I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I loved the artwork in this graphic novel but as far as the story goes, it feels like something is missing.

(3,5 of 5 for decent WW2 fighter pilot story)
I will comment on both parts here because the split doesn't make sense to me (other than making it into specific BD format).
I like war stories, I like pilots and I grew up on Biggles novels. So I'm the target audience here. But I'm also demanding comics reader and this comic doesn't meet this goal.
Garth Ennis is a generator of war stories of all kinds. Especially WW2. And this topic is very exhausted on tropes, so authors of these stories need to step up their game (or get a great team of artist, as Ennis did with Sara).
Out of the Blue is a loose continuation of "classic" WW2 comics with any ambition to refresh the narrative a bit, just getting European artist and BD format to resemble "classic". Not sure who the target audience is here. Though the story is interesting and told in a good manner I would expect more. I enjoyed it, I admit that. The art is OK (especially in air battles) even if the panels could be bit chaotic, but the pick of the format is unnecesary and the story is "just another WW2 tale".

Jamie McKenzie is enduring a family curse. He has a landing mishap during World War II, not entirely his fault that another plane tried to land on the same runway, but two airplanes are destroyed and he is punished by assigning him to a defective plane with a navigator from India. Jamie isn’t terribly comfortable about the India thing but is trying to be as progressive as he can be, given the time frame.

Jamie keeps a stiff upper lip as he flies combat missions over Nazi shipping lanes. He comes home to a lovely wife who has attracted the attention of his commanding officer — the same one who has a grudge against him. A Scottish mechanic who is a dedicated Communist provides some comic relief.

Given the way pilots discuss the relative merits of their airplanes, I have to assume that the story is well researched. The story is just getting underway in this volume (only 3 issues are collected), but it builds interest nicely. The art is particularly effective at conveying action in the aerial combat scenes.

Really enjoyed this one. Has the feel of an old fashioned comic like Combat growing up.
The story parts establish character and have a balance of backstory and setting up the plot going forward.
Set of a air base tasked with hitting convoys leaving Norway with iron ore. War entering its final months but the Germans fighting on with determination., The missions are hazardous enough in weather and logistical terms but a enemy keen to engage means the planes do not have air supremacy.
Added to that the equipment doesn’t always work and you have a flight commander out to get you.
He has war fatigue, first impressions dislike and now an interest in your wife. Our hero has little going for him, save an overall base commander who respects him, crew who recognise his skills and a wife who understands him.
Great action scenes with great dialogue in combat and on base. The realities of war are offset with clever humour and other serious issues like race and political leanings.
I loved every page and felt like a kid again.

I'm not really sure why this got split into two separate volumes of only 3 issues each, but I quite liked what I read here. Ennis returns to a character he's used before, Jamie McKenzie, from Archangel in War Stories, Vol 2. McKenzie is a fantastic pilot but a bit of a schmuck who believes he's cursed. He begins his station at his new post by royally fucking up. Ennis has created an engaging supporting cast as well. His supportive wive, his boss that can't stand him, a communist mechanic who plans to kill him after the war ends. It's all interesting.

Burns's technical art is fantastic. Those planes never looked better in a dogfight. His facial features though were too cartoony though with long drawn out faces. I look forward to snagging the rest of this.

Decent graphic novel set in WWII. It's not the most engrossing one that I've ever read, particularly from Garth Ennis, but I'd read more of this to see where the story went, certainly.

A fresh take on the old fighter pilot war comics, with energetic art and gorgeous coloring. A fine story but not my cuppa.

'Out of the Blue Vol. 1' by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns is a comic about pilots during World War II towards the end of the war.

Jamie McKenzie is a kind of an ace pilot, but you can't tell his new CO that. On his landing for his new post, he makes a hash of the landing and damages two planes and another pilot. Now he's got the wrath of the commanding officer who has assigned him the least popular navigator and a plane that may be cursed. Still, there is something about Jamie's skill as a pilot.

I liked this story, and I found out late that it's a sequel to another one. That makes sense, but it's not completely necessary to read it first to enjoy this one. Keith Burns has a nice style of aviation art, and I liked the planes in action.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Aftershock Comics, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Growing up, I was fascinated with airplanes, especially those from the WWII era, and I thought I wanted to be a pilot when I grew up. I even spent hours and hours playing Red Baron on DOS. Later in life, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Preacher, Bloody Mary, and Ennis’s run of Hellblazer. Out of the Blue, however, did nothing for me, at all. The action sequences were too long, frequent, and boring. And I neither cared about the characters, nor could I tell them apart much of the time. I don’t think this genre is for me, but I thought maybe Ennis could woo me. Nope. I certainly don’t recommend this, unless maybe you have war or Scottish dialogue fetish. Thanks to NetGalley and Aftershock for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Keeping with style of taking war tropes and then playing with them in darkly humorous ways that we know from Garth Ennis' short stories in War Stories and Battlefields, this gives us the first volume of a longer take on the same theme. This story tells the tale of an unlucky Second World War pilot and his seemly clichéd side-kicks (the harsh/possibly mad boss, the once-handsome surprise burn survivor, the resigned-to-bigotry Indian navigator, the working class Scottish communist, etc) and serves us a combination of aerial battles and personal drama on the base.

Keith Burns' art is best in the broad action scenes. There are two scenes of attacks on naval targets that are brilliant, and an early landing mishap sets the tone for what's to come brilliantly. His faces are a little too similar in some of the personal scenes for my tastes, but since most of the characters are given at least one exaggerated feature it never causes confusion.

Since this first volume doesn't contain a single story-arc, it's not the most satisfying read on its own, but for fans of the genre it's definitely engaging. The balance of action to humour to pathos was perfect.

3.5 only because of how short this is. An unlucky pilot gets in the crossfires of a couple of conflicts. A leader under pressure who likes to torment some of his underlings to blow off steam, a wife who doesn't like his activities in the war, and a plane with some notable malfunctions. Fortunately, his wife loves him enough and he has friends who have his back when things get rough. In all circumstances the plane on the cover shows how things can get for the pilot.

If you enjoy comics, World War II fiction and flying, feel free to pick up Out of the Blue and enjoy! Flight Lt. Jamie McKenzie makes a bad impression on his C.O. when he has a collision during landing when reporting in. The C.O. pairs him up with an Indian navigator in a bum plane, but he still manages to make a difference in the fight with the Jerries off the coast of Norway. Will definitely be looking for the next volume in this series.

You had me at Garth Ennis. I was grateful for the opportunity to read another work by Ennis and applaud the creative choice to tell a war story in graphic novel format.

Gorgeously illustrated, but story-wise I felt like I was missing something. I think this must be a continuation of a story I haven't read yet, so if you're going in blind, you might want to check out Garth Ennis's previous comic series War Stories. I haven't, but now I really, really want to...