As part of our annual RetroBlogs Summer Mini-Marathon...
...we're presenting the never-reprinted origin of Marvel's World War I flying ace from the anthology comic Marvel Super-Heroes #16 (1968)!
Yeah, we know it's a heck of a time to break away, but fear not, True Believer!
You'll find the pulse-pounding conclusion to this tale, along with some background about the strip at our "brother" RetroBlog Hero Histories...on Friday!
For the record, it's written by Gary Friedrich and illustrated by Herb Trimpe with some retouching by Marie Severin.
Here's a bonus to make up for not presenting the entire tale at one shot: the original art (complete with editorial notes) for several of the pages.
Note: these are almost 50 years old and were not meant to be seen in this form by the public, just photographed by the color separation company for their coloring techs to work on, so they're not "clean".
There was no "original art market" as there is today, and often these pages were lost, destroyed, or given away to family, friends, or clients after being photographed!
Love this comic, one of my very first ever! Several years ago, I took my copy to a convention attended by both Trimpe and Friedrich and got both signatures. Herb Trimpe was thrilled to see it, a book he says he rarely saw and yelled at Friedrich. My copy is a cherished item by an artist I had enormous respect for.
ReplyDeleteI also got Mr. Trimpe to draw a portrait of Phantom Eagle for me and that ended up in a recent issue of Alter Ego.
I cannot believe this has never been reprinted.
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