History ComicBook / Airboy

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Valkyrie's design as an alluring, long-dark-haired, Germanic action-girl was based on actress Creator/HedyLamarr (who was also the original inspration for ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}).[[note]]Creator/JimSteranko, in his ''History of Comic Books'', believes that Valkyrie's design was based on actress Creator/VeronicaLake.[[/note]]

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Valkyrie's design as an alluring, dark-haired, Germanic action-girl with a "peek-a-boo" hairstyle was inspired from actresses Creator/HedyLamarr (who was Austrian and Jewish, ironically) and Creator/VeronicaLake.

* UltimateUniverse: most of the Airboy characters were revamped from the ground up.

* YouCanSeeThatRight: Robinson and Hinkle have this reaction after seeing [[spoiler:Airboy.]]

Airboy was Davey Nelson Jr, a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] comic book character that originally appeared in ''Air Fighters Comics'' #1 (Volume 2). He proved to be so popular that ''Air Fighters Comics'' was eventually renamed ''Airboy Comics.'' The original comic ended in 1953, when Hillman Periodicals left the comic publishing business. All the characters that appeared eventually lapsed into [[{{PublicDomainCharacter}} public domain]], allowing Eclipse Comics to revive them in the early 1980s. Chuck Dixon handled the writing and Tim Truman handled the initial art. The revival is notable for trying to bring some measure of realism into the story while still honoring the original continuity.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Valkyrie has a plunging neckline that reaches her navel. This carried through to all her subsequent incarnations.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Valkyrie. This carried through to all her subsequent incarnations.

Creator/ImageComics has recently started an ''Airboy'' miniseries written by James Robinson and drawn by Greg Hinckle. It's a semi-autobiographical meta story focusing on Robinson and Hinckle ''as'' the main characters alongside Airboy, who somehow ends up in the real world. The series is also focusing on a fictional interpretation of the low points in Robinson's later career, such as his last few critically lambasted works for Creator/DCComics and his alcoholism. This is a ''very'' adult take on the character and concept, and also very NSFW.

The original Airboy was a young pilot who flew Birdie - an occasionally plane that flapped its wings like a bird. He used his plane to fight the Axis forces and various supernatural menaces. When the World War II ended, he shifted to more super-villains and air-related criminals. The Eclipse revival starred David Nelson III, the original Airboy's son. The new series (simply called ''Airboy'') was a continuation of the original [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] stories, except it tried to take a more realistic approach to airplanes and flight, even as it kept some of the odder aspects of the original stories. The Eclipse series featured many characters that originally appeared in Air Fighters Comics as supporting characters. Most notably, it featured Valkyrie, the original Airboy's memorable but rarely seen love interest, became part of the main cast.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: ''Airboy: 1942 – The Best of Enemies'' one-shot sees our hero dealing with the Red Army in Poland. In 1942. Yeah.
* AuthorFilibuster: In ''Airboy: 1942 – The Best of Enemies'' one-shot, Creator/ChuckDixon goes out of his way to show that communists are bad. Very bad. So bad that they make Nazis look like honorable and reasonable by comparison.

* FishOutOfWater/FishOutOfTemporalWater: [[spoiler:Airboy comes straight out of a 1940's comic.]]

* {{Expy}}: Valkyrie as an alluring, dark-haired, Germanic action-girl, with a "peek-a-boo" hairstyle, was inspired from both Creator/HedyLamarr (who was Austrian and Jewish, ironically) and Creator/VeronicaLake.

* AmazonBrigade: The Airmaidens.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Skywolf's semi-planes were a neat-looking visual (one plane splitting into two independent halves), but the actual designs wouldn't work too well in real life (the Eclipse revival lampshades this repeatedly).

* {{Expy}}: Valkyrie as an alluring, dark-haired, Germanic action-girl was inspired from both Creator/HedyLamarr (who was Austrian and Jewish, ironically) and Creator/VeronicaLake.

* {{Crossover}}: With the Prowler, Sgt Strike and Mr Monster (fellow EclipseComics characters).
* CrisisCrossover: In ''TotalEclipse'', Eclipse Comics' only line-wide crossover, Zzed, a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''Airboy Comics'' character, set out to destroy the universe in order to end his immortality, setting the events of the crossover into motion.
* IdenticalGrandson: David Nelson III looked pretty much identical to his father when he was young (to the point where even Valkyrie is fooled.

* LipstickAndLoadMontage: The first page of ''ComicBook/{{Airboy}} vs. the Air Maidens'' consists of the Air maidens (Valkyrie, Black Angel and Lupina) performing one of these as they don {{Stripperific}} outfits to infiltrate a drug lord's birthday party as 'gifts'.
* MoeGreeneSpecial: At the end of ''Airboy vs. the Air Maidens'', Valkyrie takes revenge on the crime lord who [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] her and the other Air maidens by uses a sniper rifle to put a bullet through his wineglass, his sunglasses and his eye.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Nelson Aviation scientists devised a complex cybernetic shell to save Iron Ace's life (robotic limbs and metalic casing that contained his surviving organs. For some reason, they never thought the release the technology to the public, or utilize it for further research, like, at all.

* {{Expy}}: Valkyrie as a dark-haired, Germanic action-girl was inspired by actresses Creator/HedyLamarr (who was Austrian and Jewish, ironically) and Creator/VeronicaLake.

Airboy was Davey Nelson Jr, a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] comic book character that originally appeared in ''Air Fighters Comics #1'' (Volume 2). He proved to be so popular that ''Air Fighters Comics'' was eventually renamed ''Airboy Comics.'' The original comic ended in 1953, when Hillman Periodicals left the comic publishing business. All the characters that appeared eventually lapsed into [[{{PublicDomainCharacter}} public domain]], allowing Eclipse Comics to revive them in the early 1980s. Chuck Dixon handled the writing and Tim Truman handled the initial art. The revival is notable for trying to bring some measure of realism into the story while still honoring the original continuity.

!'''Air Fighters Comics/Airboy Comics examples:'''

'''Airboy 1980s Revival Examples:'''

'''Moonstone Books Revival Examples:'''

'''2015 Image Comic Examples:'''

'''Air Fighters Comics/Airboy Comics examples:'''

''ImageComics'' has recently started an ''Airboy'' miniseries written by James Robinson and drawn by Greg Hinckle. It's a semi-autobiographical meta story focusing on Robinson and Hinckle ''as'' the main characters alongside Airboy, who somehow ends up in the real world. The series is also focusing on a fictional interpretation of the low points in Robinson's later career, such as his last few critically lambasted works for DCComics and his alcoholism. This is a ''very'' adult take on the character and concept, and also very NSFW.

The original Airboy was a young pilot who flew Birdie - an occasionally plane that flapped it's wings like a bird. He used his plane to fight the Axis forces and various supernatural menaces. When the World War II ended, he shifted to more super-villains and air-related criminals. The Eclipse revival starred David Nelson III, the original Airboy's son. The new series (simply called ''Airboy'') was a continuation of the original [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] stories, except it tried to take a more realistic approach to airplanes and flight, even as it kept some of the odder aspects of the original stories. The Eclipse series featured many characters that originally appeared in Air Fighters Comics as supporting characters. Most notably, it featured Valkyrie, the original airboy's memorable but rarely seen love interest, became part of the main cast.

* YouFailHistoryForever: ''Airboy: 1942 – The Best of Enemies'' one-shot sees our hero dealing with the Red Army in Poland. In 1942. Yeah.

* MushroomSamba: The creators assume this is the reason for [[spoiler:Airboy's appearence in their apartment.]] They are, however, GenreSavvy enough to wonder why they're both seeing the same thing.

* YouFailHistoryForever: ''Airboy: 1942 – The Best of Enemies'' one-shot sees our hero dealing with the Red Army in Poland. In 1942. Yeah.

* AbsoluteCleavage - Valkyrie. This carried through to all her subsequent incarnations.
* AmazonBrigade - The Airmaidens.
* AwesomeButImpractical - Skywolf's semi-planes were a neat-looking visual (one plane splitting into two independent halves), but the actual designs wouldn't work too well in real life (the Eclipse revival lampshades this repeatedly).
* ButNotTooForeign - the Bald Eagle was canonically half-Cherokee.
* ComicBookTime - surprisingly averted with Airboy. The character started out as a 10-year-old boy and aged visibly over time. By the time the comic was canceled in 1953, he was a young man in his early 20s. According to the artist who co-created him and drew most of his appearances, this was deliberate. Played straight with most other characters, though.
* [[CoolCar Cool Plane]] - Airboy's Birdie, Skywolf's "Semi-Planes", Iron Ace's armored plane, Bald Eagle's Flying Coffin, Black Angel's tricked-out plane, the list goes on.
* Discontinuity - most fans prefer to pretend that the stories which featured Valkyrie as the Communist agent never happened (because it went against all her prior characterization and history with Airboy). The Eclipse revival established that the Communist Valkyrie was the original's doppelganger.
* PluckyComicRelief - "Skinny" [=McGinty=], a 1940s era walking hick stereotype with flying powers.
* HeelFaceTurn - Valkyrie, a Nazi air ace, turned against her superior when he insisted on executing her teammates for helping Airboy escape (though, honestly, what did she expect).
* MayDecemberRomance - When they first met, Airboy was 12 and Valkyrie was at least 18. The age difference became less noticeable in later stories thanks to real time aging.
* SpinOff - the Heap appeared in Sky Wolf stories before moving on to his own feature.
* SexyDiscretionShot - a rare [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] example. At the end of an Airboy story in ''Airboy Comics'' #6 (Volume 3) Airboy and Valkyrie head off to get some private time and warned their friend that they didn't want to be disturbed. Jeez, I wonder why.

* Crossover - with the Prowler, Sgt Strike and Mr Monster (fellow EclipseComics characters).
* CrisisCrossover - in ''TotalEclipse'', Eclipse Comics' only line-wide crossover, Zzed, a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''Airboy Comics'' character, set out to destroy the universe in order to end his immortality, setting the events of the crossover into motion.
* [[IdenticalGrandson Identical Son]] - David Nelson III looked pretty much identical to his father when he was young (to the point where even Valkyrie is fooled.
* LegacyHero - Airboy, Black Angel, Lupina (to Skywolf)
* ReedRichardsIsUseless - Nelson Aviation scientists devised a complex cybernetic shell to save Iron Ace's life (robotic limbs and metalic casing that contained his surviving organs. For some reason, they never thought the release the technology to the public, or utilize it for further research, like, at all.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism - varied. While the comic ran with much of the original series' weirdness, it also tried to bring realism into aviation, air combat and firearms. As the result, some of that weirdness was justified or explained away.

* AuthorFilibuster - In ''Airboy: 1942 – The Best of Enemies'' one-shot, Creator/ChuckDixon goes out of his way to show that communists are bad. Very bad. So bad that they make Nazis look like honorable and reasonable by comparison.
* TheRemnant - The Peekaboo Bandit
* UltimateUniverse - most of the Airboy characters were revamped from the ground up.
* YouFailHistoryForever - ''Airboy: 1942 – The Best of Enemies'' one-shot sees our hero dealing with the Red Army in Poland. In 1942. Yeah.

Airboy was Davey Nelson Jr, a [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] comic book character that originally appeared in ''Air Fighters Comics #1'' (Volume 2). He proved to be so popular that ''Air Fighters Comics'' was eventually renamed ''Airboy Comics.'' The original comic ended in 1953, when Hillman Periodicals left the comic publishing business. All the characters that appeared eventually lapsed into [[{{PublicDomainCharacter}} public domain]], allowing Eclipse Comics to revive them in the early 1980s. Chuck Dixon handled the writing and Tim Truman handled the initial art. The revival is notable for trying to bring some measure of realism into the story while still honoring the original continuity.

The original Airboy was a young pilot who flew Birdie - an occasionally plane that flapped it's wings like a bird. He used his plane to fight the Axis forces and various supernatural menaces. When the World War II ended, he shifted to more super-villains and air-related criminals. The Eclipse revival starred David Nelson III, the original Airboy's son. The new series (simply called ''Airboy'') was a continuation of the original [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] stories, except it tried to take a more realistic approach to airplanes and flight, even as it kept some of the odder aspects of the original stories. The Eclipse series featured many characters that originally appeared in Air Fighters Comics as supporting characters. Most notably, it featured Valkyrie, the original airboy's memorable but rarely seen love interest, became part of the main cast.

* SexyDiscretionShot - a rare [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] example. At the end of an Airboy story in ''Airboy Comics'' #6 (Volume 3) Airboy and Valkyrie head off to get some private time and warned their friend that they didn't want to be disturbed. Jeez, I wonder why.

* CrisisCrossover - in ''TotalEclipse'', Eclipse Comics' only line-wide crossover, Zzed, a [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''Airboy Comics'' character, set out to destroy the universe in order to end his immortality, setting the events of the crossover into motion.

When Eclipse Comics went out of business, Todd [=McFarlane=] wound up getting the company's assets. Although he announced his intention to revive Airboy and other Air Fighters characters, it didn't pen out. Since the original characters were still in public domain, Creator/ChuckDixon decided to try to revive them. He originally intended to publish it through Shooting Star Comics, but when the company folded, he wound up taking his pitch to Moonstone Books. The company published Dixon's original story and proceeded to revive the other characters on the pages of revived ''Air Fighters'' title.

When Eclipse Comics went out of business, Todd [=McFarlane=] wound up getting the company's assets. Although he announced his intention to revive Airboy and other Air Fighters characters, it didn't pen out. Since the original characters were still in public domain, ChuckDixon decided to try to revive them. He originally intended to publish it through Shooting Star Comics, but when the company folded, he wound up taking his pitch to Moonstone Books. The company published Dixon's original story and proceeded to revive the other characters on the pages of revived ''Air Fighters'' title.

* AuthorFilibuster - In ''Airboy: 1942 – The Best of Enemies'' one-shot, ChuckDixon goes out of his way to show that communists are bad. Very bad. So bad that they make Nazis look like honorable and reasonable by comparison.

* FairForItsDay - while the Japanese were usually depicted pretty the way you would expect them to be depicted in 1940s, the Japanese-Americans usually wound up looking less caricatured and were treated as full-fledged human beings rather than racial stereotypes. Heck, one Bald Eagle story actually featured a Japanese-American intelligence agent and his loyalty was never in doubt.