There but for the grace of God goes the UN

I bet whoever designed those sky-blue UN helmets for their "Peacemakers" was also behind this delightful piece of headgear for the similarly-named "Peacemaker" from DC Comics:

peacemaker-helmet

The sideways metal croissant is bad enough, but when you add in the stylized dove and the bedroom eyes, the whole thing devolves into farce. "Come hither, baby, I've got a head for peace and a body for loooooove ... " The helmet got progressively worse, as you can see from this full-body shot:

peacemaker_comic

I wonder if maybe the croissant waxes and wanes in accordance with how peaceful he's feeling. Like, when he's at home watching "The Bachelor" sipping on some Courvoisier it's all small and limp, but when (as on this cover) he's gripping a hard-barreled revolver, charging down a runway intent on blowing the crap out of some bad guys, it's all puffed up and angry.

We're still talking about his helmet, right? Right. Good.

Later, DC Comics bought the rights to the character and "updated" him so he'd be more modern which, as we all know, involves leather thigh boots and hand grenades and a mask with no nose hole:

peacemaker-3

Because nothing says "Peace" like a lovingly delivered hand grenade by a man with a variable metal helmet and leather thigh boots who can't breathe, because that's a dove on his helment y'all, and doves mean love. You can look that stuff up.

12 Responses to There but for the grace of God goes the UN

  1. Worf says:

    Oh god. It gets worse with every iteration. And is that thimble-like thing on his back supposed to make him fly? His back must be as invulnerable as Superman’s or else the first time he turns that thing on he’s going to fight… for his life at a burn ward.

  2. Worf says:

    YAY!!! First comment!!! (Probably the only 2 this thread will have too) πŸ™

  3. Worf says:

    But then again… if I carry on a conversation with myself long enough maybe someone will chime in…….

  4. Ky2030 says:

    In the final picture he looks like he is at Mardi Gras with little bang bang guns.

    From Mrs Ky2030: He looks like he is wearing a fish tank for a helmet

    Rob Leifeld didn’t make this did he?

  5. Tim K. says:

    The interesting thing is his tag line “The Man who loved peace so much he was willing to kill for it..”
    (Yeah..at least he was a cool side character in the recent Blue Beetle run–sans costume.)

  6. Ed says:

    Fun True Fact: the Peacemaker was the model for the Comedian in Watchmen.

  7. Jose Inoa says:

    I found the secret of his helmet!!

    “Becoming a particularly deadly vigilante who would kill at the slightest notice, he begins to believe that the ghosts of the people he killed, or who were killed in his vicinity, are collected inside his helmet and can offer him advice and commentary.”

  8. Cavalier says:

    I have my own theory about his helmet: he’s actually a Cyber-man! Alert Dr. Who!

  9. Xstacy says:

    Why would he want the advice of people he’s killed? Obviously, they didn’t know anything that could save them from him. And why would they want to help their killer anyway? Also, would their commentary be in any way helpful, or would they just be rooting for him to fail?

  10. EnderX says:

    Heh…
    “Peacemaker! Dodge to your left!”
    [Gets hit by the villain]
    “No, your other left!”
    Peacemaker: “Stop helping me!”

  11. Jigglypuff says:

    http://img35.imageshack.us/i/peacemakerredesign.png/

    This is the Peacemaker redesign. I do agree that the helmet on the current Peacemaker is a questionable choice. if I was the one writing the comic, I would have nerfed the helmet and went for a more sensible bandanna.

  12. Bael says:

    Wasn’t there a Johnny Quest villain named Dr. Tzin? That might explain a lot. Well, no. Nothing can explain that helmet.