Peter B. Gillis Big Comics Readthrough

Ever since Steve Gerber's classic 70's run, The Defenders  have been known as the oddball team of the Marvel U; the gang you hang out with when you don't fit in anywhere else. J.M. DeMatteis played up the supernatural aspect in his lengthy early 80's spell on the title. Towards the end of his run he wrote out the big hitters and turned this 'non-team' into a more conventional outfit. The lineup was anything but conventional though: three of the original X-Men, Defenders stalwarts Valkyrie and Gargoyle, former Avenger and villain Moondragon, and a teenager who turns into a Cloud. Peter Gillis' series for First were attracting attention over at Marvel, in a "why is our guy working for someone else? Let's give him more work" way. Around the end of '83, Gillis heard DeMatteis was leaving after only half a dozen issues of the re-christened New Defenders, so threw his hat in the writing ring. As PBG put it: "I was pleased that they asked me ...

The Black Flame - Starslayer #20-33 (1984-1985) Pencils: Tom Sutton, Don Lomax Inks: Don Lomax "Who is The Black Flame?" , the story arc title of the next chapters, reveals The Flame to be an 18th century German lad named Heinrich Von Ofterdingen, born to well to do parents. Ofterdingen is a town in southern Germany, so I wonder if Gillis chose it at random, or if there was some family connection. Heinrich was taken at a young age by the Nightmare Lord and reshaped into a boogeyman. It's a slight origin, yet weaving it into this middle storyline provides an effective introduction for many no doubt confused Starslayer readers. Archenemy and fellow boogey person Hellequin captures The Black Flame in her giant bosom (hey, it was the 80's) and drags him back to the Nightmare Lord for re-indoctrination. This spell is eventually broken by the Flame's trio of friends, who traverse the twisted nightmare realms to rescue him.  The writing seems a lot sharper on the Starsla...

The Black Flame , according to Peter Gillis, arose from two impulses: he wanted to work again with one of his all time favourite artists, Tom Sutton; and Bruce Patterson suggested creating a Lovecraft inspired series. Gillis pointed out that Lovecraftian heroes tend to not survive for very long. However, his solution to this problem was simple: make the monster the hero. Mars #2-8 (1984) - The Black Flame Pencils: Tom Sutton, Don Lomax Inks & Colours: Bruce Patterson Imagine the realm of nightmares is real (not hard for Doctor Strange fans), where the Nightmare Lord trains and despatches boogeymen to torment children (not hard for, er, Monsters Inc. fans). One of these fear spreading boogeymen, The Black Flame, rebels and escapes to the mortal world to save children and romantics alike from the clutches of their nightmares. The Flame cuts an imposing figure, wielding a lance and riding a black nightmare steed, which can conveniently disguise itself as a motorcycle. This isn't...

Black Panther #1-4 (1988) Pencils: Denys Cowan Inks: Sam De La Rosa You may be wondering why we've skipped half the 80's, but Gillis and Cowan's Black Panther miniseries actually originated back in 1983. Chicago based Peter Gillis was still paying frequent visits to the New York Marvel offices looking for work. Bob Budiansky pointed him in the direction of Denys Cowan, who really wanted to draw the Panther, and was in need of a writer. Gillis made the controversial suggestion of the Panther fighting apartheid. This wasn't entirely without precedence for the character, as Gillis' mentor Don McGregor had tackled thorny racial and political subjects in his Jungle Action run, even pitting T'Challa against the Klan. 3 of the 4 issues of this new miniseries were finished and it was solicited in 1984, even garnering a preview in Marvel Age . However, according to Cowan, Editor in Chief Jim Shooter had concerns about the racial violence intrinsic to the storyline. Gill...

In addition to the regular Warp series, there were 3 standalone specials, plus 4 back up strips. The first 2 backups ( Faceless Ones and Sargon ) had no Peter Gillis involvement, so I'll round up the rest here. Warp Special #1 (1983) Pencils: Howard Chaykin Inks: George Freeman The origin of Warp's most charming character, Prince Chaos , is basically a Superman parody. It still fails to explain why Chaos and Cumulus are related, as they appear to be born in different centuries on different planets to different parents. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe it's just cosmic reasons. Although I never really got how Sargon and Valaria are meant to be estranged sisters either.  Anyhow, this special features the original heroic Cumulus, rather than his whiny rebirth David. It's the tale of how Chaos and Valaria got together and how Chaos killed the first Cumulus. It's also notable for introducing First's nexus of worlds Cynosure, which became the backdrop for Gr...

How to proceed with Warp then, now the storyline is concluded and the main characters effectively dead? A cunning reset obviously, courtesy of PBG... Warp #10-19 (1984-1985) Pencils: Jerry Bingham, Mike Gustovich Inks: Mike Gustovich #10 reveals seemingly scatterbrained wizard Lugulbanda to be the malefactor behind a never ending cycle of death, conflict and rebirth. Conveniently this is all forgotten by the next issue's fresh start. For the remainder of the series, the 3 leads largely go their separate ways:  Gillis tries to develop warrior without a cause Sargon 's personality beyond kickass babe with a sword, by destroying all she holds dear. He then builds her up again by having her become a general in an interplanetary war. Thankfully she also ditches the gravity defying metal bikini for slightly more practical leathers. This war between alien lizards and apes has little bearing on the main storyline, yet it's somehow more entertaining than the A and B plots. Speaking ...

Mike Gold, a fellow comics industry resident of Chicago, had been approached by Rick Obadiah about adapting cult science fiction 70's play Warp into a comic book. After meetings with DC and Marvel, the pair decided to go it alone and publish the comic themselves. Warp would become the launch title for new company First Comics . Neil Adams had done promotional art for the play, but was busy, so instead Gold coaxed Frank Brunner out of comics retirement to plot and pencil the three part adaptation. He then recruited Peter Gillis to script, whom he'd been friends with since the mid 70's fanzine days.  The height of 70's fashion. On the surface, Stuart Gordon and Bury St. Edmund's Warp is an odd choice for adaptation; a campy, scantily clad, tongue in cheek play inspired by classic comic books. Gillis goes into detail on the problematic tone of the series in Amazing Heroes: "Making it a little straighter was an editorial decision on the part of First Comics. I was...