Monday, June 08, 2009

Aces High (Air Ace Picture Library collection 1)

Officially released on June 11, Aces High gathers together 10 of the best stories from the highly collectable Air Ace Picture Library. It is a companion to the recently released Up And At 'Em! collection and follows in the footsteps of four previous volumes collecting some of the best stories from War Picture Library and Battle Picture Library.

Contents

Flash Point (AAPL 35, Jan 1961) Art: Joe Colquhoun; Script: D. M. Garbutt
Fighter, Fighter! (AAPL 39, Feb 1961) Art: Ian Kennedy
No Survivors (AAPL 46, Apr 1961) Art: Mike Western; Script: G. W. Brunt
War Smoke (AAPL 50, May 1961) Art: Luis Bermejo
Dive Bomber (AAPL 51, May 1961) Art: Solano Lopez; Script: G. W. Brunt
Target Tirpitz (AAPL 54, Jun 1961) Art: Ferdinando Tacconi
Whirlwind in the Sky (AAPL 55, Jun 1961) Art: Juan Zanotto; Script: G. W. Brunt
Steel Bats (AAPL 65, Aug 1961) Art: Ian Kennedy
Teeth of Battle (AAPL 66, Sep 1961) Art: Leopoldo Ortiz; Script: Ken McOwan
Blast Bomb (AAPL 76, Nov 1961) Art: Kurt Caesar

Please note: the names of other scriptwriters remains unknown at the present time. The cover art is by Graham Coton.

Synopsis

When War Picture Library was launched in 1958 it quickly became apparent that many of the most popular stories with the readers featured the adventures of the warriors of the air, pilots who soared and swooped through the sky, cannons and machine guns blazing. The flyers were seen as the glamour boys of the Second World War, handling the most sophisticated and technically advanced combat machines ever invented and there was almost limitless scope to develop stories based around their exploits. The machines that they flew—fighters such as Spitfires, Hurricanes, Messerschmitts, Mustangs and Zeros—were lovingly recreated by the finest artists, in the brand new Air Ace Picture Library in 1960. Those images are reproduced here 25 per cent larger than in their original published form, pulling you into close formation in the thick of the action. The ten stories in "Aces High" take you from the flak-blasted night sky over Germany to the sweltering heat of the tropics, twisting and turning like a Typhoon with a Focke Wolf in its sights!

About the Author
Steve Holland is the author of over 1,000 articles and a dozen books relating to comics and pulp culture, including The Trials of Hank Janson, nominated for the Silver Dagger Award by the Crime Writers Association. His latest book, The War Libraries Index charts the extraordinary history of Fleetway's war picture libraries.

Reviews

(none yet)

2 comments:

  1. These are absolute classics. Waht a great compilation to relive my teenage days. Is this the only one?
    Would be great to have more of these, especially in bigger size format.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There was another Air Ace collection, Wings of Death, but no more after that. They were great fun to put together and hopefully, one day, now that Rebellion are in charge they'll do more.

    ReplyDelete

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