Peter B. Gillis Big Comics Readthrough

The story of how Peter Gillis' beloved Strikeforce: Morituri came to be is, as you might expect, not entirely straightforward. Character death has always been a hot topic in comics, yet in the early days of superheroes, killing main characters off was extremely rare and generally considered permanent. By the early 80's, the high profile deaths of Elektra, Phoenix, Supergirl and Captain Marvel (and swift subsequent resurrections of most) brought much debate. Peter Gillis was firmly in the death should be meaningful and permanent camp; after all, it's meant to be the final step in any character's journey, not the tawdry temporary publicity stunts such character deaths have since degenerated into. As Gillis put it to Peter Sanderson in Comics Interview: "Killing somebody off is an extremely arbitrary act, and any writer with sufficient clout at any company can come in and write a story in which a major character dies. People will sit up and take notice because of tha...

The mid eighties saw a boom (shortly followed by an inevitable bust) in independent publishing, spurred on by the rise of the direct market. Chicago was a hub of comics activity at the time, with their popular comic con spawning First Comics amongst other newcomers. Joe Judt, a former fanzine editor and acquaintance of Gillis, decided to get in on the action, setting up the short lived Hot Comics . Following their brilliant run on Micronauts , Peter Gillis and Kelley Jones were itching to work together once more. Surprisingly their dream project was... Iron Man . As there was little hope of Marvel letting either of them near their A lister, Gillis soon came up with his own typically twisted twist on the man in armour formula. What if the guy was stuck in the suit permanently? And what if nobody could tell who he really was underneath, a Russian or American astronaut? Gillis originally considered the resulting concept  Chrome for the initial incarnation of Jim Shooter's New Univer...

By the late 80's, Marvel had new management set on rampant expansion. To increase their market share, more and more new titles were created. Long term, this policy of flooding the market didn't work out so well for them... Cloak & Dagger and Doctor Strange once again went their separate ways, C&D getting a new monthly book, while Doc returned to a bi-monthly. With hindsight this seems an odd decision, especially considering C&D's Mutant Misadventures only lasted 19 issues, while Sorcerer Supreme chalked up an impressive 90 issue run. Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #1-2 (1988-1989) Pencils: Richard Case Inks: Randy Emberlin Now settled back into his regular life, Strange is tricked by a reborn Dormammu, who sends Stephen's astral form on a fool's errand, then commandeers his body. It's revealed that Dormammu has been hitching a ride in Doc's mystic eye socket since his ascension between higher dimensions. Ewww. Bodiless, Strange is forced to t...

In his bid to redress the balance, Strange has been failing to stem the tide, skirmishing against agents of chaos he unleashed. Eventually he realises the only recourse is to take the fight to chaos itself. And to combat that war, he will need an army.  Strange Tales #11-14 (1988) - Doctor Strange Pencils: Richard Case, Dan Lawlis Inks: Randy Emberlin After checking in on Rintrah left minding the temple, Strange and Kaluu's world tour takes them to Glastonbury, home of King Arthur and a very muddy festival. They've come to recruit earth spirits, little gremlin like creatures to serve as their army. There's a long tradition of the likes of woodland spirits and fairie folk in UK titles such as Captain Britain , so this ties in fine. Topaz suddenly reappears fairly inexplicably, trying and failing to tempt Stephen back to the side of light.  Next stop in England, Stephen checks in one of his many old flames, Victoria Bentley, his now fully staffed demon army in tow.  In one ...

Doctor Strange has long had a clear cut sense of morality, viewing good and evil largely as absolutes. Gillis was more interested in shades of grey, making a distinction between good and evil and black and white magic. Even black magic can be used for the greater good, but only at great personal cost... Strange Tales #4 (1987) - Doctor Strange Pencils: Chris Warner Inks: Randy Emberlin Dr Strange's darkest quest begins in Hong Kong. A fedora and white suit garbed Dr Strange and disguised sidekick Rintrah are on the trail of a rogue mystic amulet, The Wings of Needless Sorrow. As the name implies, it brings misery and death wherever it goes. Stephen averts a mass suicide by taking the amulet on himself, as he's no longer pure enough to wear the Eye of Agamotto. It's a pretty somber tale, indicative of the path of no return Strange is heading down. Strange Tales #5-7 (1987) - Doctor Strange Pencils: Larry Alexander, Terry Shoemaker Inks: Randy Emberlin Sadly, issue 4 was War...

Generally since his Ditko beginnings, Stephen Strange had been presented as aloof, all knowing and whenever a suitable occasion arose, all powerful. Gillis wanted to humanise the good Doctor and apply some logic, or at least boundaries, to his seemingly infinite magic. He accomplished this through character deconstruction (before it became fashionable), inching Strange down the road to hell, one good intention at a time. Doctor Strange #79-81 (1986-7) Pencils: Chris Warner Inks: Randy Emberlin Numerous plot threads are gathered together in this three part finale. A preoccupied Strange has largely been ignoring new houseguest Topaz's distress, but his attempts at recovering the lost half of her soul only draw the attentions of something malevolent. Namely alien sorcerer Urthona. Warner draws terrific warlike Predator style aliens, good practice for the real thing which he later became known for over at Dark Horse. Stephen arrives back from Marseille, then heads out on a date with o...

It's fitting that Peter Gillis' favourite childhood character is the one he ended up having the longest association with. When asked recently what appealed to him so about Doctor Strange , he replied "I think the limitless possibilities of it... I looked at Steve Ditko's Dr Strange universes and just said, I want to participate in that. And Strange's stories were different... he was the epitome of cool. He didn't wear shoes. He had a flowing blouse and a cape. And a moustache. And could open doors and space with a gesture." What more could you possibly want? Gillis' Strange stories pretty much spanned the length of his decade at Marvel, starting with this early leftover... Marvel Fanfare #8 (1983) - Doctor Strange Pencils: Carmine Infantino Inks: P Craig Russell Fanfare published a lot of inventory stories, i.e. fill-in issues that were kept for emergencies. Inventory that had passed its use by date often wound up as Fanfare fare. Such is the fate of ...

This is a weird one. According to PBG, the name Blaze Barlow came to him while driving, which sparked a madcap plot spotlighting theological themes he was exploring at the time. The first story arc (which ended up being the only one) appeared in First's short lived anthology series. First Adventures #1-4 (1985-6) - Blaze Barlow and the Eternity Command Pencils: Kelley Jones, Barry Crain Inks: Barry Crain, Keith Wilson An injured guy on the run stumbles into a private eye's office. So far, so familiar. Except here the client is a fallen angel, disguised in a hastily formed body of cake and chocolate, and the P.I. is a hard-bitten chain smoking immortal in the form of an adolescent, Blaze Barlow. Blaze's associate Nocturne is the ultimate femme fatale with seduction powers, while muscle is provided by Spike, who is literally covered in retractable spikes. The angel is pursued by the Apocalypse Squad, gun toting soldier angels, which should give you an indicator of the level ...