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Why Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1 Is An Alternate-Universe Doomsday Clock (Spoilers)

There are big spoilers here for Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1. Why? Because today is FOC date for the new series by Kieron Gillen, Caspar Wijngaard, Mary Jo Safro and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaouand.

Last week we mentioned that it was to be regarded as another unauthorised sequel to Watchmen. Today we're going to set out exactly why.

If you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now. The comic comes out in February.

But if you are a Watchmen fan and weren't going to order/pick up Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1 then this may give you reason to. But if you want to, today is your last chance to get those pre-orders in.

Okay, so.

Watchmen sees Adrian Veidt, Ozymandias, based on the Peter Cannon Thunderbolt character from Charlton Comics, behind an international conspiracy. To stop the USA and the USSR launching a nuclear war, he provides an alternate threat, that of an alien dimension invading our own. After millions die in New York, it works. The USSR stands down in Afghanistan. The USA pulls back. A peace accord is agreed. And the world is saved. And Ozymandias did it all thirty-five minutes ago.

In Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1, the cogs keep turning.

There is a similar state of affairs – and an alien invasion of New York. And a scene which contains what Warren Ellis calls 'the most THE AUTHORITY Year One line since I wrote Year One of THE AUTHORITY'.

The alien interdimensional threat is repelled under Cannon's guidance. But the effect on the world is the same.

The wars stop. The superpowers forge a new peace. Everything is better. For now. With nine-panel grids, clockwork cogs and blood splatted faces all over the place. But this Peter Cannon smells an interdimensional rat. A false flag operation, one similar to that imposed by Ozymandias in Watchmen.

But one that he doesn't agree with.

A short-term gain and temporary nature may be a reference to the way the story played out in DC's own unauthorised sequel to Watchmen, Doomsday Clock. Which sees Dr Manhattan making his own interdimensional journey to the DC Comics Universe, where he makes his own amends in its history. And creates his own false flag events to spur a world into conflict between humanity and its superheroes.

In the world of Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt, he knows where the threat is coming from. Or who is creating the false flag invasion for whatever reason.

This may be an extreme version of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. But in Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1, he happens to be right. Hmm, it's also known as the Superman Complex….

PETER CANNON THUNDERBOLT #1
(W) Kieron Gillen (A) Caspar Wijngaard (CA) Sean Phillips
His level of genius is matched only by his heroics, and in humanity's darkest hour, he's the hero they need the most-alas, poor humanity.  Peter Cannon-the man known as Thunderbolt-is only too happy to leave civilization to face its end.  Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + the Divine) teams up with powerhouse artist Caspar Wijngaard (Doctor Aphra) as he returns to the superhero genre with a dark, humorous and relentless love song to the genre.
Well, "Love Song" in a Leonard Cohen Love Song kind of way. Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt: saving a world he hates. In Shops: Jan 30, 2019 Final Orders Due: Jan 07, 2019 SRP: $3.99

Read a preview and full cover line-up over here.

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