Enemy Ace
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Enemy Ace is the name of DC Comics property about the adventures of a skilled but troubled German flying ace in the World Wars, Hans von Hammer AKA The Hammer of Hell. The character appeared in many different war comics.
Contents |
Overview
Enemy Ace first appeared in Our Army at War # 151, (February 1965) It was a backup story that quickly gained popularity. As a World War I pilot flying for the Germans, his stories told the German side of the war, in which Hans von Hammer was a man of honor and chivalry, a flying knight in his Fokker Dr.I, but he was haunted by his duties and the constant death surrounding them.
Created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, the Enemy Ace was taken almost directly from the real-life Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. Both flew vermillion aircraft. Both were of aristocratic blood. But the comic book character was able to delve deep into the realm of fantasy where no history book could reach.
The character's stories have been praised as among DC's strongest war stories of the Silver Age of comic books. He was revived for a few graphic novels. The first was Enemy Ace: War Idyll (1989) by George Pratt, where Hammer is revealed to have lived until 1969 where he died peacefully upon concluding his interviews with a troubled Vietnam War veteran-turned-journalist.
A more recent work is Garth Ennis's Enemy Ace: War in Heaven (2001), with art by Chris Weston and Russ Heath. The series recounts the pilot's activities during World War II where he is persuaded to fly again as a pilot of the Luftwaffe. Here von Hammer's character is based on several real-life German pilots, notably Adolf Galland. von Hammer is put in charge of his own squadron and serves on the Eastern Front (flying a red-painted Me-109), then in Germany itself (flying a scarlet Me-262). He becomes increasingly disillusioned as he witnesses the horrors of war, including cannibalism when he was shot down behind Russian lines. In 1945, after bailing out of a damaged craft, he inadvertently parachutes into the Dachau concentration camp] and is outraged at what his government was doing in perpetrating the Holocaust. Upon returning to his airbase, he led a mutiny, destroyed his squadron's aircraft, and surrendered to Allied troops, namely Sgt Rock's unit, at his first opportunity.
Recently, in issue #139 of the latest Robin series, von Hammer's great-granddaughter Lieutenant Ilsa von Hammer appeared as part of a group of soldiers that included Johnny Cloud's grandson and a legendary soldier known only as the Veteran. This group, handling missions which may be more unusual than the normal military is equipped for, recruits Robin to assist on their missions.
In 2008, he is featured in Bruce Jones' The War that Time Forgot. He also appears in Booster Gold in 2009, during World War I. When Booster is thrown back in time and caught in the middle of the war, alongside Cyrus Lord, the ancestor of Maxwell Lord, von Hammer aids their escape from captivity behind German lines rather than abet their torture and further stain his hands with blood.
von Hammer's Aircraft
- Fokker Dr.I—World War I
- Messerschmitt Bf 109 F—Early World War II
- Messerschmitt Bf 109 G—Eastern Front
- Messerschmitt Me 262—Used late war until surrender.
Note: Not only are all of Von Hammer's aircraft painted bright red, but his WW2 aircraft lacked the standard swastika insignia on the tail.
In other media
Toys
A deluxe action figure has been released which includes Black Wolf and a smaller scale version of his Fokker DR-1.DC's deluxe action figure model
References
