We’re All Going To Die, Die Standing Up! Peter Panzerfaust #1 Review

And then he appeared from nowhere. Like he had been there all along, just… my eyes had failed to see him. He loved a grand entrance. That was Peter’s way.

Peter Panzerfaust is billed as “Red Dawn” meets “Peter Pan”… how can you not be interested in reading that?

The setting is the port city of Calais France, May 1940. The Nazi blitzkrieg is sweeping though France, Calais is falling and a quarter of a million allied soldiers are about to evacuate France at the port of Dunkirk. It is one of the darkest times of the Second World War.

Through the eyes of the “Lost Boys”, a group of teenage French orphans, we meet Peter, an “American boy in France”.  Who he is and why he’s there is a mystery, but Peter appears from nowhere, leads them to safety and asserts himself as leader of this ragtag bunch who are sure to evolve into the Wolver… I mean French Resistance.

This first issue feels very much like a jumping off point to a much larger story, where we’ll get to see the making of a legend. And this is exactly what I think we’re seeing here, the real story behind the myth. Acts of valor and bravery exaggerated over time, each telling of the story elevating the legend higher and higher.

There isn’t a lot of exposition here, or a lot of dialogue for that matter. The story is very action oriented; only stopping briefly let you catch up and drop a few hints about things to come. More than half of this book is an extended chase through the embattled streets of Calais. Along the way there are hints of strange forces at play, but no outright demonstration that there is, or will be magic involved. This is not a children’s story. There is gunplay, death, blood and execution; action has weight and consequence. Should writer Kurtis Wiebe decide to incorporate more of the free-spirit, high adventure aspects of the Peter Pan mythos, this is the perfect setting to counterpoint “Neverland”.

Tyler Jenkins’s art isn’t my cup of tea, but it is serviceable.  It is kinetic, and conveys the action and atmosphere effectively.  The palette is muted; tans and browns effectively convey the dirt and grit of war. The only real gripe I have with it is the lack of detail in some frames, one in particular, was a wide shot of the group being surprised by Germans.  While it gives impact to the surprise, the faces are completely devoid of features, they look like potato-heads with hair, and it was jarring enough to take me out of the story for a few seconds.

The ending is rather abrupt, it’s not a cliffhanger per se, but I did flip a few pages forward looking for the rest of it… which I suppose ensures that I’ll be buying the second issue. Overall, it’s setting up to be quite a story and I recommend picking it up.

WWII Nerd Gripe* = the cover shows Peter holding a Panzershrek, not a Panzerfaust. Hopefully they address that in future issues. I take my military hardware seriously dammit.