''Aces High'' was a comic book series published by

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950 ...

in 1955 as the fourth title in its ''New Direction'' line. The bi-monthly comic was published by

Bill Gaines William Maxwell Gaines (; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992), was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically import ...

. It lasted a total of five issues before being cancelled, along with EC's other New Direction comics. ''Aces High'' was dedicated to tales of air combat and front line service of Allied airmen during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Many of the stories were in an anti-war vein. Contributors to ''Aces High'' include George Evans,

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

, Jack Davis and Bernie Krigstein. ''Aces High'' was reprinted as part of publisher Russ Cochran's '' Complete EC Library'' in 1988. Between April and August 1999, Cochran (in association with

Gemstone Publishing Gemstone Publishing is an American company that publishes comic book price guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Geppi in 1994 when he bought Overstreet. Gemstone published licen ...

) reprinted all five individual issues. This complete run was later rebound, with covers included, in a single softcover '' EC Annual''.

Issue guide

References

Interview with Bill Gaines (1991)
{{EC Comics EC Comics publications War comics Aviation comics Comics by Carl Wessler 1955 comics debuts 1955 comics endings