Fightin’ 5 #40 (1966)
by Joe Gill & Pat Boyette
cover by Bill Montes
You might be surprised that the Fightin’ 5, who are complete unknowns today, managed to get so many issues.
They didn’t: this series started as the anthology “Space War”, with the Fightin’ 5 taking over only from issue 28.
The Fightin’ 5 are your usual international team of adventurers, like the Blackhawks but with none of the charm or the insanity.
I’d be far more interested in reading about their adversaries D.E.A.T.H., because that have one of the most awkwards acronyms in comics.
“Dedicated Enemies Of And Traitors To Humanity”, because I guess D.E.O.A.T.T.H. wasn’t catchy enough.
But we’re actually going to have a look at a character that managed to stick around despite having every reason to fade into obscurity: Peacemaker.
Yeah that’s about the level of international politics I would expect from a 1966 mainstream comic.
Our protagonist Mr. Smith is in Geneva to discuss the situation with an arms dealer who has been supplying weapons to both sides of the war… and gets ambushed for it.
Mr. Smith is quite the diplomat: a man so passionate about peace that he routinely carries knockout gas with his documents.
Not exactly the most productive conference. In fact, I’m not exactly sure what Mr. Smith even did there.
He also has his own private retreat in the Swiss Alps (!!!), where he’s been stockpiling all kinds of weapons.
He hates violence so much that he collected all kinds of weapons.
Sounds legit.
Little known fact: Peacemaker used to fly!!!
And be bulletproof!!!
The insistence on the fact that he loves peace is getting ridiculous. Do you have to specify that twice per page!?!?
The man who loves peace so much he’s willing to shoot you with lasers.
Wait, what?
The story ends on a cliffhanger, with the arms dealer managing to escape.
The story continues in Fightin’ 5 #41, where we learn that Peacemaker also had a freaking JET FIGHTER ready to go in his Alps retreat.
The story continues in South America, where Peacemaker uses more random helmet powers…
…and NERVE GAS.
You know, for peace.
And he eventually murders the arms dealer by redirecting a missile into blowing him up.
But he totally abhors violence.
Historical significance: 3/10
Aside from the look, not a whole lot carried through future incarnations.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Why does an American career diplomat own a giant castle in the Alps with its own fighter jet?
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
If I didn’t know otherwise, I would’ve sworn this was a Golden Age story. In fact, had this been a 1946 story, it wouldn’t have been too bad when compared to its contemporaries.
But for 1966 this is bare bones to the extreme. Some nice artwork here and there… that final explosion is gorgeous… both most of the time the characters are extremely stiff.
In the comic’s defense, the first story is 8 pages and the second 10. But that only helps so far, as there are contemporary stories half as long who manage to do way more.
How close is this to the modern character? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m not very knowledgeable about modern Peacemaker to make the call, but from what I know aside from the look it’s almost another character.
He did prove popular enough to get his own book in his third appearance, in 1967.
He can’t have been TOO popular though, because his series only lasted 5 issues.
After Blue Beetle and Nightshade, I was already expecting to find out that Peacemaker had very few appearances in Charlton Comics… but it’s worse then I thought: it’s SEVEN stories!!!
The two Fightnin’ 5 issues and the five Peacemaker issues… that’s it: already by 1967, Peacemaker was basically dead.
You could conceivably include Charlton Premiere #3 from 1968, but it’s a comedy series that probably shouldn’t be counted.
Excluding that cameo, the ENTIRE Peacemaker career at Charlton begins with a cover date of November 1966 and ends with a cover date of November 1967.
Unlike other Charlton characters, I couldn’t find ANY other appearance before the rights were bought by DC Comics, meaning there is absolutely no Peacemaker until September 1985.
He doesn’t get to do anything in Crisis, because… well why would he?
As you’re probably aware, the original pitch for Watchmen involved the Charlton heroes.
Peacemaker was the template for the Comedian, foreshadowing where his next incarnation will go.
DC Comics would introduce Peacemaker into the post-Crisis continuity on Vigilante #36.
I should note that Watchmen was still being published when this happened.
The Charlton version’s insistence on his love for peace was ridiculous, but that Peacemaker was a well-adjusted man who DID try to avoid lethal force whenever possible.
This is the first good look we get at DC’s Peacemaker, and it’s not going to get much better.
His post-Crisis origin would be revealed in a 4-issue Peacemaker miniseries written by Paul Kupperberg (the same writer of his Vigilante debut).
In this version, he’s the son of a full-blown Nazi…
…who killed himself in front of his child (!!!) after his past was revealed to the public.
Christopher UNDERSTANDABLY changed his name after his father was revealed to be a nazi, and eventually joined the army.
Where he was quite effective and quite unstable.
And that was why he was recreated as Peacemaker by a secret government program.
I should point out that while the helmet’s powers are severely downplayed in this incarnation, he still has his jetpack.
While I have yet to watch Peacemaker’s TV series, I know that it took inspiration from this miniseries for the relationship with his father.
While definitely still a very minor character, Peacemaker managed to get a bunch of appearances on various DC books, most notably Suicide Squad and Checkmate.
He was eventually and unceremoniously killed by Eclipso in 1993.
He was so dead, in fact, that in 1999 he has a cameo in purgatory (!!!) during Day of Judgment.
That’s the storyline where Hal Jordan is chosen as the next host of the Spectre, so here’s a very scary thought: we were THIS close to having Peacemaker as the Spectre.
While he was dead, there was another Peacemaker around. If you can believe it, he had an even more outrageous outfit.
If that was the end of Peacemaker, it would’ve made perfect sense.
But Keith Giffen resurrected him in 2006 to be the mentor of the new Blue Beetle.
Other versions of Peacemaker would exist through the following DC reboot shenanigans, but his popularity would explode when he was one of the unexpected surprises of the 2021 The Suicide Squad movie by James Gunn.
Peacemaker was supposed to stay dead at the end of the movie, but since a TV series had been picked up a post-credit scene showing his survival was added at the last minute.
I really, REALLY liked that movie. I’ve heard good things about the Peacemaker TV show (although from what I’ve heard the second season has a lackluster finale), but I have yet to watch it.
Because of the show’s popularity, Peacemaker has suddenly become a FAR more prominent figure in comics than he’s ever been. Unsurprisingly, a lot of elements introduced in the TV show trickled down to the latest comics version.
Not bad for a character who in his original run only lasted 7 issues before disappearing from comics for 18 years and would only become popular 55 years after his first story!
