Star Spangled War Stories

"Reach for the Heavens"

Cover Date March 1970
Issue #149
Pages 15
Type Original Story
Cover Price 20¢
Featured Character Hans von Hammer
Guest Characters Heinrich Müller (a pilot who gives von Hammer his facial scar in a sword duel during flight training, ends up in Hammer’s Jagdstaffel)

Synopsis

A flashback to von Hammer's flight training days, where a sword duel with cadet Heinrich Müller leaves him with the facial scar he carries through the entire run. Years later, Müller serves in von Hammer's own Jagdstaffel, a subordinate bearing the mark of what they once were to each other. The story asks what debts of pride and blood look like when the war itself swallows everything personal.

Collector Notes

A rare origin-layer story for von Hammer. The scar is one of his defining visual traits, Kubert draws it as both wound and insignia, and giving it a specific history in Müller deepens the character considerably. The decision to place Müller inside the Jagdstaffel afterward is pure Kanigher: no clean resolution, just complication folded into the ongoing present.

Creative Team

Writer Robert Kanigher
Penciler Joe Kubert
Inker Joe Kubert
Letterer Ben Oda