Pete Morisi
Encyclopedia
Peter A. Morisi who sometimes went by the pseudonym PAM, is an American
comic book
writer
and artist
who also spent much of his professional life as a New York City Police Department
officer. He is best known as creator of the 1960s Charlton Comics
series Peter Cannon ... Thunderbolt
, a thoughtful superhero
comic that contained some of the earliest respectful invocations of Eastern mysticism in American pop culture.
), both in Manhattan
. He broke into comics as an assistant on the comic strips Dickie Dare and The Saint, and had just started at Fox Comics
in 1948 when he was drafted and served as a private in the U.S. Army through 1950. Comics historian Mark Evanier
has written that Morisi worked in the Harvey Comics
production department alongside future comics artist Don Heck
in 1949. Stationed in Colorado
, Morisi wrote for such Fox romance and crime comics as Feature Presentations Magazine and Murder Incorporated.
On his return, Morisi freelanced for companies including Comic Media
, Harvey Comics
, Fiction House
, Lev Gleason Publications
, Nesbitt Publishers, Quality Comics
, Toby Press
and the Marvel Comics
precursors Timely
and Atlas
, where his work appeared in titles including the Westerns
Arizona Kid, Cowboy Romances and Texas Kid, and the horror/suspense anthologies Astonishing, Journey into Mystery
, Marvel Tales, Strange Tales
and Uncanny Tales
. In 1954, when editor-in-chief Stan Lee
expressed admiration for the cover artist of some Comic Media books, Morisi brought in the artist, his friend and future Silver Age
star Heck.
In 1956, Morisi fulfilled a childhood dream of joining the police force, and became an NYPD cop stationed in Brooklyn and in lower Manhattan. To avoid the department knowing he was moonlighting, however legally, Morisi began signing his work only with his initials — PAM, the "M" rendered without connectors, as "|||". He retired from the force in 1976.
Morisi's character Thunderbolt debuted in Peter Cannon ... Thunderbolt #1 (Jan. 1966), part of Charlton editor Dick Giordano
's "Action Heroes" superhero
line. The series then took over the numbering of the defunct title Son of Vulcan
, and ran from issue #50-60 (March–April 1966 - Nov. 1967), by which time Morisi, time-pressed with police work, had turned it over to other hands. When DC Comics
bought the rights to Charlton's superhero properties in 1983, Thunderbolt was one of characters originally planned for use in writer Alan Moore
's miniseries
Watchmen
; when DC chose to save those characters for other uses, Moore adapted him into Ozymandias
(Adrian Veidt).
DC published the 12-issue, slightly retitled miniseries Peter Cannon — Thunderbolt (Sept. 1992 - Aug. 1993) by writer-penciler Mike Collins and inker
José Marzan Jr. Rights to the character later reverted to Morisi.
The Staten Island Advance. His wife of 53 years, the former Louise Massie, died in May 2003. They had three sons: Steven, Russ, and Val.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who also spent much of his professional life as a New York City Police Department
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
officer. He is best known as creator of the 1960s Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
series Peter Cannon ... Thunderbolt
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt is a fictional superhero character originally owned by Charlton Comics, notable for containing some of the earliest respectful invocations of Eastern mysticism in American pop culture. The character has been owned by the estate of its creator, writer-artist Pete Morisi,...
, a thoughtful superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
comic that contained some of the earliest respectful invocations of Eastern mysticism in American pop culture.
Early life and career
Born and reared in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, Morisi was educated at the High School of Industrial Arts (since renamed the High School of Art and Design), and the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (now the School of Visual ArtsSchool of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
), both in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. He broke into comics as an assistant on the comic strips Dickie Dare and The Saint, and had just started at Fox Comics
Fox Feature Syndicate
Fox Feature Syndicate was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S...
in 1948 when he was drafted and served as a private in the U.S. Army through 1950. Comics historian Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
has written that Morisi worked in the Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
production department alongside future comics artist Don Heck
Don Heck
Don Heck was an American comic book artist best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, and for his long run penciling the Marvel superhero-team series The Avengers during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books.-Early life and career:Born in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New...
in 1949. Stationed in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Morisi wrote for such Fox romance and crime comics as Feature Presentations Magazine and Murder Incorporated.
On his return, Morisi freelanced for companies including Comic Media
Comic Media
Comic Media was a short-lived comic book company owned by Allen Hardy that existed in the 1950s. Its titles were mainly action/adventure, western, and horror. Their only memorable character was Johnny Dynamite, created by Pete Morisi....
, Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
, Fiction House
Fiction House
Fiction House is an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. Its comics division was best known for its pinup-style good girl art, as epitomized by the company's most popular character, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.-History:-Jumbo and Jack...
, Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....
, Nesbitt Publishers, Quality Comics
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
, Toby Press
Toby Press
Toby Press was an American comic-book company that published from 1949 to 1955. Founded by Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp and himself an established comic strip writer, the company published reprints of Capp's Li'l Abner strip; licensed-character comics starring such film and...
and the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
precursors Timely
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
and Atlas
Atlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the term used to describe the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic...
, where his work appeared in titles including the Westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
Arizona Kid, Cowboy Romances and Texas Kid, and the horror/suspense anthologies Astonishing, Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery was an American comic book series published by Atlas Comics, and later its successor Marvel Comics. It featured horror, monster, and science fiction stories...
, Marvel Tales, Strange Tales
Strange Tales
Strange Tales is the name of several comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the...
and Uncanny Tales
Uncanny Tales
Uncanny Tales may refer to one of the following publications:* Uncanny Tales , an American pulp magazine* Uncanny Tales , a Canadian pulp magazine...
. In 1954, when editor-in-chief Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
expressed admiration for the cover artist of some Comic Media books, Morisi brought in the artist, his friend and future Silver Age
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
star Heck.
Police force and Peter Cannon
Morisi's character Thunderbolt debuted in Peter Cannon ... Thunderbolt #1 (Jan. 1966), part of Charlton editor Dick Giordano
Dick Giordano
Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano was an American comic book artist and editor best known for introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes, and serving as executive editor of then–industry leader DC Comics...
's "Action Heroes" superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
line. The series then took over the numbering of the defunct title Son of Vulcan
Son of Vulcan
Son of Vulcan is the name of two comic book characters, one created by Charlton Comics in 1965, the other by DC Comics in August 2005. Son of Vulcan was one of the characters DC Comics purchased from defunct Charlton Comics in 1983.-Charlton Comics:...
, and ran from issue #50-60 (March–April 1966 - Nov. 1967), by which time Morisi, time-pressed with police work, had turned it over to other hands. When DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
bought the rights to Charlton's superhero properties in 1983, Thunderbolt was one of characters originally planned for use in writer Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
's miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
Watchmen
Watchmen
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
; when DC chose to save those characters for other uses, Moore adapted him into Ozymandias
Ozymandias (comics)
Ozymandias , is a fictional character and the main antagonist appearing in the comic book limited series Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, published by DC Comics. Named Ozymandias in the manner of Ramesses II, he is a modified version of the comic book character Thunderbolt from Charlton...
(Adrian Veidt).
DC published the 12-issue, slightly retitled miniseries Peter Cannon — Thunderbolt (Sept. 1992 - Aug. 1993) by writer-penciler Mike Collins and inker
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
José Marzan Jr. Rights to the character later reverted to Morisi.
Later career
Morisi settled in the Dongan Hills section of Staten Island in 1973. There he drew illustrations for the column "Staten Island Stats" in the local newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
The Staten Island Advance. His wife of 53 years, the former Louise Massie, died in May 2003. They had three sons: Steven, Russ, and Val.