The Debut of Airboy in Air Fighters Comics #2, Up for Auction

Air Fighters Comics was the debut series for Hillman Periodicals, the publisher of a wide range of magazines that had been founded in 1939.  Hillman would go on to publish comic book titles ranging from crime and romance to westerns and superheroes.  But the second comic book issue the company ever published would remain its most famous:  Air Fighters Comics #2 introduced aviation hero Airboy and his distinctive and advanced bat-winged plane Birdie to comic books.  The character was created by Charles Biro, later of Lev Gleason Publications and Crime Does Not Pay fame, along with Dick Wood and artist Al Camy.  The historically important debut for a comics property that has remained popular in the decades since, there’s an Air Fighters Comics #2 (Hillman Fall, 1942) CGC GD/VG 3.0 Cream to off-white pages up for auction in the 2022 July 31-August 1 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122231 at Heritage Auctions.

Airboy was an orphan named Davy who was raised by a monk at Mission San Juan Capistrano in California. Observing the flight of bats at the mission one day, the monk, Padre Martier, recalled that renaissance genius Benvenuto Cellini had once likewise been inspired by bat wings as a possible method of human flight (and incidentally, a rather remarkable historical reference on the part of Biro and/or Wood there).  Padre Martier proceeded to design a modern bat-winged plane and then, against the wishes of his fellow monks, sought financial backing so that he could build it.  But the unscrupulous financial backer who provided the funds presumed that Martier was mad and that the plane would not fly.  He hoped to get his hands on the Mission’s land when the loan could not be repaid.  When the plane did fly, the financier sabotaged it so that the plane crashed and killed Martier in the process.  Davy repaired the plane and took flight with it himself, attacking the financier’s casino by bombing it from the air.  He subsequently proved Birdie’s worth in aerial combat by taking on a Japanese squadron that had heard about the unique fighter and sought to steal it for themselves.

It’s a unique beginning for one of the most memorable non-superhero characters of the Golden Age, and there’s an Air Fighters Comics #2 (Hillman Fall, 1942) CGC GD/VG 3.0 Cream to off-white pages up for auction in the 2022 July 31-August 1 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122231 at Heritage Auctions. If you’ve never bid at Heritage Auctions before, you can get further information, you can check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.  It’s a particularly good week to take a look with lots of rare Ace Magazines comics, Champ and Champion Comics, Lev Gleason comics, and much more.

Air Fighters Comics #2 (Hillman Fall, 1942) CGC GD/VG 3.0 Cream to off-white pages. Origins and first appearances of Airboy and Iron Ace. Charles Biro classic cover and story. Mort Leav, Bob Fujitani, and Harry Sahle art. Overstreet 2021 GD 2.0 value = $514; VG 4.0 value = $1,028. CGC census 7/22: 2 in 3.0, 34 higher.

Affiliates of Bleeding Cool buy from and/or consign to Heritage Auctions.