REST IN PEACE, PETER A DAVID
There’s a book sitting on my shelf. It’s been there for exactly four years.
Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David and Robin Riggs. Adapted from David’s novel of the same name. I took Gina to Pensacola for her birthday in 2021. We went to a local comic book convention, Pensacon. While the reason for the trip was to take her on a birthday getaway, it wasn’t the only reason.
This was my going to be my opportunity to meet Peter David.
I couldn’t say for sure what my first exposure to Mr. David’s writing was. I suspect it was his work on X-Factor in 1992. X-Factor was a spinoff of X-men, my favorite comic book at the time. The difference between the two was that X-men had the cool mutants. X-factor was the book with the c-listers. Characters like Cyclops’ screw up little brother, Havok, his mentally unstable girlfriend, Polaris, a prankster named the Multiple Man and the breakout star of the book… Strong Guy. If that sounds ridiculous, rest assured that it was. And I loved it.
MAYBE THE BEST HULK COMIC EVER.
I’d only just started reading comics and they tended to be all very similar in tone. X-factor was different. It was funny. Irreverent. Different. This wasn’t a comedy book, but it also didn’t have to take itself too seriously.
Peter David quickly became a writer whose work would always pique my interest.
The list of his comic book work is far too long to get into. But in terms of pop culture penetration, he contributed to something like 60% of the lore about the Hulk, including the Professor Hulk seen in Avengers Endgame. He also co-created Spider-man 2099, a character that became popular because of the Spiderverse movies. And his DC work includes Young Justice, a book that was eventually turned into a television series.
But his writing wasn’t limited to comic books.
He was a novelist and his well known in the Star Trek fandom for his original Trek novels like Q-Squared.
One of my favorite PAD creations was his short-lived, cult classic Nickelodeon show, Space Cases. It was essentially Lost In Space, combined with the Bad News Bears. It starred Walter Emanual Jones (the original black Power Ranger) and a young Jewel Staite, who would later go on to star in another show set on a space ship, Firefly.
In 2017, Mr. David had his first stroke. Luckily, Marvel retained him as an employee and he was able to keep his insurance. Unfortunately, the financial burden still left his family in dire straits. It’s truly criminal that a writer with his talents, who has achieved so much, was still struggling. His wife made a gofundme campaign. I was fairly broke at the time, but I immediately donated what I could.
He did recover from that particular stroke. Four years later, in 2021 I heard that he was appearing at Pensacon, a show I’d wanted to go to for several years. As far as I knew this was the closest appearance he’d done to my hometown. (Still several hours away though.) It also happened to be a couple of weeks after Gina’s birthday. She didn’t know much about comics, but she’d always enjoyed the conventions. I asked her to go away with me for a romantic birthday weekend and attend the convention.
When we approached his table on Saturday, she didn’t know anything about him other than the fact that I was excited to meet one of my favorite writers. He and I chatted for a bit… writers never have the same lines as the artists at cons. As we spoke, Gina saw a graphic novel sitting on the table. Sir Apropos of Nothing. “Oh my God, I love this! I read the novel!” Credit where it’s due, Gina had an unmatched appetite for reading. It was kind of funny to see her go from being my arm candy to being a van in the span of two seconds. I bought her the comic version of the book, so she could have a signed copy. And I figured, what the hell. I bought myself one. I could feel my wallet begging for mercy, but… this was Peter David. And it made my girl happy.
That book has sat on my shelf for four years, unread.
The funny thing is that the reason has nothing to do with him. Gina and I parted ways after that trip. That particular story is for another time, but suffice it to say, I took it hard. Every time I see Sir Apropos of Nothing, I’m reminded of that weekend. Not in an angry, or even sad way. I just see it and I think “oh yeah, I never read this.” And then immediately I think “oh yeah, this was that book that she loved.” And then I just kind of move on.
Sadly, that first stroke wasn’t Mr. David’s last. It has been a rough few years from what I’ve heard. He died almost four years to the day from when I met him. I know it isn’t significant… but it feels that way.
Maybe it’s time I finally read the book.
Rest In Peace, sir.
