Peter B. Gillis Big Comics Readthrough

Peter Gillis' last years as a writer were dominated by projects that didn't quite come to fruition. He had several books in the pipeline, including sci-fi and fantasy novels, plus a short story collection Welcome to the Gillisverse . He'd also written a couple of unfilmed screenplays. In 2016 Gillis began a serialised freewheeling web subscription story Romance of the Rose , through Connor Cochlan's Conlan Press. Gillis asked Dr Strange artist Mark Badger to provide the illustrations. Legal disputes at Conlan curtailed publication, so only 29 of its 50 chapters were posted. I believe 1First were lined up to publish a completed edition, but there's been no word on that since. During the pandemic of 2020, PBG vowed to post a chapter a day of a new story online. As lockdown ended up running much longer than expected, his tongue in cheek madcap fantasy Humans  concluded after 191 chapters, which are still available to read. Following the publication of The Black Flame g...

What If was a unique comic that required an endless supply of ideas and creators, plus an innate knowledge of Marvel history. No surprise then that Peter Gillis, a fount of Marvel knowledge, loved contributing to What If, effectively making the title his own by its final year. In total, he penned a quarter of the original 48 stories (including the special). Later in his Marvel career, Gillis would mostly find himself pigeonholed writing odder C-list characters, but What If was his opportunity to work with A-list heavy hitters and revisit some of his favourite childhood stories. Gillis' first two What Ifs share a common theme: Stephen Strange and Peter Parker both started out as jerks. What if they continued down that path?  What if Dr. Strange Had Been a Disciple of Dormammu? #18 (1979) Pencils: Tom Sutton Inks: Bruce Patterson Doctor Strange was Gillis' favourite comics character, so no surprise he wrote Dr S whenever the opportunity arose. Here the not so good doctor's ha...