Pete Morisi, better known as P.A.M. was born on this day in 1928. Morisi was a key artist at Charlton and other small publishers, and he created some lasting characters including the focus of today's Dojo celebration -- Peter Cannon -The Thunderbolt.
Peter Cannon, The Thunderbolt is the singular creation of Pete Morisi, an artist better known by the sobriquet of "P.A.M.". Morisi was a policeman for much of his career and that job forbid moonlighting so according to stories he obscured his artistic identity.
What he could never hide was his distinctive style. A fan of the great George Tuska, Morisi took the particular look of Tuska and refined it even more giving his own work an almost ethereal look. More than most artists, Morisi's images looked like stolen moments in time.
In Thunderbolt he concocted a hero who combined some of the look of the Golden Age Daredevil and the origin of the Golden Age Amazing Man to offer up a low-key hero for the modern age. Peter Cannon was a cool customer and entered the fray with aplomb and absolute confidence, using the skills he'd gained in a remote monastery to protect people in the modern world. He was assisted by a friend named Tabu and often confronted by a foe dubbed the Hooded One, a villain who shared some of T-Bolt's remote origins.
Thunderbolt shifted over to DC during the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and even had a series for a time at DC, but ownership of the character reverted to Morisi and his estate. The series lasted twelve issues from 1993 into 1994.
In Thunderbolt he concocted a hero who combined some of the look of the Golden Age Daredevil and the origin of the Golden Age Amazing Man to offer up a low-key hero for the modern age. Peter Cannon was a cool customer and entered the fray with aplomb and absolute confidence, using the skills he'd gained in a remote monastery to protect people in the modern world. He was assisted by a friend named Tabu and often confronted by a foe dubbed the Hooded One, a villain who shared some of T-Bolt's remote origins.
Thunderbolt shifted over to DC during the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and even had a series for a time at DC, but ownership of the character reverted to Morisi and his estate. The series lasted twelve issues from 1993 into 1994.
Dynamite got hold of the property for some time in this century around 2011, doing very little with it of interest. They did give us a glorious P.A.M. cover as one of the myriad alternates they offer as a rule.
No matter what they do with him though, they will never be able to repeatedly recreate the amazing essence and charm of those original P.A.M. comics. Note that Pat Boyette steps in to do a few of these as well.
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Special Note: Look for many more of these one-day celebrations as 2025 tumbles along.
PAM's flat art always left me . . . well, a little flat, but it seems he's well-respected by his peers. Plus, he's got the Charlton mojo working in this title. After Derby let him go, the poor character got passed around like a cheap date!
ReplyDeleteHis art always had an ethereal quality to it. His slowness along with that high style would make him a tough fit in a Marvel or even to a lesser degree DC.
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