumping 4 ranks, in a peacetime military). He became Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe and focused almost completely on the close air support role, in conjunction with the blitzkrieg concept. This is part of what doomed the Luftwaffe, as the war went on, as reserves, logistics, strategic bombing and other considerations were minimized or ignored. Jeschonnek committed suicide in 1943, after stress from the continued failure of the Luftwaffe to defend Germany from air strikes and achieve victory in North Africa and Italy. Ernst Udet was a WW1 ace, with 62 kills, second only to Richthofen and had also served under Goring, when he took command of Richthofen's squadron, after his death. after an interwar period as a barnstormer and light aircraft manufacturer, he joined the Nazi party and was involved in the early development of the Luftwaffe. he was instrumental in developing the dive bombing techniques of the Stuka and was Director-General of Equipment for the Luftwaffe. Stress of the position led to alcoholism and suicide, in 1941. Werner Molders was part of the Condor Legion, Germany's contribution to the Spanish Civil War (responsible for the bombing of Guernica, along with the Aviazione Legionaria, the Fascist contribution), where he had 14 kills and wracked up another 68 from the start of the war, through the Battle of Britain. His unit was then pulled for Operation Barbarossa, where he brought his totals to 101, the first German ace to reach that total. He was taken out of combat for propaganda use and was made Inspector of fighters, at age 28. He was killed, while making an emergency landing, at Breslau. Hideo Koga seems to be fictional and I suspect he was a Hillman enemy of Airboy, like Hirota, but I can't verify that. I found no reference to a historical Japanese pilot by that name. youth Kultur was a Hillman character, the German Airboy, killed by Davy Nelson in the story reprinted in issue 47 of this series (which is why I thing Koga is a Hillman character).

One thing we don't know, is how Flying Dutchman came to be in Misery's service, as he says he joined them, "from the other side." Misery's thralls are all dead aviators, mostly ones from the enemy side of things. We can infer one of two things: either Flying Dutchman committed suicide, out of guilt for strafing the convoy carrying freed slave laborers or that he somehow was able to cross dimensions into Misery's realm. Misery can do this and we have seen the Heap do it; but not other characters, without supernatural aid. So, if he did not commit suicide and enter Misery's realm that way, my guess would be that Misery was drawn to him and enticed him into his realm, as a form of self-punishment for his hasty actions. Either way, we now know why Flying Dutchman is in Misery's clutches. we will soon see though, that he does not blindly follow his master.

So, we are now building to the climax, which should reveal how Valkyrie fell into Misery's clutches, allowing Misery to bask in Davy Nelson's torment, until his death. That will have further repercussions for Davy III.

Gonna move ahead with Airboy, since we are near the end, regardless of release schedule.

Airboy #49



So, any idea how the issue is going to end?

Well, given how the series began, it wasn't exactly a secret.

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-writer, Ernie Colon-art & letters, Mel Johnson-colors, cat yronwode-editor & excuses

Synopsis: When last we left, Birdie had been swallowed up by Misery's Airtomb, with Davy and Val on board. While this happens, the Air fighters are on the ground, firing at Youth Kultur's forward-and-backward aircraft...



The Nazi counterpart to Airboy goes down in flames for a second time. On the Airtomb, Birdie is stuck and Davy and Val climb out and hear a familiar howling. They follow it and find The Heap a prisoner of Misery and some mechanical contrivances. They free him, but are confronted by Goring and Misery...



Goring slimes himself in Val's direction, calling her by her given name, Liselotte. Davy shoots him down; but, he's already dead and in Misery's realm. meanwhile, Skywolf and his group have reclaimed their P-38s and Link and Riot are in a bomber or cargo plane (Colon gives it a generic silhouette, which suggests more of a cargo plane), searching for Davy and spot the Airtomb, headed over New Jersey. They swoop down and attack, while Davy, Val and the Heap fight their way through Misery's hordes, inside.



Skywolf is frustrated that their weapons aren't bringing the plane down, then hits upon the idea of attacking the pilots and fires into the cockpit from in front, riddling Flying Dutchman and Goring. Davy has Heap punch through bulkheads, as they are losing their way through passageways, trying to get back to Birdie. they finally reach her and Heap tries to free it from the Airtomb's grasp, while Davy fires her up. They are all distracted and Misery appears, right behind Valkyrie...



Misery is too powerful, in his own realm and Valkyrie cannot break free of his grasp. Davy is too afraid to fire at Misery, lest he hit Val. he calls for Heap to help and Misery laughs, as he hurls Heap out of the Airtomb, to crash to the ground below. Misery now tells Davy his plan, to prolong the suffering of the war, which feeds him power. Davy listens and extends his hand to Val to pull her away, as Misery tells him he needs Davy to prolong the suffering, but Valkyrie will stay, as insurance. Suddenly, the floor of the Airtomb starts parting and Davy and Birdie are dumped outside, with Val telling Davy she belongs there. He knows it is Misery's doing, playing on her guilt, but he is powerless to stop Misery.



Birdie plummets from the sky and crashes, near Allendale, NJ. The Airtomb flies into storm clouds and disappears, as Skywolf radios the others to break off. They find the crash site and land, and Davy tells Skywolf that Misery has Val, as he holds the engagement ring he was going to give Valkyrie.

The diary ends, with a note that it should be buried with Davy, on his death. Davy goes down to the crypt, below the monastery, to put it with his fathers body and discovers it missing...



There is only a note, from Misery, saying that Davy Nelson II is with him. Davy III crumples the note, with an expression of fierce anger.

There follows a reprint of Airboy comics Vol2, #12 (Hillman renumbered their comics annually, with a new volume number and then issues 1-12), which features the Return of Misery (art by Fred Kida)...



Airboy is in Burma and Val is also there, with the Air Maidens, flying escort for transports. Davy reports and is given a mission to investigate the disappearance of aircraft. There are no signs of crash and it seems similar to what occurred in Europe, when Misery first appeared. sure enough, a message is received from Misery, telling Davy that he is coming for him. Davy goes off to face him and spots the formation of transports, with the Air
Maidens in P-39 Aircobras, flying escort. Davy radios the lead plane and is interrupted by Misery, taunting Davy. Then, Valkyrie goes out of control, attacking planes in the formation. Davy gets over her plane and Birdie latches on and Davy knocks Val out and pulls her aboard Birdie. He looks for a place to set down, then spots the Airtomb.



Davy sets down and is confronted by Misery, who says Valkyrie is his. Then, Val is behind Davy, awake and holding her Luger on him. Davy offers to bargain with Misery and go with him, in Val's place, until Misery bares his head and chest, overwhelming Davy with his evil power. Misery carries Davy off to the Airtomb, with Valkyrie following blindly behind. He goes over to the Black Hole of Calcutta (a literal canyon hole in the Himalayas), to throw Airboy down into it, until the Airtomb claims him. Val wakes up and leaps at Misery, knocking him into the hole, while Davy lands back away from the edge.

They leave in Birdie, but are followed by the Airtomb. Davy lands on it and goes inside and fights Misery, until Misery replaces the air with helium, asphyxiating Davy. he taunts him that he will take Valkyrie, too.



Davy wakes up on Birdie, with Val piloting, with a handkerchief over her mouth and nose. She says she crawled in, hugging the floor and rescued Davy, while Misery couldn't see him in the heavy vapor. Misery shakes his fist and curses them, from a distance.

Thoughts: So, now we know how Valkyrie came into the clutches of Misery and Davy Nelson II was kept under Misery's thrall, selling armaments to nations that used them to make war on the innocent. Thus, we come full circle in the series. Only real problem with the story is that Misery's power never seems very consistent. As the reprint shows, Davy and Val could come under his power, though he could be defeated, if he wasn't concentrating. However, in the original storyline, Misery isn't able to bring Davy III under his spell. Some of that may be down to The Heap, as he is able to reach through portals and grab Misery. Even so, it feels like Valkyrie falling into his clutches happens rather easily and Davy seems awfully weak, all of a sudden. I think the problem is the proximity of Valkyrie to Birdie, in Colon's art. I have a suspicion that Chuck meant for her to be further away, when Misery grabs her and Davy can't get to her and Davy doesn't have the Heap to even the odds. It's all a bit vague, on the page. The reprint story has a similar convenient ending, showing Misery's power suddenly waning. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be any rules about how Misery's power works. We do see that human Misery feeds him energy and he was at his most powerful with the destruction of Berlin and then Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As more suffered, he gained power. That allows him to overwhelm The Heap, who is weakened by the emotional drain of seeing his beloved Berlin in ruins. In the modern era, the Heap had years to find peace and grew in hope and positive energy, when he saw Davy III and Birdie. his friend was back and he was not going to fail, again. Given the state of the world, Misery's power seemed to have decreased a bit, as Vietnam was over and Afghanistan wasn't on a large enough scale. Somehow, Davy II seemed to be able to hide Davy III, from Misery. Perhaps he thought him inconsequential, while he held Valkyrie, though you'd think he'd be a further target.

We never really do find out why Misery claimed the souls of dead pilots and why he seemed to collect the more moral with the evil. You can't draw a straight parallel to Hell, as Glen Miller died in a plane crash, an innocent victim and we see that other crash victims have ended up in Misery's realm. I guess it comes down to, "Comics....shut up!" There really is no rationale in the original comics, other than Misery is a supernatural being, a metaphorical Satan/Grim Reaper, to plague the hero and make it all spooky and pulpy. You can't have just dogfights every issue!

This sets up issue #50, which was to be the Anniversary celebration of the series, making it the longest sustained run of any Eclipse comic. However, behind-the-scenes issues would factor into the series' fate, which we will discuss next time.

The reprint is from after the war (late 1945) and it is unclear why the transports need fighter cover. My guess would be they were ferrying supplies to the nationalist Chinese forces and would be crossing Red Chinese territory. The Red Chinese forces had some Japanese aircraft, captured in the war or provided by the Soviets, but lacked experienced pilots and groundcrew, as well as parts. The Nationalists controlled the skies; but, were poorly led and lacked ground crews and technicians and some pilot defected sides, with their planes, which were repurposed. Most of the fighting lacked large scale air support. This is fantasy, so we continue as if we are still in a wartime situation. The supernatural elements of Airboy helped it outlive a lot of wartime comic features, even as we entered the Jet Age. regardless, the writers and Fred Kida seemed ignorant of the fact that the P-39 didn't have a supercharger and couldn't fly at high altitudes, such as crossing the Himalayas. I think Kida probably used it as a generic silhouette, as it also looks like a Spitfire, at some angles, and a P-40, at others. He doesn't draw tricycle landing gear, so he might have intended it to be a P-40. i suspect the truth is he didn't get paid enough for accurate detail and put together something that like fighter plane-ish.

Skywolf's P-38 is a good choice, as his Hillman stories featured the Semi-Planes, which would split apart for separate attacks, by the pilots and was likely inspired by the appearance of the P-38, with its twin tail booms. Within the Skywolf back-ups, Chuck confirms that the semi-Planes were just a propaganda weapon, for newsreels and that the group flew ordinary fighter aircraft, including P-47 Thunderbolts, at the end of the war and in China. Curious to see what he would have flown, had the series continued, as there were plans for Skywolf to be in Vietnam, at some point (as seen in the Heap back-ups), with the US contingent. My guess would be something like the A-1 Sky Raider or the F-100, though I wouldn't put it past Chuck to get him into a Phantom, because of the look.