Enemy Ace: War Idyll · 1990
The Limited Edition Box Set
Published by DC Comics in December 1990, this Deluxe Limited Edition Box Set of Enemy Ace: War Idyll represents the absolute pinnacle of premium comic book preservation from the early modern era. Strictly limited to a numbered production run of just 2,000 copies globally, this ultra-rare collector's item completely reimagined how comic art was packaged for mature readers. Housed inside a custom, numbered cardboard mailing slipcase, the comprehensive box set extracts a wealth of mixed-media historical treasures, including the leather-and-cloth-bound hardcover core graphic novel book, a loose graphite sketch lithograph print individually hand-signed and numbered by creator George Pratt, and a multi-page interactive replica of the handwritten diary journal of Hans von Hammer featuring clear script translations and beautifully detailed acetate art layovers.
The Journal of Hans von Hammer
Acetate Overlay Pages — Box Set Exclusive
Included Components
The Slipcase 
The Litho Print Behind the Canvas
The Real-Life Face of the Hammer
To bring a sense of realism to the character's internal turmoil, George Pratt used his closest art-school peers as live models. Acclaimed comic artist John Van Fleet posed for the haunting facial frames of the young Hans von Hammer, while industry veteran Mark Chiarello posed as the reporter, Edward Mannock. As a brilliant historical easter egg, the reporter's name "Mannock" was directly selected by Pratt to honor real-world British WWI flying ace Edward "Mick" Mannock.
The "Hitchcock" Gas Attack Cameo
Pratt painted his own physical likeness directly into one of the book's most exhausting and traumatic sequences — the trench warfare gas attack scene. Pratt portrays the very soldier that Hans von Hammer is forced to shoot during the chaos. Exhausted from months of tight deadlines, Pratt added this "Hitchcock-style" appearance as a private joke to encapsulate the feeling that the grueling workload was quite literally "killing me!"
Personal Feuds & Family Photo Proofs
The American doughboy that von Hammer interacts with was modeled directly after Pratt's childhood best friend from Texas. In the poignant sequence where the doughboy shares a beer with a German soldier, the German pilot is a painted portrait of the friend's actual father. The photograph the soldier reveals to von Hammer depicts the friend's then-wife and son, while Pratt's girlfriend at the time posed for the nurse managing the sanitarium.
The Scale & Destiny of the Master Oils
The original paintings were created on a massive scale. The original hardcover oil canvas stood six feet tall and a yard wide, while the subsequent Warner Books cover painting measured six feet tall by four feet wide (with only a tightly cropped portion ultimately showing on the final publication cover). Today, these massive, museum-grade oils are part of foundational comic art history: Kevin Eastman (co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) owns both the master hardcover oil painting and the original first softcover trade painting, while George Pratt still retains the Warner Books cover piece in his private collection.
Setting the Flight Rigging
To guarantee that the structural angles of the red Fokker Triplane were exact in every frame, Pratt spent four months assembling an incredibly large, specialized hobby kit imported from Japan. The finished model featured a massive wingspan measuring nearly three feet wide. To study shifting lighting and atmospheric shadow values before laying brush to canvas, Pratt also constructed a series of smaller-scale model planes, painting them in uniform gray blocks to photograph and draw from.
Fabricating the Uniform
To build his own live-action reference models, Pratt constructed a makeshift set of aviator gear. The base flight hat was a vintage leather replica of the Red Baron's gear sourced from Banana Republic (back when the company operated as an exotic military/safari travel outfitter). To add Hans von Hammer's signature Maltese Cross detailing, Pratt cut up plastic drinking cups, hand-painted the cross insignias onto them, and stitched them directly onto the sides of the leather cap. The flight goggles were heavily modified old eyewear, with the flaps hand-trimmed to fit cleanly over the reference lenses for photography. The officer's cap is from WWII, modified with custom painted gears pasted onto the front to mirror authentic historical references.