Aces #1 - Eclipse/Acme

Apr. 1988 - Aces was a sort of companion magazine to Point Blank, also released by Acme Press and Eclipse Comics, with a focus more on adventure strips rather than just private eye stuff (although there's some stuff like that in here too).

It opens with "Air Mail" by Attilio Micheluzzi, a strip about an air mail pilot named Clarence, with a splash page right out of those old classic adventure pulps:

Clarence gets involved in a lot more adventure and intrigue than your average air mail pilot, and the sequences with the planes are thrilling to behold, similar to the work of Alex Toth, with heavy blacks and crisp clean white spaces:

Following "Air Mail" is a two-page interview with Micheluzzi, and there's a few moments where it gets a little awkward:

...er, um, ok. Moving on...

Next is "Hollywood Eye" by Francois Riviere, J.L. Bocquet, and Philippe Berthet, about a private dick with the unusual name of Hippolytus Finn. Finn gets caught up in a situation he can't control, the set-up for any good film noir story. The art is beautiful, smooth and detailed, with just a hint of cartooniness:

There are some shots in this story that seemed to borrowed from the film Touch of Evil, which makes total sense of course, and adds a neat little touch of history to the story.

Last is Morgan in "R.I.P." by Antonio Segura and Jose Ortiz, about an ex-police commissioner who is having a bad day. A very bad day:

...this is his daughter. See, I told you he was having a bad day.

All three stories are solid, even if the latter two could also run in Point Blank, making Aces not all that distinctive from that book. The presentation is very slick, and Eclipse/Acme put together a good package here.

Aces lasted a bit longer than Point Blank--five issues instead of just two--but obviously they had a tough time finding an American audience for some of the finest European comic strips out there.