Valkyrie: Prisoner Of The Past (Eclipse 1987)

  Former WW2 fighter ace Valkyrie woke from her forty year magical slumber to find the world had moved on. The man she loved is dead. The few friends that remain are old and grey-haired.
  But there is somebody else who remembers the beautiful, raven-haired pilot. And he has a score to settle. 

  In 1942 the"Airboy" comic strip (About a 12 year old boy and his wonderful, wing-flapping fighter plane)  introduced a memorable new character and in the process came up with one of the most jawdroppingly "How the hell did they get away with that?" comic covers of the Golden Age.

Here's a fun game. Google Image Search "Airboy" and count how many times Valkyrie comes up. 

 The Germanic glamour girl proved a hit and became a semi-recurring love interest for the teen hero. Once she'd changed sides and started fighting for the good guys, obviously.

  When Eclipse comics decided to revive "Airboy" in the 80s, Valkyrie was brought out of retirement as well. Cunningly the writers got round the obvious aging problems by having Airboy's son take up the goggles and red jacket, then having him rescue his dad's old ladyfriend from the magical box where she'd been sleeping for 40 years or so.
 This led to a rather awkward relationship problem. How do you cope when the woman you are in love with may only be interested because you are the spitting image of your recently-deceased father?

  For some reason a beautiful woman who could kick righteous ass (and tended to wear her blouses unbuttoned to the waist sans bra) struck a chord with the readers and in 1987 Eclipse gave Valkyrie her own one-shot.  So let's take a look at it, shall we?

   The story starts in New York with Val and new friend Marlene heading home after a shopping session and running into some delightful young men who offer to help with the shopping. And any valuables that might be weighing our ladies down.

You'd think muggers in NYC would realise that somebody obviously unafraid may just be somebody to leave well alone.

  By a lucky fluke, a camera crew happened to be passing just as Valkyrie was laying the smack down and the footage, as well as post-punchup interview, makes our gal a media sensation. 

You'll note that Valkyrie drops in the odd German word just to remind us that she isn't American.

Which leads to an interesting new career path as model/celebrity.

   While Valkyrie is enjoying a life where nobody is shooting at her, somebody in The Kremlin notices that she looks a bit familiar.

Val used to fly for the Luftwaffe. Did I not mention that part already? 

   Shortly afterwards a Soviet snatch team kicks Val's door down. She is less than pleased.

A few hectic moments later, the Reds  are lying on the floor, enjoying the pain, and Val is feeling optimistic when...

Bad guy Steelfox makes a dynamic entry in no way inspired by a certain DC character

    The Eclipse Airboy series had a few bizarre moments in among the adventure and the relationship drama.  There's the giant biker rats and the bomber full of dead guys to begin with.
 So a man with a stainless steel face flying in through the window isn't too bad.

  Anyway, the Soviets return home with their captive and start preparations for a nice, old-fashioned show-trial.  A village full of  refugee children was wiped off the face of the earth in 1943. And Valkyrie's Airmaidens were responsible.

    The trial quickly proves to be a Kangaroo sort of affair so things are not looking good for the timelost aviatrix. Luckily one of her old friends has a plan.
Sylvia Lawton, formerly aviation heroine The Black Angel and now US Ambassador, sends one of her team to find Val an alibi and just for the hell of it, young Holly decides to take up the Black Angel mantle herself. 

I see what you did there. 

  Here's where it gets weird. One of Airboy's old enemies was the deeply alarming Misery, a sorcerous ghoul who collected dead pilots as a hobby. He's the reason Valkyrie spent the post-war years in suspended animation and while she's in a dungeon, licking her wounds after an abortive escape attempt, he shows up to mess with her head.

He's a dick like that.

    Meanwhile Holly is in East Germany punching secret policemen.

 I have no idea why her outfit is in fact purple or why it has ears. 

   After a few pages of Valkyrie verbally sparring with bad guy Steelfox, the climax of the book comes down to...err a courtroom showdown. Nobody hits anybody so I'll not bother posting any caps. Although I will point out that our heroine decides to break out the low-cut blouse and jodhurs outfit for her day in court.  Maybe her formal outfits were in the wash.

 So what did I think?  There's a few weak points - the art is mostly ok but sometimes the faces seem a bit harsh and after all the time spent setting Steelfox up as a Nemesis it seems a bit weird for him to just give up and go home - but on the whole I enjoyed this. 

  Valkyrie is suitably badass, but towards the end you can tell that guilt for her former life and Misery's mindf***s are starting to catch up with her. It's when things are getting desperate that she starts to get really interesting.
  Steelfox is a walking cliche but that's only to be expected. He has a steel face for crying out loud. How much subtlety did you expect?
 I did like the quiet moments between Sylvia and Valkyrie - old friends catching up- and between Sylvia and newbie Holly. I'd have to check but I suspect there was some hope of turning the new Black Angel into a recurring character. That might have been fun.
  Summing up, an enjoyable outing for one of the more interesting characters in comics.

Apparently Moonstone comics have subsequently revived Airboy and Valkyrie yet again. I'll have to track down a few issues. And yes, she is still wearing that green blouse.

That's all folks.