Customer Reviews

Enemy Ace: War in Heaven

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The ENEMY ACE: War In Heaven trade paperback will please old time fans of Hans Von Hammer and DC's war titles of yesteryear. Undoubtedly, those who worship Garth Ennis will also find it to their liking.

At 46 years old, Hans Von Hammer a.k.a. The Hammer Of Hell due to his fantastic World War I military record is called upon by the Nazi regime to join the battle against the Russians. Von Hammer does not share Hitler's vision but the chance to fly a fighter aircraft to protect his homeland and fellow countrymen overcomes him. Although he has not flown a military plane since 1918, Von Hammer is still able to outmatch Germany's opponents with his keen mind, skill and impeccable air fighting strategy. With his competence, courage and legendary status, Von Hammer earns the respect of his fellow pilots and blatantly defies not only his superiors but allows himself to openly disrespect Hitler alongside many Nazi officials. After inadvertently finding himself in the Dachau concentration camp, Von Hammer questions his role as a soldier of The Third Reich. When Nazi Germany finally succumbs, Von Hammer gracefully surrenders to Sergeant Rock(!) in an honourable fashion but not before he manages to destroy the air fighter planes in the field so that the Allies cannot use it against his homeland.

Ennis does the insurmountable by making the reader sympathetic towards Von Hammer and his friend, Peter. They both know that they are fighting for one of history's most diabolic community but like the reliable soldiers that they are, they follow orders. In a peculiar fashion, I even found myself "rooting" for these characters even if they fought for one of mankind's prominent evil empire. Ennis levels out the script by injecting a touch of humour in the way Von Hammer constantly defies an ass kissing Nazi officer. It does somehow stretch the suspension of disbelief too far at times considering the nature of the story. I doubt that any soldier or citizen, no matter how important they were to the Nazi cause, would have been able to get away with insulting high ranking officials and members of the party in such an audacious style for the better part of three years.

Chris Weston alongside Christian Alamy's art work in the first half of the book captures all the intensity and action of a war being fought in the skies. The details, background and realism of every panel is a pure cinematic delight. One really gets a glimpse of the horror and adrenaline of warfare in the facial expressions of the air fighters in their cockpits.

Although I am extremely disappointed that Weston & Alamy were not aboard for the second half of the book, it was agreeable to see veteran penciller Russ Heath's work on a war tale again. Alongside Joe Kubert, Heath pencilled an immeasurable amount of DC's combat books such as Our Army At War. Nevertheless, I did find the change of artists irritating considering that it was originally a two part mini-series. The styles of each artist on their specific chapter does not particularly harmonize well to make this undertaking a cohesive one visual wise. In other words, imagine an X-Men monthly issue where Jae Lee pencils the first half of the script and Steve Dillon does the other. Great artists in their own right but this would certainly break the flow of the story that is intentionally one chapter.

Despite my reservation about this questionable artist switch, Heath, Weston and Alamy effectively render Ennis' saga about Hans Von Hammer a mesmerizing one. I hope that the high quality story telling in ENEMY ACE: War In Heaven reawakens a passion for war tales and creates a demand. A genre that has practically vanished since Marvel Comics' cancelled The Nam in 1993.

I have enjoyed the adventures of Enemy Ace in both the DC Showcase edition and the superb George Pratt graphic novel War Idyll, but those stories are separated by 50-plus years. My big question has always been, "what happened in-between?" ENEMY ACE: WAR IN HEAVEN provides the answer. Set from 1941 - 1945, the "Hammer of Hell" is brought out of retirement by the Luftwaffe to lead a squadron of younger pilots. von Hammer, now 46, has no love for the Nazi regime, yet he accepts the position because he has a sense of duty to fight for his country... and fight he does, racking up so many kills that his distaste for Hitler is conveniently ignored by his peers. But von Hammer's sense of duty can only last so long when it comes to the ineptitude and atrocities he witnesses in a Germany under Nazi rule. In the end, he has to make a difficult decision.

I normally run the other way when writer Garth Ennis gets his hands on any company-owned character, but this is a happy exception. Ennis captures the character perfectly, giving us a tired man in middle-age going back to war because that's what gives him life. Thankfully, this story doesn't have the standard Ennis shock value, though there is one scene of a bailed-out pilot falling into the propeller of another plane. Well, at least it fits the story. A nice cameo by Sgt. Rock helps to anchor the action firmly within the greater DC Universe.

Art duties are split between Chris Weston and Russ Heath. Weston does a great job on the first half of the book, perfectly capturing the feel of WW2 styles and machinery. Comics legend Russ Heath finishes off the story, providing a nice blend of his classic style and Weston's stylish renderings. While the differences between the two artistic styles are noticeable, it's really not a problem at all.

Rounding out this collection is a classic tale from Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert: Star-Spangled War Stories #139, featuring Enemy Ace vs. the Hangman. Its inclusion is made all the more enjoyable by the fact that Weston incorporates an image from it into his art for the main story.

As a collector of comic books and comic book art, I rate this highly. As a writer, I consider that the character, Enemy Ace, is so good I wish I'd created him. The story, too, is really excellent. Hans von Hammer is a real hero, the kind children nowadays see far too seldom. Excellent saga, excellent comic book.

I grew up in the 70's and I was a big fan of Enemy Ace. The first time I read his adventures it was the three parter trilogy where he takes on Steve Savage aka The Balloon Buster. A few years later DC reprinted a couple of his stories and I was hooked.

So when DC published the archives and War In Heaven I was interested. It took me a few years to actually get around to buying them. I'm a 39 year old man with a family, job etc. Things tend to happen that cause distraction. But I finally got around to purchasing both archive volumes and a copy of War In Heaven.

It was worth the wait. As I got older and learned how to count years I realized that Hammer would only have been in his forties when WW2 began. I often wondered what the character would have done. Somehow the idea of just sitting out the war didn't seem believable.War in Heaven does a good job addressing that issue.

I'm unfamiliar with Garth Ennis. The last time I was following comics was in the eighties when I was a college student. Then it was all about The Watchmen, Dark Night, Ronin, and so on. Mr. Ennis is a newcomer to me. I'm impressed with what he's done here. Even if much of his work dosen't appeal to me.

This is a different Hammer from the one I grew up with. But that's okay. He's older, more mature and taciturn even in his thoughts. We all change as the years go by, or at least we should. Von Hammer has changed. Not as much introspection anymore. He knows what he is. No need to talk about it anymore.It's a done deal.

We only see a glimpse of the younger Hammer a couple of times and then it's sparse.Enough for us to see that he is has changed, but that there is still humanity within "The Human Killing Machine".This was always his saving grace. I found that I liked the middle-aged Enemy Ace.

I also found it to be believeable that he would fight for the Nazi's, because he was also fighting for Germany. Many a WW1 veteran fought for Nazi Germany because of their sense of loyalty. Many of them didn't like Hitler, but they couldn't turn their backs on their country. For better or for worse.

Von Hammer is one of Germany's best warriors, a product of the German aristocracy. The Nazi's didn't like the aristocracy, but they needed them. It was a tense relationship and War In Heaven does a good job addressing this uneasy balancing act.

I found the art to be excellent. And unlike some posters I liked the fact that Russ Heath worked on the second chapter.Heath was always my favorite artist back during the old Haunted Tank days. I liked his eye for technical details. It's a nice connection to the old Enemy Ace. But he isn't Kubert. I believe that if Kubert would have drawn the second chapter it would have been distracting. It would have been jarring to have Kubert draw the his most famous character in the jet age.

It's been sixteen years since I purchase a graphic novel. War In Heaven is a good way to end the dry spell.

Enemy Ace War In Heaven is a tremendous artistic work filled with fascinating historical details. Author Garth Ennis is in fine form, supplying great character portraits, an interesting plot and tension in the form of Hans Von Hammer's aristocratic noblesse oblige in contrast to slavish servility to Nazi dogma.

Ennis expertly includes details about design flaws in the Me-109G and the Me-163 Komet. He also includes a strange but true example of British fighter planes operating on the Russian Front. It's these type of details, combined with his hard hitting writing that vault Enemy Ace into the heavens.

Artists Christian Alamy and legend Russ Heath each draw one volune of this work. Both artists do a spectacular job and depict aerial combat in a vivid and gritty manner.

Most of us view air war as a clinical exercise, aerial knights gallantly dueling it out in the skies. But Garth Ennis shows the gruesome aspects of fighter combat in a very powerful scene where Hammer engages a Soviet bomber. Don't worry, I won't spoil the surprise.

Russ Heath also presents a flesh and blood image of air war in his segment of the work during a combat flight between Hammer and his wingman Peter.

I loved this book and hope that Garth Ennis returns to the World War II theme. It's one of his finest pieces.

Once again Ennis presents a well-told (if somewhat timeworn) continuation of another vintage character, in this case recalled Luftwaffe ace Hans Von Hammer. The splitting of the story into two parts is well done, although this leads to some unevenness in the artwork. And so it happens that the first part (in which every rivet and panel is lovingly depicted in the horrors of the Ostfront) is better looking than the second part, but the second part has the real meat of the story and includes deeper characters which make up for the comparatively bland artwork. Is the story of a German fighting man who grows disillusioned with his war worn out? Sure. It's been done. Ennis isn't covering any new ground as far as that goes. But don't let that stop you. Stories like this don't come along every day.

Excellent work here, as men of character are forced to fight in a war, and deal with the propagandists and politics at the same time. High quality. A desperate German airforce brings back their aging, veteran star pilot, to train the resources they have left.

With one all-star cameo briefly near the end.

First of all even though this is not a vertigo imprint it is still what everyone has come to love about the style of garth ennis.there is humor,action and drama.moves at a face pace and is very enjoyable.i have not read anything by garth i have not enjoyed.maybe there is a sgt. rock story in the future.for all us garth ennis fans this is enjoyable,highly recommended! you can always be sure garth will hold your attention with whatever he writes,he's like no one else and you just get into the story and forget everything else around you.cheers mates!