Ideas, Seeds, Prototypes ... of Johnny Cloud

Last time out, I posed the question: How our illustrious writer, Robert Kanigher, created Johnny Cloud? What influences shaped his character? Did Kanigher intend to fashion a superhero in the form of an Avatar of the Great Warrior Spirit? 

We start our inquiry with a direct question: Did Johnny Cloud appear (in another guise perhaps) in previous Big Five war stories? In geek parlance: Is there a Johnny Cloud prototype? You know, an Indian warrior with a guardian spirit, or one with a communion with hawks, or bears or whatever?

The short answer: No. There are no other Navajo pilots in the Big Five. In fact, fighter pilot stories are relatively few as compared to ground-pounders and frogmen. In fact, I count less than a dozen AAMOW cover stories about fighter pilots. Are any of these flyboys related to Johnny Cloud? They deserve a look, but first, there are two ground-pounders that share kinship with Cloud.

In the December 1954 issue of AAMOW, the lead story is about a Sioux infantry sergeant named Storm Cloud who relies on his native ingenuity to destroy a German depot in North Africa. And yes, you guessed it: He fashions a bow and arrow from parts taken off his stranded jeep, dips the arrow tip in gas, and ignites a store of ammo. When a tank corners him, he shoots a flaming arrow into a narrow gun slit and the tank explodes. Like our ace, Storm Cloud begins his adventure with a flashback when his father – a chief in full regalia – reminds his son: “Your forest lore will protect you … since childhood you have known every trick to enable a brave to survive as long as there is a single blade of grass to conceal [you].”

It is not a stretch to view Storm Cloud as a seedling for what’s to come. His resourcefulness stems from his Indian ways to fight against overwhelming odds by creatively using what few resources are available to him. This story had to catch Robert Kanigher’s eye, even though he did not write it. Keep in mind that he was the editor, so he certainly had input. And consider this: Kanigher wrote dozens of westerns before AAMOW hit the stands in the Fall of 1952; there is no doubt that these Cowboys and Indians sagas shaped some of his Big Five plot lines.

Another Indian warrior gets us closer to Cloud, and that is Johnny Deerfoot in The Eagle of Easy Co. who appeared in the November 1958 issue of GIC. Deerfoot was drafted before he had a chance to earn the esteemed title of Brave within his tribe. But once he was in combat, Deerfoot realized that he could earn his Warrior’s Emblem in the fields of Europe. He destroyed a machine gun nest; he stopped a Tiger tank in its tracks; he downed a marauding Fw-190 – in short, he met the criteria set forth by his tribe. That is to say, he killed a rattler, stopped a panther, and downed an eagle respectively.

Although Kanigher did not write this one either, it has his editorial fingerprints all over it. Like Cloud, Deerfoot was concerned about measuring up, doing his part, and becoming recognized as a true warrior. Plus, the parallels between the challenges in Europe and those on the reservation are poignant and clever – I especially like the association between the rattle of the snake and the rhythm of the machine gun. Of note, Deerfoot is considered by some to be a precursor to Little Big Shot, one of the enduring members of Sgt. Rock’s Easy Co.

Image Credit:

AAMOW#8 (December-January 1953-54): Cover Art: I.Novick (P), J.Giella (I), Writer: D.Kahn, Editor: R.Kanigher.

Storm Cloud TM DC Comics

Who is Robert Kanigher?

Today -- and for the next few weeks -- I will explore the man who created Johnny Cloud. His name is Robert Kanigher.

So who is he? And, how was it that he created a character as complex and nuanced as
Johnny Cloud?

I regret that I never met the man. Comic fandom came late to me, so I missed the interviews. Still, this master storyteller penned his way into my boyhood. My little fighters flew most of these missions. Kanigher was the hidden hand, pulling the strings. But who was he, really?

Our task now is to unmask the writer.

Did Kanigher create Johnny Cloud by himself? How? Why? I desperately want to know. But most of all, I want him to tell me that Cloud was special … that Cloud was his favorite.

Yet, I’m not so sure.

I would like to think that Cloud is real. I see him on the page. He is there, in color, panel after panel, blasting Me-109s out of the sky, and shaping my boyhood. Cloud was my superhero, my Big Brother in the Sky.

But reality bites as they say. Johnny Cloud was but a figment of Kanigher’s mind. A figment? What is that, but a flight of fancy – Happy Braves and Battle Hawks – all made up on some frantic afternoon, in a crowded office, on a tired Royal typewriter.

And decades later, Cloud is my figment too. I turned the props of his P-51s. And did I say that I had a squadron of them. After all, Cloud crashed and rammed his way through the war. It seems belittling to call him a mere figment. Nonetheless, when we discuss Johnny Cloud, we are probing the inner workings of the writer’s (and editor’s) mind, and his name is Robert Kanigher.

Let’s make a list of questions. Had Kanigher been planning a fighter pilot series to complement his ground-pounders and tank jockeys? Was his artist-friend Irv Novick a co-conspirator? Did the idea of a Navajo warrior spring from their Westerns?

We will never get the answers we want, but here’s the thing: Kanigher was a blur, furiously typing with no outline, and always on to the next thing. Frankly, I don’t think he would have tolerated too much psychobabble. In fact, he might not have been able to pinpoint the spark the led to Cloud or Rock or Stewart (much as we would have liked him to).

But I wonder: Did Kanigher intend to fashion a superhero? Did he write Cloud as the Avatar of the Great Warrior Spirit, his Big Brother in the Sky? Or, did Cloud assert himself on the page? This is not a fantastic suggestion, as many fiction writers have remarked that their characters took over by sheer force of personality and circumstance.

Mission Twelve: Silent Rider - The Debriefing

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

Mission Twelve: Silent Rider - Part Two

Last time we learned that Johnny Cloud often thought about a debt that he owned to a young ranch hand who saved him from being kicked by a wild stallion. Cloud only remembered the ranch hand as the "Silent Rider" who came to his aid just when he needed it.

Now, years later during the war, Cloud meets the Silent Rider in the field of battle. The ranch hand is a bazooka soldier facing down a column of Tiger tanks. And Cloud ... he has just landed his damaged P-51 in a field. The column of Tigers rumble in the distance.

Are they trapped? Will they be captured?

Amazingly not!

The bazooka man is a wizard mechanic and repairs Cloud’s P-51. But as they squeeze into the cockpit, the tank column appears on the road ahead. There is barely enough time or space to take off.

Cloud rushes his take off and roars towards the tanks. He pulled hard on the stick and the P-51 noses up, just missing the tanks. He has saved the Silent Rider, so the debt is paid!

For an instant, Cloud is relieved.

But the battle is not over. 

An Fw-190 attacks Cloud’s damaged Mustang as they cross the channel. Cloud is unable to fight back since his guns are jammed! The German sees an easy kill, so he swoops in close, guns twinkling with fire. 

Cloud slides his canopy back, and the bazooka man hangs out the cockpit; he fires his last rocket to destroy the bandit. 

WHAM! He has saved Cloud again!

With smoke billowing from his cowling, Cloud ditches his plane in the channel. Both men are thrown from the wreckage after a wave tips the sinking plane. 

The Silent Rider struggles to swim. Cloud races and grabs him before he drowns. Cloud holds him tight and keeps
the Silent Rider afloat until they are rescued. 

Finally, the debt – having been paid and repaid – is even.

Image Credit:

AAMOW#93 (October 1962): Story Art: I.Novick; Writer: R.Kanigher

Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics

Mission Twelve: Silent Rider

During a patrol Johnny Cloud sees a vision of a boy he calls his Silent Rider. His face in the sky leads to a flashback.

In the flashback, Cloud is just a young brave. He was attempting to break a wild horse named Thunderbolt when he was thrown to the ground – his head hits a rock. Dazed by the fall, Cloud could not move as the stallion reared in anger to pummel him with his hoofs. 

Just then, a boy from a nearby ranch jumped into the fray and scared the angry horse off, but not before the beast kicked the boy and left an arched scar across his face. Cloud thanked the boy and vowed to repay the debt.

As the years passed, and the war began, Cloud often thought about his debt. But how could he repay it?

His rumination was interrupted when his patrol comes upon a damaged B-17 under attack by three bandits. Another four bandits are spotted coming out of the sun. Despite being out-numbered, Cloud attacks and kills two of the Me-109s as they fire on the fort, but the third bandit out-turns him and rakes his P-51 with lead. 

Cloud is done. With his plane trailing smoke, Cloud lands on a dirt road below.

Just as he brakes to a stop, a Tiger tank emerges from the woods and fires on Cloud’s plane, but a bazooka man charges out of the underbrush and faces the tank. But the man is blown back by a close cannon shot. 

He lies face down in the dirt. Cloud runs to his aid, when suddenly, the man rolls over and fires his bazooka at the tank. The Tiger explodes in a fireball. BLANNG!

When Cloud reaches the soldier, he recognizes him by the hoof-shaped scar on his face. He is the Silent Rider, the ranch hand that saved him from the angry stallion many years before.

But there is no time for talk, as the forest rumbles with Tiger tanks approaching!

Image Credit:
AAMOW#93 (October 1962): Splash Page Art: I.Novick; Writer: R.Kanigher
Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics

Mission Eleven: Battle Hawk -- The Debriefing

What a great story. A new dimension to Cloud’s Navajo identity – his adoption by hawks – is introduced in Battle Hawk. 

I find it curious that this adventure follows Two Missions of Doom wherein a superstitious Shamrock helps Cloud succeed – but of course, we know there is more to it. Here, we see that Cloud benefits from a unique communication with the hawk. The hawk helps Cloud and repays a debt with his talons.

But there is more to this story than a Just World in action. Cloud appeals to his Big Brother just before diving into the ragged gash. His appeal is answered. The hawk was sent to repay the debt! So subtle are the ways of the Great Warrior Spirit, that even Cloud is unaware of and surprised by the helping hand (or talons).

Plot twists like this resonate long after the comic is stashed away. Was it the same hawk – the one from his boyhood? No, of course not.

All hawks are available when needed.

And let’s not forget the existential question here: Is gratitude part of the natural order? Cloud thinks so. Perhaps this is how debts are paid out.

You may remember, this
was true for Two-Talons (no pun intended) in Cloud's 9th Mission (AAMOW#90). 

In the end, we see a Just World wherein good deeds are remembered. And, we see Robert Kanigher's character development at its best.

Image Credit:

AAMOW#92 (August 1962): Story Art: I.Novick; Writer: R.Kanigher

Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics

Mission Eleven: Battle Hawk -- Part Two

Last time, Johnny Cloud had ordered his Happy Braves pilots to not take animal mascots with them on combat missions. He worried that the stress of combat was responsible for his men engaging in superstitious behaviors. When Tex took his monkey, Top Banana, on the last mission, Cloud grounded him to send a firm message to all his pilots.

That night Cloud experienced a childhood flashback about befriending an injured hawk when he protected the cornered bird from a mountain lion. To his surprise, the hawk stayed by him until his wing was healed. 

The medicine man remarked that the hawk was grateful and would “tell others of his tribe.” He added that the hawk would repay the debt sometime in the future. Cloud dismissed the observations of the medicine man as mere superstition.

Back to present day, next morning, Cloud chooses to go solo on a reconnaissance mission to find the German rocket launchers. He dives into the ragged gash where the launchers have been placed. But like the day before, he has trouble seeing through the heavy smoke screen pumped out by the rocket crews. 

Just then, a hawk comes in through his open canopy and lands on his shoulder. Cloud is beyond surprised. Yet, the hawk guides Cloud, left then right, by digging his talons into his shoulder. 

Cloud maneuvers through the smoke by following the Hawk's directions. And, when he slips into a clearing, Cloud finds himself directly above the launchers, much to the shock of the enemy.

Cloud drops his bombs at close range and destroys the terror rockets. 

WHROOOOM! 

Cloud returns to base where he is chided for having a hawk perched on his shoulder. “Hawk-Eye? He just dropped by to repay a debt,” Cloud remarks. He does not share the amazing events that led to the destruction of the rocket launchers. 

Indeed, the Hawk, or a Hawk ... some Hawk has repaid the debt of many years ago.

Image Credit:
AAMOW#92 (August 1962): Story Art: I.Novick; Writer: R.Kanigher.
Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics.