YANK: THE ARMY WEEKLY
(1943)

What is "YANK"? I'll let this page at the Brown University Library explain:

Yank was the most widely read and most popular magazine in the history of the army and by the end of the war, twenty-three editions had been published. At the height of Yank's operations, there were printing presses in Honolulu, Cairo, Tokyo, Okinawa, Rome, Trinidad, Saipan, and other places, and the weekly achieved a worldwide circulation of 2,600,000; it is thought to have been read by ten million. The weekly which was staffed entirely by enlisted-soldiers printed its last issue in December 1945, realizing for the War Department a profit of $1,000,000.

The magazine itself employed artists and writers both in its New York headquarters and at the front...

Hoverboy made infrequent appearances in YANK magazine during it's entire run. "By the men..For the men of the service" was the magazine's motto, and though it was censored, the publishers were given an incredible amount of leeway in terms of content. Racy material in the form of pinups, jokes, and cartoons that made fun of the unpleasant aspects of military life. It became a valuable outlet for soldiers frustration.

In this cover from the December 24th issue, we can see that editorial freedom in full effect, with Hoverboy in the midst of a prank on a 3-Star general; melting the top of his helmet off! Keeled over with laughter beside Hoverboy is Arty, his constant (and slightly dim) wartime companion. Arty's laughter threatens to give them away, and now it looks like Hoverboy is ready to blast him as well... just to shut Arty up.