Peter B. Gillis Big Comics Readthrough

Gillis and Anderson's departure from  Strikeforce: Morituri  did not spell the end. It lumbered on for another year and a later miniseries Electric Undertow , under the new team of James Hudnall and Mark Bagley, plus some underwhelming fill in artists. Two cornerstones of the Gillis run were quickly dispatched: the Horde were removed from Earth by a new race of aliens, and a cure was found for the Morituri. Hudnall wanted to push the book in a more cyberpunk, government conspiracy direction, something Gillis had deliberately avoided. "Now that I've finished tying up the threads left by Peter Gillis, I can really go wild" , Hudnall told Amazing Heroes. In 1998, Marvel editor Tim Tuohy planned to launch a revival line of old science fiction titles: Seeker 3000 , Micronauts , Deathlok and Strikeforce: Morituri , with the latter to be written by Ian Edginton. Peter Gillis got wind of this from Peter Sanderson and paid Tuohy a visit at the Marvel offices. The meeting went...

The final three issues of Gillis and Anderson's Strikeforce: Morituri run are some of their finest, as they go out on a high. Strikeforce: Morituri #18 (1988) Pencils: Brent Anderson Inks: Scott Williams The encounter with the monster Morituri has left Will (aka Scatterbrain) with his previously minor telepathic powers going into overdrive. He senses death all around him, a feeling that's hard to avoid when you're surrounded by Morituri. Meanwhile, a disillusioned Dr Tuomela prepares for the next batch of recruits, who Gillis ultimately wouldn't get to introduce. Tuomela is so horrified by how the Government have twisted his process, he wipes all his data and records from the database. Something that used to be believable before the internet and cloud backups. The return of the stranded Hordian from a few issues back leads to an internal power struggle at the Horde's base in South Africa. My mileage for Horde politics varies, as they're kind of one note villain...

According to a fascinating interview with Brent Anderson on Morituri Mondays podcast (which I can no longer locate on the internet), Peter Gillis "had an idea of exploring just about every possible character type or personality type" over the course of a planned 50 issue run. Some characters naturally became fan favourites, others were less developed or harder to love. The third generation of Morituri proved a little of both from the start. Strikeforce: Morituri #13 (1987) Pencils: Brent Anderson Inks: Scott Williams With Beth dead, a new hardline commander is chosen in veteran soldier Yuri Pogorelich. His first task is to command a generation of six brand new Morituri to capture the original Strikeforce, who have gone rogue and just returned from space in a Horde ship. It's a bit of a stretch that Earth's government would treat the Morituri as traitors just for zooming off in the enemy's ship, but it provides a good excuse for that old classic misunderstanding,...

We're nearing the end of the original Morituri's era, as the team make one final desperate stand. Their relationship with the Earth government becomes increasingly strained, as the contrast between their heroic ideals and the grim reality of a production line of soldiers that underscores the Morituri process begins to set in.  Strikeforce: Morituri #9 (1987) Pencils: Brent Anderson Inks: Scott Williams A few major plot developments occur this issue, as Robert returns from blowing up the Horde mothership, seemingly indestructible. As Louis discovers the Paideia Government are more concerned with creating stronger, more reliable Morituri than finding a solution to the one year limit, the Horde dangle a possible cure in front of his nose. Can it be genuine, or a trap? You can probably guess which, but it certainly creates a dilemma to divide the Morituri forces. The Horde mission of the month is largely forgettable, yet Gillis was never afraid to devote the majority of space to su...

Strikeforce: Morituri #5 (1987) Pencils: Brent Anderson Inks: Scott Williams This is mostly a recovery issue where the team come to terms with their first death, which sharply brings into focus what they have coming to them all too soon. Each has their own distinct coping mechanisms: Aline flirts with movie stars, enjoying her new found fame. In contrast, Jelene turns to her bible, Harold compulsively dictates his memoirs, Robert punches things, while Louis just wanders round feeling useless. It's these little human touches that make the book so special, overshadowing the straighter A plot concerning a new Horde weapon.  Strikeforce: Morituri #6-7 (1987) Pencils: Brent Anderson Inks: Scott Williams This two parter begins innocuously enough, as the stir crazy Morituri are let out to party at Guy Harding's club, the Holowood actor who's fallen for Aline. Some Horde interference leaves the team with a captured ship, which they rashly decide to use to take the fight to the enem...

If ever there was a perfect match between creator and creation, it's Peter Gillis and Strikeforce: Morituri . It provided him with the ideal stage to explore age old themes of love, heroism and of course death over a science fiction backdrop. It remains his masterpiece, not only due to the quality of the writing, but the genius pairing with Brent Anderson's beautiful, expressive art from the Neil Adams school of realism. Anderson also discovered young inker Scott Williams, who brings a lovely crispness to his willowy figure work. The fantastic art combined with sympathetic colouring and lettering (by Max Scheele and Jim Novak respectively) makes for a lovely looking book. So as you may have correctly assumed from that preamble, this is likely to be an overwhelmingly positive series of reviews.  What would you give to save your family, your friends, your entire planet from vicious marauding aliens? Would you give your very life? The Morituri genetic enhancement process imbues an...

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...