Batman: A Catalogue of Overlooked Gems #2

    As I wrote in the first of these, comics today seem hung up on 'important' stories, where the events will have a substantial effect on future stories involving the characters, but just because they're 'important' to to continuity, to legacy, to history (and most tellingly, to back-issue speculators looking to flip a 'hot, key issue' for big money), doesn't meant they're going to end up being important to the person who just wants to read a cracking good adventure story.

    So, with that in mind, here's the next in an occasional series where I talk about some great Batman stories which may not have set the world on fire, but make for damn good reading nonetheless. 

    This is 'The Ghost of the Killer Skies', from 'Detective Comics' #404, written by Denny O'Neill, with art by Neal Adams and inks by Dick Giordano.

(Cover by Neal Adams and Gaspar Saladino)

    For those unfamiliar with the character, the Enemy Ace was Hans Von Hammer, a WWI Fighter Pilot based loosely on Manfred Von Richtofen (a.k.a. The Red Baron) and created by Robert Kanigher (Writer) and Joe Kubert (Artist). He first appeared in a back-up story in DC War anthology 'Our Army at War' #151 (1965). 

    Hans Von Hammer (known by enemies and allies alike as 'The Hammer from Hell') was a brooding and melancholic figure, an anti-hero who, despite his skill as a flying ace, took no comfort from his actions and was haunted by the conflict between his duty to his country and his own personal code of honour and chivalry, and the constant death that surrounded him. 

    Despite never receiving his own title, he appeared in a great many stories during his initial run, mostly in Anthology Series ('Showcase'), War Anthologies ('Our Army at War', 'Star-Spangled War Stories'), and as a back-up in the War series 'The Unknown Soldier'. 

    I'm a bit of a fan of the character, thanks largely to Joe Kubert's striking and evocative character design, and I'm not alone, with several creators inspired by the initial run to add to the character's story.

* * * * * 

    With that necessary piece of house-keeping out of the way, we get onto the tale itself. The story opens with a dramatic shot of a WWI era French fighter plane slowly and unsteadily making its way towards a cliffside before lurching into it and erupting into flames. The shot pulls back to show Batman dramatically silhouetted against the flames. He leaps into the wreckage and pulls out the pilot, but he was already dead before the plane crashed. This Was No Accident... It Was Murder! 

    How's that for an opener? Somewhat cliched, I'll admit, but one of the reasons why plot elements become cliches is that people use them, and the main reason that people use them is that they work. A lot of creative people get hung-up on the idea of 'originality'; they want to do something that nobody's ever done before. Sometimes, the reason nobody's ever done them is because everyone who thought of doing it realized it was a bad idea. 

    For mine, part of being a creator is the ability to take plot elements which may not be original, but present them in such a way that they are scrubbed clean of the barnacles of cliche and delivered in a way that evokes the original sense of excitement, wonderment and suspense. In short, a story that's been told a million times before, but executed well can become a long-time favourite, but an original idea, presented poorly, has exhausted all its value once you get past the initial idea.

    Back at the story, Batman hears voices approaching and takes off, as we start to get an idea of what's going on. A film crew is in Spain shooting a biographical film of German WWI fighter ace, Hans Von Hammer and we are introduced to our cast, Mister Anson, the Academy Award-winning director, Gavin, the film's lead cameraman and cinematographer and Heinrich Franz, a consultant who's one of the few people capable of  flying the planes they're using, with the dead man being another, and of course, one of the film's financial backers, Bruce Wayne, who's flown in following reports of what looks like sabotage on the set. The director is talking about calling off the project, but Bruce won't hear of it. Not only is he an admirer of the film's subject, but feels that the film has a strong message about the folly of war. 

I love the deftness with which these creators can give us a lot of information 
without turning the scene into a cumbersome exposition dump.

    This is the sort of scene we don't see a lot in modern superhero comics. It features a cast almost entirely made up of ordinary-looking people in contemporary clothes with detailed and well-rendered backgrounds giving a good sense of the space in which the scene is set, and it features quite a bit of fairly dry exposition about the film-making process. Most modern creators would skip a scene like this, or try and liven it up with an explosion or someone in an outlandish costume, but they're important and useful in establishing the verisimilitude of the world.

    Superhero stories are largely intended to be set in a world much like our own, and having stories featuring nothing but costumed heroes and villains, mad scientists, monsters, explosions, fights and deathtraps, all in a high-octane setting of spooky castles, high-tech installations, mysterious government complexes and expressionistic lairs may make for exciting visuals, the whole thing ends up feeling as thin and artificial as a canvas movie flat. Giving a scene a sense of genuine place and of emotional weight involving ordinary people throws the weird masked figures and hideous monsters into sharp contrast, accentuating their fantastic nature, while a constant diet of the fabulous and strange results in the whole thing blurring into a murky, indistinct morass of background noise.

    In this story, O'Neill, Adams and Giordano really work those mundane elements. The Spanish setting, the film set cluttered with bits and pieces of incongruous furniture and props, the distinctive character designs and of course, the gloriously illustrated WWI fighter planes all give this a sense of excitement, intrigue and mystery that has nothing to do with masked superheroes and villains, but definitely provides an evocative and exotic backdrop for the adventure.

    Speaking of mystery, during this period of Batman, especially in 'Detective Comics', the writers would occasionally tell genuine fair-play detective stories and there's a half-hearted attempt here, but with such a small cast of suspects and so much else to do in such little space, the end result is more Encyclopedia Brown than it is Miss Marple. Kudos to O'Neill for the inclusion, but in what is the story's single bum note, the resolution of the murder mystery is dealt with in a somewhat perfunctory way as the creators seem to really want to get to the final set piece. 

    But what a final set piece it is, as Batman and the mastermind behind the sabotage take to the skies for an epic dogfight to the death high above the Spanish countryside, where only one participant is armed! This whole scene is wonderful, with some gloriously executed storytelling from both art and scripting, a combination of tight close-ups and wider shots which expertly frame the action so that we, as the reader know what's going on and where the two combatants are in relation to one another at all times. 

    In some ways, the scene reminded me of a similar duel in the 'Jonny Quest' episode 'Shadow of the Condor' (1964), but like the episode of Jonny Quest, the story is not just about a clash of pilots but of ideals. In the Jonny Quest episode, the villain was acting out of a need to restore his lost pride, but in 'Ghost of the Killer Skies', both participants are acting out of respect and admiration for Hans Von Hammer. The conflict arises when sees the tragedy of a principled man driven by conflicting emotions of duty and honour (in 1970, Vietnam was in full swing, and this is a far more elegant and less heavy handed analogy than many these same creators were using in their run on  'Green Lantern/Green Arrow'), while the other sees Von Hammer as a consummate killer, and is enraged by any suggestion that he might be driven by anything less than nationalistic fervour.  

    In this conflict for the soul and memory of Hans Von Hammer, it is implied that he, himself, has the final word as mysterious, unseen forces tilt the balance to resolve the battle.

    While not a perfect story, mainly in terms of how the mystery subplot is resolved, there are more than enough strong points to keep it in my list of favourites. 

    The international locale was very much a departure for the series and an element of Batman in the 70's as he moved from almost exclusively Gotham City-based stories to a mix between Urban Noir and International Intrigue. 

    The use of the film set as setting as well makes for some intriguing plot elements, as well as allowing the story to incorporate one of DC's historical characters without relying on science fictional time travel gimmicks. As I said earlier, Enemy Ace is one of my favourites, but DC has an extensive repertoire of colourful, historical characters from Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe and the Golden Age of Piracy to Wild Western characters, WWI & II Soldiers and Mid-20th Century Detectives, and being able to make reference to one of these characters while still keeping the story firmly in the contemporary adventure/detective genre is a deft move. 

    The supernatural element is handled with subtlety to provide a slight Gothic touch without again, overwhelming the more prevalent genre. 

    The grounding of everything, in terms not only of setting, but in terms of character motivation allows the more outre elements to be presented to the best effect by a talented creative team who were beginning to revitalize the Batman character and pave the way for a re-invention and re-invigouration that has lasted over half a century.

    All in all, it's a well-presented meal with a minor errors or two in preparation more than made up for with some expert use of seasoning and spice to heighten the flavour.