Pick of the Week

February 15, 2012 – Peter Panzerfaust #1

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

442
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.2
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 5.4%
 
Users who pulled this comic:
Story by Kurtis J. Wiebe
Art by Tyler Jenkins

Size: 32 pages
Price: 3.50

That was easy enough. Long time readers will know I’m a sucker for World War II stories, but even I have to admit, there can be a bit too much of them from time to time. I’ve read plenty of bad WWII stories that I don’t mention along with all the ones I do. The key is to explore some other aspect of the War, from a different perspective, or bring a new twist to it. I would say Peter Panzerfaust #1 definitely accomplished that, but it also existed in the reality of the war. I was hooked almost instantly.

The ground the story covers is quite small, and if you’re looking for answers in this first issue, you’re not going to get many. But you will be introduced to a group of French orphans and a peppy American chap named Peter who seems to be a bit more than normal. If you’re like me, you’re also going to read Peter as being David Tennant, and even if that wasn’t intended, I’m totally cool with it. All you need to know is that it’s 1940, and Germany is making a mess of the French town of Calais, and the orphans are on the run, when they are helped by the mysterious and charismatic Mr. Panzerfaust. It should be noted that the Panzerfaust is a German anti-tank weapon. He also helps the boys jump a much farther distance than would seem possible. It’s obvious the Peter Pan part of the story is here, but just how isn’t exactly known yet.

What I enjoyed most about the issue was the way it was laid out, both graphically, and how the events progressed. Sometimes when it comes to warfare and action, in both comics and film, we get a series of explosions and call it a fight sequence. Such was not the case with this comic. We could track the specifics of the action, and the chase. A German tank was after the boys. We knew where they all were relative to one another, and what was happening. It was choreographed, and clear. This comes down to bother the planning in the script and the artist’s ability to clearly define these elements, and it’s harder than it seems. Because the issue wasn’t trying to cram a ton of information down our throats, as first issues often do, we could get to know the characters and situation through the action, rather than some endless inner monolog, spoon feeding us everything it can about who the main character is and all their motivations. In a few sparse words of dialog, we know Peter is looking for someone, and the boys have nowhere to be, and have to get out of town. That’s all I needed to know. Other than that, I just sat back and enjoyed the comic book craft on display.

I was unfamiliar with Tyler Jenkins prior to this story, but he’s got a lot going for him. One of the best things about Image Comics these days is the plethora of diverse artistic styles their books offer, while at the same time, we’re seeing very strong storytelling. The pages were a lot of fun, and plenty happened, but they were also sparse enough to be able to breathe. There were a few silent panels here and there, such as when they introduced the orphans, and we, as readers, were signaled to let this scene soak in, and feel some of the quiet. The figures themselves are a little exaggerated and cartoonish, but in the all the best ways. And lest you think the artist is only able to do cartoon figures, he comes in the other side with pitch perfect renderings of a wrecked French city, and spot on German Panzer tanks that Chris Weston would have approved. If this is what I have to look forward to in future issues, I cannot wait to see what is in store. On the other hand, we should take a moment to understand the massive amount of research and reference the poor guy will have to comb through. I suppose he made his bed.

If you’re looking for a jaunty boys adventure book with a vintage feel, but modern sensibilities, I can think of nothing on the comic shelves that will fill the need better than Peter Panzerfaust. After impressing anyone who read Green Wake for the last year, writer Kurtis J. Wiebe may have another critical success on his hands, and hopefully the sales that deserves. Only a few pages into this issue, I was confident I’d found my Pick of the Week, and the rest of the pages didn’t disappoint. Plus, the Disney version of Peter Pan was never so good with a Springfield rifle.

Josh Flanagan
AHROOOOO!
josh@ifanboy.com

Comments

  1. Also my pick. Well written review Josh, as always.

  2. I’ve been highly anticipating reading this book, and I’ve only found out about it earlier this week! I think I’m reaching a point where the big, imaginative and varied concepts & plots of all these Image series are getting me 10x more excited than what’s going on in certain mainstream books that can’t stop spinning their wheels in terms of story (like a certain title that rhymes with Mevengers…and Mew Mevengers). I’m highly looking forward to this and Glory, as I’m sure that one of those will surely be my favorite this week.

  3. Sorry how is Batman now POW? I mean have not read any of my comics yet however; the masses here at IFanBoy clearly show Batman as the run away this week. Again I am confused on the selection process here and I am pretty dang sure that maybe 75% have not even been to the store to get our books to read them let alone pick a POW??
    I am not trying to be a jerk I just want to know for sure; the POW is chosen by a staff member here at IFanBOy and not the total votes by the fans, right? If so thats all I need to know so I can stop commenting on this.

    K

    • its pretty straight forward. One of the 3 guys (Ron, Conor, or Josh) takes a turn and makes a pick of their favorite book of the week. Its all personal preference. Its not a user aggregated democratic thing. Those votes are more for the community and they get a nod on the show…It gets explained every time on the podcast.

    • Stop commenting. It’s based on whoever’s turn it is that week (this time, it’s Josh). The percentages don’t matter. They’re like television on a honeymoon.

    • Batman was pretty much a by the numbers superhero book if you ask me. Was it done well? sure. but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. This on the other hand? something totally fresh and new

  4. 77% Batman POW
    8% Peter POW

    Odd ain’t it??

    K

  5. If you want the community to choose their pick of the week, I don’t need to read anything. We’ve explained it a billion times. This was the best book *I* read this week. There’s no point in writing a review to validate the choices of what everyone’s already decided. That’s not what we do, and that’s not how it works.

  6. Ok you totally sold me on this….i was already leaning towards it, but i’l totally give it a shot later..

  7. I wish I liked WWII books. This looks like an interesting read, but tanks, guns, and the like just don’t get me.

    Well-written review, though. Certainly makes me want to get it. Perhaps digitally.

  8. This book is so totally different than Green Wake, which goes to show that Wiebe has got some serious writing chops.

  9. This certainly read interesting in the previews and it sounds like something up my alley. But for some reason I want to trade wait for it but I don’t know why. I mean I like WWII stories and this has gotten a lot of hype. Guess I prefer the whole story this time then in chunks. Although this review is definitely double thinking this….

    My POTW though was Batman #6. **COMMENT MODERATED** Not like #5 great, but still fucking great.

  10. Agreed, Josh. This is the line that hooked me, “Second window to the right.” Simple yet brilliant reference.

  11. After feeling pretty blah about my other books this week, I picked up Peter Panzenfaust digitally and was pleasantly surprised. This is not only my pick of the week, it singlehandedly saved my week of comics reading. Good choice, Josh.

  12. Man, I was going to get this, but my store ran out of it!!

  13. Have pretty much no interest in Peter Pan, reimagined or otherwise, so I’ll have to take your words for it. Haven’t read my books yet this week, but just judging by the covers X-Factor wins.

  14. My LCS didn’t get any of these but I ordered one and am waiting with great anticipation.

  15. My LCS didn’t order this. It made me sad in the pants. I’ve been REALLY wanting to read this since I first learned of it. Sad panda.

  16. Great review. I loved this book.

    Is it just me, or does 312 pulls seem really high for an image book on this site? It’s great if it is.

    • Depends on how your looking at it. In the last weeks Severed (496), TWD (456), Fatale (652), Thief of Thieves (481) and Chew (422) got (way) more pulls. But these are books with bigger creative teams and/or books which ran much longer and earned a solid fanbase due to their quality. So i would say for a new series without a big name and peter pan at WWII its pretty good.

    • It’s a pretty good number, actually.

  17. I remember finishing the first page and thinking, “Yep, Josh is gonna get a kick out of this.”

    It’s a really exciting mashup because I have NO idea where the guys are gonna go with this. It’s not a direct adaptation, so anything can happen. Really smart.

    • Kurtis Weibe has mentioned, if the series gets picked up to an ongoing, the appearance of an SS Captain Hook. So, that’s one place they’re going with it. And I think that’s one place we all want to go.

  18. Glad I picked this up earlier! Really like Green Wake so far, but to be honest Debris is the book I am most looking forward to from Weibe. Who knows though, this may be the best.

  19. @MaxPower, Hook is going to make his appearance in issue #3. Or at least, that’s what he said on the Don’t Miss Podcast.

  20. Good review Josh i’ll definetly pick this up. I was wondering if you (or anyone really) could recommend any other good war comics? Thanks

  21. This was a great book, I totally agree with your pick.

  22. A very fun book, 4/5 for me, but BPRD: Hell on Earth #1 was my pick, just shocked at how much i liked it. good week all in all, PPanzerfaust, BPRD, Batman & Wonder Woman were all up there for me.

  23. Seems like there’s a lot of animosity towards this pick , which I don’t get. O boy, the fact that scott snyder is writing a great bat book wasn’t confirmed for the 100 millionth time. Guess what guys? This means there is ANOTHER great comic out there for you to check out. If anything, we should all be happy that another great title is out there, for you to read along with Batman . For Your Health.

  24. Hello everyone!

    I’ve been out all day without a real chance to post up a response to the amazing support everyone has showed my new series. I wanted to thank Ifanboy for the coverage they’ve given this series and to all the fans who chatted with me over on the comments section of the series listing.

    I’m excited with the response and I hope we’ve earned some long time fans of the series so we can do this until we’ve told the entire tale. It’s an EPIC.

    And, yeah. Hook. Issue 3.

    Thanks again, to all of you!

  25. I have a question? For the ifanbase why whenever one of the guys dont pick a bat book for pow do the bat fans get bent out of shape. Its josh pick hes picked a bat or scott snyder book a million times . So if thid is his pick . Just go with it.

  26. Glad you picked this, else I would’ve probably missed it altogether. Of the 4 books I’ve read so far (including Peter Panzerfaust) every one has been followed-up with “That was pretty bad ass”. Think I’m gonna call it a week and save everything else I was gonna read for later.

  27. Great pick, Josh! I’m not through my stack yet, but so far, this has been the best thing I’ve read. People need to get over their fucking Batman lust. God forbid Josh should pick a book that wasn’t written by Scott Snyder.

    Kurtis and Tyler put out a fantastic book, and it’s only right that they should get some recognition for their hard work. Plus, I’m thankful for all the exposure Peter Panzerfaust has gotten on the website lately, and for Kurtis for taking time to actually talk to the community. Without all of that I probably would have missed out on it.

  28. Looks like a fantastic issue. I can’t wait to read it

  29. I know how we like our # 1’s round these parts. I’ma give this one a few issues and see how everyone feels about it. If it keeps up I’ll hop on after the first trade. I do like me some Dubya Dubya Two. Mmmm… Dubya.

  30. Wow, to be paid as much as you guys are by Mr. Snyder and still not make his book the potw is a sign of great disrespect. Be very careful of your next step boys, for you do not wish to draw the full focus of the Dark Lord’s fury upon yourselves. This temporary kindness granted to you should not be misconstrued as weakness. You have been warned.

  31. Again with the Nazis

  32. Avatar photo DDangelico (@DavidDangelico) says:

    I just finished reading this book and I have to say I loved it. I was on the fence with buying it–even the owner at the shop said he hadn’t read it but that a bunch of people buying.

    Needless to say it’s a really refreshing take on both the Peter Pan story and War fiction. I definitely will be picking up the next issue.

  33. This and Glory were just FANTASTIC

  34. Gah! I completely overlooked this book!!

    Wiebe has been doing some fantastic work with Green Wake, I have to pick this up!

  35. This was fun! I’m glad I this was put on my radar.

  36. Uhg I remember reading the preview pages of this in the back of an earlier morning glories issue a few moths ago and it was totally sweet, and then I heard the podcast and the advanced praise from the site and I knew I had to pick it up. Then Wednesday comes and my LCS didn’t have it at all. SO bummed I had to miss this one…for now.

  37. I’ve never read Peter Pan before (I KNOW!!!) but the cover of this series totally hooked me and I loved the book. Just wanted to ask for some clarification from someone who knows the mythology a little better. I was a bit confused by the last page. If I remember right, Peter has some sort of yell, howl, or call, but I can’t remember if it had any special power or special meaning. Can someone fill me in?

    Also, great review Josh. Made me go back and reread the issue. Really impressed by Jenkins’ ability to know when to let the panels get simple and iconic. Went a long way in conveying the hectic nature of the battlefield. It really felt like they were scrambling around and dodging bullets etc. Very clever. That takes restraint. Over-rendering a panel can be a huge problem that I think we see far too often in comics.

  38. the splash page were Peter “flew” gave me chills, so awesome! 🙂

  39. i just read the preview and am pissed that i didn’t get this. it looks like so much fun. ah well, there’s always next week .

  40. “If you’re like me, you’re also going to read Peter as being David Tennant”
    THAT’S who I was reading it like. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what voice I was doing it in

  41. Maybe a dumb nitpicky question, but I just thought of it. Is the POW percentage calculated based the total number of users, or in the number of pulls. In other words is it possible for a book with 1 pull to have a 100% rating? I ask, because then its entirely possible that Josh’s pick is actually in line with the majority of people who actually read the book. Not that it even matters, but it might demonstrate something to those that are constantly going on about how “wrong” the POW is.

    • I can’t say with 100% certainty, but it always seemed to me that the pick of the week percentage is based on the number of people who choose a certain book as pick of the week out of all the people who have selected any book as pick of the week.

      In other words, if you took the time to add up every book’s percentage at any given time, the total should come out to 100%. As more people make their picks, the numbers change.

    • I’m pretty sure you’re right. Might be interesting to see both numbers.

    • Eh, maybe. More and more frequently I find myself of the opinion that us comic book readers shouldn’t give a rip about numbers of any type.

  42. To the unanswerable question about Heist/Con books similar to THIEF OF THIEVES:

    Check out SCAM from ComixTribe also, Markosia has a book coming out later this year called THE UNDOUBTABLES.

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