Charlton's Peacemaker did not debut in his own title, but began life in the final two issues of Fightin' 5. Here are the details of that debut story.
Fightin' 5 #40 is dated November 1966. The lead story is titled "The Agents of D.E.A.T.H." written by Joe Gill with art by the team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache. The back up for this comic was the debut of The Peacemaker, a new hero written by Joe Gill and drawn by Pat Boyette.
The debut story is titled "Introducing: The Peacemaker" and we meet on the splash both out hero and his alter ego Christopher Smith, a weapons maker, a government envoy, and a man of peace. We first meet Smith as he's boarding a plane to fly to Geneva for an arms conference. On his mind are tensions in South America being provoked by a man named Emil Bork, a man who agitates conflict to develop markets for his weapons. After landing Smith is being driven to the conference when his limousine comes under attack directed by Bork himself. Agents attempt to steal Smith's attache case but deadly gas forestalls that plan. Smith and his female companion recover as Bork escapes. At the embassy dinner later that evening Smith is introduced to Bork and the men exchange barbs but maintain civility.
Smith realizes that legal channels will not be enough to stop Bork so he slips into a secret basement storage area where are kept some of his most potent weapons. He dons the garb of the Peacemaker, actually light armor. He uses his jet pack to fly to intercept Bork's next operation to kidnap members of the peace commission and arrives in time. After battling several thugs successfully Peacemaker must use the laser beam in his helmet to defeat the final thug, forcing him to reveal Bork's location which it turns out is in the air in a bomber. Peacemaker intercepts the bomber but Bork fires a missle which explodes near Peacemaker knocking him out of the sky.
Fightin' 5 #41 is dated January, 1967. The lead story titled "Monster from the Abyss" is written again by Joe Gill and Montes and Bache are back on the art. The Peacemaker back-up story though is again written by Joe Gill and drawn by Pat Boyette.
The story titled "The War Peddler" picks up with Peacemaker falling out of the sky having gotten too close to an exploding missile during his attempts to stop a malicious weapons maker named Emil Bork. While Bork escapes in his bomber, Peacemaker falls but at the last possible moment recovers and gets his jet pack to fire saving his life. Later in the U-X a secret jet airplane Christopher Smith leaves Europe and flies to South America using a secret C.I.A. landing strip. He again confronts Bork at a dinner, this one held by President Lecoyo who is entertaining Bork, but who is about to be betrayed by him. Smith and Bork again exchange barbs but Bork proceeds with his plan, which calls for the American embassy to be attacked. This causes Smith to confront Bork who orders him shot as he escapes in a helicopter. Smith avoids the bullets and becomes Peacemaker again having brought the necessary equipment and uniform in his attache case.
He flies to intercept Bork's forces, a private army which will trigger responses from both sides and uses nerve gas to paralyze them. Bork orders atomic missles be fired on the capitol cities, insuring a war. Four missiles race for their targets and Peacemaker is able to intercept three using his laser to melt their casings and allowing the radioactive material in the warheads to dissipate harmlessly. He then takes control and directs the fourth missile to home in on Bork's plane and blows the villain from the sky. The story closes as Christopher Smith boards a plane and heads home.
These were the last two issues of Fightin' 5, but that's not the end of Peacemaker of course.
The irony inherent in the Peacemaker strip is all too obvious. It's basic premise is one that few people would disagree with, that military strength can create zones of peace if correctly leveraged. But Christopher Smith in this story is clearly a man of paradox. He creates incredibly lethal weapons but constantly claims to act in the name of peace. He is not hesitant to kill his enemies on the battlefield, and in the course of this story uses a host of weapons including both nuclear and chemical agents to gain his ends. There is a grit and a focus to his mission which make him compelling at times. But there is also a high mindedness to Peacemaker that makes him easy to lampoon, and I can only assume this is why DC has had such a difficult time finding a role for the character, playing him as an overt madman at times.
More to come.
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