Okay Hot - Shot , Okay ! Okay Hot - Shot , Okay ! ( sometimes Okay Hot - Shot ) is a 1963 pop art painting by Roy Lichtenstein that uses his Ben - Day dots style and a text balloon . It is one of several examples of military art that Lichtenstein created between 1962 and 1964 , including several with aeronautical themes like this one . It was inspired by panels from four different comic books that provide the sources for the plane , the pilot , the text balloon and the graphic onomatopoeia , " VOOMP ! " . Lichtenstein made several alterations to the source images as he compiled them into this composition . He used themes in this work that relate to those expressed in several of his other works . The narrative content is also said to relate to themes from other works , but instead of Lichtenstein ' s own works it relates to Jackson Pollock ' s contemporaneous works . Background . During the late 1950s and early 1960s a number of American painters began to adapt the imagery and motifs of comic strips . Lichtenstein made drawings of comic strip characters in 1958 . Andy Warhol produced his earliest paintings using this style in 1960 . Lichtenstein , unaware of Warhol ' s work , produced " Look Mickey " and " Popeye " in 1961 . Soon , Lichtenstein advanced from animated cartoons to more serious themes such as romance and combat depictions . Lichtenstein said that at the time , " I was very excited about , and very interested in , the highly emotional content yet detached impersonal handling of love , hate , war , etc . , in these cartoon images . " The work was inspired by five different comic book panels made by Russ Heath and Irv Novick . The plane , the pilot , the text balloon and the graphic onomatopoeia , " VOOMP ! " , all come from panels from different comic books . Lichtenstein was a trained draftsman and artist . He also received training during World War II as an army pilot , but never saw active combat . His list of aeronautically themed works is extensive , including several others featuring pilots situated in cockpits during air combat such as " Jet Pilot " ( 1962 ) , " Brattata " ( 1962 ) , and " Bratatat ! " ( 1963 ) . Some sources list " Okay Hot - Shot , Okay ! " along with " Whaam ! " and " Blam " as Lichtenstein ' s best - known examples of military art . " Okay Hot - Shot , Okay ! " is one of several comics - based works , including " Jet Pilot " and " Von Karp " , inspired by the World War II U . S . fighter pilot Johnny Cloud of DC Comics ' " The Losers " . The January – February 1962 DC Comics ' " All - American Men of War " issue # 89 was the inspiration for several Lichtenstein paintings , providing two of the source panels of " Okay Hot - Shot , Okay ! " as well as sources for " Brattata " , " Blam " , " Whaam ! " and " Tex ! " The graphite pencil sketch , " Jet Pilot " was also from that issue . Critical appraisal . In the source , the pilot wore traditional World War II headgear , but Lichtenstein altered the headgear to that of a cosmonaut , astronaut or modern air force pilot of the Cold War era . Lichtenstein also shifted the subject so that his left iris is in the frame . The work also is related to Lichtenstein ' s theme of " machine and embodied vision " as exhibited in works such as " Crak ! " , " Bratatat ! " , and " Jet Pilot " . The narrative content , " Okay , hot - shot , okay ! I ' m pouring ! [ ammunition into the enemy ] " is said to have a dual meaning that alludes to the style of poured painting being made famous at the time by Pollock . Melodrama through heightened tension ties this with some of Lichtenstein ' s most notable works . While melding the elements and motifs of panels from two artists , Lichtenstein simplified the hatching and use of color . In Lichtenstein ' s obituary , " Los Angeles Times " critic Christopher Knight said the use of color in this work harkened back to works by Morris Louis and the explosion ' s graphic elements recalled Kenneth Noland ' s target work . In an account published in 1998 after Lichtenstein was famous , Irv Novick said that he met Lichtenstein in the army in 1947 and , as his superior officer , had responded to Lichtenstein ' s tearful complaints about the menial tasks he was assigned by recommending him for a better job . Jean - Paul Gabilliet has questioned this account , saying that Lichtenstein had left the army a year before the time Novick says the incident took place . Bart Beaty , noting that Lichtenstein had appropriated Novick for works such as " Whaam ! " and " Okay Hot - Shot , Okay ! " , says that Novick ' s story " seems to be an attempt to personally diminish " the more famous artist .