REVIEW - Enemy Ace: War in Heaven

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. 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.

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.

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 is quite a visual treat 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 Jim 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.

Review by Brian Grindrod