Day Of Reckoning - An Ian Kennedy Masterpiece from 1961!

"Day of Reckoning" appeared in issue 53 of the Fleetway Air Ace pocket libraries with cover art by Pino Delorco in the summer of 1961. The exact source of the script is frustratingly unknown but the quality of the writing and the little nuances of detail suggest a writer that had seen active service during the conflict that is so powerfully evoked in the pages you are about to read. This is one of the most captivating of the Air Ace series and one which slipped through the net in the recent Prion Book reprints.

The artwork is also second to none, the pages that you will shortly be absorbed in represent artist Ian Kennedy at the peak of his form. For this story and it's predecessor "Fighter, Fighter", Kennedy went above and beyond the call of duty, working long into the night, immersing himself in all the relevant photographic reference required to convincingly evoke the atmosphere and tension that the script demanded.

As with "Fighter, Fighter" Kennedy even signed key frames, something which was actively discouraged by the editors at Fleetway and in this case, they were alerted enough to ensure that a studio "bodger" opaqued out Kennedy's distinctive signature (check out page 23 when it appears).

"Day of Reckoning" represents for me at least a moment of real magic, when a superb script is brought to life by an artist who is going well beyond the requirements of fulfilling a brief, the sheer energy and passion that Kennedy brings to every panel of this story reveals an artist truly at one with his subject.

As I've said before - comics don't get any better than this...

Artwork  © IPC Media 2010

For more Kennedy artistry check out "Aces High" edited by Steve Holland.