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Kieron Gillen's Writer's Commentary on Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #3, the Mark Millar Issue

Kieron Gillen's Writer's Commentary on Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #3, on sale now from Dynamite.

So, I'm writing these at the end of the day again, which means that there is a high chance of HUGE ERRORS IN THE COMIC. Oh me, oh my.

In a pick-up from last time, I mentioned the argument that Moore of the 80s tended to write in Page as Stanza. As in, the page is a singular aesthetic unit. I picked it up from Ellis, but Ellis tells me he picked it up from Eddie Campbell. Which is an interesting one, given where this issue goes.

So, issue 3. As said, all the issues lean into something of the ingredients of Watchmen – primarily, where it went. Issue 2 was the weird pop formalist side. This issue is the cynical violence side of things, the primary freedom of which was to turn up the volume. The "comics can be for adults" read not as "comics can be about complicated literate emotions" but as "comics should be all about awesome violent dudes awesomely tearing dudes' guts from other violent dudes' guts."

That makes me sound like I'm actually anti-that. Hmm.

(I also find myself thinking of the wonderful page in Mills/O'Neill's Marshal Law.

"Lot of people say I hate superheroes…
That's not true, you know…
Well, all right… it's partially true…
okay, it's true."

To a background of the anti-hero beating the living hell out of people in capes.)

I'm not, at least entirely. That I've just spoke lovingly about Marshal Law says I'm not. But I think it's one of the worst things to take as a primary influence from Watchmen.

Superheroes can be violent monsters." Of all the things Watchmen does, it is by far the least interesting, and the worst thing it did to the medium. It's not Watchmen's fault, of course, as you can't help what people take from you… but what Moore described as a bad mood he had one year becoming a primary aesthetic for a long time is pretty depressing.

So let's do it for an issue, eh? That makes sense.

Now I said the first issue was kind of the Ellis issue, and the second issue was the Morrison issue. But when I say all of the above, I surely can't say a name for whose issue this is.

Well, yeah, it's probably unwise, but f*ck it. Like last issue wasn't just Morrison, this issue isn't any one name, but I did have an internal codename for it. I don't want to write a bad issue, and to show the thread of the influence, I can nod to the very best from that tradition. If I want to do operatic, horrible, imaginative superhero throwdowns I have to homage the best – in which case, this is the Mark Millar issue.

Right!

Page 1

Picks straight up from last time – as in, the sneaker is still moving after The Test gets blown apart. We were playing with having the sneaker on the cover, but ended up stepping away from it.

I like to think the sneaker is like something out of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.

Page 2

I did kind of wish I hadn't put Nucleon in a radioative mask so we can have the dawning awareness that she now has a sense of existing in a perfect structure and can see the past and the future. There's nothing I don't like about the creepiness of it.

Once again, highlight Hassan's lettering through all of this sequence, and what Mary is doing with the candy-shop surrealism of the walls.

Anyway, Thunderbolt presumably throws away the shoe as it's not his size.

Page 3

Obviously, Supreme Justice has been mainly a foil throughout this comic, but I do love him in this issue. Like, he's out of his depth, entirely, but is going to go down swinging.

Worth noting the first panel is the first "F*ck" in the book. In the cynical issue, we start swearing. This is the sort of thing that flowed organically, but I'm pleased with it.

End of the page sad feelings for RoboTabu and Cannon.

Page 4

Right now, all I'm obsessed with is Mary's choices in the minimalistic backgrounds. The red/pink with a little suggestion of Cannon's mood, adding to Cannon's expression. The quiet contemplation of Thunderbolt.

Page 5

Yeah, just applause for everyone else here – working the homage on multiple angles. Lots of strong choices.

Anyway, you likely get what this page is about, and if you don't, there's a really great comic which was in Time Magazine's Best Books of the Century you should read, I recommend it highly.

Reading this, bar the work by the team, what strikes me is how this most cynical of issues lets my own cynicism creep out. Which is great, as I get to ritualistically purge it in this glorious ritual. Go comics!

You know, there's something which always depresses me – as in, how people quote stuff. As in, you quote from a novel, and the quote is assigned to the writer rather than the character. Which is a… really? You put a Rorschach quote and say "Alan Moore" next to it, do you think that represents the author's views? Secondly, that all quotes in novels are about context, and stripping them from context (either in the story and what the rest of the story does, or where the character is in their own arc) is deeply deceptive. It's the "Hell Is Other People" thing which I've ranted about before, where it's taken as "Oh, people are the worst" rather than "Other people mean we cannot lie about ourselves, as they see us and our hypocrisy" as it is in No Exit.

Anyway, writing this just made me go and check the back of DIE #5, and I've just seen that we've done this with a quote from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe, giving it to C.S. Lewis rather than the character. What I fool I am! I'll fix it for the trade. Man!

You know, I've gone on this big rant about quotes, and I've forgotten why I even went on it. Was it the warped quotes in this page? Perhaps. Who can tell?

I did say I was tired.

Page 6

Villains toasting annihilation is my favorite thing.

In the same way as last issue had a lot of me in, this one does too. My own epic cynicism is turning to this kind of argument – taking Ozymandias' "The ends justifies the means" utilitarianism and then just amping it up and up until it reaches universal (or multiversal) scale. I've done variations of this motivation a few times in my time when working with the genre.

See, I love Supreme Justice there. Shut up, dude! Enough! Gonna punch you.

Page 7

Supreme Justice continues his late starring role. I know enough people (including myself) who could do with having his last rant at Cannon cut out and stuck to their wall.

That said "We're past the time for smart" is never, ever going to end well.

What does this stand for?" is me riffing on Ultimates' "Do you think the letter on my head stands for France". I couldn't resist it when I realized my villain had a symbol on his head.

Page 8

Head butts really are the most iconic move of the violent superhero mood.

Except, of course.

For.

The.

BREAKING FINGER!

I linked to my speech about Watchmen last time, and I do a whole riff on the breaking finger, which I'm clearly returning to here.

Page 9

What's better than one breaking finger? Ten breaking fingers, and thumbs count, as we're well past being clever.

This is peak cynicism (and sadism) for the issue.

Interesting how it changes from the script – I was calling for a set angle, in profile, like on page 8. Instead, Caspar takes it as a PoV shot, which really amps up both the intimacy and the horror.

Yeah, this page makes me feel pretty dirty.

Page 10

God bless Pyrophorus for covering up his mouth.

Transcended your genre" is loaded here, of course.

This says more about me than the book, I suspect, but "What can we do but be heroes?" sort of gets to me.

Let's do a bit of autobio. In terms of the things which always, always, always get to me as a reader, it's forlorn heroism. Winning isn't the point. It's the attempt. In terms of influential comics I read when I was younger, Thanos versus all the heroes in the Infinity Gauntlet is something which absolutely got me. The specific horror of each heroes' death, the horror at their impotence, and Captain America going up there anyway.

So that is certainly on my mind here. I love this stuff.

But, yes, I'm going to let Thunderbolt kill everyone.

Page 11

I also am fond of "He kills me last."

Anyway! Enough about me – look at how Caspar works this page, and how Mary choses her colors (the pinks and oranges!). This is creating a moment of normality – this is an organic superhero fight. They're after him! He throws away their friend. It looks like a fight…

Page 12

And then we turn on the god mode, and kill Pyrophorus with a well-applied linking narrative caption.

Oddly, of all the tricks in comics, this is the one which always grates on me slightly. Not the over the top ironic one like this, but the device at all. Just not a fan.

Page 13

This kind of brute formalist trickery isn't actually something which Watchmen does… well, does much, as the next page will show.

This sort of trickery is more likely used in comedy stories than action ones, but I've always felt there's something existentially horrific about this stuff.

Page 14

He's attacking me in the future" means it's something we'll come back to, so remember these pages. It's inspired by a section in Watchmen #12 you may or may not have seen, with Manhattan walking across multiple panels.

That all time is a single structure is one of the key Doctor Manhattan aspects here, and the key bit of information that Nucleon imparts.

Mary's choices of green is really good here.

Page 15

Well, at least Cannon's got it. Now he can beat up the bad guy, right?

Page 16

I said Beat Up The Bad Guy!

Oh, Cannon, come back here this minute.

Tabu shocked in the middle panel is great. Robotabu is awful. The first panel is interesting in terms of how everyone tried to get the violence – the unreality of colors to add to the pop is one thing, but Hassan puts the tail of the dialogue BEHIND the blood throw so it doesn't interrupt with the movement of the moment.

Page 17

Yet more Formalism? Oh yes.

Page 18-19

You likely recognize what we're riffing on here, and I had no idea if what I was thinking ("pushing Cannon out of reality") would work on the page until Mary's frankly Berserk coloring was brought in. As I said, this is such a cynical mode issue, but just by this visual there's a promise that we're escaping that and putting it all behind. Even if it is another existential horror moment, it's not just flesh warping.

Or so I hope so, anyway. That's what I get from Mary.

Also, reading this again, I'm thinking of something that happens in issue #5 and wincing for Caspar. I'm sorry, man. I really am.

Page 20

And… another reality. A black and white indie world. Hmm.

Want to go and read some prime 1980s comics? Go try and get THE KING CANUTE CROWD by Eddie Campbell. I believe it's out of print in the single volume, but if you buy THE YEARS HAVE PANTS (a collection of all the ALEC books) you won't regret it. I bought it for everyone on Team Thunderbolt for (er) reasons. Which (er) will become clear (er) next month, when we go to the pub.

Hope you're enjoying this, because we certainly are.

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