The Bakers: This is the brain-child of Eisner Award winner Kyle Baker (Plastic Man.) His series The Bakers is loosely based on the antics of his four children, his wife Liz, and himself. When I've read old issues of The Bakers, I feel like I'm reading a cartoon version of the Cosby Show. The kids try to outsmart stay-at-home dad, Kyle, especially when he's pressed for a deadline, while Mom is a career woman who loves her husband and kids, even if their all a little crazy.
Jingle Belle: The daughter of Santa Claus and star of several one-shot annual holiday tales. She's the creation of Paul Dini, the creative genius behind Batman: The Animated Series and the Justice League series. Jingle looks like a giant elf and she's often seen giving her dad fits as she'd rather be a glamour star instead of the next Kris Kringle.
So we've meet everyone involved. Let's get started.
This one-shot published by Dark Horse Comics has Jingle Belle forced to assist her father on Christmas Eve. At the same time, Mom and Dad Baker need to do some last minute Christmas shopping and are in desperate need of a sitter. Somehow Belle is accidently sent to the Baker household and winds up watching the baby Bakers. Hilarity ensues when Papa Claus is chased by police as a prowler in a red suit when he goes searching through the Bakers neighborhood for his errant daughter.
I choose this book for my final holiday Family Comic Friday review of the 2014 season because both series are really funny and fun for children of all ages. The Bakers is cross between a family sitcom and a hipper version of the Family Circus. Jingle Belle, while obviously drawn with a little sex appeal, is reminiscent of those classic claymation holiday specials we've all grown-up watching, such as Rudolph and 'The Year Without a Santa Claus.' Sadly, both series are currently defunct. But I've found The Bakers in several library collections and both titles and their numerous volumes can be found in bargain bins and online for reasonable prices.
There's very little to object to in this one shot and it's participants' respective series. The only thing I don't agree with is how Santa curses- a lot! "#$%!" is often how his outbursts are portrayed, but I don't think he should do that. He's not a bad Santa. He's just flummoxed by the generation gap between him and his ultra-cool daughter.
Creatively, the story was very funny. Paul Dini provided the script while Kyle Baker drew and inked. The Baker family also contributed as co-plotters. I would've like this book to have been 48-pages instead of 32. That way, there could've been a small back-up feature where Baker wrote a Christmas follow-up and we could've seen Dini's wonderful art. Unfortunately, the only art of Dini's we get to see is a team-up collaboration the cover, where Dini draws Jingle Belle and Baker fills in the rest of the page.
This is a heart-warming Christmas special that could very well become a holiday tradition of yours as it's going to become one of mine.
Worth Consuming.
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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