Silent Rider is an interesting story coming directly after one with the Battle Hawk repaying an old debt to our hero Johnny Cloud. For sure, Kanigher never wasted a story, begging the question: Was he squeezing this theme (i.e., paying off a debt of gratitude) to get every drop on the page? I think so.
Still, Cloud’s character benefits – he is a man of his word. And, in typical Cloud fashion, he worried about when and how he would be able to repay the Silent Rider ... yeah, Cloud is a bit of a moralistic worrier.
The action scenes are urgent but a bit predictable. We know what’s going to happen. The amazing bazooka shot is on the cover and on the splash page, so this tells us how it ends.
But, all that aside, the bazooka shot is dramatic! And what a shot it is! With the E/A racing through the air at maybe 300+ mph, can you imagine the luck needed to hit that Fw-190 with a one shell?
That’s all comic book land of course, and not unique to Johnny Cloud! Indeed, Sgt. Rock enjoys the same kind of circumstances and luck.
There is glaring misfire on the cover that cannot be ignored: The bazooka man is firing at a pair of Japanese Zeros! What gives? Well, you get that sometimes when one artist does the cover, and another does the story. But Zeros? Russ Heath did the cover. Irv Novick did the story art.
So, come on Russ! Everyone should know by now that Cloud flies over Europe! In any case, we see that the splash page is accurate.
Image Credit:
AAMOW#93 (October 1962): Story Art: I.Novick; Writer: R.Kanigher
Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics
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