Hands Of Steel!

Here is a delightful drawing of Judomaster and Tiger (along with the Smiling Skull and Blue Beetle as well) by Frank McLaughlin, the creator of the "Scarlet Smasher". He produced this gem for the Charlton Neo folks. It was printed in The Charlton Arrow #2.

The image combines elements of two of McLauglin's finest covers for Judomaster, as well a dandy cover image from Steve Ditko. 

Here is a gem of an image from 1987. Frank McLaughlin's Judomaster seems contented in this scene alongside Dick Giordano's Sarge Steel. The duo is a small part of a panorama of DC superstars from many original sources as can be seen in the fantastic poster below.

I'm lucky to have a reprint of this mighty image in The DC Vault: A Museum-A-Book which came a few years back. There's a true who's who of industry giants (both fictional and real) in this delightful image.

This month is all about Judomaster and Sarge Steel, two characters who are closely linked in the heyday of the Charlton Action-Heroes. 

But don't worry Ditko fans, as he will be getting some attention as well, as we take a look at his brief but impactful tenure at DC in the late 60's. 

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Action-Hero Figures!

The success of the Peacemaker TV show did yield some positive results for me in the toy department. I'm not a big collector of dolls, but I never thought I'd see an action figure for Peacemaker. 

The Peacemaker figure came as part of trio which also featured the purely DC hero Vigilante and the Charlton version of Judomaster. 

The Charlton Comics "Action Heroes" were purchased by DC as a present of sorts for then editor Dick Giordano who had overseen their creation (for the most part) while at Charlton. 

(Note that neither Nightshade nor Judomaster are mentioned by name on this poster.)

DC was in the midst of the infamous "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and while dusting and ordering the DCU, they decided to add in Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Nightshade, Peacemaker, Thunderbolt (for a time until they realized Pete Morisi actually owned the rights), and Judomaster. Well, Judomaster was the hardest to fit since his adventures had taken place in WWII alongside his partner Tiger. Possibly it's the costume, which is the Japanese Rising Sun, but for whatever reason Rip Jagger didn't get much play. 

(Nhut Le as Judomaster)

Then Peacemaker got a TV show and who should show up but Judomaster. He is named Rip Jagger but is not as far as I know a WWII veteran and that makes sense since the Peacemaker is a far cry from Pat Boyette's original as well. The "Judomaster" in the TV show was small in stature and wore green. Curious character and interesting enough save for the tag. 

This is the classic Judomaster as McLaughlin envisioned him. I'm not aware that this likeness has been done as a toy before. I had to snap the trio up and they rest now on my wall safely ensconced in their original packaging. (Of course.) Why they made this change (likely lack of communication) but the Dojo approves. Though the irony that it happens in a line dubbed "Super Powers" since the classic Judomaster famously has none. More on Judomaster next month. 

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Peacemaker On TV!

Part of me finds it very difficult to believe that Peacemaker has become a high profile and successful TV show. Following directly on the continuity of the second The Suicide Squad movie, Christopher Smith finds himself part of ARGUS and is sent on a mission to uncover an alien invasion by insect-like critters dubbed "Butterflies". He is assisted in this endeavor by a widely divergent team featuring a deadly femme fatale, the conflicted daughter of the cold-hearted Amanda Waller, an often-flummoxed computer tech of a certain age, a leader with more than a few secrets, and Christopher Smith's best friend, the socially awkward psychopath Vigilante. Again, this is a James Gunn production and gets over on the strength of the characterizations. In this version of events, Smith's father is a Klan leader and not a vintage Nazi, but the effect on his character is similar. 

The second series puts together the surviving members of the same team, more or less, but this time the threat is from both within ARGUS and without in the shape of alternate realities. One of these other dimensions offers Christopher Smith his ideal life, or at least he thinks that for some time until a blind spot for both Peacemaker and the audience is revealed. 

All in all, these Peacemaker TV shows are pretty darn entertaining and Peacemaker, though still ultra-violent at least begins to have an emotional range beyond levels of self-loathing and rage. I'm eager to see more. 

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Peacemaker At The Movies!

For sure The Peacemaker made his breakout from relative obscurity in the second The Suicide Squad movie helmed by James Gunn. Given that he had to compete for screen time with Harley Quinn, it's remarkable how memorable John Cena's turn as Christopher Smith was. Doubtless Cena's relative fame helped elevate the character some, but his role in the movie is controversial from my perspective. He's once again a ruthless killing machine, not unlike the character's debut in the pages of Vigilante. He's a weapon, which the government chooses to point and shoot at those with whom they'd rather not deal. Unlike his fellow Suicide Squad members, he's not at the time a convict. This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine, as I'm ashamed by its banal treatment of savage and barbaric behavior, but at the same time I am drawn in by the relatively strong character arcs. The final battle is a dream come to the screen as the original JLA baddie comes to the big screen at long last. 

The first Suicide Squad movie was a passable entertainment, but lacked focus and was so dark, both literally and thematically that it became difficult to fathom at all times. The second outing for the team was remarkable at just how brightly it lit the screen, quite literally. 

I don't know if Peacemaker's TV show was a done deal before the movie even happened, but the movie sure set the stage for Peacemaker's breakout as a more complex creation on the small screen. More on that tomorrow. 

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Peacemaker The Mini-Series

Peacemaker only ever got one mini-series in the 80's and that was a four-issue extended story which pitted him against a "Yellow Peril" villain named Tzin who commanded an army of super soldiers. In this series by Paul Kupperberg and artists Tod Smith and Pablo Marcos Christopher Smith is given a more solid footing as an anti-hero, and not just a psycho. 

We are treated to some elaborate text items in each issue which reveal Peacemaker's origins which differ from the Charlton version. He's the son of a Nazi officer and as such had quite the troubled upbringing. He was part of a prison experiment along with others and was only one of two people to survive. This treatment gave him enhanced physical skills but also a madness which presented as the ghost of his demanding and quite evil father. 

As Peacemaker makes use of his vast military arsenal to combat a small but deadly army of villains, he's given a more charitable presentation and even something of a potential love interest. His chateau doubles as his base of operations and is filled with support staff including a grumpy blind mechanic of impressive talent. 

 All in all this was a much better take on the character. He's still presented as unhinged, but still heroic. He's a man who is forced to battle demons both from without and from within. Something we can all identify with. 

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Peacemaker - Kill For Peace!

I'm very happy to see DC putting out reprints of the Charlton Comics material they inherited when they absorbed most of the Action Heroes way back in the 1980's. They've reprinted most all of the relevant Steve Ditko material, but other artists have been largely ignored. A prime example is the great Pat Boyette, who co-creation with Joe Gill, the Peacemaker finally finds a modern audience. The reputation of the Peacemaker was sullied when first Alan Moore mocked the character with the creation of the Comedian in the pages of Watchmen. Later DC took the actual Peacemaker and made him insane. The Charlton Peacemaker might be unusual and provocative, but he's far from insane. 

The Peacemaker appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it was in the pages of Vigilante that DC really broke the character, so much so that I really had little interest at the time. 

Above are Peacemaker's two cover appearances in the magazine, though he featured in many more stories. In all of them he's so off his nut that he makes the bloodthirsty Vigilante seem rather tame by comparison. Perhaps that was the point. The gritty heroes of the era were often hard to root for. Peacemaker in these issues is fully off his rocker and imagines that the ghosts of those he willfully and gleefully kills are nesting in his over-sized helmet. 

When he finally gets a limited series of his own, the madness is changed some, and he's presented as still crazy but more functional. I'll have more to say on this in a later post. 

Checkmate was the series most closely linked to Peacemaker as he became an operative for the outfit. He was more of an independent contractor but did get drawn into the larger plotlines for a time, including a period when the series crossed over with Suicide Squad. 

In the pages of Showcase 93 Peacemaker joined forces with Deathstroke and others to combat the forces of Kobra. 

It was in the pages of Eclipso that Peacemaker joined forces with other marginal DC characters to battle the dark menace. It was in these pages that he, for a time, died. But as we know death in comics is far less certain than in the real world. 

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