33: Shattered Dreams

On his return to the title, Peter Gillis largely ignored everything that had occurred in his absence, throwing Shatter into a new exotic locale and firmly into the deep end.

Shatter #5-8 (1986-7)

Pencils: Steve Erwin
Digital Inks: Bob Dienethal

Herbert Philbrick, aka Shatter (his many aliases make for interesting Googling), is press ganged into a Third World War he was previously blissfully ignorant of. His rescuer of sorts is a 7 foot warrior woman Worker Ravenant, neutered and steroided from birth. The tough as nails Ravenant makes for a likeable addition to the cast, although she ends up relegated to a sidekick role. She also comes with an army of RNA enhanced machine gun toting monkeys.

Gillis is quick to re-establish the authenticity of the RNA process, using it as the driving force of the storyline. For plot reasons, RNA skills transfer is temporary on everyone but Shatter, who can absorbs skills permanently. This means he's a very wanted man, with scientists even growing a clone of himself inside Shatter. Which makes him probably the first male comics hero to get pregnant.

IBM vs (M)PAC

Shatter #9-12 (1987)

Art: Charlie Athanas
Co-writer on #9: Rick Oliver

Sadly the pregnancy is ended abruptly, so we never get to see how that could feasibly work. In fact the storyline does another 180 here as the cliffhangers of the previous issue are quickly glossed over in flashback. Originally Shatter was to become US President at this point, but Gillis, or more likely editor Oliver appeared to have second thoughts about the new direction. This change of heart may possibly have been motivated by an alienated fanbase, judging from the letters page. Instead, Shatter went back to basics on home turf. Armed with a host of stolen RNA and sidekicks Ravenant and Chuang Tzu in tow, he sets about cleaning up the city, even kicking off a revolt against the controlling insurance corporations. 

New artist Athanas' all computer rendering is a step up from the halfway house of Erwin and Dienethal. It also helps that the legendary Steve Oliff came aboard on colours. Athanas' backgrounds are decent, but he's no Saenz with a mouse, plus his figures look oddly squished.

Shatter's new RNA enabled "software superhero" powers as Gillis described it, are a little too convenient, enabling him to get out of any situation in a "I know kung fu" way. This arc has its moments, but feels like a purposefully backward step after the liberating WW3 storyline.

With #12, Peter Gillis left the title for a second time, after having Shatter come full circle and returning to his roots as a beat cop. The official reason for PBG's departure was that he was busy developing a project for DC (presumably Tailgunner Jo). Maybe there was some editorial interference prompting the back to basics direction, or maybe Gillis just saw the writing on the wall, as Shatter was cancelled 2 issues later.

This turned out to be his last work for the original First Comics, as they began to trim back their lines, ceasing publication entirely in 1991.

Shatter will be remembered as a huge technologically innovative step forward, paving the way for the computer created comics that are prevalent today. The actual content is less memorable, due to a lack of firm direction from a revolving door of creators over its short run. When you get past the primitive experimental art, there's enjoyment and novel ideas to be had from Peter Gillis' issues. A shame then, he didn't have a longer, more settled run. Shatter may be his second best known creation, but quality wise is one of his lesser works.

A six issue sequel to Shatter exists, but as of yet remains unpublished. More on that at the end of this blog.