The source of the subject matter is Jerry Grandenetti's panels from "Wingmate of Doom," in All American Men of War, no.

"[3] Depicting a short few seconds during an aircraft battle, the painting is based on three panels of the original narrative which Lichtenstein has altered to improve its formal coherence.

We see successive tighter views of the gun muzzles in action accompanied by an onomatopoeia, which provides cinematic flow despite the varying skies.

He chose as his subjects teen and action comics because he valued the impersonal quality of their artwork, the products of teams of illustrators.

[11] Lichtenstein's alterations from the original source change the uniform perspective of the images, causing it to flow "like a series of movie clips".