Kieron Gillen & Caspar Wjingaard Bring Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt to Dynamite Comics

Fan-favorite writer Kieron Gillen will make his return to superhero comics alongside artist Caspar Wjingaard as the two give Dynamite Entertainment’s Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt new life in January, per THR. In recent years, Gillen has been busy with work outside of the capes-and-tights genre on his creator-owned The Wicked + The Divine and his recently announced Die, as well as Marvel’s Star Wars. Wjingaard, meanwhile, has put in work with Marvel on Ghost Rider and Doctor Aphra following his Image Comics debut Limbo.

Gillen’s last venture into the superhero genre was back in 2014 with titles like Uncanny X-Men and Young Avengers, and he told THR that he’s itching to jump back in. That time away will help fuel a take on Peter Cannon that’s in direct response to the current superhero status quo. He took to Twitter after Tuesday’s announcement to expand on that:

So basically, what brought me back to the superhero and this was wanting to do something that was 100% mainstream superheroics, but also with all the breaks and inertia off. @Casparnova and me are having ludicrous fun.

— Kieron Gillen (@kierongillen) October 2, 2018

Thunderbolt himself is a bit of an odd character. He’s been around for 50 years, originally making a home at Charlton Comics. Ironically, he’s best known for his legacy: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons partially based their Watchmen character Ozymandias on Thunderbolt, while the rest of the cast took inspiration from Thunderbolt’s Charlton co-stars.

Gillen and Wjingaard are ready to change that. “Hell, we’ve created a whole new supporting cast of heroes for this series because we wanted to,” Gillen said in a statement. “I wanted to do a state of the art, state of the superheroic nation, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt is it. High adventure, big ideals, epic destruction, heroism, despair, and nine-panel grids.”

Look for Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt to strike back next January and see Sean Phillips’ cover art below.

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1 Art by Sean Phillips