Star Spangled War Stories (featuring Enemy Ace) #143 & #149

Star Spangled War Stories #143

It Came From the Long Box...

Star Spangled War Stories Vol. 1 was an odd series for a nine year-old boy.  First of all, it was told from the German  perspective in war.  Wait a minute!  Weren't war comics supposed to be about good ol' American G. I. Joes taking on the Germans and kicking their patooties?  And second, this was a comic about World War I.  From the other comics I bought, it was World War II that was the subject at hand.

Nonetheless, this title reached out to me and grabbed me by my shirt collar.  I was entranced by the cover art.  The first issue I bought was Star Spangled War Stories #143.  The art was so kinetic, so alive.  First, there was the dog fight in the air.  Second, an airman was falling to certain death, but instead of fear, he displayed inexplicable heroism, saluting his commanding officer as he fell.  And third, there was the commanding officer in the cockpit saluting back to his comrade in arms and honoring his sacrifice.  What was there not to like?  Little did I know that this wonderful piece of art was the handiwork of Joe Kubert, a comic book artist whose style I would come to admire and collect.

Star Spangled War Stories #149

Issue #143 came out in March 1969.  I skipped the next few issues, but once again was pulled into the series by the cover art of Kubert in issue #149 published in March 1970.  It, too, featured an airman just about to fall to his death.  But unlike #143, this man was holding onto the plane for dear life, while being shot at my an American airplane.  There is both fear and determination on this man's face.  No resolute farewell salute, but instead just sheer will to live.

Death is a character in both covers.  It may not be portrayed as such, but it is clearly there.  These covers evoked all kinds of emotions in me: fear, bravery, determination, the will to live - all emotions I thought real soldiers much feel during war.  Heady stuff for a nine year-old.

A word about the main character of the series - Enemy Ace.  His real name was Hans von Hammer, otherwise known as the Hammer of Hell.  He was a German flying ace, originally created by Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher.  They based this war weary anti-hero loosely on the real and famous German flyer from WWI, the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen.

Kubert and Kanigher made an otherwise obscure topic into a thrilling and relevant comic about war, during a time when our country was once again at war, but this time in Vietnam.  Soldiers still struggled with all those complex emotions as they fought to live.  They took a war that had taken place 50 years earlier and offered a social commentary for the then current conflict.