I wonder if this Dum-Dum will turn out to be a robot the whole time, too? No, I’m not over that!
Thunderbolt #1
“Origin Of An Avenger”
CREATOR/ARTIST: P.A.M.
Raised in a monastery after his parents were killed by the very plague they inoculated the monks against, Peter Cannon grew up with their teachings and proved worthy of learning greater secrets. This upset the man known only as The Hooded One, as he was originally chosen to learn those secrets and had an outstanding beef with the outside world. Trying to rig Peter’s final tests failing, he takes advantage of what he was able to learn to use mobsters to bring found dinosaur eggs back to life to cause havoc in New York, the place of Peter’s final test. However, while Peter Cannon wants nothing to do with the outside world he only learned about in books, his loyal friend Tabu convinces him to take up a secret identity a reporter will eventually name Thunderbolt after a random comment by a cop. With his training, Peter manages to kill the dinosaurs and bring in the crooks who hoped to use the attack to rob the city unopposed. The leader, Dum-Dum Barnes, falls from a building, but the Hooded one still swears revenge.
What they got right: The origin is told well enough. We have a hero who would protect the civilized world despite wanting to part of it. Add in the hooded man and the parallels to the Golden Age hero Aman the Amazing Man are obvious to anyone who had heard of both characters (I have), and the Grand Comic Database also picked up on it. However the “Hooded One” is out for personal revenge rather than trying to turn our hero evil for some reason.
What they got wrong: The way he gets his hero name, with no real connection to his abilities, was kind of weak. Why does Tabu start wearing a turban out of nowhere? He’s not Hindu.
What else is there: Before anyone calls me out on it, I know that Peter Cannon is the inspiration for Ozymandias in Watchmen. In fact this is the last of the pre-Watchmenized characters we have to go over, and I have plans for when this series is done. Just be patient. As for his “pre-DC” status…I’ll get to that at the end of the series, but I do know all the rights issues DC apparently wasn’t aware of.
What I think overall: It may be a ripoff of a Golden Age hero, but it does make better use of the increased real estate of the comic. The three page “Mercenaries” back-up isn’t even worth talking about, just going over different countries that use them. I’m not sure if it’s celebrating them or not. I won’t be getting issue #2 because there isn’t one. For reasons known only to Charlton, the comic returns a couple of months later taking over Son Of Vulcan‘s numbering, meaning issue #2 is actually #51. It should be interesting to see what changes happen between comics.
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