What do you think?
Rate this book
Peacemaker 1987 #1
Peacemaker #1
The Peacemaker arrives a little too late and battles a terrorist organization on the beaches of the Riviera. But how does keeping the peace by killing truly sit with the vigilante hero?
28 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 31, 1987
4 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Paul Kupperberg
742 books53 followersPaul Kupperberg is a nearly 50-year veteran of the comic book industry as a writer and editor for DC Comics, Archie Comics, Marvel, Bongo Charlton, and many more. He is also the author of more than three dozen books of fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, as well as of short stories, articles, and essays for Crazy 8 Press, Heliosphere, Titan Books, Stone Arch Books, Rosen Publishing, Citadel Press, Pocket Books, TwoMorrows, and others.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 21, 2022
A solid, middle of the road book. If the John Cena series intrigues you, this may be worth checking out.
April 16, 2025
“I’m peacemaker…and I’ll kill to keep the peace!”
I had 0 clue how dark of a place peacemaker could be taken in his first series. Last time I saw him was in the pages of vigilante, and while that was messed up by itself and they make reference to it, he has become much worse off sense then. One thing I especially appreciate about this issue is the 3 full page written out “report” on Christopher Smith that includes conclusions from his psychiatrist. What’s crazy about his entire situation is the fantasy that the people controlling him now have put him into.
In this issue we see as Peacemaker shows up too late to a terrorist attack on a secret Russian/US meeting to discuss negotiations, only to come in and use his helicopter and weaponry to blow up the terrorists and kill all of them. The entire time he is backed up by a mysterious figure he calls Wolf who helps him control the helicopter. But here’s the thing, after he gets done killing all of them and he starts to show remorse…the voice of wolf pushes back and pushes his thoughts back down. Turns out that voice is his father…his dead father. Not only that…his dead Nazi father, who killed himself in front of Christopher on his birthday when he was outed as a Nazi and was set to face crimes. I may be getting a bit ahead of myself, as no one knows that he witnessed his father kill himself, but this is sufficient to say that Christopher “Schmidt” is very mentally disturbed. Last time we saw him he even believed that all the victims of terrorists and the terrorists he killed himself lived inside his helmet and talked to him. According the report at the end of this issue, the organization that picked him up, in the pages of vigilante, fixed this issue and tried to replace his conditioning with the maid/secret psychiatrist at his compound. But the thing she is quick to point out in her findings…is that Christopher faces most of his stress in the field when she is not there. That’s why I believe, unknown to them, he has replaced the voices keeping him going, with the voice of his father.
I just mentioned that his maid is a secret psychiatrist, but the same goes for his entire team. His mechanic, butler, and even his girlfriend all work for the organization. His girlfriend especially is his handler and claims to know him the best, all out there to try and guide him…and now they can’t get him off the scent of these terrorists trying to attack secret Russian/US talks.
What’s interesting is that in this issue Christopher’s handler ended up heading out to have a talk with Harry Stein, I assume with his new role he is in charge of their operation a bit, and she was able to give him all the details about Christopher and his life. Obviously after almost getting killed by him, Harry doesn’t want this to continue and would rather see peacemaker locked up and shut down. His story is simple enough and I’ve talked about most of it. His father was Austrian, his mother American, and his father built a wealthy industry. Then it was revealed he was a Nazi, Christopher’s life was uprooted when his father milled himself and when he suddenly found himself in the states, he wasn’t the happy outspoken kid he was before and became more of a bully. Later in his life he joined the military and was shipped to Vietnam where he was charged with life for the slaughter of a village. Later on a project peacemaker was started and found exactly the type of easily manipulated super solider they needed in Christopher, but through the bustle of changing presidential administrations the project was shut down and Christopher walked free with a new obsession in his head. He later popped up running his father’s companies with new equipment. Now calling himself peacemaker he was praised for killing terrorists, allowing him to push down his bloodlust and conscious.
So what does Stein want him for? Turns out Christopher may not need to divert his obsession from the terrorist stacks, as they have a criminal mastermind named Dr. Tzin-Tzin that connects back to this that I assume they need taken out. Near Greece there is a small island that is a training ground for killers and is run by this doctor. It’s basically like the movie bloodsport with a secret place for killers to train. It’s so secret that when they found a spy, and the doctor used his powers to compel the truth out of him, they killed him and the entire group he came with so there would be no risk to them. Seems they have some much. Uber plans with selling terrorist across the globe, and there seems to be another spy already within the ranks.
As the issue comes to a close we get another good snapshot into Christopher and his obsessions as he ignores everyone else and becomes solely focused on finding anything her can about these terrorists. At the end of this issue he gets a ping and finds an active news report about the terrorists striking again, he doesn’t waste any time and loads up into his fighter jet to go after them immediately. But feel like I can’t even begin to describe how well written and psychological troubled Christopher is. The report from his psychiatrist at the end does an exceptional job at showing this, with talk of Christopher committing that slaughter in Vietnam and being locked up in some attempt to face the punishment his father escaped through suicide, but ultimately it all boils down to one simple fact…Christopher should not be in the field and it may take years to make him acceptable for normal society.
I had 0 clue how dark of a place peacemaker could be taken in his first series. Last time I saw him was in the pages of vigilante, and while that was messed up by itself and they make reference to it, he has become much worse off sense then. One thing I especially appreciate about this issue is the 3 full page written out “report” on Christopher Smith that includes conclusions from his psychiatrist. What’s crazy about his entire situation is the fantasy that the people controlling him now have put him into.
In this issue we see as Peacemaker shows up too late to a terrorist attack on a secret Russian/US meeting to discuss negotiations, only to come in and use his helicopter and weaponry to blow up the terrorists and kill all of them. The entire time he is backed up by a mysterious figure he calls Wolf who helps him control the helicopter. But here’s the thing, after he gets done killing all of them and he starts to show remorse…the voice of wolf pushes back and pushes his thoughts back down. Turns out that voice is his father…his dead father. Not only that…his dead Nazi father, who killed himself in front of Christopher on his birthday when he was outed as a Nazi and was set to face crimes. I may be getting a bit ahead of myself, as no one knows that he witnessed his father kill himself, but this is sufficient to say that Christopher “Schmidt” is very mentally disturbed. Last time we saw him he even believed that all the victims of terrorists and the terrorists he killed himself lived inside his helmet and talked to him. According the report at the end of this issue, the organization that picked him up, in the pages of vigilante, fixed this issue and tried to replace his conditioning with the maid/secret psychiatrist at his compound. But the thing she is quick to point out in her findings…is that Christopher faces most of his stress in the field when she is not there. That’s why I believe, unknown to them, he has replaced the voices keeping him going, with the voice of his father.
I just mentioned that his maid is a secret psychiatrist, but the same goes for his entire team. His mechanic, butler, and even his girlfriend all work for the organization. His girlfriend especially is his handler and claims to know him the best, all out there to try and guide him…and now they can’t get him off the scent of these terrorists trying to attack secret Russian/US talks.
What’s interesting is that in this issue Christopher’s handler ended up heading out to have a talk with Harry Stein, I assume with his new role he is in charge of their operation a bit, and she was able to give him all the details about Christopher and his life. Obviously after almost getting killed by him, Harry doesn’t want this to continue and would rather see peacemaker locked up and shut down. His story is simple enough and I’ve talked about most of it. His father was Austrian, his mother American, and his father built a wealthy industry. Then it was revealed he was a Nazi, Christopher’s life was uprooted when his father milled himself and when he suddenly found himself in the states, he wasn’t the happy outspoken kid he was before and became more of a bully. Later in his life he joined the military and was shipped to Vietnam where he was charged with life for the slaughter of a village. Later on a project peacemaker was started and found exactly the type of easily manipulated super solider they needed in Christopher, but through the bustle of changing presidential administrations the project was shut down and Christopher walked free with a new obsession in his head. He later popped up running his father’s companies with new equipment. Now calling himself peacemaker he was praised for killing terrorists, allowing him to push down his bloodlust and conscious.
So what does Stein want him for? Turns out Christopher may not need to divert his obsession from the terrorist stacks, as they have a criminal mastermind named Dr. Tzin-Tzin that connects back to this that I assume they need taken out. Near Greece there is a small island that is a training ground for killers and is run by this doctor. It’s basically like the movie bloodsport with a secret place for killers to train. It’s so secret that when they found a spy, and the doctor used his powers to compel the truth out of him, they killed him and the entire group he came with so there would be no risk to them. Seems they have some much. Uber plans with selling terrorist across the globe, and there seems to be another spy already within the ranks.
As the issue comes to a close we get another good snapshot into Christopher and his obsessions as he ignores everyone else and becomes solely focused on finding anything her can about these terrorists. At the end of this issue he gets a ping and finds an active news report about the terrorists striking again, he doesn’t waste any time and loads up into his fighter jet to go after them immediately. But feel like I can’t even begin to describe how well written and psychological troubled Christopher is. The report from his psychiatrist at the end does an exceptional job at showing this, with talk of Christopher committing that slaughter in Vietnam and being locked up in some attempt to face the punishment his father escaped through suicide, but ultimately it all boils down to one simple fact…Christopher should not be in the field and it may take years to make him acceptable for normal society.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2025
Peacemaker #1 is a DC Comics issue written by Paul Kupperberg, art by Tod Smith, and colors by Gene D’Angelo. It is cover dated January 1988.
Christopher Smith grew up with an overly controlling and verbally abusive father who was a racist World War II German commanding officer. Christopher witnessed his father’s suicide at a young age which scarred him for life and lead to a troubled upbringing. Trying to find a purpose in life, he turned to the military for structure. But the Vietnam War only brought out Christopher’s violent tendencies where he was eventually court-martialed for his crimes.
Smith was a talented soldier, so officials nominated him for a new military program of advanced soldiers named The Peacemaker Force. Due to Nixon’s resignation, the program was shuttered before it could even take off but that didn’t stop Christopher from taking what he learned - and a lot of military resources - to become the vigilante known as Peacemaker. Haunted by his own past, Peacemaker envisions a world at peace by any means necessary.
Somehow Peacemaker's origins are even more dark and tragic than the TV show counterpart. Most of that is due to the comic taking a serious approach at the topic and not the often comedic route the show takes. The comic definitely has that over-the-top 80s feel that action titles had at the time. While I’m not blown away by the exposition heavy first issue, I’m intrigued enough to keep reading and learn more about this deeply conflicted character.
Christopher Smith grew up with an overly controlling and verbally abusive father who was a racist World War II German commanding officer. Christopher witnessed his father’s suicide at a young age which scarred him for life and lead to a troubled upbringing. Trying to find a purpose in life, he turned to the military for structure. But the Vietnam War only brought out Christopher’s violent tendencies where he was eventually court-martialed for his crimes.
Smith was a talented soldier, so officials nominated him for a new military program of advanced soldiers named The Peacemaker Force. Due to Nixon’s resignation, the program was shuttered before it could even take off but that didn’t stop Christopher from taking what he learned - and a lot of military resources - to become the vigilante known as Peacemaker. Haunted by his own past, Peacemaker envisions a world at peace by any means necessary.
Somehow Peacemaker's origins are even more dark and tragic than the TV show counterpart. Most of that is due to the comic taking a serious approach at the topic and not the often comedic route the show takes. The comic definitely has that over-the-top 80s feel that action titles had at the time. While I’m not blown away by the exposition heavy first issue, I’m intrigued enough to keep reading and learn more about this deeply conflicted character.
January 13, 2022
I admire the color work at least.
February 4, 2022
It’s good, fun action.
July 21, 2024
If you enjoy the tv show ……..then…..some reading is good
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews