created a highly maneuverable prototype aircraft that flew by flapping its wings, like a bird. Martier, however, was killed while testing it, and Davy inherited both the plane and a uniform, which had apparently been in Martier's family since the French Revolution. Davy soon christened himself "Airboy", and in his seemingly sentient new plane, "Birdie", helped the Allies during World War II. Airboy confronted such weird antagonists as intelligent rats, the mysterious Misery – whose Airtomb imprisoned the souls of dead pilots – and his cleavage-baring Nazi nemesis, Valkyrie, a German aviator who later became his ally. He also contended with a recurring villain, the occultist Zzed. After the conclusion of World War II, David Nelson II continued to work as a freelance pilot and mercenary for a time, but he eventually retired from combat flying and stored Birdie in a barn outside his California estate. He had a son, whom he named David Nelson III, and founded an aircraft manufacturing company, through which he became very wealthy. In the mid-1980s, David Nelson II was assassinated by mercenaries from the South American nation of Bogantilla. When David Nelson III discovered that his father had been assassinated, he began to investigate the circumstances which had led up to his father's death. He soon discovered his father's mothballed plane and uniform and teamed up with a number of the surviving Air Fighters to face many of the same enemies as David Nelson II, as well as South American dictators, Soviets, pirates and corporate criminals. Homages The first volume in the Wild Cards novel series edited by George R.R. Martin includes a character called Jetboy, an Airboy analogue created by Howard Waldrop who wanted to write an Airboy story. The lead character of publisher America's Best Comics' graphic novel Top 10: The Forty-Niners is Jetlad, whom historian Jess Nevins calls, "an analogue of Charles Biro's teenaged aviator Airboy". Collected editions Antarctic Press Airboy: Deadeye collects Airboy: Deadeye #1–5, Softcover: 128 pages, Publisher: Antarctic Press, October 2013, Eclipse Comics Almost the entirety of Eclipse's Airboy content has been republished by IDW: Airboy Archives Volume 1 collects Airboy #1–16, Softcover: 312 pages, Publisher: IDW, March 2014, Airboy Archives Volume 2 collects Airboy #17–25, Valkyrie #1–3 (1987), Softcover: 300 pages, Publisher: IDW, September 2014, Airboy Archives Volume 3 collects Airboy #26–34, Airmaidens Special, Airboy–Mr. Monster Special, Airboy Meets The Prowler, Softcover: 316 pages, Publisher: IDW, March