Tag: Thunderbolt

With Further Ado #153: Toxic Fandom – 60s Style

With Further Ado #153: Toxic Fandom – 60s Style

Art by Sean Lewis

It’s a strange paradox.  You can love Star Wars but hate all the recent “Star Wars movies. You can be a passionate Batman fan but not buy a single issue of current Batman comics.  Star Trek might be your favorite thing, but you can still vehemently loathe the most recent Star Trek TV series. And you might even be hate-watching them each week.

All this opens the can of worms as to who “owns” characters and  intellectual property (IP)? Is it the creators? Corporations who buy the IP from creators? Or is it fans?

Look, I get it. It’s easy to understand each side of the argument, and I find myself hopping from one point of view to the other depending on the particular fandom.

And in certain fandoms, the fans get very pointed and passionate.  Star Wars fans, for example, can articulate their hatred of certain movie executives and directors with a high level of understanding that one might expect in academia or at The Hollywood Reporters internal meetings.

I was surprised to see this level of toxic fandom in 1967 in an issue of a “less popular” comic…that was about to close up shop.

“If I Had a Thunderbolt In Mine Eye…”

Thunderbolt was a unique superhero series that was ahead of its time.  As noted on the covers of this Charlton series, Thunderbolt was in reality Peter Cannon, a reluctant hero who was trained by in the mysterious ways of Asian spirituality. He learned to unlock the power of the “90% of the human brain that lay unused”.  Unlike typical 60s heroes, Thunderbolt would often lament that solving problems via superhero fisticuffs wasn’t the best way.

Even if you never read a Thunderbolt comic, you may feel like you know the character. One reason is that Thunderbolt sort of borrowed his costume design from the Golden Age Daredevil, created by Charles Biro and Lev Gleason. (And have you read Bret Dakin’s bio of Lev Gleason yet? It’s been nominated for an Eisner.)  The character lived on recent, subsequent iterations in both DC and Dynamite comic series.  And, most famously, Ozymandias, the Watchmen character, was based on Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt.

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #59

For a couple years in the mid-sixties, Thunderbolt was published by Charlton Comics.  Each issue was signed by the mysterious PAM. He had a distinctive, almost Alex Toth-ian style, heavy on drama and storytelling.  At the time, PAM’s true identity was a better kept secret than Thunderbolt’s true identity. PAM was actually a NYC local, originally from Park Slope in Brooklyn:  Peter A. Morisi who had a whole ‘nuther career as an NYPD policeman.  In addition to Thunderbolt, PAM worked on several other series, including Vengeance Squad and created Johnny Dynamite.

The numbering was a bit wonky for Thunderbolt comics. It all officially started with issue #51, but by issue #59, in an Elvis-has-left-the-building moment, Morisi only supplied the cover.   The interior Thunderbolt story was written, penciled and inked by Pat Boyette.

Boy, were fans steamed!

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #60

I recently rescued a copy of Thunderbolt #60 from the bargain box at Fat Cat Comics in Binghamton.  The cover is fascinating as it showcases, in a last-ditch effort, an entirely new logo.   The series is edited by Dick Giordano, and both the lead and back-up features are written by Denny O’Neil.  The back-up series is an odd one, deserving a whole column of its own, and is illustrated by Jim Aparo.   With three major (future) Batman creatives contributing to this issue, it almost should be filed under “B”.

And in this last Thunderbolt issue, it’s astounding to see the fan letters commenting on the previous issue, #59. These fans were NOT HAPPY with PAM’s departure in that issue, nor with Pat Boyette picking up the art chores. They let editor Giordano have it with both barrels.

 

Like fans today (fans of Star Wars, Doctor Who, etc.) these fans knew their stuff and weren’t afraid to let the “higher ups” and the world at large, know how they felt!

Everything We Read This Week – 04/17/2019

Everything We Read This Week – 04/17/2019

Welcome back to Everything We Read This Week.  This is the place that we make our weekly trip through this week’s pull-list. It features mostly spoiler-free brief analysis and commentary of each book.

We are back this week with a full column. There are still some series that we are behind on due to travel last month, and we will do our best to get fully caught up in the near future. There are a coupleof New Number ones in the list and a bunch of other really good books.  This was a great week for new comics. Make sure you go and find the ones that move you.

We reviewed books from DC, Marvel, Image, AfterShock, Dynamite, and Dark Horse this week. As always, we hope you might find what we say interesting enough to try some of these comics.

Also, Don’t forget to check our hotlist of new books debuting this month over here. You will see books that we were looking forward to with the designation Hot #1 by them. There are a few of them out this week and they are really good.

DISCLAIMER: 

There is a 4 star rating system. It is simple and not to be taken too seriously as everyone gets their own impressions of art. These ratings are just to give our readers an idea of what we thought of the book, and they will be on the generous side normally. So don’t expect to see a lot of 1 Stars. After all, it’s not often that you have a bad book on your pull-list.

The rating system is as follows:

Great

 Good

 OK

 Not Good

 

And here are the books we read in alphabetical order:

Continue reading “Everything We Read This Week – 04/17/2019”

Everything We Read This Week – 03/27/2019

Everything We Read This Week – 03/27/2019

Welcome back to Everything We Read This Week.  This is the place that we make our weekly trip through this week’s pull-list. It features mostly spoiler-free brief analysis and commentary of each book.

The lack of a column last week is not indicative of a lack of good comics. We were at C2E2 and you should have seen and will continue to see the exclusive content that we were capturing there.

This was a great week for comic books. There are a couple great new series that started this week.  We focused mainly on books from the smaller publishers this week. This was not by design but we were particular about the books we chose to review this week. We try to read as much as we can to bring you recommendations on what good stuff is being produced. Unfortunately, we can’t read all the comics. So, remember to find what you like, GO OUT AND FIND SOME COMICS TO READ!! They are good for you.

We reviewed books from DC, Marvel, Image, IDW, Dark Horse, Valiant, Titan, and Vault Comics this week. As always, we hope you might find what we say interesting enough to try some of these comics.

Also, Don’t forget to check our hotlist of new books debuting this month over here. You will see books that we were looking forward to with the designation Hot #1 by them. There are a few of them out this week and they are really good.

DISCLAIMER: 

There is a 4 star rating system. It is simple and not to be taken too seriously as everyone gets their own impressions of art. These ratings are just to give our readers an idea of what we thought of the book, and they will be on the generous side normally. So don’t expect to see a lot of 1 Stars. After all, it’s not often that you have a bad book on your pull-list.

The rating system is as follows:

Great

 Good

 OK

 Not Good

Also look for the book we deemed Favorite Book of the Week. It is the comic that we like the most this week. The criteria are difficult to pin down, but suffice to say it is a book that moved us.

And here are the books we read in alphabetical order:

Continue reading “Everything We Read This Week – 03/27/2019”

Everything We Read This Week – 02/27/2019

Everything We Read This Week – 02/27/2019

Welcome back to Everything We Read This Week.  This is the place that we make our weekly trip through this week’s pull-list. It features mostly spoiler-free brief analysis and commentary of each book.

This was a big week for comic books. There were so many great books out there for all types of readers. There were a couple great new series that started. We try to read as much as we can to bring you recommendations on what good stuff is being produced. Unfortunately, we can’t read all the comics. So, remember to find what you like, GO OUT AND FIND SOME COMICS TO READ!! They are good for you.

We reviewed books from DC, Marvel, Image, Black Crown, Dynamite, Valiant, Boom! Studios and Lion Forge this week. As always, we hope you might find what we say interesting enough to try some of these comics.

Also, Don’t forget to check our hotlist of new books debuting this month over here. You will see books that we were looking forward to with the designation Hot #1 by them. There are a few of them out this week and they are really good.

DISCLAIMER: 

There is a 4 star rating system. It is simple and not to be taken too seriously as everyone gets their own impressions of art. These ratings are just to give our readers an idea of what we thought of the book, and they will be on the generous side normally. So don’t expect to see a lot of 1 Stars. After all, it’s not often that you have a bad book on your pull-list.

The rating system is as follows:

Great

 Good

 OK

 Not Good

Also look for the book we deemed Favorite Book of the Week. It is the comic that we like the most this week. The criteria are difficult to pin down, but suffice to say it is a book that moved us.

And here are the books we read in alphabetical order:

Continue reading “Everything We Read This Week – 02/27/2019”

Everything We Read This Week – 01/30/2019

Everything We Read This Week – 01/30/2019

Welcome back to Everything We Read This Week.  This is the place that we make our weekly trip through this week’s pull-list. It features mostly spoiler-free brief analysis and commentary of each book.

Because this was a fifth Wednesday, it was a somewhat light release of comic books this week. There were a few annuals that we did not review, but even so the quality of the books we read was very good. Remember to find what you like, GO OUT AND FIND SOME COMICS TO READ!! They are good for you.

We reviewed books from DC, Marvel, Image, and Dynamite this week. As always, we hope you might find what we say interesting enough to try some of these comics.

Also, Don’t forget to check our hotlist of new books debuting this month over here. You will see books that we were looking forward to with the designation Hot #1 by them. There are a few of them out this week and they are really good.

DISCLAIMER: 

There is a 4 star rating system. It is simple and not to be taken too seriously as everyone gets their own impressions of art. These ratings are just to give our readers an idea of what we thought of the book, and they will be on the generous side normally. So don’t expect to see a lot of 1 Stars. After all, it’s not often that you have a bad book on your pull-list.

The rating system is as follows:

Great

 Good

 OK

 Not Good

Also look for the book we deemed Favorite Book of the Week. It is the comic that we like the most this week. The criteria are difficult to pin down, but suffice to say it is a book that moved us.

And here are the books we read in alphabetical order:

Continue reading “Everything We Read This Week – 01/30/2019”

New Number Ones: Comics Coming in January 2019

New Number Ones: Comics Coming in January 2019

Welcome back to New Number Ones!!

Here, we give our readers a preview of the new comic book series that we are looking forward to each month. We have compiled an alphabetical list with cover art and the official solicitation text from PREVIEWSworld.

As we burst into 2019, there are some very interesting new titles coming. DC will be debuting its Wonder Comics label with two new series, and Marvel will be bringing back some familiar titles with new distinctive spins. There are also some returns of classic properties for the Indie publishers.

We hope you will take a look and think about giving these a try. We will bring you reviews of most of these debut issues as they come out, and don’t forget to use the comments section to let us know what you think of this list.

Continue reading “New Number Ones: Comics Coming in January 2019”