The Peacemaker #2 is dated May, 1967. Again we have three stories, two featuring the Peacemaker. Again I assume these were stories produced originally as back ups for the defunct Fightin' 5 comic and now are gathered under The Peacemaker title. Pat Boyette is on the art chores for the lead feature as well as the excellent cover. Joe Gill is the writer of all the stories though there is no credit in the comic.
"The Survivors" is the first story and begins with Christopher Smith inspecting a uranium processing complex in an Balkanesque unnamed country. He notes that guards are posted and their weapons are pointed at the source of the uranium, a mine opening. He investigates adn soon finds himself under attack by mysterious pale beings who don't appear to have faces. They know who Smith is and the leader named Beel shows Smith a vast underground city. It seems these are the slave laborers who worked in the mine, and who have been transformed by the radioactivity they had to endure. Further they discovered this lost city and some awesome weapons with which they plan to overwhelm their former masters and invade the upper world. They will also used a strange power to changed their appearance and Beel changes to look like Christopher Smith. Smith takes a chance to escape becomes Peacemaker but is soon captured and caged. As he watches the former slaves transform into lookalikes for the leaders of the world. Peacemaker uses a bomb to free himself and he stops their underground mole machine with his powerful helmet laser. It explodes and sets off a chain reaction in the cave due to its peculiar reflective nature. The entire underground domain explodes as Peacemaker flies back to the surface, and destroys the dangerous mine.
"Peacemaker Patter" gives us a look at two creators, two bios written by the subjects. First is a bio and photo of the ubiquitous Joe Gill written with a great deal of deprecating humor. My favorite involves the "generous" nature of Charlton. Ernie Bache writes his own bio and also provides a picture. There is a note that the next issue of Peacemaker will feature a full-length story, and that his origin will soon be addressed. Also a shout-out by editor Dick Giordano is given for the new Blue Beetle book.
"The Ultimatum" is the second Peacemaker story and begins with Christopher Smith delivering a warning to Premier Gekk, a corrupt leader in Central Asia, building a vast military force. Smith along with his secretary return to their chalet and Smith reports and urges that military action be anticipated against Gekk's forces. During a parade intended to show military strength Gekk reveals his vast and swift air fleet armed with great cannons which fires atomic shells. Smith becomes Peacemaker and flies to his own experimental aircraft and flies into the sky to intercept Gekk's forces. His jet's greater speed proves superior and he destroys several of the enemy planes and causes the balance of the attacking force to fly into their own base destroying the threat. He then uses a non-deadly nerve gas to disable the balance of Gekk's ground troops.
The Fightin' 5 are back in a story with no title, drawn by the team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache, that picks up some time after the events of the previous adventure which resulted in the disabling of Hank Hennessey and the death of Irv "The Nerve". The remaining member (Tom Tom, French the Fox, and Granite) discuss events with leader Hennessey who now has one arm and wears an eye patch, and has become a desk jockey. They use a computer to select the replacement for Irv and surprisingly the choice is Sonya the Soviet agent who helped in the last adventure. They are suspicious, but can only follow orders as the team heads into the north to investigate a Communist installation which seems to pose a threat. They investigate using air packs but soon are captured. It appears that Sonya betrayed them and they feel vindicated if annoyed at that turn of events. But Sonya is merely pretending and helps the team to escape and destroy the base before flying back to home base. Nonetheless the others plan to watch her closely.
This issue also has another great house ad, prominently featuring the Peacemaker in a pose taken from the debut issue.
Peacemaker really comes across as a one-man army in this issue, especially the second story. The impassive way that Boyette draws Christopher Smith makes him rather reflective and more than a bit spooky. Boyette reportedly did not like to do superheroes, finding the slug fests boring to draw. In Peacemaker he doesn't do much in the way of hand-to-hand but instead has Peacemaker use some very high tech to dominate his enemies. That laser is proving to be very potent.
This comic was reprinted in the late 70's under the Modern imprint.
More to come.
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