Peter Cannon - Thunderbolt

Charlton Comics produced a number of superhero comics in the mid-1960s, some of them follow on's to earlier comics, like Blue Beetle from Fox, and some of them original material. One of these was Peter Cannon, or Thunderbolt. Peter was the orphan son of a husband and wife team of medical workers who had battled the black plague in the Himalayan region until they, in turn succumbed to the illness. In gratitude for the Cannon's selfless work the High Abbot of the Lamasery decided to raise little Peter, who was trained to mental and physical perfection. Peter was entrusted with the knowledge contained in the ancient scrolls, which contained the secret writings of generations of wise men. He learned concentration, mind over matter as well as the art of activating and harnessing that unused part of the brain that made fantastic feats possible. Following his training the scrolls were destroyed so that no one else would have access to the secret knowledge. Now embodying the power of the chosen one Peter, along with his friend Tabu, journeyed to America where they would seek out a new life. Thunderbolt battled mystic masters and resurrected ancient queens over the course of his career. His costume reminds me a little of the original Daredevil, who has alternating red and blue sides of his outfit. Not sure what's up with that. At any rate, when Alan Moore wrote the Watchmen books he borrowed from the Charlton stable of characters for his cast of superheroes, with Ozymandias being modeled after Peter Cannon. As for the action figures, the Thunderbolt was made using a Marvel Secret Wars Daredevil and the head from a Robin figure from one of the movies. The figure of Tabu (see the inset lower left) was made from various GI Joe and Black Hole parts. I had to sculpt the turban from Skulpy.