comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
series published by
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
beginning in November 1983. The series was originally written by
Robert Loren Fleming
Robert Loren Fleming (born November 5, 1956) is an American comic book writer. He is best known as the co-creator of '' Thriller'' with Trevor Von Eeden and for his collaborations with Keith Giffen.
Career
Robert Loren Fleming worked for DC Comic ...
and drawn by
Trevor Von Eeden
Trevor Von Eeden (born July 24, 1959) is a Guyanese-American comics artist, actor and writer known for his work on such titles as ''Black Lightning'', ''Batman'', ''Green Arrow'', ''Power Man and Iron Fist'', and the biographical series ''The Origi ...
. It was sold only through the
direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of:
* four major comic distributors:
** Lunar ...
. The taglines for the series were, "She has 7 seconds to save the world" and "You can't read it fast enough". The "she" in question was protagonist Angie Thriller. The "7 seconds" referred to a team of operatives who assisted her in various conflicts.
Publication history
''Thriller'' ran for 12 issues (November 1983 – November 1984). After the first seven issues, Fleming left the series and Von Eeden left after issue #8. The series ran four more issues by writer
Alex Niño
Alex Niño (born May 1, 1940) is a Filipino comics artist best known for his work for the American publishers DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing, and in '' Heavy Metal'' magazine.
Biography
Early life and career
Alex Niño was born ...
.
Cast
Angie Thriller
Angeline Marietta Salvotini Thriller was the leader of a team of adventurers called the Seven Seconds, who were based in New York City a subjective "fifty years in the future".
Angeline had the power to become one with any inanimate object, and thus control it. She could cause her face to appear on an object or even in the sky. The only living beings she could merge with were her twin brother Tony, and the artificially created Beaker Parish. Angeline could also see visions of possible future events.
Very much in the vein of pulp heroes such as
The Shadow
The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...
or
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a doctor, scientist, adventurer, detective, and polymath who "rights w ...
, Angie Thriller was described in early publicity as being "like a cross between Jesus Christ and my Mom" by Fleming, and she served as the ethereal leader for her team.
Tony Salvotini
Salvo was Angeline's brother, Tony Salvotini, a former mercenary soldier and member of the U.S. Marines' Rapid Deployment Force. After mistakenly killing an innocent man, Salvo vowed to never again shoot to kill. He would instead only wound his targets, his motto being "only flesh wounds, only out-patients".
The Seven Seconds
*Beaker Parish - the test tube experiment of two renegade college science students resulted in a red-headed priest with unexplained psychic abilities. Beaker was a childhood friend of Tony and Angie.
*Crackerjack - a youthful Honduran pickpocket, who was the ward of Angie's husband, Edward Thriller. He had no given name, assists with the care of Angie and Edward's son, Scotty, and served as an all around "gopher" for the team.
*Daniel Grove - a
photojournalist
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
who filmed his brother's execution by the villain Scabbard. Grove was saved from Scabbard by Angie, and offered the chance to join the Seven Seconds.
*Data - Freddie Martin was the son of the
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
. He was the team's communications and information expert, and worked with the team from an enhanced computer system built into his limo, one which Data was physically interfaced with and could never leave.
*Proxy - Robert Furillo, Tony's best friend. Bob was an actor, who suffered a disfiguring accident while freebasing drugs. Proxy used a synthetic spray on skin to create new disguises for the team's more covert requirements.
*Salvo - Tony Salvotini was Angie's brother and a superhumanly expert marksman.
*White Satin - Janet Valentine was Tony's girlfriend, and Quo's ex-wife. She had extranormal abilities and could disrupt a person's physiology and mental state with a touch. She was also a jet pilot, hence the nickname "Jet", coined by Salvo.
Supporting characters
*Edward Thriller - Edward was Angie's scientist husband, whose experiments with alien DNA resulted in his merging bodies with his wife, and resulted in her attaining godlike powers. They could not co-exist in the same place at the same time.
*Kane Creole - A second generation clone of Elvis Presley. He started out as an actor doing bank robberies for publicity, but eventually ran afoul of the Seven Seconds and was taken in by Edward.
*Mallochia - Scabbard's lover, a woman with psychic powers. She had also once served as Scotty's nanny.
*Marietta Salvotini - Tony and Angie's widowed Mother, who operates a diner named "Home". She was originally blinded in a fire (accidentally started by Tony as a child) which claimed the life of her husband, and later gained eyesight and hypnotic powers due to the machinations of Quo.
*Quo - Richard Quorum, former husband of Janet Valentine; a student of certain Eastern disciplines. Quo ascended to a higher state and appears usually when events are at a crisis point of some sort.
*Scotty Thriller - Angie and Edward's baby boy, who appeared to be perfectly normal in every way.
Plot
The Seven Seconds usually investigated cases involving unusual menaces, some bordering on the supernatural. On their most notable mission, they were able to thwart Moses Lusk's attempt to bring about a nuclear holocaust and destroy all life on Earth.