I love Gwandanaland Comics. They find lost and forgotten properties that are in the public domain. Then they publish collections that a collector might never have a chance to complete otherwise. I know that if I tried to buy all of the issues that Charlton's Peacemaker, Sarge Steel and Judomaster starred in, I'd probably have to pay a couple thousand dollars in order to do it. Especially since James Gunn has made Peacemaker such a hot property with the latest Suicide Squad movie and recent HBO/Max series.
Let's start with Peacemaker. Billed as a man who is willing to fight for peace; by day, the Peacemaker is a United Nations peace envoy named Christopher Smith. But when talks break down, the ambassador utilizes his vast arsenal and makes peace happen by force as the Peacekeeper!
Peacemaker has to be one of the wildest creations in all of comics. This guy has more gadgets than Batman. But how can this guy afford it? Surely, the UN doesn't pay that good!
I really thought this book wasn't going to get any better than with Peacemaker. But then I got into the Sarge Steel stories and I was proved wrong.
With Sarge Steel, he's a former member of Army intelligence who served in Vietnam. Thanks to a run-in with a communist warlord, Steel lost his hand. Armed with a solid steel left hand, Sarge Steel now operates as a private investigator. Eventually, Sarge Steel becomes a member of the CIA. With stories full of fast cars and even faster women, this was a series that was very much in the vein of James Bond, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and the James Coburn Derek Flint movies. There was also some very heavy sprinkles of Dashiell Hammett with how Sarge Steel narrates all of his cases.
While I didn't quite understand why Sarge Steel would continuously let the dangerous dames he knew were villains stay so close to him, I was convinced that this book couldn't get any better than Sarge Steel. But then I got into the Judomaster stories and I was proved wrong again.
American GI Rip Jagger is stationed in the Pacific Campaign during World War II. On a small island off the coast of Japan, Jagger is injured. But instead of being captured by the Imperial Japanese, Jagger is rescued by island guerrillas.
These freedom fighters are masters of martial arts. And while Jagger recoups, they teach him the art of Judo, to which Rip becomes a black belt. With a color yellow and red costume, Jagger becomes the Judomaster, the US Army's secret weapon against the Axis powers.
A modernist comic book reader would probably hate these stories. They'd call Peacemaker a hypocrite or a shill for American imperialism. They'd call Sarge Steel a sexist. They'd probably flip with that one instance when Sarge backhanded a female assault victim. And with Judomaster- there would be some sort of clamor about 'white savior syndrome' or whatever it is that 21st intellectuals would deem it...
I read comic books as fan AND a historian. I know that some of the concepts are outdated. But I'm not going to chuck this book out of my collection. I very mush so did enjoy the stories. They might not have been perfect. But they entertained.
I too loved the artwork. Dick Giordano is a personal favorite. And the art of Frank McLaughlin and Pat Boyette was amazing. Some of those judo practice fight scenes from the first Judomaster story belong in a museum. They're that good!
One main reason I asked for this book for Christmas was that I wanted to see where all of these characters got their start. John Cena's portrayal of Peacemaker really piqued my interest. And I've heard rumblings that Sarge and Judomaster might be popping up in some future DC live-action projects in the near future. So I wanted to get in on their origin stories ASAP.
Yes, the Charlton Triple Threat of the late 1960s have some flaws. But so does a lot of the stuff being published in comics in the 2020s. I wanted to read these characters origin stories and that's what I got with this volume. And I loved it- warts and all!
(Gwandanaland Comics #2881-A was the economic B&W edition)
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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