Valkyrie’s First Appearances in Air Fighters Comics, Up for Auction

Valkyrie was a German fighter ace and leader of the Airmaidens squadron during WWII. First appearing in Air Fighters Comics V2#2, she was created by artist Fred Kida and an unknown writer (possibly Warren Kuhn or Ed Cronin). Swayed by the courage of Airboy, she and the Airmaidens ultimately turned against the Nazis in her September 1943 debut to fight alongside Airboy. One of the most memorable female characters of the Golden Age with an iconic cover by Kida, there are solid copies of her first two appearances in Air Fighters Comics V2#2 (Hillman Fall, 1943) CGC VG- 3.5 Cream to off-white pages and Air Fighters Comics V2#7 CGC VG+ 4.5 up for auction in the 2023 January 8-9 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122302 at Heritage Auctions.

Valkyrie’s greatest desire was to face Airboy in a dogfight to prove herself.  She soon had her chance as Airboy discovered the Airmaiden Squadron’s base of operations.  While Airboy bested Valkyrie in the subsequent battle, he ultimately lost and was captured because he couldn’t bring himself to shoot a woman.  Airboy was then tortured in an attempt to force him to divulge the operational secrets of his airplane, but the rest of the Airmaidens were swayed by his courage in the face of the torture and hid Airboy elsewhere on the base.  Finally, with her team set to be executed for helping Airboy, Valkyrie herself was persuaded to switch sides and she, the Airmadens, and Airboy made their escape to England, with Valkyrie declaring that they’d been brainwashed from an early age and vowing to switch sides.

Her second appearance in Air Fighters Comics V2#7 confirmed that she had joined the Allies and the Nazis wanted her dead for it. However, after the end of WWII, things again turned tense from time to time between Valkyrie and Airboy, as she became a mercenary of sorts, willing to lend her skills to anyone who would pay the price. A historically important WWII-era character, there are solid copies of her first two appearances in Air Fighters Comics V2#2 (Hillman Fall, 1943) CGC VG- 3.5 Cream to off-white pages and Air Fighters Comics V2#7 CGC VG+ 4.5 up for auction in the 2023 January 8-9 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122302 at Heritage Auctions.

Air Fighters Comics V2#2 (Hillman Fall, 1943) CBCS VG+ 4.5 Cream to off-white pages. First appearance of Valkyrie (Lieslotte Von Schellendorf). “Classic” Valkyrie and Airboy cover by Fred Kida. John Giunta and Bob Fujitani art. Overstreet 2021 VG 4.0 value = $438.

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