Christmas at Wayne Manor

Before you even start, I know! I said I would have a second Christmas post on Tuesday, but when you have to drop everything and drive your fiancee to the Apple Store on icy streets while it is snowing in order to fix her dead Macbook, I will give you a break too. (I just want to make it known that I love Vista. LOL.) Consider this an belated Christmas present. OK with that settled, on to the season at hand.

What is the first thing you think about when you hear the term "Christmas?" Family? Food? Presents? WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! The correct answer is Batman. Yep, the Caped Crusader has definitely seen his share of Christmas stories set in the DC Universe, and purely by accident, I read two of them in the last week. Let me explain. During one of my trips to the the used book store, I recently came across Batman: Ego by Darwyn Cooke. Now I assume someone sold this original version since DC has released the story in a newer hardcover edition with the other Batman stories that Cooke has written. I have always wanted to read it since Darwyn Cooke is one of my favorite creators in comics today, so as soon as I got home, I parked myself down and read it. When I started reading, I made a realization pretty quick that Ego is the Batman version of "It's A Wonderful Life." Now of course, the Dark Knight's version of the classic tale has to be darker than the original. Instead of Bruce Wayne's guardian angel teaching him about his own worth, his personal devils explore his crusade to punish the guilty and avenge the death of his parents. We all know Batman's origin, but Cooke is able to make the reader feel Wayne's loss by showing more intimate moments of his childhood like Christmas morning with his parents. Just like George Bailey, Bruce Wayne comes out of the experience stronger, and assures Commissioner Gordon with only one sentence: "I'm on my way."

Now Christmas is all about the kids so it only makes sense that DC would put out a kids comic for Christmas as well. I read Justice League Unlimited #28 which is basically a kid-friendly re-telling of Batman: Ego. I assure you I did not plan this out. I just happened to read both books only days apart. Now instead of Batman being guided through his life by his inner demons, the Flash is guided by the Phantom Stranger (a perfect stand-in for a Dickens-style Christmas ghost) so that he can understand Batman better. Much like in Ego, opening presents at Christmas is used again to show Bruce Wayne's childhood. I will admit that this story has a truly heartbreaking moment when we see Bruce Wayne's first Christmas without his parents. When he gets the one present he really wanted, he starts to play and have fun like a normal kid until he looks up and stops dead in his tracks when he sees the portrait of his parents. Flash asks the Stranger what happened and the Stranger explains that little Bruce forgot his parents "and for the briefest of moments his promise to avenge them." As an adult, that sentence just punched me in the gut. In the end though, Flash gives Batman the same toy and all is right with the world. Honestly though, Batman fans should seek this issue out for the view into his life.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas with plenty of comics in their stockings. Merry X-Mas and Happy New Year to all.

A Late 90's Christmas

It hit -7 degrees today here in Chicago so what better time to sit on the couch in some warm clothes and read comics. Not just any comics though. With Christmas less than week away, it is time to break out the egg nog and the Christmas-themed funny books. I have been saving a handful of books specifically for the Christmas season in order to get me into the holiday mood. Whenever I see Christmas or Halloween books in the quarter bins, I always grab them and put them in a special box and save them for their particular season. It works out to be a real money saver too since new issues are so overpriced. Honestly, $5.99 for a Christmas one-shot is a little outrageous. My older Christmas issues for 50 cents a piece will do just fine, thank you.

I ended up reading three hoilday specials today. The first two books I read were both special Christmas anthologies: DCU Holiday Bash III & Hellboy Christmas Special. Since I read the DC book first, I guess that is the place to start. The DCU Holiday Bash III (from 1998) is a collection of seven holiday stories set in the DC universe. It had the obligatory stories of Superman saving people with a smile on his face while Batman stays in the shadows and Wonder Woman not fully grasping the ideas behind the holiday. We have all seen stories like this either in the comics or the many DC cartoon series. Even though we get stories like this practically every year, I don't feel like I have been cheated or anything. Actually, it wouldn't be Christmas without them. It is like watching A Christmas Story. I know they show it continuously all day on TV but I watch it because it is tradition. Reading about Superman and Batman arguing about the holidays is the same thing for me; it is tradition.

The story that really got to me though was titled "Home for the Holidays." It follows some of the superpowered inmates of the DC universe on Christmas Eve, specifically Shrapnel, a C-level villian that I had never heard of before that has a body made of metal. We follow Shrapnel as he plans his escape from jail. His only reason for trying to escape is to see his daughters. Though he does have a dangerous ability, Shrapnel is just a low level thug who steals to keep food on the table for his family. The last two pages of the story just got to me when he succeeds in escaping only to get home after his daughters have fallen asleep and he can only look at them for a moment before the cops come to pick him up and bring him back to jail. Thanks a lot DC, now I feel depressed. Maybe I should move on to the other anthology I read.

Now I know Hellboy so I should have known that reading the Hellboy Christmas Special (December 1997) probably isn't the best idea when I want to pull myself out of a funk. The whole anthology dealt with Christmas horror stories. From demons to giant spiders to possessed children, this one had it all. Aside from the Hellboy story at the beginning of the book, I had never heard of any of the other properties in the book. I think that kind of prevented me from really enjoying this as much as other people since I had never heard of Steve Purcell's "Toybox" characters featured in the second story or Gary Gianni's "Corpus Monstrum" of the third story. They were solid stories but I got the feeling that they were meant for readers that were more familiar with the characters. I did really enjoy the Hellboy story though, don't get me wrong. It was classic Hellboy with some good old demon fighting. Also, I have to mention the Geof Darrow pinup in the middle of the book with a giant floating killer Santa. Now that is how you say "Merry Christmas!"

I am going to save the third book since I actually have a lot to say about it so keep an eye out Tuesday night. It will be like a early Christmas gift from me to you (and no, you can't return it.)

Random Dive #1

Originally, this week was going to be about a bunch of Marvel books, but Marvel pissed me off recently. They don't deserve free advertising right now. Paying more than full price for less than 22 pages of Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes is definitely not cool. Before I go off on a anger induced tangent not appropriate for this blog, I think I should take my mind off it and talk about something fun and as far from Marvel as possible. So, let's take a dive into the longboxes and see what I can find. I plan on making this a regular thing with just random pulls out of the boxes just to see what comes out.

Practically every person I know around my age has fond memories of a very particular block of television, the "Disney Afternoon." For two hours every weekday, Disney controlled my TV. I would run into the house after school just so I could watch Ducktales, Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers, and the others. Now when I saw Uncle Scrooge #230 and #236 sitting in a quarter bin, a wave of nostalgia came over me and I added them to the pile of books I was purchasing. Tom Katers of Around Comics once said that adults are the only people that read Uncle Scrooge anymore. Sadly, I bet it is true. They have a lot of great stories of stinginess but they are only read by old people looking for that same nostalgic feeling I had. With so many people asking about what comics are appropriate for young readers, here is some advice. Go find a couple issues of Uncle Scrooge in the quarter bin and give them to the little ones. You won't be sorry.

Next on the docket is Ambush Bug #3 written by one of the greatest writers in comics, Keith Giffen. This issue has been sitting in my collection for some time now because I was worried that I wouldn't get any of the jokes. I bought it since I had heard of Ambush Bug a little and the title of this issue was "The Ambush Bug History of the DC Universe" which sounded like fun. I've explained before that as a kid, I never really read a lot of DC comic books. Now that I have immersed myself in DC history, I thought that I would be ready for some Ambush Bug. (Plus the fact that I have really been enjoying the current Ambush Bug: Year None series didn't hurt either.) Now that I have the background to get the jokes, this issue was really hilarious. I really don't want to spoil anything since I think real DC fans should go out and find this issue. I love it when a company can take a step back and make fun of themselves. Comics are always so serious lately and having a laugh about them once in a while is always a good idea. All I can say is that seeing what Ambush Bug would look like if drawn by Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, and Frank Miller made me crack up and made this book worth all the time I have spent learning all about DC continuity.

Daydreamers #1-3

I really hate it when I don't know how to categorize something. I'm having that problem with the Marvel limited series Daydreamers. I can't decide if it goes in the "What were they thinking?" box or with the "rehashed plot device" books. Ugh, what am I to do? Well I'll make an argument for both and let you decide.

Marvel's Generation X was a very popular X-Men spin off series in the 90's featuring a new, trendy team of teenage mutants studying at Xavier's School for Gifted Mutants. Through the course of the series, the book featured a lot of characters from across the Marvel Universe coming to visit the school, some even living there for a while. These visitors included Franklin Richards (thought to be orphaned during the Onslaught mega super tie-in crossover event of the 90's that every reader still tries to forget ever happened), Leech, Artie Maddicks, Tana Nile, and last but definitely not least Howard the Duck. Now of course, whenever a motley crew like this comes together, they have to be spun off into their own series, right? Oh geez, I'm sorry. I forgot that you have to add yet another character that no one cares about like the mute swamp creature, Man-Thing. How silly of me. I am being serious people. That is the team for this book. The story goes that they find themselves hopping for universe to universe trying to find their way home after being sucked into the Nexus of All Realities. (Don't even get me started on how dumb that idea is. The central point of every dimension is in Florida? Yeah, that's safe. They can't even punch holes through ballots correctly, and you think they aren't going to mess with a hole in reality?) Honestly, it astounds me that this got through the editorial process. Who did they think this book was for? The art and comedy could be for younger readers, but some of the ideas and jokes will go right over their heads. As for the older readers, I doubt the covers will jump out to anyone and say "read me!" except for the hardcore Howard the Duck fans. Plus, the part that truly boggles my mind is that the series was written by J.M. DeMatteis, who co-wrote one of my favorite comics of all time, Justice League International. What a weird project for him to work on. His comedy is in there, but it is so watered down that it makes me think editorial did make the judgment to make the series for the kids after the fact. What it boils down is that all of the these characters could have interesting stories to tell, but when bunched together and watered down, it just does not work out.

Normally, I don't like handing out spoilers but I think I can save you all 75 cents (that is how much I paid for all three issues) when I tell you that the group was never trapped in the Nexus at all. They were inside Franklin's mind the whole time as he was trying to hide from the reality of his family's death. This is where the "rehashed plot device" comes in. How many times does this kid need to be saved from his own brain? The Fantastic Four had to do it. It happened more than once in the pages of Power Pack. Franklin's melon is a WMD just waiting to go off. And the idea of being trapped in a world you made to get away from real life....that was Star Trek: Generations! It was even called "The Nexus" in the movie as well. Do you really want another version of that movie? I did not think so. I have seen this story a few to many times for my taste and that is yet another reason why this series is in the quarter box. Oh and by the way, don't worry. The Fantastic Four were not dead. Just trapped in yet another dimension and would return a few months later unharmed and Franklin again would use his reality changing powers to preserve the universe his parents were trapped in. Like a said before though, I don't know anyone who wants to remember anything about any of that period in Marvel history.

Oh and one last thing. There is a love story between the Rigellian alien, Tana Nile, and our own Howard the Duck. Yeah, I'll let you ponder on that for a while.