Halloween Horror AIR FIGHTERS COMICS "Meets Misery!" Conclusion

Ten-Hut!
When we last saw World War II's popular teen aviator hero...

...A shadowy figure calling himself "Misery" threatens to shoot down any British aircraft he encounters...and does so with frightening efficiency!
AirBoy responds to the challenge, but is knocked unconscious by Misery's otherworldly "Air Tomb" which zaps him with an electric charge...

Misery did, indeed, return...several times...in both AirBoy's Golden Age and Bronze Age adventures!
Note: the Bronze Age (1980s) series from Eclipse featured the son of the original AirBoy, but the original (Golden Age) versions of the Heap, Sky Wolf, and Valkyrie, with whom, like his father, he became...intimate!
Until next time...
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Airboy Archives
Volume 1

Halloween Horror AIR FIGHTERS COMICS "Meets Misery!" Part 1

Ten-Hut!
Aviators have been staples of heroic fiction for a century...

...and both pulps and comics had dozens of them!
This is a tale about one of the most popular ones (in both the 1940s and 1980s)!

To Be Concluded...
TOMORROW!
This never-reprinted story from Hillman's Air Fighters Comics V1N12 (1943) is the first appearance of Misery, one of teen aviator Airboy's ongoing supernatural foes (he had several)!

Apparently Airboy co-creators, writer Harry Stein and artist Fred Kida liked using mystic characters as a counterpoint to the science-based kid flyer!

Among the other foes (and friends) were Zzed, the Rat King, and The Heap!

Until tomorrow...
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WINGS COMICS "Captain WIngs Meets the Commie Korean called 'The Fanatic'!"

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Though you leathernecks and dogfaces may not realize it from this cover...

...this was, arguably, the first Korean War comic book!

Yes, behind this cover from Fiction House's Wings Comics #105 (1949) lurked the first comic book story featuring Americans battling Communist North Koreans...a year before the war broke out!

Note: May be NSFW/NSFS due to racial stereotypes common to the era!

To go a bit "meta" for a second, I'd suspect a Commie told the Fanatic that his name meant "Patriot" or "Hero" in English!

Otherwise why use such an obvious villainous name?

Cover/interior artist Bob Lubbers was also the Art Director and primary cover artist of Fiction House's comic line.

So if his interior artwork seems a little loose, or rushed, remember he was dealing with a humongous workload encompassing a dozen books at any one time!

Note, BTW, that the Koreans are wearing modified WWII Japanese uniforms and flying Japanese aircraft.

Even the precognitive unknown writer didn't know the Chinese and Russians were supplying uniforms and aircraft to the NKs!

Captain Wings was a black-ops operator in the vein of Blackhawk or Captain Midnight, going wherever his country needed him.

Whaever the current threat was, from Nazis to Commies to flying saucer-piloting aliens, Captain Wings fought them all...usually with a beautiful woman at his side...and always won!

Unfortunately, the ultimate villain, cancellation, caught up with him and Wings Comics in 1954!

Until next time...

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WARFRONT "Lone Tiger: Last Day of the Lone Tiger"

Ten-HUT!

Though Harvey's WarFront ended with #39, there was material prepared for #40...

...which would've taken the strip in a different direction!

Note: Could be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to the era.

Scanned from the original art, this tale illustrated by George Roussos is so far-fetched that I find it hard to believe Otto Binder scripted it!

Perhaps it was the book's editor, Joe Simon, who had a predilection for really-weird concepts.

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WARFRONT "Lone Tiger: Revenge of the Dragon"

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Here's the final published (but never-reprinted) adventure of...

...from Harvey's WarFront #39 (1967) as the series takes a sci-fi turn!

Since the series is based on the idea Ed is the only Flying Tiger still operating in China (the rest were reassigned to the USAAF while Ed was incapacitated and presumed lost in action), what "squadron" would the imposter help destroy?

Writer Otto Binder and artist George Roussos never explain it!

While this was the final published adventure of the Lone Tiger, there was one more tale, written and illustrated for WarFront #40!

But the book was canceled as of this issue!

However, we've found scans of the original art for that never-published story scheduled for #40...and we'll be presenting it next week!

Be here...that's an order!

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WARFRONT "Lone Tiger: The Tiger vs The Dragon"

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Continuing the never-reprinted adventures of..

...as creator/artist Wally Wood is transitioned out and replaced by a new creative team!

Does the Dragon realize the Lone Tiger is the only Flying Tiger left in China?
(the rest were recalled to join up with US Army Air Corps units!)
And why does the Tiger claim he "won't lead his men into her trap"?
Also, why, in the story's opening panel, do we see other Flying Tigers, despite being clearly told Lt Barker is "the last American at the front"?
There seem to be continuity gaffes aplenty in this never-reprinted tale from Harvey's WarFront #38 (1966) as writer Otto Binder and illustrator George Roussos (over Wally Wood roughs on several pages) take over the strip.
Whether or not the character of The Dragon (and the fact she's a woman making her a Milton Canniff-esque "dragon lady") were part of Wood's concept is unknown!
The action continues next week!

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WARFRONT "Dollar Bill Ca$h"

Ten-Hut!

Here's the other never-reprinted Wally Wood-created aviator...

...from Harvey's WarFront #37 (1966)!

Written, penciled and inked by Wally Wood with art assists by Dan Adkins, this projected series about a present-day "mercenary with a conscience" never got beyond this initial strip!

However, it's "brother" series Lone Tiger would return next issue, as you'll see next week!

Don't miss it...that's an order!

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