A spy working for shady British intelligence organization Black Air, Peter Winston Wisdom saw what was really going on in her majesty’s secret service, and he didn’t like it. He joins the mostly mutant superhero team Excalibur after accompanying them on a mission to Genosha and developing a relationship with core member Kitty Pryde.
Over the years, Wisdom has continued to split his time between the spy and superhero communities, mentoring X-Force, working with a new version of Excalibur, leading England’s heroes against a vampire invasion and, most recently, serving as a government liaison to Captain Britain (Betsy Braddock). Sometimes, he even uses his mutant power, generating heat knives from the tips of his fingers. You might say he was the original “Hot Claws.”
Created by Warren Ellis and Ken “Ledkilla” Lashley, Wisdom first appeared in 1994’s Excalibur #86, then was put on ice for four months while the X-books got sucked into the Age of Apocalypse.
Wisdom, especially his early history, is tainted by his association with Ellis, who was accused by so many people of predatory conduct, emotional manipulation and grooming that they created a website to share their stories. Questions also loomed over the age difference between Wisdom and Pryde, as Kitty’s last canonical birthday would have left her still a teenager. Wait, this all sounds really bad. Why are we doing this again?
Well, certainly not because any of that stuff. Look, Wisdom is a bastard, nobody is going to deny that. But he’s a bastard who knows when the “job needs doing.” Later writers have acknowledged Wisdom’s sub-great tendencies while still allowing him big-damn-hero moments and making him someone worth caring about.
Only one mutant has out-strategized Dracula and (with the help of Britain’s combined spy and superhero communities) stopped a vampire invasion from the moon. And that’s Peter Winston Wisdom.
Gold
Vampire State
April – September 2009
- Captain Britain and MI:13 #10-15
- Paul Cornell
- Leonard Kirk, Mike Collins, & Ardian Syaf
- Jay Leisten, Robin Riggs, & Craig Yeung
- Brian Reber & Rain Beredo
- Joe Caramagna
The Plot
Dracula plans a vampire invasion of Britain from his moon base as MI:13 – Captain Britain, Spitfire, Blade, Black Knight, Dr. Faiza Hussain, Wisdom, et al – races to outsmart him. Like any good plan, it goes wrong before it can go right, as Wisdom pulls some sleight-of-hand with the skull of Quincy Harker that ultimately leads Dracula’s undead army to explode on entry into Earth’s atmosphere because they haven’t been invited. Also, Captain Britain is reunited with his previously dead lady love, Meggan. It is very awwwwwwwww!
Why We Love It
Wisdom stops a vampire invasion from the moon. ‘Nuff said.
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Silver
Mutants Night Out!
November 1995
- Excalibur #91
- Warren Ellis
- David Williams, Mike Wieringo, Jeff Moy, & Mike Miller
- Mike Miller, Phil Moy, & Mike Christian
- Malibu Hues & Ariane Lenshoek
- Richard Starkings & Comicraft
The Plot
The gang goes to a pub. Kitty and Pete admit their feelings for each other to the rest of the team. Moira gets knackered. A fresh-off-Avalon Colossus shows up at the end to find Kitty and Pete doing sloppy makeouts.
Why We Love It
Everyone loves a quiet issue. After four issues of espionage and intrigue, the team gets to hang out and have a nice time, and we really get to see the status quo take shape. And if you like phonetic accents, wait’ll you see what happens when Moira MacTaggert gets drunk! (Though you’d think after 10 lives, she’d be able to hold her liquor better.)
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Pryde & Wisdom
September – November 1996
- Pryde & Wisdom #1-3
- Warren Ellis
- Terry Dodson, Karl Story, & Aaron Lopresti
- Aaron Lopresti, Jason Martin, Gary Martin, Rachel Pinnock, & Tom Simmons
- Ariane Lenshoek & Malibu Hues
- Richard Starkings & Comicraft
The Plot
When the daughter of a friend goes missing attempting to track down a mutant serial killer, Pryde & Wisdom take the case. Ellis deepens Wisdom’s world, introducing us to his semi-senile father, Harold, his mystic sister, Romany, and the agents of F.66, the Department of Unusual Death.
It’s also where Ellis gets to start playing with Weird Ellis Ideas like a man believing himself to be Cain writing letters to God on dessicated bodies and guns made from mutant skin cells.
Why We Love It
Free from the constraints of juggling the rest of the team, Ellis gets to play with his pet characters.
Pryde and Wisdom have the banter of a couple in a ’90s action movie, with just a dash of Hudson & Day thrown in for good measure. And at just three issues, it’s a lightning fast read not concerned with how it will look in the trade.
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Bronze
Wisdom MAX
January – July 2007
- Wisdom #1-6
- Paul Cornell
- Trevor Hairsine & Manuel Garcia
- Paul Neary, Trevor Hairsine, & Mark Farmer
- Guru eFX
- Joe Caramagna
The Plot
Wisdom goes back to his spy roots in this six-issue series that finds him doing her majesty’s bidding against all manner of weird happenings, including a faerie invasion from Otherworld, a giant that slumbers under Britain, a horde of alternate reality Jack the Rippers and a Martian invasion right out of H.G. Wells.
Introduces Maureen Raven, Pete’s next great love and the mother of future Martian-fighter Killraven. Also introduces a Skrull who believes he’s John Lennon, one of four Skrull Beatles. Plus it’s a MAX series, so there are swears and violence and implied oral sex and stuff.
Why We Love It
Wisdom finds a new caretaker in Cornell, a writer for BBC’s then-still-freshly rebooted Doctor Who, who understands Wisdom’s virtue – his sense of duty to country – along with his vices – serial monogamy and self-destruction. He also loses the rumpled ’90s trench coat, gets a haircut and dresses a bit more sharply, which carries through Cornell’s time with the character.
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QEIII
January 2021
- Excalibur #17
- Tini Howard
- Marcus To
- Marcus To
- Erick Arciniega
- Ariana Maher
The Plot
Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain, is trapped on an Earth where she is the queen of England. Meanwhile, Coven Akkaba knows the captain is missing, and wants to use the opportunity to strike at the Lighthouse.
But Pete Wisdom braves his distaste for Krakoa to bring the rest of Exaclibur to the Lighthouse to stop them, just in time for Betsy to return.
Why We Love It
Wisdom fans don’t get to dine well all that often, so when we find an issue in which he takes the piss out of an anti-mutant warlock, admits he has feelings for Betsy Braddock AND gets to be prime minister in an alternate reality, all in one issue, well, that’s just a dang good meal.
Yes, yes, we hear you, Betsy-Rachel shippers, Pete Wisdom should get a job and leave Betsy alone. But here’s the thing: Wisdom HAS a job and he loves it very much. It’s never stopped him from trying to find a nice lady before.
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Dream Nails Trilogy
August – October 1995
- Excalibur #88-90
- Warren Ellis
- Larry Stroman, Darrick Gross, Ken Lashley, Jeff Moy, David Williams, & Carlos Pacheco
- Cam Smith, Darrick Gross, Tom Wegrzyn, Phillip Moy, Don Hudson, Jimmy Palmiotti, Mike Miller, Mike Christian, & Larry Stroman
- Joe Rosas, Ariane Lenshoek, & Digital Chameleon
- Richard Starkings & Comicraft
The Plot
A distress call from a friend sends Wisdom back to London to investigate his handlers in Black Air, uncovering a conspiracy involving a race of atheist aliens. Kitty Pryde tags along to add pluck, moxie and gumption to his grumpy, sarcastic Britishness, sparking a romance in the process.
Meanwhile, back on Muir Island, Moira spends all her time in her lab studying the Legacy Virus, which she recently discovered she has. Rory Campbell takes a big step toward becoming Ahab when he gets his leg cut off in a laser room while interrogating the Acolyte Spoor. And Wolfsbane joins the team.
Why We Love It
Ellis firmly cements Pete Wisdom as his self-insert (OK, that’s bad) and begins the Pete-Kitty courtship (also gross, given everything we know now) but does it all in the guise of an X-Files parody that at the time was pretty fun.
We start to understand what we’re meant to like about Wisdom, the fact that, under all his cigarettes and attitude and the Very Bad Things he’s done as a spy, there’s a person who will put all that aside to help his friends.
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Dan Grote
Dan Grote is the former editor and publisher of comics news site WMQ Comics and now edits the indie and DC corners of ComicsXF. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He also co-hosts the weekly creator-interview podcast WMQ&A with Matthew Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
