A short history of DC War Comics -- Part One

For the last two weeks, we explored the pulp fiction of G-8 and His Battle Aces. Today, we move on to the DC War Comics ... our goal is to see wherein Johnny Cloud, the Navajo Ace, fits into the timeline. As we shall see, Cloud arrived late, and his tenure was short at just over six years (not counting the Losers series).

Unlike the pulp fiction of the 1930s, comic books began as compilations of newspaper strips with non-descript titles such as New Fun and More Fun. One of the first themed books was Detective Comics, launched in March 1937 and featuring longer stories of up to 13 pages.

Comic books went big-time after the June 1938 publication of Action Comics featuring Superman – this issue marked the beginning of the Golden Age that lasted until the mid-1950s. The Silver Age followed and lasted until about 1968. Bronze was next. The metallic monikers reflect age, value, and collector popularity.

The transition from pulps to comics shows how the power of images captured the imaginations of readers in new ways. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. How about sixty of them linked together to tell a story!

With comics, the art took center stage, and although a thousand words per panel might be an exaggeration, the images were potent in ways that words fail: You have to see Superman lifting a car over his head to believe it! Same with Cloud: You have to see him cling to tail of a Stuka to get how amazing he is!

Superheroes ruled comic book pages at first. Certainly, their bright costumes were fashioned for comics. Fighting crime was the mission with Superman and Batman beating-up gangsters and thugs month after month. But with the rise of Nazi Germany, coupled with Japanese aggression in Asia, the superheroes joined the hunt for spies and terrorists in America. Once the war was in full swing, soldiers and fighter pilots joined the fray.

The stage was set for war comics. All American Comics (AAC) introduced flying ace Hop Harrigan in its first issue dated April 1939 – he was a daring flyer who with Tank Tinker, the world’s best mechanic, and Prop Wash, his mentor and friend, banded together to fight crime. During the war, they joined the Air Force to fight in the Pacific. In 1941, Hop donned a costume and became a superhero called the Guardian Angel. After the war, Hop and his crew went back to chasing bad guys.

Another hero of the skies was Blackhawk introduced in Military Comics in August 1941. Blackhawk was a Polish-American pilot with a squadron of crack-shot fighters, operating from an island off the coast of France. Blackhawk looked the part: broad shoulders filling a double-breasted uniform befit with menacing hawk figures. During the war, Blackhawk battled the evil, yet inept, Baron von Tepp who was emblematic of Nazi Germany. After the war, Blackhawk fought against an endless parade of costumed villains such as Grin the Grabber, Killer Shark, Firebug, and Hoopster – I dare say that Blackhawk had a rogue’s gallery larger than Batman’s!

All this mayhem brings us well into the postwar period when superheroes along with their wartime compatriots like Hop and Blackhawk faded in popularity – Hop Harrigan last appeared in 1948 whereas Blackhawk soldiered on with his own title until the late 1960s. Either way, it appeared that war comics were out and domestic genres were in, and what’s more domestic than romance for the tenderhearted and westerns for the six-gun crowd?

Still, superheroes in tights chased bank robbers, mainly Superman and Batman (and yes, Blackhawk too), but their aura had dimmed. With AAC as the gasping canary, Green Lantern lost his cover spot in August 1948 to the gun-slinging cowboy Johnny Thunder. Three months later AAC was retitled as All-American Western (AAW).

Were the war stories over? No. They were about to explode! Sgt. Rock and Easy Company were just over the horizon.

For the next few weeks I take some blog breaks ... see you in the New Year!

Image Credit:

OAAW#141 (April 1962): Cover Art: J. Kubert; Writer: R. Kanigher.

Sgt. Rock TM DC Comics

Pulp Fiction: G-8 and His Battle Aces -- Part Two.

Last week I described how my Dad started off reading G-8 and His Battle Aces -- a pulp fiction series that predated the War Comic boom. And so, I purchased a G-8 reprint: Patrol of the Cloud Crusher (June 1936) -- my hope being that this was one of the issues he read. The timing was right on, as Dad would have been nine or ten ... or later, since he relied on hand-me-downs from other kids who (unlike him) had a dime to spare.

The saga starts with a mysterious mechanic visiting airfields and rubbing grease on Allied aircraft. Weird. G-8 thought so too. As it turned out, the grease was an attractant, a pheromone. But for what end? The answer flashed over the radio: A flight of British SE5s … decimated! 

A giant hand sprung out from a cloud and grabbed one, then two, and finally three of the biplanes, and crushed them into splinters. There were no survivors. What on earth?

G-8 and his comrades – Nippy Weston and Bull Martin – got to work, facing death, not only from the barbaric hands, but also from the machinations of Herr Doktor Kreuger. It was he who developed the ointment of death that attracted the giant hands and made them grab. And his plan was devious: “I have many giant arms, “he boasted, “… that will pluck planes out of the air and crush them.” 

G-8 was beginning to realize that the grease was, by some odd chemistry, a source of nutrients, a food. These so-called hands were not hands at all. They were mussels – huge, primeval mollusks that survived in a cave once occupied by Neanderthals. Kreuger had found that they morph into a shape resembling a hand whenever food was nearby. In this case, the food was mixed with grease. So how do you stop them?

It was discovered that alum (a sulfate of aluminum) smothers the mussels much like insecticide kills flies. And so, the Allied pilots filled their guns with alum-coated bullets and attacked. The cave was bombed, and the few remaining hands were shot and killed as they frantically grabbed at the air. The story ended with G-8, Nippy, and Bull eating scallops for breakfast (a type of mussel) – “a fitting dish” Nippy quipped.

 And so, I was Dad for a few days, late fall, early twilight, huddled in my easy chair, reading G-8 – a communion of sorts. 

I guess what is so intriguing, is how I followed his path without knowing there was a path. I had my own airplane period in the mid-1960s, and it was filled with Monogram P-51s, Johnny Cloud adventures, and WW2 books. I didn’t become a pilot, but Dad did, and that’s enough for a lifetime of stories. And now we have this one: G-8’s tangle with the airplane-crushing hands!

Next time ... The War Comics!

A Brief History of War Comics ... but first, some Pulp Fiction: G-8 and His Battle Aces!

For the next few weeks, I will provide a thumbnail history of DC War Comics. This will help us appreciate wherein Johnny Cloud falls (no pun intended, as he did jump out of his burning P-51 many times).

First off, I will start with slight detour. Part tribute to my Dad (who passed away a few weeks ago -- I am totally crushed) and part set-up for the Golden Age of DC War Comics that began with flying aces such as Hop Harrigan who began his adventures in April 1939.

Here is Dad.

It was 1936, late fall, early twilight. With his chores done, the evening found Dad curled up behind the stove, atop the coal box, reading pulp fiction lit by a kerosene lamp. He was nine. And like me, he was engrossed with a fighter pilot. Dad’s hero was known only as G-8 – his true identity was never revealed!

G-8 and His Battle Aces flew from October 1933 through June 1944. In all, Robert Hogan penned over a hundred stories. G-8 was a master spy who commanded a small squadron of biplanes in the Great War, but he was up against more than just German aces. That would be too easy. Instead, G-8 faced fantastical creations from the Kaiser’s mad scientists – for example, Dr. Gurnig produced a remote-controlled flying head with a single eye that shot lethal X-rays at Allied fighters.

And if that wasn’t enough, G-8 battled supernatural beings, including Martians, a giant plane-eating spider, even a huge skeleton. Science fiction. And airplanes. Dad was captivated, but it was the cover-art that drew him in. This was when he started drawing airplanes, building wings out of balsa, and dreaming about soaring through the skies. His friends called him “airplane crazy.” 

This is Dad’s origin story – every superhero has one.

Dad liked to remind me that he was born in the year that Charles Lindberg crossed the Atlantic – 1927. So, it was only natural for him to be airplane crazy. Just as G-8’s cover art grabbed his eye, Johnny Cloud grabbed mine. So, I decided to probe his history, so I purchased a G-8 reprint: Patrol of the Cloud Crusher (June 1936). Maybe he read this one – I took a chance.

I'll tell you the story next time ... very strange, and very 1930s!

Mission Nine: Wingmate of Doom -- The Debriefing

Before the holiday, I presented Wingmate of Doom. What an intriguing parable. And clever writing by Robert Kanigher. This one is a top-10 Johnny Cloud saga. 

The tension between Johnny Cloud and Two-Talons is suspenseful from the start and builds until a surprise ending brings an unexpected resolution. The reckoning of the grudge is simple yet surprising. This one forces you to ponder the arithmetic just as Cloud had to.

It is a story that lingers long after the comic book is put down.

But it wasn't just Cloud that had to figure out to resolve the grudge. No. One can only wonder how Two-Talons struggled with his own conflict of conscience. We see this struggle front and center by his behaviors. His first response was to leave Cloud exposed to attack, but then, after being saved, he found a way to discharge his demand for vengeance. Certainly, Cloud’s selflessness stunned him. 

And, we all get a life lesson here about letting go.

And furthermore, one has to wonder if the name Two-Talons is symbolic of how difficult this lesson can be. Kanigher was good at using names to reflect the plotlines.

As with Ace of Vengeance (reviewed a few months ago), this adventure introduces a new foe: German Ace Von Krieg. But he plays in the background, as the conflict with Two-Talons crowds him out. Perhaps, Von Krieg returns later (hint). But oddly, Two-Talons disappears, and we never see him again. 

Image Credit:

AAMOW#90 (April 1962): Story Art: J. Grandenetti; Writer: R. Kanigher.

Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics

Mission Nine: Wingmate of Doom - Part 2

Last week, we learned that Johnny Cloud's Happy Braves Flight gained a new pilot named Two-Talons. The new pilot comes from Cloud's tribe, but there is bad blood between them. Two-Talons is quick to remind Cloud of the debt that he owes. Cloud "owes him a life." 

On the next mission Cloud assigns Two-Talons as his wingman so as to check his devotion to the mission. It is a radical decision given the grudge. But Cloud has to know where his new pilot stands when it comes to fighting Von Krieg's elite squadron. 

Will he fulfill his duty as a wingman? That is to say, will he provide protective cover for Cloud when he most needs it.

Or, will he shirk his duty and leave Cloud open to attack?

 

The patrol engages the enemy over Holland, and when Cloud dives to attack the bandits, Two-Talons breaks off leaving Cloud unprotected. A Me-109 latches on Cloud’s tail but Tex swoops in and downs the bandit before he gets a kill-shot.

Back at base, Tex berates Two-Talons for shirking his duty. Cloud says nothing and walks away. 

The next day, Two-Talons is again assigned by Cloud to be his wingman, much to the surprise of his men. Once again, they engage Von Krieg’s squadron in a fierce dogfight, and Cloud destroys a Me-109. But he sees Two-Talons in trouble – a bandit has grabbed his tail and is angling for a kill shot.

Cloud slots in behind the pair, but his guns jam. In a desperate move, Cloud rams the Me-109 from behind thereby saving Two-Talons from certain death. CRAASH!

Cloud parachutes from the wreckage and is knocked unconscious when he hits the ground. Cloud lies in a field. He will certainly be captured by German troops. 

But. Two-Talons lands and rescues Cloud. 

As they return to base, Cloud asks Two-Talons why he saved him. Two-Talons replies that Cloud had paid his debt by ramming the bandit. The debt of "a life" had been paid. It was Two-Talons' life that was saved. Cloud reflects on this, feeling relieved that, in the end, Two-Talons chose the mission over his grudge.

Image Credit:
AAMOW#90 (April 1962): Story Art: J. Grandenetti; Writer: R. Kanigher.
Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics

Mission Nine: Wingmate of Doom

On patrol, Johnny Cloud spots a lone P-51 being attacked by a Me-109. Cloud breaks from his Happy Braves flight and dives down to help, but before he gets there, the lone P-51 pivots and destroys the bandit.

The quick move was impressive. Who is he?

Cloud climbs back towards his flight, when suddenly, his group is encircled by bandits from Von Krieg’s squadron. Cloud joins the fight, destroys two Me-109s while his flight scatters the rest. The ensuing combat is fierce and quick. The bandits retreat and Cloud’s flight returns to base.

On the tarmac, Cloud meets the impressive pilot of the lone Mustang. He recognizes him immediately. He is a Navajo named Two-Talons – they have bad blood between them.

A flashback fills in the details. Cloud and two boys play a game of chase, but the youngest boy slips on a cliff edge. Cloud tries to save him, but the pull of gravity is too much, and the boy falls. The boy is the brother of Two-Talons who thereafter reminds Cloud that he “owes him a life.”

Now a member of the Happy Braves, he reminds Cloud of the debt. 

On the next mission Cloud assigns Two-Talons as his wingman so as to check his devotion to the mission. Will he fulfill his duty as a wingman, or will he shirk his duty and leave Cloud open to attack?

Johnny Cloud has put his own safety in the hands of Two-Talons ... 

Image Credit:

AAMOW#90 (April 1962): Splash Page Art: J. Grandenetti; Writer: R. Kanigher.

Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics

Johnny Cloud's Star Jockey: The Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein Connection

Johnny Cloud's eighth Mission entitled Star Jockey in AAMOW#89 has gained added attention from comic book collectors due to one of the stories images being appropriated with modifications by Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein. The painting (acrylic and oil on canvas) is known as WHAAM! -- named after the boldly-lettered sound of Cloud's missile striking a MiG-15 on page eleven of the story.

See my last Blog Post for the original WHAAM! image.

The painting, measuring 68x160 inches was first exhibited in 1963. The subjects were "recomposed" with borrowed elements from other Johnny Cloud panels (in the same and other AAMOW issues, melding art from several comic book artists). The work was purchased by the Tate Modern Museum in London for about $94,000 (in 2023 dollars). WHAAM! is quite popular with museum goers. 

Consequently, this AAMOW#89 issue has been in demand enough to land on The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide ratings of the top 50 War Comics (in the War Report section). This ranking has ranged in the upper to middle 40s. 

Comic book sellers have listed AAMOW#89 at significantly higher prices despite Overstreet lumping this one with subsequent twelve-cent AAMOW issues with valuations of eight to twenty-four dollars for Good to Fine condition books.

As of the date of this blog post, Lone Star Comics (a big seller) offers two AAMOW#89 issues for $190 and $275 (Good/VG 3.0 and Fine 5.5 respectively). E-Bay shows no less that thirteen books ranging from $160 to $450, plus one badly damaged at $70. This is crazy money in my opinion, unless you are a serial collector of AAMOW, or Top-50 hound, or just like the association with Roy Lichtenstein.

Of note, Roy Lichtenstein's work has been controversial since it appropriates the artwork of Irv Novick, Russ Heath, and others without permission, recognition, or compensation. Is this legitimate? That is the question. Not just in this case, but in many instances when artists take inspiration from popular culture -- do soup cans come to mind? Sure. 

All this has made AAMOW#89 a Top-50 war comic.

As a fanatical fan of Johnny Cloud, I felt compelled to find and buy AAMOW#89 (at a price between what Lone Star Comics have in stock -- see above). And yes, I grumbled about it. 

Some other details: This is the first twelve-cent AAMOW comic; it is the first Three-War cover in the Johnny Cloud series; it is the first one wherein "Johnny Cloud" does not appear in a subtitle (however, his warrior-on-flying-horse emblem is shown on his P-51 and his name in tiny print is shown on a shoulder patch when depicted in the cockpit of the F-86 Sabre. The cover is bold and colorful by Jerry Grandenetti -- he did most of the Three-War covers.

For Johnny Cloud fans, here is the important stuff. The origin story details make AAMOW#89 an essential read. Eleven (out of sixty-five) panels are devoted to Johnny Cloud's born-with fascination with flying, plus his glimpse into the future (provided by the Smoke-maker) that shows his fighter-pilot destiny. As I mentioned last week, this is great stuff and sets
Cloud apart from most other War Comic heroes. The rest of the story is solid, but it is not one of Cloud's best adventures.

One more note: The only other Johnny Cloud story to hit the Top 50 War Comic rankings is his inaugural issue AAMOW#82, and this one barely makes the cut in the upper 40s.

Image Credit:
AAMOW#89 (February 1962): Cover: J. Grandenetti; Writer: R. Kanigher.
Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics