PETER CANNON: THUNDERBOLT #1 / Script by FRED VAN LENTE / Art by JONATHAN LAU / Colors by ANDREW DALHOUSE / Letters by JEFF ECKLEBERRY / Covers by ROBERT QUINN, JONATHAN LAU, DAVE ACOSTA & ALEX ROSS / Published by DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

Peter Cannon has one of the more convoluted behind-the-scenes origins in comic book history. It is made all the more unique for the fact that a character inspired by him has gone on to be more famous (or infamous) than he was. Yet the character he was inspired by has also gone on to enjoy a greater profile in the Public Domain.

Confused? Let’s start at the beginning with Daredevil. Not Matt Murdock, but the original Daredevil – Bart Hill. Created back in 1940, this Daredevil fought crime with a blue-red Harlequin suit and razor-sharp boomerangs. Two decades or so later, comic creator Pete Morisi tried to buy the rights to Daredevil from Lev Gleason Publications.

Lev Gleason was game, but Daredevil’s primary writer/artist Charles Biro requested a percentage of any future profits from a Daredevil revival. Morisi backed out, and created Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt as a Daredevil substitute. The costume was clearly inspired by the classic Daredevil, replacing the full face mask with a domino one and long pants with shorts. (The classic Daredevil character has since then been revived as the Dynamic Daredevil, Reddevil, Doubledare, and Death-Defying Devil respectively.)

Years later, Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt was brought to DC Comics along with the rest of Charlton Comics’ characters. However, while most of the Charlton heroes were bought outright, the Morisi estate maintained ownership of the Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt brand. He appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths and would later get a 12-issue solo series in 1992.

However, Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt is most notable for inspiring the character of Ozymandias in Watchmen. Indeed, the series was originally meant to feature Thunderbolt as the villain, but DC Comics requested Alan Moore create original characters rather than use Charlton Comics heroes he’d intended. Years later, DC’s license lapsed, and the Morisi estate licensed the character to Dynamite Entertainment. He’s had two attempted revivals since then, and a few appearances in other series by Dynamite. This 2025 revamp, however, is something different.

Peter Cannon is a master of vaguely defined mystic arts. This has elevated him to peak human condition, physically and mentally. Instead of being raised by an order of monks, as in the classic origin, this Peter Cannon is the last survivor of a cult known as “The Awakened.” When most of the cult die in an apparent mass suicide, Peter trains for years to avenge their deaths and heads out into the real world to find and kill “The Hooded One” who led the cult. But first, he tests his theoretical combat skills on the militia in the compound next door.

Fred Van Lente neatly subverts most of the more problematic aspects of Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt with this revamp. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed savior with an Asian manservant mastering ancient arts was fast becoming a cliche in comics in comics even at the time of Thunderbolt’s creation. It’s downright unworkable in the 21st century.

Tying the character into a cult taking advantage of those cliches in the most cynical fashion possible is a masterstroke. So is Van Lente’s characterization of this version of Thunderbolt as a cheerful and naive innocent, reminiscent of Vash the Stampede from Trigun. The manservant character of Tabu is also reworked, now being a childhood friend of Peter’s, whose family left The Awakened compound. Tabu is also now a woman, for what that is worth, and Tabu is her nickname rather than her real one.

The artwork is somewhat more mixed. Jonathan Lau seems unsure in some panels just how much to exaggerate the action. The fights are well-choreographed, but some of the visuals are more cartoonish than others. Lau is too good an artist for me to believe this is anything but an intentional choice, but his work here is more fluid than in his recent run on Space Ghost. This incongruity is exacerbated by the colors of Andrew Dalhouse, which suggest a bloody, more intense story than the dialogue and artwork do.

I enjoyed this first issue of Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt, despite the apparent conflicts between the art and the story. It manages the neat trick of being both a subversion of the classic series’ dated premise and a novel update for modern times. It will be interesting to see how the story continues, particularly given the revelations in the final pages.

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1 arrives in comic shops on November 12, 2025.