Last week, Johnny Cloud and Tex are on a search and destroy mission. Tex's P-51 is damaged by flak. Suddenly, three Me-109s appear. Cloud orders Tex to hit the deck and get to base. Cloud tries to fend off the bandits, but he is hit.
With his Mustang smoking, Cloud climbs to escape the bandits on his tail. His oxygen is hit, but he continues to go higher and higher. He ducks into a cloud, but when he comes out, he is flying an F-86 Sabre jet. Cloud is surprised and dumbfounded. But there is no time to contemplate what just happened, as rockets streak by his cockpit in a loud VROOOSH!
Cloud looks back to see three MiG-15s closing fast on his tail.
He whips his Sabre around and nails one. Then he plunges back into the cumulus – the second MiG-15 follows him but Cloud outmaneuvers him by barrel-rolling and pulling back on his throttle. The MiG overshoots his mark and soars ahead of Cloud.
Now Cloud has the kill shot. He blasts him. But there’s one more bandit. The lone MiG-15 latches on his tail as he exits the fog. The battle is all but lost when suddenly the MiG-15 explodes behind him. WHAAAM!
The R/T crackles: Tex had circled back and reports destroying the last Me-109. Cloud looks around and sees that he is back in WW2!
On the return flight, Cloud wonders if he once again glimpsed the future just as he did when the Smoke-maker revealed his destiny in the smoke when Cloud was a young brave.
Or did he? Maybe he really did travel into the future, but for a moment.
Back at base, Cloud’s men jostle him to tell another story about seeing the future in a wisp of smoke. Cloud just smiles and quips that he didn’t see a thing: “What can you see when smoke gets in your eyes? – Not a thing.”
But even Johnny Cloud is not so sure.
Image Credit:
AAMOW#89 (February 1962): Story Art: I. Novick; Writer: R. Kanigher.
Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics
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