Tomcat, published by the editorial standard, is a graphic novel by Anastasia Heinzl and Romain Hugult who tells the story of the legendary star plane of the top gun and the first American naval hunting aviator

Him Grumman f-14 tomcat It was the star of war cinema in the 80s of the last century to appear in great productions such as The End of the Countdown (1980) And above all, Top Gun (1986) with Tom Cruise “Maverick” As the protagonist. It also appeared on video games such as Afterburnerin the animated series Robotech Or in the Joe.

The passion of young people of the time by that plane was reflected in many objects in which it appeared represented, as well as the patch with the Tomcat that the pilots carried in uniform. Indeed Romain HugultSon of a military pilot, he recognizes in the extra material that he had a poster in his room of the legendary F-14.

The f-4 f-4 hunting

The F-14 hunt was expressly developed in Decade of the 70s from the factory Grumman For the Navy of the United States (United States Marina)with the aim of replacing the Ghostperfectly illustrated by Michel Koeniguer in Road bombalso published by Editorial Station, therefore it did not intervene in the war of Vietnam.

This famous Supersonic Bimotor Hunt era BiplazaWith the particularity of having a little Variable geometry wings and long range, of which The main objective was to defend the fleet North America, as well as escorting the bombers in their missions. Finally, another function has been assigned, such as the attack of the objectives on Earth.

The plot

This soap work graphics narrates Two parallel stories And finally Convergent. On the one hand the F-14, the Tomcat that would have piloted Kara Hultgreen When he crashed into the Pacific Ocean, he is one of the protagonists, who tells his story in the first person shows his birth, the development on several aircraft carriers and ends in Apontaje on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

In this story narrated by hunting is expressed as a Aeronaval Cole machineshowing with pride their passage through the Jolly Rogers With its paint and black skull, as well as for the Black axes and his deck painted in the fuselage, together with the history of the accident in Sirte Gulf This gave rise to the plot narrated in the film Top gun (1986).

On the other hand, the story of the first naval hunting driver in the American Navy is told Kara HultgreenA woman from this American who grew up in the city of Tejana of San Antonio, who graduated from the University of Texas in Austin and enrolled in the Navy over 22 years.

The graphic novel shows the Arduous road that this heroine of the air had to follow and how, despite the difficulties, he could Log in the Fleef Flottiglia In 1993, before reaching 29, a maximum age made it possible to be able to perform the course, until the tragic date of the failure of the engine of its Tomcat, 25 October 1994Where he lost his life, but he reached his sacrifice that the coin and the aircraft carrier were not affected.

The authors

Anastasia Heinzl is the pilot responsible for the screenplayaccompanied in the cabin from cartoonist Romain Hugultwho manage to present a simple but spectacular narrative work, taking the plane and the naval pilot as protagonists, playing with temporary jumps to deepen the story.

Heinzl Obtain narrate in a simple wayBut close, The struggle of the Hultreen officer To be able to develop a military career in the same conditions as his teammates, despite the impediments that were emerging in his attempt. In the same way, it makes the reader very close The story of Tomcat and his fameDespite his few real actions in combat acts.

The screenwriter can use memories and jump to the past in a slightly sharp way, which complicates an idea of ​​history in some cartoons, but knows how to develop the change of time and focus on the main object of the plot like Kara Hultreen and which gives the title to work: the F-14 Tomcat.

Romain Hugult knows how to show yours Passion for huntinghow he did in the series Angel wingsand also develops the most much details of the aircraft and the reflection of the sea while the air transports a few meters from the water, transmit the strength, power and speed of the machine to the readerleaving a great impact on the reader’s retina.

Virtuosity, details and precision are the words that can qualify Hugult’s work with the protagonist plane and the others who are reflected in the work, highlighting that it shows more interest in the machines than in human beings who pilot or repair when they draw them.

The use of color knows how to highlight the drawing and, above all, shows the intensity of the action it develops, without despising the brightness, essential to be able to give the drama to two of the facts narrated in the work, the Sirte accident and the accident of the approach to the vector of Lincoln. Without that clarity in the first case and the darkness in the second, the cartoons would lose almost all the virtues that the work exposes.

Edition

Tomcat is a funny story, that Editorial standard presented the limit to axisA colorwith a format of 23.5 x 31.5 cm y 72 pages Extension. In addition, the work is accompanied by Numerous extrashighlighting the processing sketches of the F-14 and its final design. The strong point of the book is his extraordinary design, in particular the hunt for the protagonist.

Hugult returns with the shocking biography of one of the great aviation pioneers

October 25, 1994, a Tomcat F14 piloted by the pioneer Kara Hultreen approaches the huge aircraft carriers of Abraham Lincoln ad apontar. But a sudden failure of the reactor makes the plan very tacuous, which crashes into the sea, out of control. The plane is the same “Fast Eagle 107” which in 1981 participated in the only air fight of the American army of its generation, a fact that inspired the legendary Top Gun film.

The Grand Master of the Comitain Aviation Romain Hugult (Angel Wings, the pilot Edelweiss) Ally with the screenwriter Anastasia Heinzl to narrate the story of a legendary plan and an admirable woman who managed to break a glass roof inside the United States Navy.