Cloud's Catalog: 38 Adventures

So, Who is Johnny Cloud?

Let’s examine his combat record in excruciating detail. He had 38 adventures across four comic book titles. It was a relatively short run, one that has often been over-looked by war comic geeks.

Cloud was introduced in AAMOW #82 (December 1960), and he appeared in all subsequent issues through #117 (October 1966) except for four books. Cloud held the cover spot for six consecutive issues (#82 to #87), but #88 depicted another story. After that, Cloud shared the cover in a tripartite fashion – known as the Three-War covers – off and on for the next ten issues (#89 to #98). During this time, Cloud grabbed full cover spots for #94, #96, and #99. He shared half the cover for issue #100 and resumed the cover spot for the next ten issues (#101 to #110). After one more Three-War cover on #111, Cloud was completely replaced by the Balloon Buster series for #112 to #114, and #116 – for the first time, there were no Cloud stories in AAMOW. His last two cover stories appeared in #115 and #117. All told, Cloud appeared in AAMOW 32 times, with 21 full-cover shots, and 10 shared-cover shots.

Johnny Cloud made a few appearances outside of AAMOW. Most important was Cloud’s appearance in The Brave and The Bold (TBATB #52) in March 1964 when he joined up with Sgt. Rock, Jeb Stuart, and Mademoiselle Marie. This full-book adventure tells how Cloud was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain and inserts neatly between AAMOW #100 and #101.

Cloud also appeared in GIC (#115 and #116) in January and March 1966 – note that this was when the Balloon Buster was having a run in AAMOW. Finally, after AAMOW folded, Cloud appeared in GIC #120 in November 1966 and again in GIC #124 in July 1967. His last mission came eight months later in Our Army at War (OAAW) #191 in March 1968 wherein he fought alongside Sgt. Rock and Easy Company.

It is apparent that Cloud was slated to continue as a feature in GIC, playing runner-up to Jeb Stuart and the Haunted Tank. An announcement in GIC #124 urged readers: “Watch for Johnny Cloud, the Navajo Ace, in future issues of G.I. Combat magazine!” But alas, he never returned as flight leader.

Cloud had a few cameos near the end of his run that do not significantly add to his catalog. For example, he had one-panel cameos in GIC #105, #112, and #118. 

The final intermingling of Johnny Cloud with other war heroes occurred with the advent of The Losers series when Gunner and Sarge, Captain Storm, and Johnny Cloud formed a ragtag unit of underdogs. And yes, the foursome was popular enough to last a decade. But Cloud was maligned (along with the others) in this otherwise exciting series.

Image Credit:
A peek at AAMOW covers from 1960 to 1966.
Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics.