Thunderbolt #1

History

Pete Morisi conceived Peter Cannon after a failed attempt to acquire the Golden Age Daredevil from Lev Gleason Publications; when writer-artist Charles Biro demanded a share of future profits, Morisi walked away and designed a new character whose costume consciously echoed Daredevil's asymmetric red-and-blue scheme. Working under his initials-only pseudonym 'P.A.M.' to keep his NYPD career separate from his comics work, Morisi wrote, drew, lettered, and covered the entire origin story himself, with Pat Masulli and Ernie Bache contributing additional material in the backup features. Editor Dick Giordano slotted Thunderbolt into his ambitious Action Heroes imprint as a counterpart to Steve Ditko's Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and Question — a low-budget line that punched above its weight creatively even as Charlton's notoriously inexpensive production methods limited its commercial reach.

Trivia · 9 facts

• First appearance and origin of Peter Cannon / Thunderbolt, created, written, drawn, and lettered by Pete Morisi (credited as 'P.A.M.'); Morisi signed pseudonymously to conceal his simultaneous career as an NYPD officer.
• First introduction of the Hooded One — a fellow monk from Cannon's Tibetan lamasery who resented an outsider being entrusted with the sacred scrolls — establishing the character as Thunderbolt's primary recurring villain.
• Blue Beetle (Dan Garrett), Captain Atom (Allen Adam), and Son of Vulcan (Johnny Mann) appear in cameo, making this a snapshot of the entire Charlton Action Heroes roster at its 1966 launch.
• The issue was initially published as a standalone origin one-shot (#1); after it sold well, an ongoing series launched that absorbed the numbering of the cancelled Son of Vulcan title, continuing from issue #51.
• Thunderbolt's powerset — accessing the 'unused' portion of the human brain to achieve peak physical and mental performance — was a deliberate departure from powered superheroes; Morisi grounded the character in discipline and Eastern philosophy rather than accidents or genetics.
• Morisi's character design borrowed the asymmetric red-and-blue costume from the Lev Gleason Golden Age Daredevil, which Morisi had earlier tried and failed to acquire; the origin concept drew from Golden Age character Aman the Amazing-Man (Centaur, 1939).
• Peter Cannon later became the direct inspiration for Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen (1986–1987) after DC acquired Charlton's Action Heroes properties in 1983 and Moore originally pitched the series using the actual Charlton characters.
• Unlike every other Charlton Action Hero, the rights to Peter Cannon reverted to Morisi personally rather than passing fully to DC Comics; the character has since been published under license by DC (1992–1993) and Dynamite Entertainment (2012–2013, 2019), with rights held by the Morisi estate since his death in 2003.
• The lead story, 'Origin of an Avenger,' was reprinted in the British Alan Class title Sinister Tales #120 (circa 1972–1973).

Cast · 9 characters

Full credits