The
Return of Valkyrie 198_ (SC TPB)
72 pages.
The
Return of Valkyrie 198_ (SC TPB)
72 pages.
Written by Chuck Dixon. Pencils by Timothy Truman, Stan
Woch. Inks by Tom Yeates, Willie Blyberg,
Colours: Ron Courtney. Letters: Tim Harkins. Editor: Timothy Truman.
Reprinting: Airboy #1-5 (1986 Eclipse series)
Rating: * * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 2
Published by Eclipse Comics
The title of this collection is a bit misleading. For one thing, this doesn't just feature the return of Valkyrie, but a whole slew of Hillman Publications characters that were first seen in the '40s and '50s and were acquired by Eclipse Comics for this 1980s revival. In fact, Valkyrie's presence, though pivotal, is also rather minor.
The story focuses on Airboy -- not surprising since he was the title character of the new series, and the headliner back in the '40s and '50s as well. So who was Airboy? you ask. He was a youthful (teen or young adult) fighter pilot who fought Nazis and other, post-war villains with his unique air plane, Birdie (which actually flapped its wings).
This storyline picks up decades later. The middle-aged Airboy, David Nelson, is living in a secluded monastery with his teen-age son, Davey, and the son's mentor, Hirota. David is clearly a troubled man, long since having given up his life of adventure, and being blackmailed by a mysterious adversary. The monastery is attacked by villains, and though they are repelled, David Nelson is killed. Thus it falls to young Davey to adopt his father's wartime mantle and find out why his father was killed, and to get revenge. Along the way he hooks up with other revived characters, such as the ageing air ace Skywolf, now flying a chopper instead of a plane, and the macabre Heap, the 1940s precursor to such swamp creatures as Marvel's Man-Thing and DC's Swamp Thing. The trail leads Davey, Skywolf and Hiorta to a South American country, ruled by a brutal dictatorship, where Airboy's quest for revenge hits an ethical snag or two. The local tyrant, meanwhile, is partnered with an old Airboy foe, the sinister and supernatural Misery -- and it's Misery who has Valkyrie prisoner, kept in suspended animation for decades.
The Return of Valkyrie was published over the first few issues of the revived Airboy comic, which was a publishing experiment of being a twice-a-month series, each issue only 13 pages of story. As such, though five issues, it only comes out to 65 pages. Still, Chuck Dixon, and co-creator Timothy Truman, fit a lot into those 65 pages. At the same time, the story, like most of Dixon's stuff, is largely a well-paced, but action-focused story. There is some character stuff -- including a surprising one of having the evil dictator show at little fortitude in a crisis. But characterization isn't really the focus. As well, I'm no expert on villain Misery, but Dixon's take on him seems a little...mundane. reducing him to a B-movie villain, rather than the eerie, almost otherworldly figure that appeared in a story collected in the reprint of 40's stories, Valkyrie!
The art shifts fairly seamlessly between Truman (with Yeates on inks) and Woch. The two styles aren't quite identical, but the change isn't glaring or distracting. Throughout the art is well realized, detailed and evoking the lush tropical jungles, all beautifully and strikingly coloured in warm, sunny hues. There's a lot of atmosphere at work throughout.
Part of the appeal to the story, particularly if most of the comics you read are super hero, is the slight uniqueness of the premise. Sure, it's still action-adventure-heroics, but it has a slightly different ambience from usual men-in-tights stories. Though that raises its own qualms. Dixon and Truman heartily embrace the mentality of their series, with characters happily blasting away at their adversaries with pistols, machine guns and whatever else they find -- something that might make sense for old soldiers like Skywolf or Hiorta, but you might think young Davey would be less ruthless.
Actually, the story seems to straddle Left and Right sensibilities. Right Wing readers will enjoy the gun play, the kill-or-be-killed heroics, and the loving detail Truman, in particular, brings to drawing weaponry, while Left Wing readers will enjoy the political sub-text of the heroes siding with rebels against a dictator who has an autographed picture of then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan on his wall.
Perhaps the most curious thing about this is the nostalgia angle. The story is, in some ways, short changed at times in favour of introducing old characters. The Heap's presence, for one, is never quite explained logically. Yet how many readers would have even heard of Skywolf, the Heap, or even Airboy himself? The story still works, but it doesn't quite invoke the misty-eyed nostalgia Dixon may've been hoping for.
Ultimately, this is an entertaining, atmospheric adventure, nicely mixing mood and heroics. Though, at 65 pages, it's best to regard it as a simple "graphic novel" rather than expecting some sort of epic, complex, multi-issue saga. And, as noted before, the titular Valkyrie has a very, very small part. And though the story might warrant a slight "mature readers" warning for its violence and grittiness, there's little of the raciness implied by the TPB's cover (with Valkyrie spilling out of an evening gown -- hard to see on my scan, but the image in the lower quarter of the cover).
The original comics also featured some nice editorials, detailing the history of Airboy and the Heap. But whether they were included in this TPB, I don't know.
This is a review of the story originally serialized in Airboy comics.
Cover price:
Valkyrie!
1982 (SC TPB) 80 pages
Art by Fred Kida. Scripts: uncredited.
Black & White
Reprinting: selected stories from Air Fighters Comics Vol 2, #2, #7, Airboy Comics Vol 2, #12, Vol 3, #6, #12 (1943-1947) with covers. Originally published by Hillman Periodicals
Commentaries by Catherine Yronwode. Intro by Alex Toth.
Rating: * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Published by Ken Pierce, Inc.
This collects most of the Airboy stories that guest starred the heroine Valkyrie and were published in issues of Airfighter and Airboy comics in the 1940s. They are reprinted here in black and white (I'm assuming the originals were colour).
Aviation adventure stories, both in comics and pulp magazines, formed their own genre in the 30s and 40s, and Airboy was a comic book series about a young man (he started out a teen, but was looking more like an adult by the end) who fought Nazis and other, post-War villains with his unique air plane, Birdie. Birdie was a plane that flew by flapping its wings, and could be remote controlled.
Valkyrie was a recurring guest star, a beautiful, raven haired female fighter pilot (and love interest). In the first story, Valkyrie is a loyal Nazi pilot, with her all-female Airmaiden squadron. But by the end of that story, she has turned over a new leaf -- thanks in part to Airboy -- and joined the Allies. After that, she is a heroine. Which kind of surprised me. I'd always read about Valkyrie in the context of the Dragon Lady from Terry and the Pirates (a connection that is once again brought up in this collection in Cat Yronwode's delightfully extensive and detailed introductions). But while the Dragon Lady (I believe) was a kind of good/bad girl, Valkyrie, despite her dubious origins, is incontestably a good gal.
The stories here are a bit of a surprise. Oh, to be sure, like most Golden Age comics, they are simplistic and somewhat crude. But they are more accomplished than a lot of stories I've read from that period. Though the scripts are uncredited, there is time out for, at least token, characterization, such as the anger and grief expressed by Airboy when a friend dies, or the tentative development of Airboy and Valkyrie's relationship. And the plots can be kind of intriguing, making a rudimentary kind of sense.
In one of the commentaries it's mentioned that artist Fred Kida was influenced by comic strip adventure writer/artist Milton Caniff (of Terry and the Pirates) and there's a brisk, comicstrip style pacing to the stories that means they're often tight, well paced adventures. Kida's art is appealing -- crude, and primitive at times, but also somewhat stylish, with an unusual emphasis on light and shadow that gives the pictures some moodiness and depth.
In these stories there are appearances by the intriguingly surreal and creepy villain, Misery, and another hero, Skywolf. I believe this collects the entirety of Valkyrie's appearances in the Golden Age -- minus a later story that editor Yronwode decided to omit because it wasn't by Kida, and she felt it was so removed from the character (in looks and deeds) that it must be regarded as apocryphal. One can enjoy Yronwode's obvious passion for the work and the characters (she isn't just dismissive of the later story, but seems out right offended by it), but, objectively, it might've been nice to include it, if only as a curiosity. This results in four 13 page stories, and one 22 page story (in which Valkyrie's part is rather peripheral). That's a surprisingly few number, considering how famous the character became, and how closely associated her name is with that of Airboy.
Ultimately, as a peak back at the Golden Age of comics, these stories are breezy, enjoyable reads that are probably just a notch or two smarter than some stories I've read from that period. Though the absence of colour is a shame. Particularly as part of Valkyrie's fame has to do with the whole Good Girl Art (drawing pretty gals) concept, and her notable cleavage...which isn't as obvious in black and white (not that it's particularly racy compared to modern comics). Given that a few years later, Yronwode's own company, Eclipse Comics, would revive Airboy for a late 1980s run (50 issues, plus spin offs), along with Skywolf and Valkyrie herself, this collection also serves as a bit of a primer for that later day series.
Cover price: $ __ CDN./ $5.95 USA
Valkyrie: Prisoner of the Past 1988 (SC TPB) 72 pages
Written
by Chuck Dixon. Pencils by Paul Gulacy. Inks by Willie Blyberg.
Colours: Sam Parsons. Letters: Mindy Eisman. Editor: Cat Yronwode.
Reprinting: Valkyrie (1st Eclipse mini-series) #1-3 (1987)
Rating: * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Published by Eclipse Comics
Suggested (very mildly) for mature readers
This collects only the first of what would be two Valkyrie mini-series published by Eclipse comics when they had revived Airboy and various other Golden Age aviation heroes.
The story has Valkyrie -- a World War II heroine who started out a Nazi, then joined the Allies, only to end up in suspended animation for about 4 decades -- living a quiet life in modern New York. But when she fights off some muggers, she becomes a media celebrity, landing a modelling gig...and her new profile brings her to the attention of agents in the Soviet Union who want her for war crimes during the second world war. She is kidnapped and brought to Russia to stand trial for a German bombing raid conducted after she had defected to the Allies, and which she claims not to have taken part in.
Taken at first glance, this story is, frankly, no more than O.K. Thought about for a second or two after you've finished it, and it actually ends up dropping even further in estimation.
Writer Chuck Dixon, who was writing much of Eclipse' Airboy-related stories and spin-offs, is probably most associated with writing breezy, action-adventure sagas, which he can do fairly well. But despite Valkyrie being an aviatrix, there's nary a plane or dog fight in sight (except when showing brief flashbacks to the raid). Nor is there even much two-fisted action, or swashbuckling adventure. There are only about four action scenes in the whole series, one of which, at least, is completely pointless and extraneous. So maybe Dixon is going for something else: a suspense-drama or court room thriller. If so, he doesn't pull it off very well.
Perhaps the first sign of trouble is the opening scene, where Val and her roommate are walking down a seeming respectable, residential street...which just happens to have a scuzzy street gang loitering about; a street gang that attacks Val...even though a TV camera crew is just down the street (whatever happened to crooks who didn't want to be identified?). It's an implausible scene that, though not derailing the story, certainly lets you know it's not functioning on a particularly sophisticated level.
The plot is thin and developed awkwardly. By setting it in the U.S.S.R., Dixon wants to present the prosecution as the sinister bad guys, with characters remarking Val won't get a fair trial, and suggesting archival footage entered as prosecution evidence has been edited -- even as the Russians sincerely believe in Val's guilt (and the archival footage is accurate)! Val insists on her innocence...but no one on her side really doubts it, and the "mystery" is hardly a baffler. Dixon seems to have set it in the U.S.S.R. simply to provide "complications" that means he doesn't have to come up with a complex mystery. The case against Val is so tenuous, the only reason it goes to trial is because the Russians are, well, baddies. But the story might've been more interesting if the case against Val really was convincing -- and damning -- making it more of a mystery-thriller as Val's allies (the American ambassador and her aide) seek to unravel the web of mistruths.
For a comic titled Valkyrie, Val spends much of it just sitting in prison, twiddling her thumbs, leaving the pro-active stuff to the American Ambassador, who is revealed to be another retired 1940s comic book aviatrix, the Black Angel, and to her aide, who dons the Black Angel guise herself...for no particular reason (except so that she could then appear in subsequent stories). Even then, their main investigation is simply to locate a witness -- which doesn't seem to be particularly hard at all.
Despite its restraint, and lack of fisticuffs, the story doesn't really emerge as a character drama, either. There are only really four characters in the story: Val, Ambassador Sylvia Lawton, Holly (the new Black Angel) and Russian baddie, Steelfox. Maybe five if you count Val's roommate, Melanie (who barely appears past the first issue). Nor does it emerge as a soul searching exploration of our ex-Nazi heroine: since she wasn't involved in the bombing, there's no point in her getting into self recriminations. As well, Val just doesn't emerge as much of a personality in these pages. Maybe it's because Val has no one to play off of. Airboy doesn't appear, so the only characters Val interacts with -- Sylvia and Holly -- aren't personal friends, perhaps robbing the story of any intimate, human moments. Or maybe Valkyrie's an example of a supporting character who had developed a cult following...but maybe doesn't have enough to her to carry her own book. She's too hard edged to be an ingratiating, vulnerable heroine, without being enough of anything else to make her colourful or flamboyant...particularly in a story where she spends most of her time sitting in a cell.
Which brings us to Paul Gulacy's art. Gulacy is an artist who's style can veer from brilliant to awkward depending on the work. He draws in a realist, detailed style, but can also end up with faces and figures that look...awkward, with lopsided eyes and the like. Part of the longevity of Valkyrie is, frankly, the idea of the raven haired beauty with the formidable cleavage: in other words, her sex appeal. Gulacy can draw sexy women, but sometimes not so much, and this story leans toward the latter. His Valkyrie comes across as having too severe features and is just a little stiff and frumpy.
Eclipse was a company that published comics without the Comics Code, and there's one panel in the first issue in which Val is depicted in a night-gown through which her nipples can be seen -- but only one panel. It seems odd, to publish a three issue mini-series in which one panel pushes it towards a "mature readers" category, but nothing else does in story or images (not even cheesecake poses).
Ultimately, as far as comicbook tales go, Prisoner of the Past is bland, but not exactly terrible. But it's not exactly good, either. I had been looking forward to it, but as the Valkyrie's first solo series, it seems kind of modest. And this despite the fact that, due to its lack of action, they probably thought they were trying something ambitious. It's not smart enough to be sophisticated, and not low-brow and pulpy enough to be fun.
The original mini-series featured some pin-ups of Valkyrie -- some a tad sexier than anything in the coomic itself. But I'm not sure if they were included in the TPB collection.
This is a review of the story as it was originally serialized in the mini-series.
Cover price:
