Some thoughts about Peacemaker: Disturbing the Peace #1

What is the only way to maintain the peace?

A psychiatrist has come to the cemetary to interview Christopher Smith and the violent life he has endured but she will soon understand that there's anything but torment in him.

After being let's say, less than satisfied with the work that Robbie Thompson did with the character of Peacemaker in Suicide Squad, I wasn't particularly excited about reading more about him but considering that Garth Ennis was hired in the new book starring him, I was expecting him to deliver an unique twist about it and he certainly did.

Although I must admit that there was some fear at the back of my head that Ennis could just be repeating the work he did in Punisher with Peacemaker due to the similar backgrounds and I'm happy to say that for the most part they're very different although they keep certain similarities. Christopher Smith is presented here as a fairly cold person but unlike Frank Castle, he doesn't have any violent tendencies growing up in his soul, in fact, Christopher doesn't feel anything at all. Despite of the tragic childhood he had, that barely infuenced his personality at all, it just motivated his decisions about how to deal with the issues that were presented in his life and sadly, they were really big issues. There's something very eerie about the protagonist, something that shows him as some sort of psychopath but again and unlike any other of that type that Ennis has written about, there's no malice at all in him, just peace.

The revelations keep escalating in every page where the psychiatrist often laments learning more about Christopher's past despite that the latter keeps conforting her about how there's no problem at all, there's actually some sort of kindness in the character in a very strange manner. Speaking about the psychiatrist, this is also something different from the usual work that Ennis does due that he usually portrays shrinks as manipulative douches but the character here is actually rather nice, a bit naive in a sense but there's nothing awful about her which shows that Ennis is changing his views in a sense, maybe one day I will see him showing religion as other thing than a sin against humanity, maybe one day.

The plot offers your typical Ennis war stuff along with exploration of humanity which I think is where his writing shines the most and in that sense, he doesn't disappoint. Is a good story with interesting character work.

Garry Brown's artstyle has a rough yet detailed finish that depicts the gritty nature of the book perfectly. Solid storytelling as well.

Good read, hope to see more of Ennis soon.