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2025-Oct-12

Had there not been a string of successful comic book movies a decade or so ago, I do not think I would be writing a blog post about The Peacemaker. He’s a forgettable comic book hero from the Bronze Age of comic book publishing, which was a forgettable time in comics that only interests the most stalwart of nerds. Speaking as one of those stalwart comic book nerds, I say I do not remember a damn thing about The Peacemaker. I read every comic book I got my hands on during the early 90s. Had Peacemaker been on one of those pages, he did not leave a lasting impression.

A few days prior to writing this blog post I skimmed through the Wiki entry. Clicked around the names and publications involved with the comic book iterations of The Peacemaker. His first incarnation’s specifics were dreary enough to be forgotten by now. The costume looks utterly ridiculous, and unchanged throughout his publication history that could be found. I suppose his swashbuckling appearance can be attributed to American nationalism. Had I given this character more than a second glance in the heyday of my nerd past, it was likely as a gag in Wizard magazine (see blog post #128 for more about Wizard!). I can almost conjure some joke about how silly the helmet looks, or its similarity to Big Barda’s costume.

Be that as it may, I do know of The Peacemaker now. The formal introduction happened when he was a part of The Suicide Squad movie released in 2021. The one with the ‘The’ in the title. The one made by James Gunn. Not the 2016 version without the ‘The’. That 2016 movie was so obviously a Hollywood movie renting a DC intellectual property as a costume. ‘The’ Suicide Squad on the other hand was not too far off from a well produced Troma film about actual DC characters. Although they were very wacky ones. Not the DC paragons of virtue. Whatever they were or wherever they came from in the DC annals, they were used creatively up to their fullest story potential.

I do remember that upon hearing that David Ayers was going to be given the job of making a huge movie budget for a story about silly one-dimensional supervillains working in a penal battalion, I had hope. Some optimism to see what street level grit David Ayers could do with the source material. He had already done tortured dirty cops or criminals with a heart of gold before. Why not let him try his schtick with super powers?

That string of successful movies I had mentioned before was so successful that a lot of promising minor league directing talent got the chance to make huge movies. Occasionally some of these new comic book movie creators had some earnest appreciation for their new cinematic toys. You could not really tell until after seeing the finished product. It’s easy enough to say “I read the comics when I was a kid” when prompted. I mean, who didn’t? They’re just 22 pages of cool looking fight scenes.

James Gunn had some success in the Hollywood game as a writer, director, or anything needed behind the camera prior to becoming the new Hollywood producer of slightly disgusting comic book movies blockbusters. Back in 2014, he was given the directing reins to a huge Hollywood movie using very obscure Marvel characters that he particularly fancied. Some real D-list characters, not name brand superheroes mom and dad might know.

The chances of him making a profitable new branch of the comic book movies blockbuster formula was not assured when he was announced to direct first The Guardians of the Galaxy movies. (I say first now, but at the time it was not an assured expectation that a sequel would happen. Let alone two.) I had the hunch he had more interest in the source material than just as pieces in a big Hollywood production. Why pick the weirdos of Marvel’s cosmic branch of comics?

Despite Gunn’s choice in less-than-famous Marvel players, he was able to put together a movie that perpetuated the string of comic book movie box office smashes that gave him the clearance to try more sophomoric things with huge production value.Thanks to the phenomena of comic book movies being hugely popular AND James Gunn adding his gross-out style corollary to that successful formula, we have the reason for the editorial staff at fredlambuth.com writing about the now famous DC character, The Peacemaker.

That David Ayers production of Suicide Squad was riding on the same wave of commercial success that allowed James Gunn to helm a big budget Hollywood movie. However, the film history of David Ayers did not lead me to believe that he had a vested interest in the back story of his movie adaption of D-list DC comic book characters. Ayers could write a good story about cops in LA. He directed a few good ones too. About LA cops. I was hoping he could make another story of ambiguous ethics among tough talking anti-heroes, with or without holding a deep interest in Captain Boomerang. Form what I saw, there was not much trace of Ayer’s directorial past in the 2016 Suicide Squad movie.

The Peacemaker’s ‘anti-hero’ second incarnation is how he has been presented thematically to me, in the form of a streaming television series. I think the first decade of the comics had him be a patriotic enforcer without any pathos, or if there was, I don't remember them to be compelling. I think his raison d’etre had something to do with American nationalism. Hence the flag-like costume. The second time around he has a troubled past regarding his father’s secret Nazi past. A more personal take rather than just adventure stories of him blasting anti-American bad guys with an arsenal of weapons his father made.

I do not know this from reading the comics. This was gathered on Wikipedia after I finished watching the sixteen episodes of the show. I might have been a consummate comic book nerd in my earliest days. However, DC Comics, especially in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s was so boring to me. The art, characters, and stories did not interest me at all.

The art in DC did not have the explosive grace that Marvel’s editors would allow among their artists. DC was a factory of super hero art throughout the 20th century. By the late 80s, Marvel was letting the artists cut loose from any type of standard. The X-Men and related titles had Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri drawing characters that are not limited by some idea of how real it appears. Rather the only rule they were limited by was that it should just look cool. All the guys who defected to Image came from Marvel. They all had a particular visual stamp to how they delivered super hero fights. A lot were doing more daring stuff with the panels as well! The art team at DC had skilled craftsmen, but not varied stable of unique artistes.

When I was a kid, DC looked like Mary Worth comic strips wearing colorful tights and capes. Drab illustrations of fantastic situations. George Perez, a standard bearer of DC’s house style of art, might be a technical genius. Somebody who can plot out a 200 hundred character double wide splash page. However, all those 200 characters are going to look like the same two stock figures he draws, which is the athletic illustration of a man or woman. Fist fights and square jaws in every issue he pencils. Square panels. Perhaps some clever page design, yet the art always focused on illustrating the story. On looking clear about what is transpiring. Not, ‘how cool does it look?’

It pains me to say this now, but in the early 90s I would choose Rob Liefeld over George Perez. In a heartbeat. At this point in time, it is still not a blowout. I’ve spent enough time practicing the art of drawing muscly superheroes to now get some appreciation of the workmanlike qualities of George Perez. Despite that, I still can see the immediate thrill of Liefeld’s ‘it looks cool’ school of art.

My interest in any DC title did not happen until the editorial direction there started to let the artists do bold stuff outside of the Dan Jurgens/John Byrne/George Perez banality. The late 90s. I remember being enchanted by Mike Wieringo’s covers for The Flash and Impulse. I was disappointed to find out he did not do the interiors. Marvel had him busy with Sensation Spider Man.

In fine fredlambuth.com tradition, we have talked about most anything but the subject at hand, the two seasons of the Peacemaker television series I finished watching the other day. I may not have read the 80s DC books, James Gunn probably has. The two seasons of this show, and the Superman movie, are chock full of ridiculous stuff that could be real dreck from the annals of DC Comics. I had not read enough of their stuff to say. What these new DC cinematic outings have got me to do is be interested in an era of comics I had dismissed entirely until now.

The Peacemaker is kinda shoehorned into the stuff I am interested in. The series takes a personal look into the guy who becomes the anti-hero. Or villain. My first impression of this character is that he is so obviously a villain, and the fact that he calls himself an anti-hero only makes him more villainous. What I am more interested in is the government involvement to his purpose, or for a task force like The Suicide Squad. The show quickly moves on from that idea however. I’ll have to look into those early appearances of Amanda Waller. (It would be a kick to see George H.W. Bush weighing in on government approved super hero teams. I saw in Wikipedia that he is a named character in the late 80s DC stuff.)

The show entertained me enough to pull me forward with each episode. The costumed comic book shenanigans were not what did the job. Rather, it was the R-rate Troma edge James Gunn puts into the story. There is a repugnant level of death or violence. Most of the time it is done with expert care by the film crew. It’s something to get excited for. Not only that, there are plenty of characters who actually remark on the violence in their profession. The violence is very much part of the story.

John Cena himself fits perfectly for the role. I can enjoy the novelty of seeing another actor with the same body mass as Arnold Schwarzenegger that can perform drama and comedy well. To my recollection, the number of Mr. Universe level actors of any note are narrowed down to just the two I mentioned. John Cena also is quite giving as an actor when it comes to nudity. He uses his body for the sake of acting. He sold me on his interpretation of the character in The Suicide Squad movie when he wore the tightie wighties in the jungle.

What did not interest me in this show is what does not interest me in any comic book television series. Melodrama. Stretched out episode per episode. With minimal growth of the show’s characters solving their problems. Comic books television series absolutely indulge in this, especially if they have dozens of episodes to fulfill each season. The entire second season is centered around the will-they-or-won’t-they of the main character and the hot lead actress. To me that feels like cheap TV writing. There are only eight episodes per each of The Peacemaker’s seasons, yet they resort to this?

Although a television show could now work without melodrama, or so I’m told. (I think it could, but I’m fine with sparse dialogue.) Every comic book show I tried to watch falls prey to these easy scriptwriting choices for a serialized drama. So much back and forth about feeling for one another in the crack squad of violent professionals.

On the other hand, I would say that this series overindulges in montages. It could do with some more dialogue! The first season I felt somewhat forgiving of this idea because the hair metal used in the montages became part of the story itself. That idea lost its charm when some episodes plugged in two to three. Then they became a reminder that there is not much going on in the script and could do with some cutting.

Instead of cuts, I’d like more off-the-clock scenes of these spies, agents, superheroes, supervillians, and sideline weirdos. Comic books do the super hero fights best. Sometimes a very lucky team of movie makers make a decent cinematic feature that puts together grown men in costumes fighting fantastic bad guys. What I think super heroes on camera do very well is the sideline moments. What are these people like at restaurants? When renting a car? Normal shit. I hope for more moments like this. I suppose in general for comic book television series in general. The third season of Peacemaker might be more tied up with making DC a sellable cinematic property rather than the third season of a show about a government agency using a low-life killer as a tool to perform morally gray acts of national defense.