ACES HIGH #4 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1955)

For some reason, aviation war titles were a rare breed in comic books, unlike in the pulp fiction magazines.  The heyday of the aviation pulps was in the 30's and 40s with titles such as Aces, Air Action, Air Adventures, Air Stories, Air Trails, Air War, American Eagle, American Sky Devils, Army Navy Flying Stories, Battle Aces [G-8], Battle Birds [Dusty Ayres], Bill Barnes, Air Adventurer, Dare-Devil Aces, Fighting Aces...and so on, all the way down to Zeppelin Stories, many of which features World War I adventure stories.  In the pulps, there seemed to be a paucity of other war titles, giving preference to aviation war titles, while in the comics, war titles flourished, while aviation was titles were few and far between.  (To be fair, war titles were a small niche in both markets, with the bulk of titles being in the mystery/crime/detective, science fiction, western, horror, and romance genres.)

In 1955, EC Comics were struggling due to the anti-comic book frenzy of the Frederick Wertham era; they shifted to a more realistic approach with their comic book titles, calling them their "New Directions" line;  by this time the company was down to just one science fiction title, while introducing six titles and renaming one: Impact, Valor, Extra!, Aces High, Psychoanalysis, M.D., and Incredible Science Fiction (the renamed title).  The New Directions line did not carry the newly established Comic code and newsstand dealers were reluctant to carry them.  With the second issues of the New Directions line, publisher William Gaines begrudgingly submitted the titles to the Comics Code.  Nevertheless, the new line was a commercial failure and the entire line was cancelled after the fifth issues.  EC then switched to a "Picto-Fiction" line in 1956, four titles illustrated with alternating blocks of typeset text.  This line failed even more spectacularly than the New Directions line, and all titles were cancelled after the second or third issue.  Gaines's distributor went bankrupt and Gaines cancelled all titles except for Mad.

The penultimate issue of Aces High carried four stories:

• :"The Green Kids" -- George Evans, artist
• "The Good Luck Piece" -- Bernard Krigstein, artist
• "The Novice and the Ace" -- Wally Wood, artist
• "Home Again" -- Jack Davis, artist

Probably the most interesting question with these stories was, how many bi-planes in battle action can fit into one comic panel?

Check it out.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RTviz2A6XaigNxu_dRvgcsMNru9xG885/view