Peacemaker finally has a friend: a lil pug he names Bruce Wayne. Mais sacre bleu - an evil brain in a jar called The Brain and his French-speaking gorilla henchman have kidnapped him! To get him back, Peacemaker must steal Deathstroke the Terminator’s DNA so Brain can have a badass new clone bod. And who’s coming to Peacemaker’s party on Saturday?!
Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh give DC their best book in far too long with Peacemaker Tries Hard!, a comedy/action romp that’s oodles of fun to read.
It’s Black Label so there’s swears a-plenty (Peacemaker wears a “Fuck Beam” helmet), copious drug use (meet Snowflame, a cocaine-powered supervillain!), and a great deal of very graphic violence. It doesn’t feel gratuitous though - instead it feeds into the overall silliness and only heightens the strong humour.
Because Starks basically writes his Peacemaker like Ryan Reynolds’ box office-winning Deadpool (or John Cena’s Peacemaker - I haven’t seen the show so I don’t know): a blissfully ignorant boob, oblivious for the most part that nobody likes him - except, and importantly, the audience - who’s exceptionally deadly and unstoppable. Not that that’s a bad thing even if it is derivative (as is the John Wick premise) because that’s a great character to follow and the book definitely benefits from that approach.
But it’s not just Peacemaker. Monsieur Mallah, the aforementioned intelligent gorilla, was a great addition, as was Richard the Red Bee and his faithful bee sidekick Michael, and Starks keeps the wonderfully batty characters coming like the Demolition Team (a construction worker-themed supervillain team, naturally) and Teen Deathstroke.
I really liked the scene where Waller thinks Bruce Wayne has been kidnapped and begins mobilising Task Force X before realising Peacemaker’s talking about his “fancy man” pug. Even a bartender in a middle-of-nowhere pub gets a few good moments in too. And of course there’s the concept of Peacemaker fighting a literal brain, as if the character is fighting intelligence itself in this comic!
Adding to Starks’ rich story is the brilliant Steve Pugh whose artwork sells the jokes perfectly. Best known for his work on the Mark Russell books Billionaire Island and The Flintstones reboot at DC a few years ago, Pugh’s experience of working with a talented satirist on comedic books shows in the evocative visuals throughout.
Starks adds layers to Peacemaker’s character through flashbacks to his painful childhood with one helluva shithead father, making him all the more sympathetic and likeable, as well as paying this off with an unexpected character at the end of the book. Even the Red Bee and Michael the bee of all characters have a shockingly moving coda to their story. Starks’ writing on this book is very impressive.
The story is a bit too slight for the length and it feels like it goes on longer than it should have. That and the predictable story - you know whether or not Peacemaker will rescue the dog/find true friends at last/stop The Brain - made it easy to put down after an issue or two.
Still, I was mostly entertained when I did pick it back up and I really enjoyed this one. What a surprise - not only did DC put out a great comic but it’s a Peacemaker comic too! Brilliant stuff from this excellent creative team - check out Peacemaker Tries Hard! for a good time.
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