CINXE.COM

<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Peacemaker </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=332 WIDTH=300 ALT="Peacemaker in action. Artist: Pat Boyette." SRC="peacmak1.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"> <H1>THE PEACEMAKER</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic Books <BR><B>Published by:</B> Charlton Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1966 <BR><B>Creators:</B> Joe Gill (writer) and Pat Boyette (artist) <FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> <A HREF="glossary.htm#superhero">Superheroes</A> who take a principled stand for peace are few and far between in the comic book world. The entire concept is geared toward bashing and smashing, and every other form of violence. A rare exception was <A HREF="hawkdove.htm">The Dove,</A> who managed to pull it off by being contrasted with his more aggressive partner, The Hawk. One would think The Peacemaker, whose blurb  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> said he loved peace so much he was willing to fight for it, would also be an exception. But like most people who take that particular "peaceful" stand, he left a lot more corpses in his wake than did the average pacifist. <P> The Peacemaker was Christopher Smith, a career diplomat — i.e., one devoted to facilitating international relations by "other means", as Prussian military historian Carl von Clausewitz put it. When diplomacy didn't get his desired results, he put on his superhero suit, replete with relatively non-lethal weapons, and went to war. His opponents were warlords, dictators, their supporting mad scientists, etc. To his credit, he at least tried to avoid extending the conflict to the common people oppressed by his targets, unlike the way such "peace makers" generally behave in the real world, but innocent people did get damaged. <P> The hero, to the extent he was one, got his start in the back pages of <I><A href="fightin5.htm">Fightin' Five</A></I> #40, published by <A HREF="charlton.htm">Charlton Comics</A> with a cover date of November, 1966. The comic's stars were a <A HREF="blakhawk.htm">Blackhawk</A>-like organization that fought international criminals in a more overt way. After two issues, the star/second banana relationship was reversed — <I>Fightin' Five</I> ended with #41, and <I>Peacemaker</I> #1 (March, 1967) replaced it, with The Fightin' Five in its back pages. <P> The Peacemaker was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette. Gill had been Charlton's mainstay for years, co-creating, among others, <A HREF="capatom1.htm">Captain Atom</A> and <A HREF="beetle2.htm">The Blue Beetle</A> for them. He also co-created <A HREF="nukla.htm">Nukla</A> for <A HREF="dell.htm">Dell Comics.</A> Boyette also spent much of his early comic book career at Charlton, where he drew several issues of <A HREF="t-bolt.htm">Thunderbolt,</A> as well as that company's adaptations of <A HREF="king.htm">King Features</A> properties such as <A HREF="fgordon.htm">Flash Gordon</A> and <A HREF="jungljim.htm">Jungle Jim.</A> <P> The <I>Peacemaker</I> title lasted only five bimonthly issues, the final one dated November, 1967. He wasn't seen again until <A HREF="dc.htm">DC Comics</A> bought the Charlton characters. In 1988, DC made <A HREF="peacmak2.htm">Peacemaker</A> a minor but persistent part of its superhero <A HREF="glossary.htm#universe">universe.</A> <P> Before reviving him under his own name, however, DC used him as the basis for one of the characters in Alan Moore's <A HREF="glossary.htm#novel">graphic novel,</A> <I><A HREF="watchmen.htm">Watchmen,</I></A> where altered and renamed versions of Charlton heroes were players in a dystopian superhero story. There, <A href="question.htm">The Question</A> became Rorschach, <A href="nightsh2.htm">Nightshade</A> and <A HREF="phanlady.htm">Phantom Lady</A> were combined to become Silk Spectre, etc. Peacemaker was represented by The Comedian, a psychopathic murderer working for the U.S. government. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE> <P> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="google_window"> <table border="0" bgcolor="#cccccc"> <tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32"> <a href="http://www.google.com/"> <img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25gry.gif" border="0" alt="Google"></img></a> <br/> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.toonopedia.com"></input> <input type="text" name="q" size="23" maxlength="255" value=""></input> </td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <table> <tr> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value=""></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">Web</font> </td> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.toonopedia.com" checked="checked"></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">www.toonopedia.com</font> </td> </tr> </table> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"></input> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-1498877845272586"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </td></tr></table> </form>  <FONT SIZE=2><P> <A HREF="boutique/dc-arch.htm">Purchase DC Comics Archive Editions Online</A> <P><A HREF="http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?wickedcoolstuff+e2VdY2+dccomics.html+" TARGET="_blank">Purchase DC Comics Merchandise Online</A> <P></FONT></TABLE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2><I>Text ©2006-10 Donald D. Markstein. Art © Charlton Comics</I> </BODY></HTML>