Peter B. Gillis Big Comics Readthrough

The title is advice given to Peter Gillis early on in his comics career from mentor Don McGregor. It was something Gillis could only learn for himself though, through bitter experience. Like a lot of media, US comics are cyclical. Every decade at Marvel, fresh new talent tended to burst through to replace established creators. Peter Gillis came in on Jim Shooter's new wave of the late 70's. By the end of the 80's, that era was history, with many of his contemporaries either having moved on or been phased out. This New World ownership era with Tom DeFalco as editor in chief saw acrimonious departures of longtime core writers including Steve Englehart, Roger Stern and Chris Claremont. An increasing emphasis on editor driven crossover events, 'hot' young artists and the growing speculators market alienated longtime creators and fans alike (myself included). Gillis was a Chicago based freelancer watching "all this infighting" at the New York Marvel offices fr...

I must confess, Starfox has long been a favourite character of mine, ever since first encountering him in a Stern/Buscema/Palmer Avengers issue in the mid 80's. What's not to like about a fun loving space adventurer with an effortlessly cool outlook, haircut and costume (at least cool by 1970's standards)? Well, his space lothario ways and emotion manipulation powers appear incredibly dodgy in today's climate (see his trial for assault in latter day She-Hulk ). However, at that more innocent time, Eros was too cool for school, and Peter Gillis seemed to agree, scripting a trilogy of solo tales for Thanos' big brother. Avengers Spotlight #21 (1989) - Starfox Pencils: Tom Artis Inks: Joe Rubinstein Solo Avengers got a rebrand, starting with this issue. I vividly remember picking this up from a newsagents, mainly because it had Starfox on the cover. The story kicks off on the planet Rescorla, home to a race of highly repressed warthog like merchants. Eros is there t...

Spurred on by larger than life movie action heroes, gun toting vigilantes became all the rage in late 80's comic books. Peter Gillis mused one day what new twist he could possibly put on the clichéd futuristic vengeful cyborg, that the likes of Deathlok and RoboCop hadn't already covered? Well, imagine if the aforementioned was carrying his daughter's disembodied brain on his back, as his literal tailgunner? And to keep her still conscious brain from going insane, Cyborg daddy constructs an elaborate fantasy world for her consciousness to inhabit? Yep, that's a very PBG spin alright. Gillis originally mooted Tailgunner Jo (named after Joe McCarthy's war nickname) for the short lived Hot Comics. However, Mike Gold had been leading an exodus from the cash strapped First Comics to DC, and Peter Gillis was on his recruitment radar. Gillis offered Gold this sci-fi maxi-series, which ended up assigned to veteran DC editor Barbara Randall/Kesel, who was keen, despite ex...

After all that heavy Morituri stuff, I'm taking a breather with a trio of Peter Gillis odds and ends from the late 80's that don't fit anywhere else. Teen Titans Spotlight #20 (1988) - Cyborg Pencils: Tom Artis Inks: Romeo Tanghal Cyborg gets the headline in Gillis' first published story for DC. However Beast Boy (or was it Changeling at the time?) is along for the ride too. When it comes to Teen Titans , I'm only familiar with the classic Wolfman and Perez run, plus the obnoxious parody cartoon my kids annoy me with. This story, entitled " Blenders From Hell ", is somewhat of a halfway house in-between. Cyborg investigates a possessed blender owned by a developer friend of his. It turns out to be some kind of trap for Cyborg, as a Lovecraftian style elder god with the catchy name of Ktktk is trying to break free from another dimension. That's about all the sense I could make out of this chaotic and knowingly silly issue. Tanghal's soft inks are al...

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 ...