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The total golden Age Airboy as well as Valkyrie
Joe Hovorka is an editor & publisher at Canton street Press. Their preliminary comic offering is The total golden Age Airboy as well as Valkyrie, which collects all the golden Age appearances of Valkyrie. Westfield’s Roger Ash just recently contacted Hovorka to discover more about this collection.
Westfield: For those unfamiliar with Airboy as well as Valkyrie, who are they?
Joe Hovorka: Airboy is David “Davy” Nelson II as well as was one of the much better experience strips during as well as after WWII. The Airboy character was produced in 1942 by Charles Biro (of Daredevil Comics as well as criminal offense Does Not Pay fame), Dick Wood, as well as Al Camy. He was a 12 year old boy increased as an orphan in a monastery. He motivated one of the Franciscan Monks to go after experimental aircraft style eventually culminating in the “Birdie” airplane. The monk was killed during a test flight when the plane’s fuel lines were sabotaged. Davy rebuilt the plane, as well as calling himself Airboy, assisted the allies during WWII. Post-war, Airboy battles all type of strange villains. Airboy was somewhat unique in comics as he aged in genuine time. By the time the comic ended in 1953, Davy was in his early 20s.
Valkyrie was a lady increased to be the most skilled as well as deadly competitor pilot for the Nazis. She commanded a group of women competitor pilots called the Airmaidens. She very first appeared as Airboy’s villain. She was attractive as well as dangerous as well as influenced by Milton Caniff’s Dragon woman from Terry as well as the Pirates. After her confrontation with Airboy (and a quick kiss), Valkyrie joins Airboy against her Nazi superiors. She would later team-up with Airboy throughout WWII in addition to publish war.
The total golden Age Airboy as well as Valkyrie preview page 1.
Westfield: What can you state about the stories collected in The total golden Age Airboy as well as Valkyrie?
Hovorka: I discover Hillman Periodicals (the original publisher of these stories) to be a vastly underrated publisher. The stories collected in this book are a few of the very best WWII age comics produced. The stories stay entertaining as well as visually compelling even today. The cover to Air Fighters Comics V2 #2 (reprinted in the book) featuring the very first appearance of Valkyrie is an iconic golden Age cover to this day.
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Westfield: What, for you, makes these great stories to collect?
Hovorka: They are entertaining! The characters are extremely compelling. Not only do we get Airboy as well as Valkyrie, however we likewise reprint the two problems containing the villain Misery. He only appeared in two problems in the golden Age, one of which was a Valkyrie story (that’s why it made sense to include the second Misery story), however he is one of the creepiest golden Age villains. He operated from the “The Black hole of Calcutta” where he sought to insurance claim the souls of dead Allied competitor pilots as well as imprison them in his flying airtomb, a molding aircraft that slowly circled the sky. It is inventive stuff at the extremely beginning of the comics medium. This just cries out to be reprinted today.
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Westfield: most of the stories in the collection are by Fred Kida. For those who don’t understand him, might you tell us a bit about him as well as his work?
Hovorka: Fred Kida is the artist that was most carefully connected with Airboy because of his remarkable as well as interesting work on the early problems of the series. much of what is reprinted The total golden Age Airboy & Valkyrie is by Fred Kida. Kida influenced a few of the excellent artist to find along later, including Alex Toth. Toth admired Kida’s utilize of black as well as white to produced drama as well as tension in his sequential art. As Toth when stated “He produced visual enjoyment – motion – range – fun!” The book likewise includes one story each from Ernie Schroeder (regular Airboy artist complying with Kida’s departure) as well as Bernard Sachs.
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Westfield: The introduction to The total golden Age Airboy as well as Valkyrie is written by Timothy Truman. Why did you reach out to him to do this?
Hovorka: In the 1980s, Timothy Truman was part of the team that restored Airboy for Eclipse Comics. In the very first story arc, they re-introduced Valykrie as well as Misery. I enjoyed the series when it was published as well as still have the collected editiontoday. He obviously understood the characters as well as their history as well as seemed like a extremely rational person to approach.
Westfield: Are you working on any type of other jobs you’d like to mention?
Canteen Kate #3 by Matt Baker
Hovorka: This is the third book from Canton street Press, however the very first two books were prose books focusing on WWII history. The total golden Age Airboy & Valkyrie is our very first comic book reprint title. It is not a coincidence that this book has a WWII connection. Our second comic book title, which will be solicited in July, is Matt Baker’s Canteen Kate HC. It will gather all of Matt Baker’s Canteen Kate stories from anchors Andrews, Fightin’ Marines, as well as Canteen Kate. For those not familiar with Matt Baker, you are in for a treat. His life was cut tragically short, however his body of artwork stands with the other greats of the 1940s/1950s. Bob burden will compose the introduction. That will be complied with in August or September with a solicitation for the original Ghost Rider series from magazine Enterprises. That will be our very first multi-volume series with the very first volume collecting problems #1-5 in addition to the Ghost Rider appearances from Tim Holt #11-14. We will ultimately gather the entire Ghost Rider series as well as all his appearances in Tim Holt. Tony Isabella, a good friend of artist Dick Ayers (co-creator of Ghost Rider) will compose the introduction. The restoration on all three books are already complete. We likewise have one more 10 or so extra jobs in different develops of development.
The original Ghost Rider #2
Westfield: any type of closing comments?
Hovorka: This is a new golden age for traditional comic reprints. I am happy to see the market support a wide range of titles as this is work that should be seen by a contemporary audience. As long as the market will support it, Canton street press will seek out more traditional stories to reprint.
Purchase
The total golden Age Airboy as well as Valkyrie HC