STOVEPIPE (Leroy Johnson)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by France Herron, Fred Ray and Murray Boltinoff

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Leroy Johnson
Occupation: Salesman, former freedom fighter
Citizenship: American
Base of Operation: 18th century America
Group Affiliation(s): Tomahawk's Rangers
Gender: Male
Hair: Black
First Appearance: Tomahawk #97 (March-April 1965)
Creators: France Herron, Fred Ray and Murray Boltinoff

OVERVIEW

A freedom fighter during the Revolutionary War, and a member of Tomahawk's Rangers.

HISTORY

As a young man, Leroy Johnson was encouraged to join the Army like his famous father, General Johnson and the generations before him. Small and skinny for even his young age, he took to wearing a stovepipe hat to make him seem taller.

Wanting to prove to his father that he could be a great soldier, he joined up with Tomahawk's Rangers, an elite group of commandos. Using his small stature to his benefit, Johnson could manoeuvre and out-dodge enemy fire and troops. He also began to hide items inside the hat, such as mirrors, small revolvers, and thin strands of rope, such as might be found in Batman's Utility Belt nearly two centuries later.

Johnson's father was so impressed by his son's courage and skill, he decided to join the Revolutionary forces himself.

Surviving the War, in his later years, Leroy became a travelling salesman (some might even be unkind enough to call him a "snakeoil salesman"), caring for the mentally incapacitated Big Anvil. On a mission for the estate of George Washington, he presented Tomahawk with one of the quill pens used to write the Declaration of Independence.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Stovepipe in chronological order click here