Comic-book writer Peter David has passed away

Peter David
Sept. 23, 1956-May 34, 2025.

Eisner-award-winning comic-book writer Peter David has passed away this week, at 68, after lengthy health problems. I knew him as the guy who wrote The Incredible Hulk for about 12 years, earning him legendary status.

He inspired me so much, as a writer, that I thanked him in my acknowledgemennts in my first horror novel, Town & Train. And my hero John Daniel is even reading The Incredible Hulk issue # 355 in one scene, as my book examines the theme of realizing your dreams, or nightmares.

So, I read Peter David's Jade Giant as a kid in grade eight, right up until I lived in London, England in my mid-twenties. There, I wrote him a letter of thanks once I read in the letters page, Green-Skin's Grab-Bag, that he was leaving the book suddenly.

David was all about character deveoplment and exploration. 

Eventually, David ended Jade Jaw's often meandering worldwide travels, introducing an entire new super-powered team, the Pantheon. This allowed him to develop Bruce Banner's traumatic childhood, further delving into how Banner's father was abusive and the effect of this abuse on Bruce as a young boy. Through the MacGuffin of therapy sessions with psychiatrist character Doc Samson,

David posited that the Hulk was only one of many personas of Bruce's dissociative identity disorder, a result of his childhood experience in that he created personas to protect himself. 

The writer also penned the most popular era of the Hulk as Joe Fixit, a legbreaker for casino owner Mike Berengetti in Las Vegas. This powered-down version of the character was grey, a throwback to the Hulk's very first appearance. Joe Fixit was cunning, intelligent, sporting a fedora and pinstripe suit. What a terrific era, a deserving fan-favourite.

David also brought back minor players such as the aforementioned hunky psychiatrist Doc Samson, he of the flowing green hair, and tight red muscle shirt with a yellow lightening bolt, and sidekicks such as Rick Jones, and Jim Wilson. Jim died of HIV/AIDs. Bruce visited Jim on his death bed in a touching coda and a Red-Ribbon issue to raise awareness about HIV/AIDs. In this way, Peter brought in startling social relevance. 

Peter and I even  tussled very briefly over social media when I asked him if he wrote Jim as gay or bi or straight and he refused to say, instead saying that straight people got AIDs too which, of course, I knew, so I let it go.

Memorable moments of David's tenure include when Bruce/the Emerald Giant threatened another character for being homophobic. At Rick Jones' wedding, Hector, an openly gay character whom David created, flirted with gay hero Northstar of the Canuck super-team, Alpha Flight. 

For the wedding issue, the author wrote himself into the story as the officiant rabbi who soon got intoxicated at the reception. 

Famously, David also snuck in an unauthorized and unnamed cameo of the character Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, who gives the bride Marlo a wedding gift and leaves.

Another iconic character moment featured the Hulk and love-interest Betty Ross reconciling over the course of an issue that was one long conversation, ending with them cracking up.

And there were many, many more great character moments during Peter David's revered and psychologically focused run on The Incredible Hulk.

Comic-book-famous artist Todd McFarlane got his start in the title when I was in eigth grade as well.

On a very local note, Ottawa artist Dale Keown drew the character for quite a spell in the early nineties.

Thanks for the stories, Peter. 

Peter, as I told you in '98, you wrote a mean dream, and many of us dream it with you. The Hulk character grew up, and did I, from an inspired young teen to a twentysomething trying to find his way.

And you, not gamma rays, you transformed the Hulk forever.

The Red Ribbon issue. Cover and interior art: Ottawa's own Dale Keown.

Doc Samson merges all the Hulk personas in this one.
Another fine Dale Keown cover-and-interiors issue.

The Joe Fixit era, set in Las Vegas, allowed Peter David to have further, interesting fun with the Hulk character, such as a tussle with the Absorbing Man, an inprompt run-in with Spider-Man, and lots of dandyism and a sense of style from ... Mister Fixit?

The Joe Fixit era also saw Jeff Purve's rougher-hewn, sketchier pencils introduced, as evidence by this January 17, 1989 issue, entitled "Now You See It ...", giving the Vegas adventures a more noir film, a rather brilliant tonal shift for the title and a daring one. But it worked.

 This issue, cover-dated March 15, 1988, bares an iconic cover and rathe good interiors from Todd McFarlane.

            

 "Quality of Life", an early-days Todd McFarlane favourite.  In this heavy-hitter of an issue, David tackles domestic abuse, hearkening back to the Hulk! magazine of the late 1970's/1980's, which bore a social conscience and also devled into a spousal-abuse storyline.

 "Mending Fences", the terrific Betty Ross-Hulk conversation issue.
Cover art: Dale Keown.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters terrific fun

My co-pilot was away in France for two weeks. I had a hard time of it, from breaking too much glass in the kitchen to a light-fixture bulb exploding, nearly causing a house-fire to warning staff at my favourite local bar of an unhinged customer who, when the cops apprehended him, discovered a gun on him. 

During my capricious two weeks, I juggled full-time work, running the homefront with a teenage son and two fur-children (a thirteen-year-old short-haired grey-and-white cat and a pomchi). To blow off steam, when I was not joining team-effort karaoke with a fine friend and belting out life-affirming songs with new and interesting folks, I was watching Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which I rented (yes; you read that right, rented) from Movies 'N Stuff. 

As always, I should thank Marc Bernardin for praising it on Fatman Beyond with Kevin Smith. His recs always steer me right, this time towards glorious, perilous adventure in lands where there be monsters. 

It's the absolute (atomic?) bomb-—shot gorgeously, with stunningly beautiful or quirkily interesting players. Monarch is shamelessly pulpy, globe-trotting to locales that include deep dives into catacombs and the outskirts of Monster Island itself. The cast sells it, hard, toggling between the 1950's and present day. Not a weak actor among them. For each new local, each player has a stylish new outfit.

Oh—and the monsters, meted out at a good pace, are always also gorgeous. Comic-book rockstar writer Matt Fraction, chief executuve producer, has crafted a compelling, jaw-droppimg, epistolary and Lovecraftian thing, here. Couldn't take my eyes off it. 

It's amazing work for Godzilla or rubber-suit monster lovers to lose themselves in. Now lemme get back to it as I recover from karaoking. 

At last, I got the cult series Kolchak: The Night Stalker series

At last, I closed with my quarry of many moons. I procured the entire run of Kolchak: The Night Stalker from Pete at Movies N' Stuff, one of the last video-rental places remaining in Ottawa. I was watching the show on the NBC site for a spell but then couldn't access it anymore,  and instead resorted to the flotsam and jetsam on YouTube.

ABC's Kolchak, now widely recognized as a cult classic, aired in 1974–1975, starring wire service reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction themes, including fantastical creatures. Two ratings-garnering television movies preceded the series, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973).

Did you enjoy or ever watch The X-Files? Show creator Chris Carter attributed his creature--of-the-week inspiration to Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Carl availed well of himself despite a limited budget, gay stereotypes and featured the Windy City of Chicago, Illinois with many stock shots and a pulpy voiceover. Regular guest stars of 1970's TV fame abounded. Impressive celebrity cameos included Jamie Farr, Larry Lunville and Dick Van Patten. Ultimately, it's a charmer, with all the show's early-to-mid-1970's foibles. I kinda dig it. Besides, Kolchak: The Night Stalker bridges the gap between weird-horror TV of the seventies with its earnest continuation in the early nineties, still inspiring gifted imitators, as well as graphic novels and fictional anthologies, in including writer-editor James Aquilones' very good Kolchak: The Night Stalker–—50th Anniversary Graphic Novel. 

Review of Lee Demarbre's very fun Enter the Drag Dragon

Quite enjoyed Enter the Drag Dragon, a fine bad-good flick by local filmmaker luminary director Lee Demarbre. It's a raunchy, over-the-top exploitation film shot in and around my stomping ground of Ottawa, Canada with drag queens galore. Some gorgeous aerial shots figure, including recognizable landmarks such as the local legendary second-run venue, the Mayfair Theatre and the Brian Nolanesque shots of downtown's ByWard Market. As other reviewers have noted, Demarbe's is a rich, colourful Ottawa (or world) a brim with kitsch, costumes and off-the-wall humour.

The flick features an array of quirky, sexy, entertaining local actors including Demarbre favourite Phil Caracas. Caracas starred as pulpy tough guy send-up in Demarbre's 2004 Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace, and the 1999 Harry Knuckles and the Treasure of the Aztec Mummy. Likely, his riotous portrayal of Jesus in Demarbre's  2001 Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter is Caracas' best-known role, and Demarbre's most well-known and notorious film.

And, oh, yes, three—count 'em, three—leads play the drag queen protagonist, Crunch, an underestimated private detective. In Enter the Drag Dragon, the three actors and the slinky sexy rollerblader Jaws (Beatrice Beres) get centre screen, and rightly so. They're sort of a mystery-solving/no-job-is-too-odd duo. Matt Miwa, Sam Kellerman and Jade London all portray Crunch, and bring great sass to the role in diffetent ways. And brandish a staple weapon—dildo nunchucks, giving a wonderfully twisted statement of intent every single time. As well, I haven't seen this many protaganist costume changes since Jane Fonda's 1968 Barbarella.

Enter the Drag Dragon also serves up plenty of fun fighting (how Irish of me to say), but be warned—there's much Drag Fu and bare-breast tussling and even gratuitous singing. All in all, it's ridiculous fun. Ottawa is lucky to have cinematic talent Lee Demarbre. Besides, our red-brick storefronts on Bank Street are cinematic as hell. Even the Gatineau Hills, a tourist and local draw for even casual hikers, beg to be filmed. There's a skydiving scene with the heroes that is a barn burner. Besides, the cast, in the outtakes and film proper, is clearly having a blast with dirty sight gags and snappy patter and includes viewers in the naughty jokes. In short—entertaining as all get-out, thanks to Lee Demarbe's uncompromisingly naughty, twisted vision.

Traveling to Mars by Mark Russell

Here is another backlogged review I placed on social media but would rather have living here on my cozy blog.

Finally read my newly purchased gorgeous Traveling to Mars (ABLAZE) by Mark Russell, one of my favourite contemporary comic writers, He's predominantly a satirist, but like me, writes across the genres, so ... here's my money. Same reason I snap up anything Alex de Campi does. They are both proverbial bad asses when it comes to horror, sci fi and suspense.

Traveling to Mars concerns Roy Livingston, the protagonist with stage-four cancer who gets a one-way ticket to Mars. There's an international space race on to get boots on-planet first. Turns out, a corporation, Easy Beef, wants to land there first in order to claim the rich gas deposits from Mars' past. In this dystopic sci-fi yarn, Earth's resources are severely depleted, and humans are looking off-world for resources. 

As a collected eleven-issue trade, the Traveling to Mars graphic novel is beautiful, poignant, has some clever SFF ideas about space travel and a surprisingly ingratiating depiction of robotic rovers. As well, admittedly, Roberto "Dakar" Meli's art transports you and Chiara Di Francia's lush colours pop.

Don Coscarelli's dream-like 1979 Phantasm

Here's another backlogged mini-review from February, 2025, regarding Phantasm. a late 1970's cult classic that is as fascinating and entertaining as it is divisive.

Finally viddied Don Coscarelli's 1979 Phantasm. No regrets! A sweeping dream, or nightmare, with Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave's haunting Tubular Bellsesque score. Stunning performance from androgynous teen A. Michael Baldwin. Logic gaps you can drive a 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda through. Utterly enjoyable-more than it has a right to be.

Some shots are startlingly beautiful shots such as the ‘Cuda coming down the road through a heat mirage. Coscarelli steals Jawas from Star Wars (released the previous year), making them monstrous, but also from Dune and lays the dream groundwork  for future original slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street. There’s Bill Thornbury as the hunky but too laid-back older brother Jody, Reg6gie Bannister as brother’ bestie Reggie, an ice-cream-truck river and offensively talented musician pal Reggie, and Angus Scrimm as the over-the-top Tall Man.

Phantasm’s dreamy feel either works for you, or it doesn't. So sit down, strap in and enjoy the trip.

Backlogged reviews—August 2024: Taboo and B. Earl's Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Backlogged reviews—August 2024

Realized I have been posting mini-reviews about graphic novels on Instagram that can have a nice home here. So, without  further adieu, here's the oldest one I found ....

Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man

This 2023 comic trade from Marvel, collecting co-writers Taboo (of the Black Eyed Peas fame) and B. Earl's Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man five-issue series, is a trippy experience, with wild nightmarish art. Peter Parker toils with his colleague Crystal Catawnee on a sound experiment in LA and contends with a reality-bending foe. The premise allows for whole vistas that may or may not be part of a nightmare, while certainly the most bizarre fight of his life ensues amid clever new adventures. Juan Ferreyra's art is off the charts, suffused with a vivid, vibrant colour palette. In all, it's utterly breathtaking work and well-characterized scripting.

Haven't had a trip this wonderfully heavy, and heady, since Tradd Moore's mind-bending  phantasmagoric horror yarn, Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise. That's some high praise.

Kudos to the whole crew involved.