Seven Peaches: The First Seven Desert Peach Episodes [Paperback]

Donna Barr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2002

The Desert Fox's Gay Brother. How ridiculous. How sublime. How biting, ironic and funny. And here are the first seven episodes, of the series that does to World War Two -- and the twentieth century -- what they need done.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Even within that rarified subset of comics called the "alternatives," the work of Donna Barr stands out as unique. -- Sean Bieri, Detroit Metrotimes

If only all fiction tried to be as honest and open-minded as The Desert Peach. -- Francois Peneaud, gaycomicslist.free

Your books are quite unique, and I'm very happy to live in a world where you exist. -- James Kochalka, Peanut Butter and Jeremy

About the Author

Drawing since 1954. Writing since 1963. Published since 1986, Donna Barr's world-renowned, award-winning books, such as "Stinz" and "Hader and The Colonel" and "Bosom Enemies," have won friends and influenced opinion among all levels of readers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: Fine Line Pr (August 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892253127
• ISBN-13: 978-1892253125
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,714,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Donna Barr is the author of the classic comics series, "The Desert Peach," following the life of the Desert Fox's fictional gay brother. She is also the author of "Stinz," about a civilized, rural centaur stallion, and "Bosom Enemies," which has been called a fable about slavery.

She is the author of such prose novels as "Permanent Party," her fictionalized memoir of life as a WAC in the early 1970's; "Bread and Swans," continuing stories of the life of The Desert Peach"; and "An Insupportable Light," the original novel that led to the "Stinz" series. It's about how wars get started when no one wants them and both sides think they're right.

All her series continue in "Afterdead," the afterlife of the Desert Peach, where all her characters meet and interact in new and amusing roles. Afterdead collections 1 and 2 are both available at Amazon.com, as are her prose novels. Robotcomics is processing all her books for use on Kindle.

Her home site is www.donnabarr.com, which leads to her webcomics and bookstores.

"Donna Barr shows herself to be one of the heralds of the forthcoming age -- doing her comicbook in such a way as to satisfy her own insight, awareness and inspiration." -- Dave Sim, Cerebus.

"That's the haken crux, (that) each character in Pfirsich Rommel's battalion is just a soldier in the field; he might be a dog-face, fed, reb, tommy, poilu -- he happens to be a kraut. These guys are not political, nor even particularly patriotic -- they're regular bewildered zchlubs, trying to survive in a situation nobody would choose.
"What we have seen so far is enough to assure us that good taste and decorum will at least be attempted, that Donna Barr will continued to show us events, through an arrangement of mirrors so elaborate that we can never know for sure at whom we are looking, never be sure at whom we are pointing when we say 'Ecce homo!'" -- Daniel Pinkwater, "Young Adult Novel"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction to not only the Desert Peach stories but also the work of Barr., January 7, 2009

By 

Gillian Daniels - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seven Peaches: The First Seven Desert Peach Episodes (Paperback)

I found this in the back of a small, friendly Manhattan comic book shop. The idea of a protagonist who is not only gay but a German soldier during World War II was strangely appealing. I bought it happily and accidentally took the wrong subway back home. I ended up in Brooklyn. I didn't mind, though. The Peach and his misadventures kept me company on the way back.

The collection of the first seven issues of the Desert Peach is funny, well-drawn, perceptive, and shrewdly written. I was hooked immediately. History, especially North American history and pop culture, have turned WWII into one-dimensional battle of good vs. evil. Blinded by the politics of the time, we forget that the Germans, especially the soldiers, were as human as the Allied forces.

The first issue is straight comedy. The Desert Peach, the fictional gay brother of the Desert Fox, forces his orderly to follow him around with a pink parasol and then manages to capture a number of English soldiers in the African desert.

My favorite of the book is probably "Is There a Nazi in the House?" in which the Peach tries desperately to find someone in his battalion who's ACTUALLY a member of Hitler's political party. The issue raises questions about morality and sanity similarly explored in "Flight of Fancy." "A Day Like Any Other" and "Spoiled Fruit" are also hilarious as they speculate about humanity and innocence.

Barr asks us not only to laugh but also to think. Purchasing this collection was a wonderful decision. I've ordered subsequent issues from Amazon.com and have grown more and more pleased with the development of the series. It all begins with this book, however.

Last night, I showed it to friends. I gushed over it as they passed the book between them. Like myself, they wondered about the flamboyant and likeable German officer having adventures during WWII. One of them, however, was soon interested. I wonder if I'll have to loan my collection to her, soon?