Comic book writer Peter B. Gillis, known for co-creating Strikeforce: Morituri and other work at Marvel and First Comics, died on Thursday, June 20, 2024. His brother, Rob, announced his passing on social media, stating that Gillis had been struggling with health issues for the past two years, had shown some improvement, then declined quickly. Gillis was 71 years old.

He was born on December 19, 1952, in White Plains, New York, and was studying medieval German literature before his comics career began as a freelance writer at Marvel. Gillis started with a Captain America story, then in the late ‘70s, he wrote for Marvel Two-In-One, What If…?, Super-Villian Team-Up, Incredible Hulk, and Thor.

He moved over to New Media Publishing as the editorial director for their magazines line, but it was only for a brief period.

Joining First Comics, he co-created the dystopian sci-fi comic Shatter and helped launch their sci-fi book Warp. His time with First Comics included creating Black Flame and Blaze Barlow and the Eternity Command, and writing for Mars, Starslayer, and First Adventures.

The bulk of his well known work was at Marvel in the 1980s. He and artist Brent Anderson co-created Strikeforce: Morituri, and he wrote the complete runs of Micronauts: The New Voyages and Strange Tales Vol. 2. Gillis also had runs on What If, The Defenders, The Eternals Vol. 2, and Doctor Strange. He wrote issues of Captain America, Black Panther Vol. 2, Solo Avengers, and Marvel Comics Presents, among other Marvel titles.

Gillis spent some time at DC as well. He wrote an issue of Teen Titans Spotlight, Tailgunner Jo, and the Gammarauders comic, which was a tie-in to the Gamma World roleplaying game.

In 2010, Gillis returned to comics to write an adaption of Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn at IDW.