Best Fighter Pilot Comics?

[Timothy Hunter]

I've been reading through the old X Wing series Dark Horse published in the 90s and have been wondering what are the best comics that involve flying vehicles?

Here are some comics that fit the criteria:

Terry and the Pirates

Enemy Ace

Airboy

Blackhawk

Steve Canyon

What are some others? Manga included.

[K7P5V]

Hopefully this counts, but a personal favorite would be...

"Shake Down!"
(G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #34)

[Zelena]

In France, the classic comic is “Buck Danny”, the adventures of an American pilot and his two friends. It started at the beginning of the Second World War (for the Americans) until now…




There’s also “Tanguy et Laverdure”, by the same author, with two French pilots:



I also read a long time ago an adventure of “Dan Cooper”, a Canadian pilot:

[K7P5V]

Hopefully this counts, but another recommendation would be...

ShockRockets

[Timothy Hunter]

Hopefully this counts, but another recommendation would be...

ShockRockets

I've never heard of this miniseries. Looks great!

[Totoro Man]

I really enjoyed the old EC reprint "Aces High". the stories by George Evans being a personal favorite. any story by Evans that deals with aviation is generally at least decent... if not great.
his WW1 aviation comics are probably the best stuff I've read in print. the fact that he was an aircraft mechanic in WW2 and artist probably give him unparalleled insights into these sorts of stories compared to other comics creators. it also makes him the indisputable champion of aviation comics for me. everything shown in those comics is generally something that did, or could have happened, in the real world. I prefer my fighter pilot comics to emphasize historicity and realism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Evans_(cartoonist)

the old Blazing Combat comics focus on a variety of subjects... but are generally pretty well done. there are little errors here and there, but it's a worthy read. pretty sure there are some fighter pilot stories in there.

Wayne vanSant did a comic book about the Red Baron... which, honestly, I haven't read yet. but it generally looked okay. it's one of those things I keep meaning to start, but get distracted away from.

I enjoyed "Enemy Ace" as a pulp action comic where WW1 is clearly substituted for Vietnam. the characters are ridiculous, but still fun and memorable. most biplanes would NOT be able to fly effectively if the pilot was wearing a full suit of armor! additionally, the pilot wouldn't be able to survey his surroundings adequately.

the Garth Ennis sequel where Hans von Hammer is fighting in WW2 is... okay. Ennis' take on historical events is usually really melodramatic.

"War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle" by Ennis and Chaykin is okay. it panders to a lot of over-the-top WW1 cliches... but, Ennis has never been a very subtle or original writer IMO. Chaykin's art is good, though. my complaint is when Ennis falls into the usual cliche of infantry fighting "the real war". the average infantry soldier generally had a longer life expectancy than the average pilot! there were certain periods in WW1 where the average life expectancy of a front-line pilot was 6 weeks at most!

Pierre Veys wrote an absolutely rubbish and non-historical fantasy comic book about the Red Baron where he essentially has precognition super-powers. the story is just obscenely stupid. however, Carlos Puerta's artwork is fantastic. the artwork is the only thing that saves this book from being total garbage. if you loved James Cameron's "Avatar" films... then you might enjoy this book for the high-quality visuals.

[Riv86672]

[CaptainEurope]

For me, growing up, it was Tanguy & Laverdure.
Early issues drawn by Asterix artist Uderzo!