by Frank Robbins
Chapter 3: Sun Tan and General Mariwana
Sep 11, 1944 - Jan 30, 1945
05/03/21
Sep 11-12, 1944 - Johnny learns that his unit is heading to the Pacific. He will lead an advance group that will get there ahead of the rest of the squadron. Darowski and Stein will be his wingmen once again. The 3 bombers will leave in 4 hours. The rest of the unit will follow a couple of weeks later. Johnny and the others are to head to Iran where they will pick up a passenger and learn their next destination.
There’s a lot of information packed and into these two strips. Johnny makes reference to the A.V.G.’s which I think were the American Volunteer Groups. They were aerial units that were recruited to fight the Japanese in China starting in the April 1941, before the United States officially declared war on Japan during World War 2. The AVG units had been mobilized but didn’t join the fight until after the United States declared war on Japan in December 1941. The best known AVG unit was the Flying Tigers.
05/04/21
Sep 13-14, 1944 - Johnny is given strict orders not to tell anyone about the mission. He isn’t even aloud to say goodbye to Brandy.
05/05/21
Sep 15-16, 1944 - Johnny mopes near the planes and won’t tell anyone about their next mission. Brandy decides to stop being selfish and tell Johnny how she feels about him. She arrives at his hooch only to find out that he’s moved out.
Tension is building but I will be surprised if Brandy doesn’t get a chance to see Johnny before he departs.
05/06/21
Sep 18-19, 1944 - Johnny writes Brandy a letter and leaves it with someone to give to Brandy after he has departed. Brandy rushes to try and find Johnny before he leaves.
I have no idea if she is going to get there in time. Part of me wants to say yes but I just don’t know. I do like the way Robbins is pacing this.
05/07/21
Sep 20-21, 1944 - Brandy gets a ride but doesn’t make it in time to get a chance to talk to him. She’s bummed out and decides to walk back.
Frank Robbins may have learned from Caniff and some people have called him a Caniff clone but I like what he’s doing here. Most notably he’s avoided Caniff’s tendency to inject racial or racist humor into the strip.
05/08/21
Sep 22-23, 1944 - Brandy decides to leave now that Johnny is gone. She catches a military flight to China. The letter that Johnny wrote her doesn’t reach her before she leaves.
Brandy is heading to the Far East just like Johnny. What are the odds that they will cross paths again?
05/09/21
Sep 25-26, 1944 - Brandy finds out the plane she is on will be making a pit stop in Iran. She meets another photographer, Pics Regan, who is very eager to get to know Brandy better. She doesn’t care for the attention she’s getting from Pics.
It’s seems likely at this point that Brandy will be wanting to disembark in Iran. Will she get there in time to see Johnny?
05/10/21
Sep 27-28, 1944 - Johnny and his group arrive in Iran. They have to wait for another plane to arrive before they can leave. Captain MacBane, the pilot of the other bomber, seems to be as much in the dark as to what’s going on as Johnny is.
The markings on the side of MacBane’s aircraft seem to be the same as those on the side of the aircraft that Brandy is aboard.
05/11/21
Sep 29-30, 1944 - MacBane’s bomber lands in Iran. Brandy heads off to get some shuteye, leaving Pics Regan behind. She also leaves some of her gear behind. Johnny meets MacBane and together they get briefed by Major Twiller.
Brandy works for Inter-Globe News Service according to the markings on the side of the gear she leaves behind. Regan seemed to think that Brandy was going to spend the night with him.
05/12/21
Oct 2-3, 1944 - MacBane and Hazard meet the passenger they flew to Iran to pick up. Her name is Major Sun Tan. She looks White but is dressed like a Chinese woman. They seem confused. She starts to tell them about her background or at least what she remembers.
The looks on their faces when she walks in the room.
05/13/21
Oct 4-5, 1944 - Major Sun Tan finishes telling her story about how she lost her parents and her memory in 1932. Major Twiller explains the plan to Captains Hazard and MacBane. Major Sun Tan will fly with Hazard and a decoy, someone dressed to look like her, will fly with MacBane.
I’m guessing that Brandy is going to wind up being the decoy. I also think she’s going to be highly suspicious of Major Sun Tan flying in Johnny’s plane.
05/14/21
Oct 6-7, 1944 - The bad guys, Iranian locals who are working with the Japanese, plan the destruction of Major Sun Tan. They plant a tracking device in the photographic equipment bag of Pics Regan. The only flaw in their plan is that Pics and Brandy accidentally switched bags.
The plot thickens.
05/15/21
Oct 9-10, 1944 - Brandy and Pics exchange bags. Pics takes off with MacBane and the decoy Major Sun Tan. The real Major Sun Tan, disguised as an American soldier, prepares to depart with Johnny.
I wonder what’s going to happen to Brandy? I thought she was going to depart with MacBane but I guess not.
Pics is a corporal in this strip. I thought he was a technical sergeant but I think I misread the markings on his bag. He is T/5 Regan which Technician 5th grade according to Wikipedia.
05/16/21
Oct 11-12, 1944 - Brandy is reunited with Johnny. She seems happy to see him at first but she quickly remembers how he left without so much as saying goodbye. Major Sun Tan seems very amused by the reunion.
Brandy calls Major Sun Tan “flap-face”. I’m guessing that is some sort of a slur but I’m not sure.
05/17/21
Oct 13-14, 1944 - Brandy doesn’t take kindly to Major Sun Tan’s comments about Brandy and Johnny’s relationship. Major Sun Tan gets angry when Brandy rips off her hat, revealing that she isn’t a man. Major Sun Tan levels Brandy with one punch and then suggests that they take off before anyone else notices her.
Johnny barely gets in a word edgewise in these two strips. I love this sequence of events.
05/18/21
Oct 16-17, 1944 - Johnny carries Brandy on the plane. Major Sun Tan insists that she come with them since she knows too much to be left behind. They grab Brandy’s gear and take it with them, including the camera case with the transmitter in it.
The crews of the other two bombers haven’t been seen for quite some time (since 09/15/44 by my reckoning) but the planes are shown in one of the panels.
05/19/21
Oct 18-19, 1944 - Brandy wakes up on the plane while they are still in the air. Major Sun Tan uses a gun to convince the photographer to not start throwing punches.
Darowski and Stein get a mention in the first of these two strips but they haven’t been seen in over a month.
I’ve got to imagine that in reality it was quite noisy on these bombers even though they make it look like it was easy to hold a conversation.
05/20/21
Oct 20-21, 1944 - Major Sun Tan explains the importance of her mission to Brandy. She also tells the American photographer about the Japanese General Mariwana, who wants her dead. She almost killed him with a grenade. He has been disfigured ever since.
05/21/21
Oct 23-24, 1944 - General Mariwana plots his revenge on Major Sun Tan. He wants to be the one who shoots down the plane she is on. Brandy forgives Major Sun Tan for punching her lights out.
When are things going to heat up again? Eventually the Japanese are going to know where Johnny’s plane is thanks to the transmitter in Brandy’s camera bag.
05/22/21
Oct 25-26, 1944 - Major Sun Tan agrees to give Brandy an exclusive interview to make up for punching her. Brandy gets out her camera gear but can’t get the camera she wants to use out of the case.
Clearly something is wrong but Brandy doesn’t suspect foul play.
05/23/21
Oct 27-28, 1944 - Johnny’s bomber lands in India to refuel before continuing their flight east. Brandy wants to get her camera fixed by a professional but Johnny won’t let her leave the plane. She attempts to fix it herself.
Brandy is still unaware of the tracking device in her camera.
05/24/21
Oct 30-31, 1944 - Johnny’s plane nears China. The transmitter in Brandy’s case is now detectable by the Japanese. General Mariwana’s quest for revenge is within his grasp.
I like how the last panel in the first strip is split diagonally in three.
05/25/21
Nov 1-2, 1944 - General Mariwana personally leads the fighter aircraft as they prepare to blow up the plane that carries Major Sun Tan.
05/26/21
Nov 3-4, 1944 - General Mariwana and his squadron are spotted by the three bombers. Johnny heads for the cover of the clouds while the other two bombers prepare to engage the Japanese fighter planes.
The Americans do not realize that this is exactly what the Japanese were expecting them to do. I’m sure that Johnny and Brandy will make it though this battle alive but what about the others?
05/27/21
Nov 6-7, 1944 - Johnny and his crew prepare for the attack by the Japanese fighters. Major Sun Tan mans the tail guns.
05/28/21
Nov 8-9, 1944 - General Mariwana strikes first. Johnny’s bomber is damaged but manages to take out one of the Japanese fighter planes. One of the bomber’s engines catches fire.
05/29/21
Nov 10-11, 1944 - Johnny makes it look like the bomber is going down in the hopes of luring the two fighters close enough in to blast them.
I love the way the tension is building here. There can be no doubt as to the final outcome but it still reads great.
05/30/21
Nov 13-14, 1944 - Major Sun Tan destroys one of the Japanese fighter planes but then her gun jams. The other fighter pulls back but then pursues the bomber into the clouds still able to track them thanks to the device in Brandy’s bag.
The pilot of the remaining fighter is of course General Mariwana.
05/31/21
Nov 15-16, 1944 - Johnny and his crew need to rise above the clouds in order to clear some mountains in their path but that is exactly what General Mariwana wants them to do so that he can blast them out of the sky.
General Mariwana’s words become much more stereotypically racist as he speaks directly to Johnny and his crew for the first time. His manner of speaking was a bit primitive, prior to this, but lacked the mispronunciations that are found in these two strips.
06/02/21
Nov 17-18, 1944 - Johnny and his crew are having trouble gaining altitude so they can make it over the mountains. Johnny tells them to throw everything overboard that they can, including the guns. Loopy complies but Major Sun Tan says she did even though she didn’t. Johnny is flying a broken course in the hopes of losing General Mariwana but he doesn’t know that the general can still track track his plane thanks to the device in Brandy’s bag.
The tension continues to build. I assume that Brandy’s bag will get jettisoned at some point but I don’t think she going to throw it overboard with out putting up a fight first.
What happened to the other two bombers? Is there any chance that they will play a part in how the cat and mouse dance with General Mariwana works out?
06/03/21
Nov 20-21, 1944 - General Mariwana catches up to Johnny’s bomber just as it reaches 11,000 feet. General Mariwana opens fire from his fighter plane and Major Sun Tan returns fire from the tail of the bomber.
06/04/21
Nov 22-23, 1944 - Major Sun Tan shoots up General Mariwana’s plane critically. He crashes his plane into the bomber.
I love how economically and visually the action is portrayed in these two strips. There is a minimal amount of dialogue and the perspective changes from panel to panel.
06/05/21
Nov 24-25, 1944 - Johnny orders everyone to grab their parachutes and jump. Loopy and Sun Tan are still aboard when they notice that General Mariwana is still alive.
What next? This story keeps getting crazier. He’s still alive but there’s no realistic way General Mariwana can wing walk to the body of Johnny’s bomber.
06/07/21
Nov 27-28, 1944 - Major Sun Tan attempts to shoot General Mariwana but turbulence foils that opportunity. Johnny gets the last two members of the crew (Loopy, Sun Tan) to join him in abandoning ship.
Odds are Johnny and his friends haven’t seen the last of General Mariwana.
06/08/21
Nov 29-30, 1944 - Johnny and the rest of the crew and passengers aboard the bomber parachute safely to the ground. Scotty twists his ankle but that’s the only injury that any of them suffers. Johnny considers lighting the remains of the plane on fire to help the others to locate them but after Major Sun Tan points out that they might need it for shelter he decides to light up a parachute instead.
There is no sign of General Mariwana in these two strips.
06/09/21
Dec 1-2, 1944 - Johnny’s plan to signal to the others doesn’t work because the wind just blows the smoke horizontal. Brandy tries yelling for the others but the wind drowns out her voice. General Mariwana lands safely and finds a Tibetan shrine.
I just noticed that he crew landed in two different groups. Scotty, Brandy, and Juke landed in one spot. Johnny, Sun Tan, and Loopy landed a half mile away. The two groups have yet to reunite.
06/10/21
Dec 4-5, 1944 - General Mariwana enters the shrine and meets the caretaker, a monk. Mariwana waits until the monk’s back is turned and then prepares to kill him.
I didn’t have any doubts that there was much good in General Mariwana but this is a new low, even for him.
06/11/21
Dec 6-7, 1944 - Brandy, Scotty, and Juke find the temple and enter. They aren’t aware that they are being watched by someone who just killed the caretaker monk.
No sign of Johnny, Sun Tan, or Loopy on this page but General Mariwana is getting ready to dispose of the monk’s body when the others show up.
06/12/21
Dec 8-9, 1944 - Juke goes looking for the others. Brandy takes care of Scotty’s injured foot. They are still unaware that they are being watched by General Mariwana.
The tension is starting to build. When will General Mariwana launch his attack? Sun Tan is the one he wants vengeance on but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind killing some Americans along the way.
06/13/21
Dec 11-12, 1944 - Brandy goes looking for water and finds the body of the murdered monk/lama. She immediately suspects General Mariwana must be responsible and struggles to keep her cool.
06/14/21
Dec 13-14, 1944 - Brandy does her best to maintain her cool and also finds a way to give Scotty a hint as to what she suspects about General Mariwana.
The look on Brandy’s face when she asks Scotty if he has “ever smoked a reefer” made me laugh. I understand that she’s trying not to let on that she knows that they are being watched but the intensity in her face was something new.
06/15/21
Dec 15-16, 1944 - Scotty is confused by Brandy question but as he thinks about it he figures out what she means. Juke fires off some shots while looking for Johnny, Sun Tan, and Loopy and they hear them and prepare to respond by using the flare gun in the wreck of their plane.
How does Sky Pilot = Lama? I’m missing something here.
Wouldn’t Mariwana hear the shots that Juke fired? Possibly not, if it was extremely windy and Juke wasn’t real close to the shrine.
06/17/21
Dec 18-19, 1944 - Brandy gets cozy with Scotty in an effort to keep General Mariwana distracted from killing them. Johnny and Sun Tan leave Juke and Loopy to guard the wreckage of the airplane while they head to the temple.
The thought balloons in the first of these two strips make it very clear that Brandy and Scotty are just putting on act. They are not falling for one another despite what they are saying for the benefit of General Mariwana.
06/18/21
Dec 20-21, 1944 - Brandy locates Mariwana and Scotty comes up with a plan to keep them alive.
06/19/21
Dec 22-23, 1944 - Johnny and Sun Tan arrive at the temple. Scotty starts shooting at General Mariwana’s position and Brandy shouts a warning as Johnny opens the door.
The tension is thick. I’m not sure I will be satisfied with how this situation gets resolved but I’m eager to see how it happens.
06/20/21
Dec 25-26, 1944 - General Mariwana curses himself for not killing Scotty and Brandy before Johnny and Sun Tan showed up. Scotty and Brandy run for cover but first Scotty gets shot and then Brandy does too.
It looks like Brandy got shot based on her facial expression and the way she is posed but it isn’t clear.
06/21/21
Dec 27-28, 1944 - Brandy seems to be dead or very badly injured. Johnny goes after General Mariwana who is hidden behind the giant Buddha.
They are playing like Brandy is dead but I’m pretty sure that she shows up in future stories so she can’t be. I love the second panel in the second strip. Johnny is running toward the giant statue. Scotty and Brandy can be seen between Johnny’s legs, in the background.
06/23/21
Dec 29-30, 1944 - Johnny thinks he has Mariwana pinned down but the General finds a way to get past him and that much close to Sun Tan.
06/24/21
Jan 1-2, 1945 - Mariwana slips and falls which gives Johnny the chance to get the drop on the Japanese General.
Johnny looks ready to kill the General but will he? He seems to be ready to do it in part because he thinks that Mariwana killed Brandy. Is she dead?
06/25/21
Jan 3-4, 1945 - Johnny tries shooting the General but his gun is out of bullets or it jams. Mariwana starts to pull his gun. Johnny throws his gun at Mariwana, knocking the gun out of his hand.
Someone steps on Mariwana’s hand in the last panel, which I really, love. It is an extreme closeup. Presumably that someone is Johnny.
06/26/21
Jan 5-6, 1945 - Johnny grabs Mariwana’s gun but he doesn’t shoot him with it. He removes the bullets and then starts advancing on Mariwana.
Mariwana still has his sword. I’m sure that will play into the fight that’s about to begin. I’m loving the slow deliberate pace at which the action is moving.
06/27/21
Jan 8-9, 1945 - Johnny gets in the first few hits but Mariwana strikes back.
The first of these 6 panels is the only one with any dialogue.
06/28/21
Jan 10-11, 1945 - Mariwana finally draws his sword as the the fight continues.
There are no words at all in these two daily strips, not even sound effects. There are also no backgrounds in any of these panels.
06/30/21
Jan 12-13, 1945 - Johnny and Mariwana continue to fight. Johnny disarms the General but then Mariwana turns the tables on Johnny. Mariwana is reaching for his sword in the final panel.
Two more days worth of strips in the same style as the previous two days, without backgrounds, dialogue, or sound effects.
07/04/21
Jan 15-16, 1945 - Johnny steps on Mariwana’s sword before the General can pick it up. Johnny then pours a brazier of hot coals on Mariwana.
I don’t know how Johnny moved that fast. One moment he was on the ground and the next he is standing over Mariwana with the hot coals.
07/05/21
Jan 17-18, 1945 - Mariwana screams in pain and then tries to escape. Major Sun Tan doesn’t let him get very far before she guns him down.
It was Major Sun Tan who stepped on Mariwana’s sword and then poured the hot coals into his face. That makes more sense and seems more appropriate considering their past history.
07/06/21
Jan 19-20, 1945 - Johnny wakes up and finds out that Sun Tan shot and killed Mariwana. They go looking for Scotty and Brandy and find them both still alive.
07/07/21
Jan 22-23, 1945 - Brandy is in bad shape. They need to get to a hospital on the double but they are lost somewhere in Tibet.
07/10/21
Jan 24-25, 1945 - Johnny and his friends are found by a search and rescue mission.
I’m not sure how they landed that plane high in the mountains. Presumably there is a minimum amount of space that is needed to land and take off from an airstrip.
07/14/21
Jan 26-27, 1945 - Brandy finally wakes up. Johnny shows her Mariwana’s sword as proof of how things turned out.
Frank Robbins, once again, does a very nice job of telling the story with a minimal amount of words. Three of the panels don’t have any words.
07/15/21
Jan 29-30, 1945 - Johnny is summoned by Colonel Chase. Brandy is carried off to the hospital. Sun Tan heads off to continue her part in the war.
That’s it for this arc. I’m fairly certain that Brandy will be back but I’m not sure how soon that will occur. The next arc is the longest one in the book and about 40% longer than this one.
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