Peter Cannon Thunderbolt No. 3 Review

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Artist: Caspar Wijngaard

Colorist: Mary Safro

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Published by: Dynamite

After some contemplation of this issue, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is an interesting take on the whole Watchmen story using Peter Cannon as a stand in for Ozymandias as Ozymandias was a stand-in for Peter in the original story. This is quite clear. What differentiates this series from Watchmen is that the Peter Cannon we, as the readers, met in the first issue, is more than likely going to be the hero of the story as he faces off against an “evil” version of himself from another dimension.

Probably the most interesting part is that there is a clear-cut dichotomy between Good Peter and Bad Peter: the bad one just doesn’t care about the means as long as the ends are met. And that is shown throughout the issue. Whether it be from Peter’s friend Tabu who in the “bad” reality is but a robot servant and not a flesh and blood person (because Bad Peter couldn’t control him while being flesh and bone), to the Bad Peter stating that he can’t stop or else he’ll be declared the “villain” to justify his destruction of so many worlds.

I believe Gillen’s intent for this series is to be, like Watchmen, an exploration of the hero genre, but I have to say, even though I’ve been enjoying the series so far, it’s really starting to feel as though these are mere scenes within a chapter and not a chapter within a larger story. This is something I’ve had an issue with for many years (decompression of storylines these days is ridiculous) and that is why it’s difficult to fully enjoy this series. I may change my end with the next issue as the final page makes for an intriguing continuation, but at this point I could only recommend reading this series within a trade to get the full picture.

Wijngaard’s art continues to be amazing throughout as we get to see a little more in terms of action this issue. He does a magnificent job within the confines of the 9-panel grid throughout. The last sequence is probably my favourite so far as well.