He was just "PAM". In inscrutable trio of letters which promised pages of sleek modern images which told tantalizing tale. "PAM" was Pete Morisi, a part-time comic artist and full-time policeman who used the his mere initials to avoid complications about moonlighting on the job. I first found him in two place simultaneously, in the pages of Charlton's Texas Rangers on a little strip titled "A Man Called Lobo" and on the series for which he is justly renowned, the one he created -- Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt was part of Charlton's "Action Hero" line-up and was a call back to vintage Golden Age heroes. The origin of T-Bolt echoed that of Amazing Man created by Bill Everett and his costume brought to mind Lev Gleason's original Daredevil. But Morisi was able to bring a modern sensibility to these vintage concepts by dint of his spare art style which eschewed such cliches like motion lines. A Morisi page looked like photos, captured images which taken together told a story. There was a meta-cognitive feeling to reading a Morisi story, as you were simultaneously aware of the story and how that story was being told. Famously Morisi's style also reminded all fans who saw it of George Tuska and later we'd learn he'd asked Tuska if he could ape his style so closely. I imagined I was a clever chap when as a kid I knew Tuska's work and figured the mysterious "PAM" must have been him. Somehow Morisi kept hold of the rights to Thunderbolt, so when when the Action Heroes joined the DC universe, T-Bolt was only there for a few years. Pete Morisi drew pages like no one else and once you've seen one, you'll never forget this distinctive style of the guy who was doing it in his spare time.
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