Star Spangled War Stories

"Rain Above...Mud Below"

Cover Date September 1970
Issue #152
Pages 9
Type Original Story
Cover Price 25¢
Featured Character Hans von Hammer
Also Featuring Colonel Schlein (first appearance, a Air Command staff officer)

Synopsis

A brief return to the skies set against the relentless mud and misery of the Western Front below. Colonel Schlein, a new Air Command staff officer, makes his presence felt, a reminder that von Hammer operates within a military machine that regards him as an asset, not a conscience. The rain that grounds the infantry cannot ground the Ace.

Collector Notes

Notable as one of the few issues where Russ Heath took the pencils from Kubert. Heath's draftsmanship is meticulous and detailed in a different way, more reportorial than expressionistic. His rendering of the landscape, the mud and the wire, gives this story a grounded texture that complements the aerial action unusually well.

Creative Team

Writer Robert Kanigher
Penciler Russ Heath
Inker Russ Heath