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07 September 2005
Many of us have often wondered how some of those Daffy 'nicknames' came about? I have many on record but would like to tell the story of John Gannell, alias 'Choppy'. While demolishing one of his fine bottles of whiskey at his place one evening I asked Choppy where his nickname came from. He may have told me who gave it to him (indeed he had branded a few others!) but I can't remember. I do remember he told me it was after the famous Chinese character in the 'Blackhawk' comics of the time - one Wu Cheng, alias 'Chop-Chop', which was John's original nickname. Just like 'Springhead' Hurley it became more catching, or pally, to shorten the nickname. It was also probably more politically correct to change 'Chop-Chop' to 'Choppy' at the time.
Some time, a lot later, my remaining five brain cells must have come together and I vaguely recalled a 'concert' or 'show' put on by the Apprentices, for the Apprentices, in the cinema at RAAF Wagga, probably in our first year of 1953 to help us enjoy the cloister and prevent homesickness! Either way, I also recall John Gannell being a featured performer as a Chinese lad, complete with pigtail, wielding a cleaver and running across the stage yelling "chop chop chop chop". Maybe the skit was based on the Blackhawks stories, I can't remember that much. Could it be that the nickname of ‘Chop-Chop’ stuck with John from that performance?
I decided to do some research on the Blackhawk basis to the origin of 'Chop-Chop' and found the following :
SUMMARY: New York, 1940. Reporter Virginia Mueller gets an assignment to do a story on the Blackhawks. Wu Cheng (Chop-Chop), who has been living in his home village in China, sends a distress call to the Blackhawks. A huge mechanical dragon is being used by the Japanese to devastate the village and intimidate the superstitious villagers. Ginny Mueller and the Blackhawks meet in the deserted village, and find Wu Cheng's diary. It describes the building of the dragon, with American aid, and Wu Cheng's efforts to stop it. Imprisoned by the Japanese, Wu Cheng learns that the Japanese attacked his village specifically to lure the Blackhawks there, as part of a bargain with Germany. Ginny's presence as a witness was
also arranged by the Japanese. Wu Cheng gets free in time to reveal the set-up and save the day. He re-joins the Blackhawks team.
Who's Who: Chop-Chop
Name: Liu Huang
(in the origin story in Blackhawk #203; Mark Evanier named him Wu Cheng in Blackhawk #251 to 273)
Occupation: Member of the paramilitary organization known as The Blackhawks
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: father (#203)
Base of Operations: Blackhawk Island, location classified
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 145 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
From #49, art by Reed Crandall. This image is considered a racial stereotype and offensive
by modern standards.
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The six Blackhawks are sent to Japanese occupied China on a secret mission. Arriving, they encounter a mysterious resistance fighter wearing a white dragon costume and known only by that name. They meet an old warlord and the warlord's young son, Liu Huang, who argues against the Blackhawks and counsels his father to cooperate with the Japanese. Of course, shades of Zorro, the ineffectual-seeming son is really the White Dragon, and is soon captured by the Japanese. The Black Knights come to the rescue and through an exciting series of feats, the Blackhawks and the young Chinese fighter save the warlord and convince him to fight the Japanese. Liu Huang explains that he can not go back to being the White Dragon because his capture caused him to "lose face." The Blackhawks invite him to join them and decide to call him Chop-Chop, for the sounds he habitually made when making his martial arts attacks (the origin of Chop-Chop as described in issue #203).
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