A Memoriam In Four Colours: Peter David
This past weekend, after a long battle with ill health, we lost Peter David. So, as he pulls his chair up to the great writing desk in the heavenly bullpen, we look back at the career of one of comics’ most prolific and creative writers.
David’s career in comics began via the journalism route after graduating from New York University with a degree in journalism. After finding this a tough egg to crack, he decided to pursue a career in fiction. Still, it was a long journey from making this decision. Following on from some smaller publishing jobs, he served five years in Marvel’s sales department. At the time, Christopher Priest was editor of Spectacular Spider-Man and bought a script off David, being impressed by his ‘maverick’ like quality. That story was ‘The Death of Jean DeWolff’ What followed is a little grey, a rumblings of conflict of interests, the true writer of David’s work and his eventual firing from the title. But every cloud has a silver lining, as they say. As a fresh face to writing duties he was given the dying series The Incredible Hulk. A revival that would go on to last 12 years was the result! During this tenure he would work with superstar artists like Todd McFarlane, Dale Keown and Gary Frank. This trio of duets would take the Hulk to all-new heights, and this run would feature some elements familiar to fans of the big screen. Smart/Professor Hulk found a whole new fan base following on from Endgame. Giving the character multiple personalities and bringing back the grey Hulk was the bedrock the success of the series was built on and gave those talented artists plenty of scope to play with. In #344 he also penned the first appearance of The Thunderbolts, again something very current at the time of writing because of big screen success. Perhaps the crowning achievement of his Hulk work is the alternate universe tale ‘Future Imperfect’, it is just one of those stories that is very simple, yet effective. A story that delivers a lot in just two issues. A story that still today is revisited by fans and creators alike.
After his success on Incredible Hulk his career would touchdown in all corners of the comics universe and see him working as recently as 2023. At Marvel he would reimagine X-Factor twice over, like his future work on Wolverine he moved the series away from its superhero roots and set the team up as a quasi detective agency. Another character of his to have big screen success in recent years is Miguel O’Hara of Spider-Man 2099 fame. He co-created the character with Rick Leonardi and would go on to write the series’ first 44 issues! Peter David is responsible for two of the best Wolverine stories put to paper. Last year, in my top 50 Wolverine stories of all time, they ranked 26th and 13th. Those stories are ‘The Gehenna Stone Affair’ from Wolverine #11-#16 and ‘Blood Hungry’ from Marvel Comics Presents #85-#92. Both are deeply rooted in the Pulps rather than superheroics. ‘Blood Hungry’ is a gem, building on the world of Madripoor, giving some hints to Wolverine’s past and providing readers with the new threat of the menacing Cyber. At DC he had spells on Action Comics Weekly featuring Green Lantern. On Aquaman he was responsible for Arthur losing his hand and having it replaced with a harpoon. David was no stranger to creator-owned work either. Most notably, he took over writing duties on Dreadstar in 1985, lasting over twenty issues till the series’ end. In the 2000’s he created and wrote the series Fallen Angel. The series started at DC before being picked up by IDW in 2005, where it would run for a further 33 issues and a handful of miniseries. It is a series I have heard nothing but positive things about, and it just seems a really cool concept.
Peter David leaves behind a hugely important footprint on comics history. He has worked on a handful of the major characters. But it is his knack of breathing new life into suffering titles and making them cult classics among fandom that will leave a longer-lasting impression. My thoughts are with the family and friends of Peter David at this time.
