Doug Johnson (Earth-616)

Jap Buster Johnson
Name	Doug Johnson
Current Alias	Jap Buster Johnson
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	U.S. Air Force, Crazy S.U.E.S.
Relatives	Grandparents: Doug Johnson III (possible grandson)
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Black
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Fighter Pilot
Base of Operations	Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii, later Guadalcanal
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Syd Shores,
First	U.S.A. Comics #6 (October, 1942)
First	U.S.A. Comics #6 (October, 1942)
Death	All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #3 (August, 2011)
Death	All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #3 (August, 2011)

History

Preface

Jap Buster Johnson was just one of many costumed operatives active during World War II who were recruited into the United States military. The purpose was to enlist such individuals in order to publish propaganda in the form of comic books that were commissioned by the United States military and published by Timely Comics. These comics were used to convince Americans to support the war, and increase enlistment. Like many heroes recruited in this fashion, Jap Buster's fictional exploits were few. For most of these early heroes it was due to their deaths in combat.

Solo Adventures

Doug "Jap Buster" Johnson was a member of the United States Air Force during World War II. When his best friend Dave was killed by an Imperial Japanese fighter plane, Doug avenged his friend's death and became devoted to battling the Japanese during the war.

Doug's battleship was later attacked by the Japanese Laughing Death Patrol who used a lethal gas that caused those exposed to it to die laughing while staining their skin green. Johnson flew a solo mission, destroying the enemy ship containing the gas, killing all aboard with their own lethal weapon while Johnson fled. Discovering his fellow soldier Dillo was a traitor, Johnson was tossed overboard to his death. He managed to survive, however, albeit with amnesia. Found by Dillo and his Japanese master Sagayo, Johnson was convinced to attack his own ship. Before he could attack, however, his memory returned and led a sneak attack that saw Sagayo commit suicide and Dillo captured. Later, he discovered a Japanese plot to mark his ship with luminescent paint, stopping their attackers before they could bomb it. When his ship attacked a Japanese occupied island on the South Pacific, they were forced to pull back due to seemingly large enemy numbers. To determine just how many troops the enemy really had, Johnson disguised himself as one of the locals and infiltrated the island, learning that the enemy was using fireworks to make it sound like they had more men firing back at their attackers. Johnson then led an attack that cleared the island and saved the natives.

With the success of Operation: Doolittle, Johnson was to be sent on another bombing attack on Tokyo. However, when a pilot who was thought to be shot down during Doolittle returned to their ship and warned of a trap, Johnson went to investigate. Smuggling himself into Japan, he found that the army had built a false cover over Tokyo and made a fake city to trick American bombers. Rescuing two other captured American pilots, Johnson blew the cover and escaped back to his ship to warn them of the cunning trick.

When entire squadrons of American fighters were wiped out thanks to a new Japanese aircraft cannon, Johnson snuck onto an enemy island and succeeded in stealing the weapon and bringing it back for the Americans to analyze.

Much later, when American planes were shot down near the island of Jubi, Johnson went on another solo mission to determine how the Japanese were shooting them down near a supposedly unoccupied island. Johnson was captured and discovered that the Japanese had built an underground base hidden below the island. He then forced it to rise out of the ground for his fellow troops to destroy. Johnson was later reunited with his old friends Happy and Slats who were deployed to the Pacific Theater after fighting the Nazis in Europe. After his friends discovered an uncharted island, they tried to show Doug, but found nothing. Returning to base alone, Johnson soon became worried for his friends when they did not return to base. Going back out to find them, he found the island and a secret Japanese base and rescued his friends. Johnson then went toe-to-toe with his Japanese equivalent, a fighter pilot named Kito, whom he beat in a dog fight and killed in hand to hand combat.

Crazy SUES

Doug Johnson as a member of the Crazy S.U.E.S.

When the United States officially entered into World War II, Doug Johnson was drafted into the Specialized Unit, Enhanced Soldiers (or Crazy SUES) under the command of Captain America. Johnson was obsessed with going overseas and fighting the Imperial Japanese Army, his natural bigotry likely enhanced by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Johnson got his wish when the Crazy SUES were deployed to Guadalcanal in August of 1942. There he became more obsessed with killing Japanese soldiers, making his fellow soldiers uneasy. On August 23rd of that year, the Crazy SUES found themselves pinned under heavy enemy fire. While his teammates were pulling back their wounded, Johnson refused to stop fighting. As such, when his teammate Captain Flame unleashed a powerful blast of fire, Johnson was caught in its path and incinerated.

Attributes

Abilities

Doug is a skilled fighter, trained soldier, and expert fighter pilot. Bilingual, he speaks English and basic Japanese.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Doug carries the standard equipment for an American fighter pilot during World War II.

Weapons

American standard issue WWII weaponry.

Transportation

Doug flew American fighter jets during the war.

Notes

• Stories of Jap Buster Johnson that were published by Timely Comics in the 1940s ran in various publications from December 1942 until Spring 1945. Johnson's activities with the Crazy SUES happens from early 1942 until his death in August of that year. Since the United States did not enter into World War II until December of 1941, Jap Buster Johnson's Timely era stories are likely complete works of fiction. This is more so likely given Jap Buster Johnson's early racist attitudes toward the Japanese. Marvel's revival of more socially questionable characters (such as Slow Motion Jones, and Whitewash Jones) has seen these characters reintroduced in a different, more socially acceptable context, while their appearances in the 1940's were delegated as "fictional tales" as part of wartime propaganda. While some of these tales are based on actual events, it seems unlikely that Johnson's 40's appearances are given the timeline of his canonical appearances from All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes.

See Also

• 17 appearance(s) of Doug Johnson (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) of Doug Johnson (Earth-616)
• 4 image(s) of Doug Johnson (Earth-616)