Enemy Ace would've had too much class for that...

Amazing High Adventure #5 is the only issue of that series I've ever seen, which is a bit of a shame. From 1986, it was an anthology book that seemed pretty far afield from the usual super-hero fare. This issue opens with "The Skyhook" Written by Mike Baron, art by John Ridgeway. Post World War I, a young pilot and his sister lose their father to a gangster and his torpedo, the Kraut. The pilot recognizes the Kraut as a former German ace, from a run-in with him in the skies over Verdun.


The pilot and his partner hatch a scheme to get back at the gangster with a robbery, and a daring escape via skyhook, a trick they had been prepping for flying exhibitions. Everything goes to plan, except they aren't the only ones with a plane lying around...

This issue also features a straight retelling of David and Goliath, from Baron and Tomosina Cawthrone-Artis; and a tale of rebellion in British-ruled India from Bill Mantlo and Steve Purcell that's very different from anything I had seen from either of those creators before. On the other hand, the last story, "My Brother's Keeper" is exactly what you would expect from aviation fan Ken Steacy: during the Cold War, a Soviet spy tries to commandeer a flying wing on a test flight, but may have forgotten about the attached parasite plane. For a little extra drama, the parasite plane's pilot is the brother of the wing's captain, and scared of heights when he's not in a plane.