The Desert Peach



"Erwin: [War] is not a game! What would you know about it? All you care about it is whether you can get the correct brand of mineral water! Pfirsich: Maybe if more people worried about the things I worry about, and less about the things you worry about, we wouldn't have all this silly war business."

In the Second World War, fighting for the Germans was a general called Erwin Rommel: "The Desert Fox". This comic isn't about him. This comic is about his fictional gay younger brother, Pfirsich Rommel: "The Desert Peach".

Pfirsich is a colonel (oberst) running a small support unit of gravediggers in the Afrika Corps. He's helped by his trusted orderly Corporal Udo Schmidt, annoyed by the Nazi-supporting Lt. Kjars Winzig and loved by his handsome fiance Rosen Kavalier.

Pfirsich's unit doesn't really fight in battle, and the Peach likes it that way. Most of the comic revolves around the interactions between the characters, the various messes they get into, and how they deal with war. The Desert Peach is notable for its incredibly human characters, who all have faults and make mistakes yet are still heartwarming and engaging. It's also one of the few works of fiction that remembers that the German Army in WWII wasn't necessarily made up of Nazis and treats all sides as human.

Originally published in print, it's now being released online (may be NSFW).

"Dobermann: They was killing kikes! and queers!! and Jehovah's Witnesses!!! I'M a Jehovah's Witness!! WHO'D WANT TO HARM A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS!!! (Cut to the rest of the squad, looking up at the sky and whistling..)"
 * And Zoidberg: With a dash of Black Comedy. Cloudcuckoolander Dobermann is back from a stint back in the Reich.

"Eddsel: "My duty demands that I point out that you have a unit that consists of NOTHING but stray puppies!" Pfirsich: "Herr Doctor, YOU have just been assigned to this unit.." Eddsel: "Woof woof Mein Herr.""
 * Anything That Moves: Rosen has been known to have sex with women too.
 * The spin-off novel Bread & Swans, implies that Rosen had only ever had sex with women until he met Pfirsich. There's a line about Pfirsich's beauty activating the part of Rosen's brain that is apparently best described as "an omnisexual monkey".
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Pfirsich is a true gentleman, unless you do something that makes him angry (such as beating up his orderly).
 * Butt Monkey: Udo.
 * Camp Gay: Pfirsich.
 * Cassandra Truth: Who was it that trashed the bar? "The old man did it!" and who was he fighting? "A Cossack!"
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Dobermann.
 * Companion Cube: Dobermann's pet Teller-mine "Fridl".
 * Cool and Unusual Punishment: Pfirsich decides the men have had too much time to cause trouble, and orders his sergeant major to come up with something to keep them busy.. The punishment? Move the ENTIRE camp exactly one meter to the right.
 * Drugs Are Bad: They cause the normally effeminate Pfirsich to act extemely macho.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Rosen Kavalier is a nickname. His real names (all three of them) are ALL embarrassing.
 * Every One Remembers the Stripper: From Issue #3 :"A Day at the Beach",  Definitely NSFW at ALL.
 * Gratuitous German: Buckets of it, mostly footnoted, some of it actually safe to repeat in polite company.
 * Ho Yay: Pfirsich and Udo (And to some extent,his fiance,Ace Luftwaffe pilot Rosen Kavalier.)
 * Jerkass: Rosen Kavalier. Handsome and dashing, and an incredible jerk. Word of God, "He's Steve Dallas in Jackboots. And he gets away with it because he's sex on a stick."
 * Jerkass Woobie: Lt. Kjars Winzig. He's a BIG jerk and an even bigger mess.
 * Multinational Team: For a German army unit, they are remarkably cosmopolitan. A French North African auxiliary, the aforementioned Cossack, the German-American P.O.W. who runs the camp newspaper..
 * Painting the Fourth Wall: An early issue starts with Pfirsich in prison and the comic in white lines on black. Then his brother shows up and rips and tears until normalcy is restored "When you're a legend, you can do anything!"
 * Pink Is for Sissies crossed with Insistent Terminology: Pfirsich's scarf is "peach-colored". Pink is "tacky".
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Bears repeating, according to the newly assigned camp medical officer/psychiatrist.


 * Scenery Censor: The first 20 or so pages of the "Surfing" story, getting increasingly ridiculous, until Udo breaks the fourth wall and calls the creator on it.
 * The Faceless: Erwin Rommel's face was constantly hidden, at least until issue #7.
 * Those Wacky Nazis: Lt. Winzig again. (Ironically, he wasn't a member of the Party because he would have had to pay dues.)
 * Even more ironically, the only Nazi in the whole unit is Udo.
 * Wronski Feint: Rosen does this to a British pilot. Justified; Rosen's in a Stuka (a dive bomber that's meant for this sort of action) and the Brit isn't.