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Airboy Archives #1
Airboy Archives Volume 1
Airboy, Valkyrie, and Skywolf are back! When the original Airboy is murdered, his son, Davy Nelson, takes over the cockpit to avenge his father. The high flying action-adventure stories of the Eclipse Comics series come roaring back to life in Volume 1 of 5 of Airboy Archives with a new introduction by writer Chuck Dixon.
Collects the first 16 issues of Airboy including the back-up Skywolf stories starting in issue #9.
Collects the first 16 issues of Airboy including the back-up Skywolf stories starting in issue #9.
308 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 2014
6 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Dixon
3,440 books1,052 followersCharles "Chuck" Dixon is an American comic book writer, perhaps best-known for long runs on Batman titles in the 1990s.
His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.
In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.
His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.
He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .
While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.
In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.
On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."
His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.
In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.
His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.
He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .
While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.
In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.
On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 22, 2019
This was surprisingly good. It's updated adventures of the Golden Age Airboy character (it's actually the original character's son now) and they managed to keep the sense of adventure but take out some of the campiness that was inherent in many comics back in the 40s and 50s.
The art is great, starting out with Tim Truman then Stan Woch. I wasn't familiar with Stan Woch but after reading this I have to say his work is underrated. The stories are still a little far out but Chuck Dixon as writer did a tremendous job of never losing the drama.
The characters are great too. Airboy is a novice hero, Skywolf is the seasoned veteran, Hirota is the samurai teacher, Valkyre is the sexy female lead, there's some fancy planes and choppers, evil villains (some real world and some otherworldly) and even a heroic robot for good measure.
Overall this series is pulp fiction at its finest, and another great series from 1986. (Which some say was comic's greatest year because of Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Maus and more.) If you like pulp adventure this is one you should check out.
The art is great, starting out with Tim Truman then Stan Woch. I wasn't familiar with Stan Woch but after reading this I have to say his work is underrated. The stories are still a little far out but Chuck Dixon as writer did a tremendous job of never losing the drama.
The characters are great too. Airboy is a novice hero, Skywolf is the seasoned veteran, Hirota is the samurai teacher, Valkyre is the sexy female lead, there's some fancy planes and choppers, evil villains (some real world and some otherworldly) and even a heroic robot for good measure.
Overall this series is pulp fiction at its finest, and another great series from 1986. (Which some say was comic's greatest year because of Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Maus and more.) If you like pulp adventure this is one you should check out.
January 31, 2026
Art solid throughout though it doesn’t seem like the publisher took the time to clean up the art/ color seems like they just scanned some old comics.
Manufacture of the book is book, IDW seems to use a really cheap printer and glue is cracking, I had to reglue the cover to this book.
Stories are alright, starts pretty slow but then ramps up, has two separate stories current day (1980s). And a back up story with Skywolf in the 40s & 50s. Both fairly interesting.
Manufacture of the book is book, IDW seems to use a really cheap printer and glue is cracking, I had to reglue the cover to this book.
Stories are alright, starts pretty slow but then ramps up, has two separate stories current day (1980s). And a back up story with Skywolf in the 40s & 50s. Both fairly interesting.
June 1, 2017
I was first exposed to Airboy by the James Robinson 4 issue run where he writes himself into the story. I enjoyed it so much that I did some searching and found these IDW archives from a Chuck Dixon run in the 80's. It's essentially a loose continuation of the strip from the 40's. Hey, why not?
Airboy is has everything you want in an action comic and some things you didn't know you wanted. Cryogenic freezing, swamp beasts, yetis, evil take overs, crazy villains, drug runners, KKK assholes, intelligent robots, wear wolves, and nonstop action to tie it all together.
The story line picks up with the original Airboy unexpectedly passing the reins onto his son. I guess a lot if not all of the original characters return now grizzled and old. This makes for prime flashback material.
I highly recommend and will be picking up volume 2 in the near future. Oh, and Valkyrie is smoking hot. ;)
Airboy is has everything you want in an action comic and some things you didn't know you wanted. Cryogenic freezing, swamp beasts, yetis, evil take overs, crazy villains, drug runners, KKK assholes, intelligent robots, wear wolves, and nonstop action to tie it all together.
The story line picks up with the original Airboy unexpectedly passing the reins onto his son. I guess a lot if not all of the original characters return now grizzled and old. This makes for prime flashback material.
I highly recommend and will be picking up volume 2 in the near future. Oh, and Valkyrie is smoking hot. ;)
May 12, 2023
this was fun, but I'm not sure I can read 4 more volumes of it
August 11, 2014
In 1986, in the midst of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, it's easy to forget pretty much everything else, especially the comics that weren't coming out of Marvel or DC. Yet Chuck Dixon's Airboy, which was originally published every two weeks, was a fun, sometimes gritty, action/adventure title that still works pretty well 30 years later. Eventually Airboy expanded from 16 pages every two weeks to 32 pages, but with backup stories of other characters such as Skywolf. The backup stories are pretty good and sometimes tie in to the Airboy stories, but I prefer the Airboy's adventures.
Airboy was originally a Golden Age character, but don't let that keep you from reading these tales. (You pretty much get up to speed during the first issue.) The art in all of these tales is absolutely stunning.
Airboy was originally a Golden Age character, but don't let that keep you from reading these tales. (You pretty much get up to speed during the first issue.) The art in all of these tales is absolutely stunning.
October 18, 2022
I enjoyed rereading these stories. I've still got the comics packed in boxes somewhere. From my point of view, it's a bigger challenge for the modern comic creator to embrace the myth of the hero rather than tear it down. In myth building, this book excels. Original stories, and although the characters are from ancient comics, they sure seem original to me. Nice art, great layouts, and good dialog.
My only gripe is that the color density seems wrong for the paper. It seems like more color has been absorbed, darkening the pages beyond what was intended.
My only gripe is that the color density seems wrong for the paper. It seems like more color has been absorbed, darkening the pages beyond what was intended.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews