Peter's Gallery :: World War I Art

Enemy Ace: War Idyll, page 45, 1990 by George Pratt

Artist: George Pratt (All)

3 Comments - 421 Views - 7 Likes

Enemy Ace: War Idyll, page 45, 1990 by George Pratt Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	Enemy Ace: War Idyll, page 45, 1990 by George Pratt
Artist:	George Pratt (All)
Media Type:	Mixed Media
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	421
Likes on CAF:	7 8
Comments:	3
Added to Site:	12/19/2022
Comic Art Archive:

Description

George Pratt's graphic novel is about a Vietnam tunnel rat veteran who masquerades as a journalist to talk with Hans von Hammer, --Enemy Ace--in a German sanatorium. Their meetings bring forth recollections of their war experiences and trauma.

This page is near the end of a World War I dogfight that Enemy Ace is recalling. Allied biplanes jump Enemy Ace and his squadron of mostly inexperienced pilots over France on 24 December 1917. Von Hammer shoots down several aircraft but gets overwhelmed by numbers. This last page shows Enemy Ace going down, but he survives the crash on the next page. Apparently the allied planes decimate the rest of the squadron.

The art is in glorious watercolor and white paint.

Below is part of a 2014 interview of George Pratt that gives additional insight into how the book came about. He also speaks of why World War I interests him so much. (https://blogs.slj.com/adult4teen/2014/08/15/an-interview-with-george-pratt/)

Question: "Speaking of Enemy Ace: War Idyll: are there any connections for you between the fictional DC world and the very real world of these poets who were writing at the time of the war?"

Pratt: "Enemy Ace: War Idyll came about, curiously enough, through my interest in the Vietnam War. I was terrified of that war as a child. I was born in 1960 and that war was basically the dark backdrop of my childhood. Four or five years longer and I would have had to go. Even though my buddies and I were playing guns in our neighborhoods, the war still scared me. All of our fathers had been in World War II, sailors, infantrymen, bomber and fighter pilots, and we’d dress up in all the old gear and run around 'killing' each other."

"My father had books on WWII around the house and I was fascinated by it all and read many of those books, though, honestly it was the pictures that drew me to them. During art school I began to research the Vietnam War in order to understand it better for myself. One of the first jobs I got upon leaving school was as an illustrator for Eagle Magazine, a Vietnam Soldier of Fortune thing. There I met Jim Morris, himself a writer and a three-tour Green Beret in Vietnam. He was my editor and I became his pet artist. He gave me enough work to pay my rent and keep me in art supplies each month. He saw how interested I was and one day gave me the opportunity to use the phones and call some of his vet friends from ‘Nam and pick their brains about their experiences. This was about the time that movies about Vietnam began to trickle out."

"But I wanted to say something of my own about Vietnam rather than just illustrate others’ stories. So I began to write a story about a Nam vet who had been a tunnel rat. But I felt I needed to be able to compare and contrast that with something else. Enemy Ace popped into my head for some reason or other and that started that ball rolling. In researching WWI I became hooked and haven’t been able to shake it."

"Interestingly, Enemy Ace: War Idyll was published right at the beginning of the first Gulf War. I began to get letters from veterans, not only of that war, but from previous wars as well. The book helped them to deal with the things they witnessed. That was incredibly gratifying to hear. The book was translated into nine different languages, saw four American editions and was on the West Point Military Academy’s required reading list."

Question: Why does World War I have a particular fascination for you or are the setting of the two projects (War Idyll and Above the Dreamless Dead) coincidental?

Pratt: "I am totally fascinated by WWI, for a lot of different reasons. There’s the power of the subject and all that that encompasses, the breadth of the war, the parties involved, etc. There’s the visual impact of that time period for me. I love the way the uniforms looked, the thick wool and the way it hung on the figures, the clunky design of things and the trenches! Good lord, the trenches! The bleakness and desolate nature of it all. And yet, in reading the poems, the memoirs, etc. there still rises from those who experienced it a grace and unfailing hope for a better future."

"World War One has followed me throughout my life, really, though I didn’t notice it at the time. My grandfather on my father’s side was in the First World War. The first piece I learned on the piano was a World War One piece. My English teacher in high school was the model for Howard Chandler Christy’s 'I wish I were a man, I’d join the Navy!' poster. Etc."

"I was fortunate to get to meet and speak with a veteran from that war when I was working on Enemy Ace: War Idyll. Frank Snell was speaking with a friend of his on a stoop just down the street from my apartment. I had no idea he was a veteran. But walking by one day I overheard them talking about the trenches. I stopped and introduced myself and Frank regaled me with stories of his time in the trenches.”

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	Peter Roe ( 1 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	February 2009
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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Comments on this Artwork

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Eric B
Member Since 2014

1 - Posted on 12/19/2022

Loved Pratt's painting in this book. So much action and detail in every panel. Big congrats!

Jeff Singh
Member Since 2004

1 - Posted on 12/20/2022

This is the highlight of Pratt's comic career and you got yourself a great page.

Heidjer Staecker
Member Since 2004

1 - Posted on 12/20/2022

I want to say I love the page, but given the subject matter, perhaps that is not the appropriate expression. It is intense, and graphic, and emotional. Great page!

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