Airboy.
A comic book character created during the Golden Age of comic books, circa 1942.
You know, during wartime.
And, of course, war heroes were big in comics during WWII. What young American boy wouldn’t want to see an army, naval or air force officer put the hot-lead screws to the Axis powers? And so, Airboy was created by writers Charles Biro, Dick Wood and artist Al Camy in the pages of Air Fighter Comics #2, published by Hillman Periodicals, and he did just that.
But like many characters created during the Golden Age of comics, Airboy himself needed saving from obscurity. He needed dramatic reinvention. In 1986, Eclipse Comics produced new Airboy tales, starring the son of the original character.
But what do you do with Airboy for a twenty-first century audience?
Well, that’s exactly what the Airboy Deluxe Hardcover ponders. And it’s like nothing you – or even AIrboy – could ever imagine!
Follow me after the jump for a taste of the wild blue yonder!
Airboy Deluxe H/C
Written by: James Robinson
Illustrated by: Greg Hinkle
Published by: Image Comics
Acclaimed comic book writer James Robinson (Starman, Justice Society of America, Superman) and artist Greg Hinkle, hired to write a reboot of a Golden Age character, contemplated the question of Airboy’s relevance for a new, modern-day audience.
They must have thought about it long and hard.
Maybe too long.
Maybe too hard.
Amidst desperately sought after inspiration in the form of depraved nights full of considerable alcohol consumption, the use of illicit drugs, and lurid sex, Robinson and Hinkle finally found their Airboy with a twenty-first century spark.
The writing and the artistry and the character comes to life. Literally.
Airboy appears…to set the two forlorn comic book creators on the straight and narrow, adventuring with them in modern day San Francisco – and a steampunk era of Allies and Nazis!
Yeah, it’s more than a little meta.
But neither Robinson, nor Hinkle, nor Airboy himself could have prepared you for what you are about to experience in this tale where writer and artists are the protagonists! Where else would you find a page of sequential art like this?
The Airboy Deluxe H/C collects the four-issue miniseries, first published by Image Comics last year in a grand and deluxe hardcover. Fly – don’t run – the run to your local comic book shop and give it a shot.
And then give yourself a shot of something hard. Let Airboy show you what he thinks of your twenty-first century!
