#doc thunder

[the-gershomite]

Dark Horse Presents: Hellboy #151 -February 2000-

Hellboy "The Nature of the Beast"

story and art by Mike Mignola

letters by Pat Brosseau

Doc Thunder "Terror from Planet X"

story, art and letters by Jason Armstrong

"Hell Island" A Vonshollywood retro-classic

story, art, and letters by Pete Von Sholly

[davidmann95]

@cepmurphy said: Ewing’s Blue Marvel is very, very good. He also did another Superman analogy for the El Sombra Trilogy, in Abaddon’s steampunk line. Poor Doc Thunder is in a nastier world with shades of grey (and dark blacks), so he faces a harder climb than Brashear does; and as Abaddon is an adult line, lucky Doc Thunder gets to be a poly bisexual. As a take on the Superman archetype - and there’s a glorious scene where Doc Thunder gets Grand Central evacuated calmly and quickly just by asking politely - Doc Thunder proves that “Superman is boring/simplistic” depends on the writer. Now have Al Ewing write him.

Written on him before, and Doc Thunder is so good. That’s an older piece of mine, so I’ll just post here what I had to say there:

The star of the second part of a trilogy of novels by Al Ewing, along with prequel El Sombra and finale Pax Omega (those three being a subset of the larger “Pax Brittania” series of novels by Jonathan Greene starring the adventurer Ulysses Quicksilver, though Ewing’s books are almost entirely disconnected from them), Doc Thunder is the champion of the United Socialist States of America, in an alternate history where Queen Victoria and Adolf Hitler survive as robotic monstrosities into the 21st century, Joseph McCarthy instigated a second American Civil War, and a steam-powered New York City is protected by America’s Greatest Hero. A mix-and-match of elements from both Superman and his close ‘relatives’ - there’s plenty of Doc Savage in there, a pinch of Captain America, some Hugo Danner, maybe a little Tom Strong - Thunder is a genius strongman fighting supervillains like Lars Lomax, Professor Zepplin and the robot ape Titanicus, standing up for the little guy alongside his lovers Monk Olsen, the deformed “Gorilla Reporter”, and Maya, Goddess-Queen of the Leopard Men of Zor-Ek-Narr.

What makes Doc stand out above the rest for me is that he straddles a very narrow line: he’s a character unquestionably born of Superman in every facet without being limited by that, in the same way as Captain Marvel at his best. If he’d appeared in more than two stories he’d be broad enough that I’d feel it wrong to call him “just” a Superman analogue, because he also pulls off Tom Strong’s essential trick: his world is well-defined, iconic and rich enough that he feels as if he’s been around for the better part of a century, and as if he has enough story fuel for a century more. He’s good and noble and true in a setting that doesn’t always play by those rules but doesn’t make him naive either, his world is strange with just the right touches of modernity where it counts, and he has depth without resorting to cheap tricks. And above all, the novel’s statement of intent is about as perfect an articulation of the ideal of the superhero, and Superman in particular, as anything I’ve ever read:

“Doc was still wearing the shirt. It peeked out from the open lab coat - a light blue t-shirt with a yellow lighting bolt pointing down and to the left. The symbol of the Resistance against McCarthy, in ‘54. It still meant something, even now. A lot of people flew it from office buildings instead of the old flag, although the stars and stripes still got wheeled out on state occasions.

“John had been right. Doc’s job wasn’t exploring lost continents or fighting insane scientists. It was just standing up and doing the right thing, and being seen to do it. Because there were a lot of folks who didn’t, and the more of those there were, the more the average Joe might start thinking he didn’t have a chance, that the only way to play the game and win was to play it with no rules at all, golden or otherwise. Screw the little guy, stamp him down. Hate the different ones. Why not? They’re Them and you’re Us and spitting on them might make you more Us, might win you some power. Tell any lie that’ll serve your purpose, print them and distribute them to the people while swearing you only speak truth. Believe what you’re told without question, or shrug, because what can you do? What can anybody do? The bastards run the world, we just have to live in it. What can you do?

“Keep thinking that way and soon you’re looking in the paper at an article that says they’re building a camp on the edge of town for all the people who are bad for the country, or bad for the company, there’s no real difference anyway, and just keep looking the other way a little longer, friends, just keep nodding along, just keep shrugging, whatever, you’re not in danger, you’re one of Us and nobody’s ever going to come for you, pal. Promise.

“It couldn’t happen here, is what we’re saying.

“Would we lie to you?

“Doc knew where that road ended. He’d seen it with his own eyes.

“So he wore his beliefs on his chest, and he always tried to do the right thing, and when he needed to stand up, he stood up. And because he was who he was, everybody saw it. And maybe someone took a look at him and realized that they could question what they heard, or they could step in when they saw something bad happening, or they could just try and treat people just a little better. Maybe just one person that day looked at him and thought: I should start trying.”

Really can’t recommend the El Sombra trilogy enough (the first book’s essentially Zorro vs. Nazis, the second Golden Age Superman teaming up with him to fight The Shadow, and the finale is basically its own self-contained event book for the universe), and hell to the yes Ewing needs to write Superman one day. Until that lovely day comes, along with this and his work with Blue Marvel, I’d recommend his Hyperion-focused Avengers oneshot. He also in a manner of speaking put words in Clark Kent’s mouth in an entry of The Diary of Ralph Dibny, a hilariously misanthropic black-comedy fanfic running alongside 52 as it was coming out showing the stretchable sleuth’s slide into total breakdown. It got something of a cult following while the book was going, apparently even being commented on by the creators in interviews. It’s great, and should you chose to read it, definitely go through the comments people left in-character as the likes of Green Arrow, Wonder Girl and Jean Loring, which actually end up impacting the plot. If the idea of Elongated Man pooping in Dr. Fate's helmet for getting him in deep with the Hell Mafia or planning suicide-via-Cosmic-Treadmill to go out remaking the universe in his image appeals, give it a shot.