Star Wars Adventures, Vol. 7: Pomp and Circumstance

Another trio of stories set in differing parts of the Star Wars Universe. 

The best story has Princess Leia about to conduct some diplomatic business for the Rebellion. However, due to a rough landing, the Princess cannot conduct the deal. Thus, it's up to Luke Skywalker to conduct the talks in hopes of securing an important flow of trade. However, one of the hosting diplomats has been skimming from the royal family's coffers and doesn't wish to end the lucrative trade they've set up with the Empire. 

This story was great because it's so unexpected. With Luke having to play diplomat, he's a total fish out of water. Seeing him have the rug pulled out from under him by that conniving bureaucrat is kinda hilarious. Especially with C-3PO involved. 

The Han Solo and Chewbacca story stars the Alden Ehrenreich version of the character. Maybe that's why the story wasn't quite as good. The baddie in the story looked familiar. But I don't think he's the same one that I'm thinking of. This other guy was an Inquisitor. Maybe they're both the same species?

Poe Dameron and BB-8 star in the last story. They've both crash landed on a jungle-like planet full of savage natives. Things are about to look grim when a young humanoid comes to their aid. I feel like the lad in the story has popped up somewhere else in the Star Wars Universe. Maybe from a prose novel or something like that?

This volume was rather unusual as I don't recall there being any Wild Space stories. Did these 3 issues not come with the back-up features? Or were they omitted from this collection? If so, will those stories pop up in another volume of this series? I'm rather interested to know.

Two very good stories with a Solo story that was just as confusing and indulgent as the live-action film that it was based on. Could have been so much better. But you can't fake poor quality. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Star Wars Adventures, Vol. 5: Mechanical Mayhem

This collection of Star Wars Adventures issues is all about droids!

The classic duo of C-3PO and R2-D2 are the heroes of the main stories. The first tale is set during the Clone Wars where Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amadala are hoping to get a little bit of me time together during a diplomatic message. However, it turns out to be a Separatist plot with an array of droids holding the Jedi and Senator from Naboo hostage. 

Then in a story set during Age of Rebellion, Artoo has a suspicion that a droid aboard ship with him is an Imperial spy. With Threepio out of service and the rest of the Rebellion crew unable to speak droid language, Artoo must unmask the sabateur alone.

The Tales From Wild Space Stories involved IG-88, Max Rebo and Mace Windu. The artwork of the Max Rebo story was highly detailed. The Mace Windu story was the best with the Jedi helping a young boy survive Separatists. As for the IG-88 story, I cannot remember at all what happened. 

A good read. Full of all-age Star Wars fun by talent such as Elsa Charretier (The Department of Truth), Nick Brokenshire (Dead Seas) and Mauricet (Dastardly & Muttley). It just wasn't full of 100% memorable material.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge

I had such success and fun with the 2022 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge, I've decided to do it again. I think the type of stories and genres I read were much more diverse and eclectic. I think that was the point of such a challenge. 

The rules haven't really changed:

1. I must read 50 graphic novels or comic books. The only exception is #50, which does involve reading a prose work of non-fiction about comic book history. These criteria can be completed in any order. I do not have to start at #1 and work my way down to 50.

2. I might read a book that fits multiple criteria. But I can only use 1 criteria per book. For example, I might read Star Wars #1 which from the year I was born (1977). As that year was 45 years ago, this book could also count as being one that is more than 20 years old. It's up to me to choose which criteria I mark off.

3. Once a criteria is selected, it's off the board. I cannot go back and switch criteria. For example, if I marked off Star Wars #1 as being a book more than 20 years old from my list, I can't go back and switch it to the book that was when I was born just because I am having trouble finding other comics/graphic novels from the greatest year ever!

4. I must write a review of the book in order to receive full credit. Those reviews will be listed as being part of the reading challenge. Every month I will post the challenge list to show my progress. 

5. Finally, I have until midnight, December 31st to complete my readings. That final review must be posted by January 4th, 2024 since life could get in the way. In a year that has seen power outages, cancelled flights and unexpected sicknesses, a couple days grace to complete the last review is probably not such a bad idea.

DC League of Super-Pets

Thank you once again to HBOMax for doing a free preview on Dish. Because of it, I got to see DC League of Super-Pets for free! This 2022 CGI-animated film stars the voice talents of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Kevin Hart, Keanu Reeves, and Kate McKinnon. 

Superman has a best friend- Krypto, the Super-Pup (WWE's Dwayne Johnson). Since coming to earth together as children, Superman and Krypto grew up having each others' backs against foes such as Brainiac. Now that Lois Lane is in the picture, Superman's affections have focused more on romance instead of the bromance between a boy and his dog. 

While this is happening, arch-enemy Lex Luthor has been doing animal experiments with various colors of Kryptonite in order to become super-powered as the Man of Steel. His latest find, Orange Kryptonite does imbue others with amazing powers. Only, the space rock only works on animals.

One of Lex's test subjects, a guinea pig named Lulu (SNL's Kate McKinnon), has gained amazing mental powers as well as telekinesis. And she's been able to do what Lex has never been able to accomplish: she's captured not just Superman, but the entire Justice League!

Krypto attempts to rescue his owner. Unfortunately, Lulu poisoned Krypto with a small dose of Kryptonite. Instead of killing him, it's taken away the alien pooch's powers. Now Krypto must rely on a group of misfit strays who also received super powers from the Orange Kryptonite to save the Justice League! Can the Last Dog of Krypton create a League of Super-Pets out of this bunch of unlikely heroes?

This film was extremely cute. It had a star-studded voice cast and was smartly written. But above all, it managed to pay tribute to 80 years of DC Comics legend and lore. For example, when Superman gets ready to do something heroic, you get a few notes of John Williams' 1978 score from the Christopher Reeve film. There's a ton of Easter eggs such as street ads in Metropolis that advertise Jonah Hex Western wear. Plus, the ability of the characters to laugh at themselves was just brilliant.

I felt like Dwayne Johnson is a student of DC Comics. I know that he's got his own vision of what DC should be like and it's kinda butting heads with James Gunn. But you know, I really think the two should get together and really map out two universes for the DC cinematic universe. James Gunn should get the more edgier stuff like Suicide Squad and Batman. Give Dwayne Johnson the family stuff like this and Shazam! I really feel like both have the fans interests at heart. It's only that I don't think James Gunn can do family friendly and The Rock is just not as dark as he thinks Black Adam should be. 

I'm seeing reports that more of the League of Super-Pets is on the horizon and I really hope that James Gunn's appointment as the new head of DC films and streaming doesn't ruin plans for more kid friendly films such as this. If DC (and Marvel) are going to survive, you've got to capture the next generation. This movie is a great start. But Warner Bros. really shouldn't give up on this. I want to see more DC stuff for families. Because DC is better when it's more light and family oriented. Save the grit for the Marvel Universe.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. 

DC League of Super-Pets: The Great Mxy-Up (Family Comic Friday)

This all-new original graphic novel takes place immediately after the events of the 2022 animated film starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Kevin Hart. The Justice League is slowly adjusting to all having become pet owners. While the heroes are doing a fantastic job of team-working with their powerful pets, the Justice League still likes to conduct business cloistered away from the animals. The heroes have even rigged the main conference room of the Hall of Justice to not accept pets!

The Fifth dimensional imp, Mr. Mxyzptlk, sees this injustice and decides to have a little fun at the Justice League's expense. After a little bit of mischief, Mxy turns all of the human heroes into animals. Superman is now the Parrot of Steel. The Dark Knight has become the Wombat-Man. Now with the amenities of the Hall of Justice working against them, the Justice League has got to team with the League of Super-Pets in order to stop Mr. Mxyzptlk from reeking continual havoc on the people of Earth; even if that means teaming up with a old enemy...

This was a brilliantly made graphic novel done entirely in the essence of the full-length animated film. If DC decided to make 'The Great Mxy-Up' the plot of the inevitable Super-Pets sequel, I would be 100% okay with this. Though I would have Mr. Mxyzptlk take things to the next level and turn Krpyto, Ace and the rest of the pets into humans. I think it would be hilarious to have Krypto looking like The Rock and to see tiny little Kevin Hart barely fitting into the costume of the Batman. 

Plus, such a change would keep things from being completely like this book. 

I'm also hoping that this isn't the end of the Super-Pets in graphic novel form. I really enjoyed this book. Though I wish I had read this AFTER seeing the movie instead of the other way around. I did miss out on a couple of things that weren't really explained unless you had already seen DC League of Super-Pets. For instance, I didn't know Merton was a female turtle until I was about 80% through this book. Also, there are a few plot point surprises from the movie that get spoiled if you read this graphic novel first.

However, if the young reader in your life is in love with DC League of Super-Pets and they love reading, then you must get them this book! It's about 150 pages long and has a full, rich vocabulary that is perfect for those in grades 2nd-5th. Plus, the action is more heroics than violent encounters as Mxy likes to stir up trouble in order to make Superman and his pals have to sweat instead of hurt people needlessly. 

Lots of fun involving a fan-favorite character that really gets portrayed perfectly. I guess it's hard to portray an inter-dimensional sprite on series TV without spending a ton of cash on special effects. But if this does become the plot for Super-Pets 2, I really think Warner Bros. and DC Comics could pull it off.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The New Archies #3

If I buy a comic book with a holiday themed cover, I expect the material within to be related to either Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving and nowadays Kwanzaa. If I get a book made up of several short stories, like something from Archie Comics, I expect all of the stories to be holiday themed. Though I've changed that a little bit to allow for a story set during the season in which the holidays occur. Thus, if it's not a Christmas caper, then the story had better be during a Winter wonderland. 

There are 4 stories in this issue. 3 are set during Christmas. The first story has Archie working as a grocery clerk during Riverdale Middle School's Winter break. During this time, Archie catches a shoplifter and learns an important lesson- while shoplifting is wrong, not everybody who steals is a bad person as the thief is a young boy taking food to feed him and his mom who just lost her job. 

Story #2 has Eugene (The New Archies version of Dilton) trying to find the right present for his girlfriend Amani. However, every time the lad thinks he's found the right gift, Eugene gets buyers remorse for not having anything left to donate for people in need. Girlfriend Amani is having the same dilemma. But a Gift of the Magi-like solution might make it a Merry Christmas for all parties involved. 

Story #3 is a classic Archie scenario. The annual Christmas dance is coming up. Who will Archie take to the party: Betty or Veronica? The solution was pretty sweet and a bit sentimental. 

The fourth story was not Christmas set. But it does occur during Winter time, so I was okay with it. Archie is challenged by Reggie to a snowmobile race. Typically, Reggie cheats as Archie overcomes. And the winner is... Just because this is a 30 year old comic book, you don't think I'm going to spoil it do you? Let's just say that if you read the story, you'll know who wins way before the official fires the starting gun!

There's a 2-page gag included in this issue. It's not festive at all. But when it comes to Archie material, I'm okay with that. Not every joke can have a Christmas-themed punchline. Plus, I understand that the inclusion of these gags are often as filler to meet the required minimum number of pages for print. 

Overall, the book got me in the holiday mood and it met a lot of my requirements. Also- this issue features a funny and extremely wordy cover by Henry Scarpelli. Very well crafted, even if there were a few Archie typical cliches running throughout the book.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

The Batman

Thanks to a free preview weekend of HBO/Cinemax, I'm catching up on a few movies I missed in 2022. First up is Matt Reeves' The Batman. 

There was a lot of push back on casting Robert 'Twilight' Pattinson as Batman. But he did a decent job. I don't think he was the best to have ever donned the cowl and cape. However, he was a heck of a lot better than George Clooney and Val Kilmer. With Pattinson, I thought his Bruce Wayne was far better than his Dark Knight. I think if we could have took Christian Bale's Batman and used Pattinson's Bruce Wayne, we would have had a perfect character here.

Jeffrey Wright's (Casino Royale) take on Jim Gordon was by far one of the best ever. Probably only Gary Oldman's version was better and that's just because of how epic Oldman is as an actor. I've heard that a GCPD series is being developed and if Jeffrey Wright is going to be on this, playing a major role, I very much might need to sign up for HBOMax. 

Speaking of the GCPD, it was refreshing to have a Batman movie that was more driven by mystery than action. A mysterious serial killer calling himself The Riddler is systematically killing corrupt members of Gotham City government. When this killer begins sending personalized calling cards to the Batman, the GCPD is forced to work mano a mano with the masked vigilante on this case. 

Other than on the 1966 series, I don't think I've ever encountered a live action version of Batman in which the Dark Knight is on scene in public working with police officers and detectives to solve crimes. Christopher Nolan's trilogy tried to accomplish this but there was a lot more subterfuge involved in all that. It was a refreshing change to see these corrupt Gotham City cops getting freaked out by the presence of an amateur sleuth dressed as a bat, operating in front of all of them.

When this film does dip its toe into action packed waters, I get bored. There was this very unnecessary scene in which the Penguin is being chased on a Gotham freeway by the Bat and the carnage was just gratuitous. Like 7 semis explode and you know a lot of folks died from that destruction and yet Batman doesn't seem to have any remorse over that. 

Kudos however to the actor and make-up team behind The Penguin. I learned in the credits that Cobblepot was played by Colin Farrell and I was stunned. He looks and sounds nothing like Farrell has in any of the few films I have seen him in like 2003's Daredevil. When I realized just who was under all that makeup, you could have knocked me over with a feather. It's that good of a transformation.

Another great transformation is that of Zoe Kravitz (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) as Seline Kyle. In Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, Selina is portrayed as a light-skinned black woman with short bangs. Well, chalk another mark up for the make-up department as Kravitz's Catwoman looks like she was Miller's artwork come to life. 

I'm seeing on Wikipedia that Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) hopes to make a trilogy with the Pattinson Batman and that part 2 is currently in some sort of pre-production mode. Even though this wasn't my favorite Batman film, I definitely want to see more if only for another mystery. Batman is a detective you know. But it might be how Jim Gordon rises the ranks to police commissioner that I find more interesting than what Bat-tinson does...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Ghostbusters: Past, Present and Future #1

One of the richest men in the world is annually tormented by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Unwilling to change his wicked ways (because he loves being filthy stinkin' rich), the modern day Scrooge hires the Ghostbusters for their most lucrative bust ever! With a chance to net $4 million dollars, Ray, Peter, Egon and Winston will work Christmas Eve to capture these iconic ghosts. However, none of the Ghostbusters have clue just how dangerous these holiday spirits truly are!

I really enjoyed this take on Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I don't think I can have enough of that holiday trope. It's just so fun getting to see how characters celebrated Christmas in the past and I like seeing what the holidays could be like. But I do feel that writer Rob Williams (Project Superpowers) and artist Diego Jourdan (Astro Boy The Movie: Official Movie Prequel) missed a big opportunity for some fun Easter eggs.

Bill Murray, who played the ever so snarky Peter Venkman in the Ghostbuster films, also played Frank Cross in the 1988 Richard Donner holiday classic Scrooged. So peppering in some cameos from one of two of the characters from that movie would have been hysterically brilliant. Sadly, it just doesn't happen.

Alas, I feel like IDW wasn't allowed to utilize the likenesses of the actors in the films. There's one panel that occurs in the Christmas future where an older Venkman looked like an elderly Bill Murray. Other than that, you really can't tell the difference between Ray and Peter as the both look alike. This makes me wonder if that's why Egon wears these weird goggles that allow him to look at things on the ghost spectrum throughout this entire book. Without that differentiating eye wear, maybe readers would have had real trouble figuring out which plain looking white guy Ghsotbuster is which. 

There's a bit of a mystery here. As I was reading this book, my mind kinda touched on a solution to that mystery, but I dismissed it. So when the twist pops up, I was quite surprised. And maybe kicking myself a little for being so close and yet so far... At least the answer to the mystery wasn't Gozer!

A very festive story. A great use of a very common holiday plotline. Some missing chances to pay tribute to other holiday classics. The artwork of the 3 main Caucasian characters was bland and kinda cookie-cutter. But the amazing writing and the great representations of the spooks saved the day here!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Giggle Comics #49

This was a fun and exciting look at Americana, 1947. With a total of 5 stories in this issue, 2 were set at Christmas. I'm not complaining about this one because I truly thought I'd be lucky if only 1 story was holiday themed. Heck, I was afraid that this was gonna be a Scrooge issue with only a seasonally themed cover. I consider myself quite lucky with what I got!

The cover story starring the baby dressed SuperKatt was perhaps the most outdated story of the entire lot. One of the main characters is named Petunia. She's the black maid to Superkatt's owner, Junior. With stereotyped large red lips and very poor English, I'm imagining any sort of mass produced reprint of the Superkatt stories by Hanna-Barbera studios' Dan Gordon under the pen name of Dang, just wouldn't happen today due to outcry and fervor. 

This is the first time I encountered the character of Superkatt. Thus I didn't know of the racist portrayal of African Americans in this comic. And no- this isn't why I thought this issue was fun and exciting. The exciting part was seeing all the old ads like that of a candy making set bearing the name and likeness of child actress Margaret O'Brien (Meet Me In St. Louis) and a back page ad for a Slinky knock-off called Mr. Walker. The second Christmas themed story was responsible in large part for the fun.

Christmas Story #2 starred a character called Spencer Spook. He's lighthearted just as Casper is and he doesn't want to scare anybody. But instead of a child, Spencer is the ghost of Jimmy Durante or someone similar. In this hilarious take on Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Spencer is obligated to haunt the people of the house in which he dwells. There's just nothing in the rule book that says Spencer has to scare those folks. So Spencer decides to take the family of livings on a tour of Christmases past, present and future- with disastrous effect! 

I actually have the holiday issue from the short-lived Ace Comics revival of the character titled The Adventures of Spencer Spook. I thought that Spencer was just a lesser known indy comic character that was mostly forgotten. I did not know that the character was from the 1940s. I'm guessing my issue from 1987 came about from the character probably entering the public domain or something to that effect. Or it might have been a reprint only title. But it was really neat to read a book that was new to me and yet has a character in which I am previously familiar. 

The 3 non-seasonal stories are funny animal stories of characters that again, I am not familiar with at all. There was a Pogo-type story set in a swamp where a singing frog is driving all the other characters crazy. That one sorta reminded me of Michigan J. Frog a little bit. Another story had a character getting all the good luck he could ever ask for while his pal just seems to have a black cloud over his head throughout the whole story. Then, there's a pair of animal hobos (a wolf and a hare) that take a nice blue coat from a scarecrow only to have the character come to life and chase them all over the nearby farm for the stolen garment.

I think that last story might have been the best. There was a distinct quality to the book. It felt like something I could see Carl Barks coming up with. And I will laugh my freakin' head off if it turns out he did. Great twist to the story and definitely something I would want to read again. 

Unfortunately, this 70 year plus old comic is too fragile for me to read again. The cover was barely staying on and I had a devil of a time trying to get it back into the protective sleeve without damaging it again. However, if the money was right, I might find myself willing to buy another Christmas or other holiday themed issue of Giggle Comics. Sure, Superkatt was terribly offensive in its portrayal of minorities. Sadly, that was the nature of the industry back then. But there were some other good stories, awesome ads, and the trio of prose stories required for this publication to meet first class mail shipping standards were pretty decent as well.

Definitely a time capsule of the time period of the good, the bad and the ugly. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 25

Well, we made it again through another Advent to another Christmas. If you were good this year, then you experienced a visit from Santa. Based on the weather this year, it's more than likely that the Jolly Old Fat Man needed to use the services of a certain ruby schnoz caribou. In honor of that possibility, let's wrap things up with a look at ornaments based on the Rankin-Bass 1964 stop-motion special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

First up in this 1987 ornament from Kurt Adler. This ornament is made of wood and that just really seems out of place since most of the baubles made from the manufacturer are of glass. There's a pull string that when pulled raises Rudolph's ears. I've owned one of these ornaments since I was 10. Sadly, one of the ears is broken. But if I can ever figure out how to fix it, you can be assured I will!

Next up is the Hallmark ornament of misfit elf Hermie astride good ole' Rudolph. There's an interesting fan theory about Hermie going around and I think it's got quite a bit of merit. See, Hermie doesn't have pointed ears like the other elves. I think he's really Santa's son and he hates having to follow in dad's footsteps. Thus in order to rebel, Hermie dreams of becoming a dentist. 

Speaking of Hermie's possible pop, I really like the Jim Shore ornament of Santa taking some of the Misfit Toys on to their new homes. As for favorite Misfit Toy ornaments, I like this one of the cowboy riding an ostrich. I don't understand why this one is a Misfit. I've read that some cowboys in Australia ride ostriches. So I just think that this toy was accidentally shipped to the States instead of where he belonged: store shelves in Brisbane.

In honor of Rudolph and Hermie's partner, Yukon Cornelius, I like this felt ornament found on Etsy. I've heard that in a now deleted scene, the reason Yukon keeps licking his pick axe isn't because he's got some sure fire way to locate gold. The prospector is actually searching for a vein of peppermint! 

Then we've got this 2016 Hallmark ornament of the Bumble. From the looks of things, he's taken to his new job as official Christmas Tree Topper of the North Pole. But he still needs some training on putting up the lights! There's just one problem though- I thought Hermie had pulled out all of the Bumble's teeth. What is he doing with chompers on this decoration?

Finally, I pay tribute to the great Burl Ives with this Sam the Snowman ornament. I like that the body is a bell. Pretty clever and adds to the festive charm.

We've got just enough time for one last DIY ornament. Although, you might have to go to the beach to do this one. You will need 2 medium size clam shells. 6 small pistachio shells, paint of the colors brown, light blonde, black, white, pink and red, 2 paperclips, string and hot glue. 

First of all, hot glue 2 pistachio shells on each clam shell to represent ears. Then take another shell, turned sideways and positioned on the clam shell to represent a snoot, hot glue. On the back of the clam shell, hot glue a paperclip in which a small loop shows from atop the head. Once dry, use the picture below as a painting template. Once dried, tie a piece of string through the paperclip loop and form a loop in order to hang through a branch on your tree.

DC's Grifter Got Run Over By a Reindeer

This year's giant-sized holiday annual from the folks at DC Comics seems to hit the right notes- literally! All 8 stories are titled after popular Christmas carols. And for the most part, DC got things right.

I've always said that DC is better when it's trying to be light and fun as opposed to going the Marvel route, which is realistic, dark and gritty. All 8 stories were great. But there was one that just wasn't holiday themed. 

The story titled 'Silent Night' was a brilliant story in which Granny Goodness has unleashed a series of satellites that has changed the brainwaves of the population of Earth. Instead of free speech, all anyone can say is the word 'Darkseid.' Turns out anytime someone says the ruler of Apokolips' name, the verbal praise gives energy to Darkseid's beloved Anti-Life Equation. Starring Black Canary and John Constantine, this was a great story that I could see being turned into a 5 or 6 issue long miniseries. But gosh darn it, despite the title, nothing had to do with Christmas. 

A majority of the stories were freakin' hilarious romps. The Superman/Wonder Woman crossover in which some poor guy with a head injury mistakes Krypto as a demonic reindeer, Harley Quinn meeting her Bit-Mite equivalent and title star Grifter getting the Li'l Gotham treatment from Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen and playing Grinch to the DC Trinity were all laugh out loud riots. 

The more serious stories were quite good. Maybe not as great as those more off-the-wall stories but I enjoyed them. Plus, the cover of former Wildstorm wild man Grifter actually getting run over by a Harley Quinn driven reindeer was great!

The past couple of holiday specials have gotten better- Halloween and Valentines included. I think DC is learning that alienating it's fan base through constant Trump references and trying to be relevant at the sake of quality storytelling and artwork is what has allowed the House that Superman Built to crumble. Not everyone can be Marvel Comics and when I read DC Comics, I want the type of stories DC was known for. This is more like those DC holiday specials I grew up with and I love it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Little Archie #180

The thing about that was so striking about Little Archie was how incredibly dark this title could be. On several occasions, Archie and his pals have been kidnapped, pistol whipped, held hostage, punched, you name it. And this is supposed to be the kid friendly title!

And yet, I love it! 

I don't know why. But I LOVE Little Archie. Maybe it's because of the more adult situations that occurred. I wasn't being talked down to by the writers. With the classic Archie, everything is very saccharine. Things are more goofy and lighthearted with the teenaged version of Archie. I mean, I can't recall a time when somebody tried to kill high school aged Archie in a non-crossover classic story. Yet, it seemed like every other issue that someone has Little Archie or one of his friends in their crosshairs. This just happens to be one of those issues where nobody is out for Little Archie's blood.

In the cover story, it's Christmas Eve! Something is making a clatter on Little Archie's roof. Only it's not Santa but an alien in a UFO. The extraterrestrial is lost and needs directions. In order to communicate, the alien gives Little Archie a special helmet. Once on his way, the UFO allows Archie to keep the special headwear and holiday mayhem explodes as the device allows the tyke to read everybody's mind!

The secondary cover story stars Little Sabrina. Actually, the focus is on Salem, Sabrina's pet and feline familiar. With the holidays approaching, Salem is missing his family and thus plans to spend Christmas with them. Only, Salem's reunion isn't quite as inviting as the kitty had expected...

There's a third story in this book that is not holiday themed. When big bully Fangs ruins Jughead's lunch of burgers and shakes, Little Juggie snaps and knocks the villain's lights out! This stunning event leads Principal Weatherbee to draft Jughead onto the Riverdale Elementary boxing team. But Juggie's an eater, not a fighter!

First of all, what elementary school has a boxing team? I could see Riverdale High having a boxing team. The Jr. High, maybe. But not a school of 4th and 5th graders!

Then there's Salem. In this issue, Salem is reddish/orange. In the teenage comic version of Sabrina, he's black. 90s TV show, subsequent cartoon and  2010's Netflix series- all black. Is this a one-time oops? Or is Little Salem always this off-color? I'm eager to find out the answer. I just won't be able to find out in the pages of issue #181. This issue was the last of the series.

It's a great issue starring Little Archie and friends. Nowhere near as violent as some issues have been. But I felt that that pull no punches sort of attitude that has permeated the world of Little Archie is still in this book. Maybe not turned to an 11. But that's okay. It is supposed to be a Christmas issue. Plus, a special appearance by L'il Jinx! with a couple of one-page gags!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 24

It's Christmas Eve. Thus I think it's only fitting that I am devoting today's Advent to the world of Peanuts. Charles Schulz' Peanuts is a pop culture franchise that has the rare distinction of being something that my Grandmama, Grandmother and Mom had at least 1 ornament of which on their trees. 

My Grandmama had this satin ball ornament from Hallmark. It's dated 1979 and is for a grandson. That was me! I still own this ornament and treasure it very much. My Grandmother loved to paint wooden ornaments and she had at least 2 of the ornaments displayed here. She had ornaments of both Snoopy and Woodstock in stockings. I think she also had one of Snoopy sitting on his doghouse. But I don't see that ornament. Maybe I imagined it. As for my Mom, I remember this PVC ornament of Snoopy using his food dish as a sled hanging from our tree. It's something we picked up in the late 80s or early 90s. I think it came included with a specially marked box of Whitman's chocolates.

Then we've got an ornament that I vaguely recall somebody in my family owning. I just can't put my finger on who. It's this late 1970s rubber ornament of Linus and Snoopy. I seem to recall Linus' hair being fuzzy. And the fact that Linus is sitting on Snoopy when usually it's the beagle giving the youngster fits as Snoopy really wants that blanket is just so hysterical to me.

Looking at ornaments not owned by my family, first up is this adorable 3-D ornament depicting the final scene of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas had up until this year been an annual tradition in my family. But Tim Cook and Apple decided to become Scrooges and made it to where you can only watch the special on AppleTV. Supposedly tonight and tomorrow, families can watch the show for free. But I haven't a clue how to do that and I really don't feel like creating an account with AppleTV and having to share my personal information. So the next best thing will be this ornament I found on Pintrest, I guess.

Fun Fact- though they are depicted in this ornament, Franklin, Marcy and Peppermint Patty were not in the holiday special as none of them had been created by Charles Schulz just yet.

Another annual holiday tradition is getting to hear 1967's Snoopy's Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen. This holiday follow up to Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron is just such a fun story mixed into a catchy little ditty. Thankfully, Apple doesn't own the rights to this song and I got to hear it the other day in my car. The song is based on Snoopy's pretend play that he's a World War I flying ace in the comic strip. In honor of all this, I share this 2016 ornament that technically isn't Christmas. Instead, it's a Hallmark Halloween ornament as this scene is based on the 1966 Peanuts special It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Hey, nothing says you can't hang Halloween stuff on your Christmas tree...

I wanna go back to looking at a vintage Peanuts ornament for a moment. When I was looking for that Grandson ornament, I ran across several globe ornaments from Hallmark's early days at producing tree decorations. My favorite is this early 1980s globe made of glass. It shows Snoopy acting as Santa with Woodstock and several of his bird friends leading the sleigh over Charlie Brown's neighborhood.

I'm also a big fan of this late 90s ornament. I just can't determine who the manufacturer is. It depicts Charlie Brown going to Lucy for gift ideas instead of psychiatric help for the price of 1 nickel. You can be sure that all the gift ideas Lucy is giving Charlie Brown are all things she wants!

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On the craft made front, my favorite is this ceramic ornament of Snoopy, Woodstock and Charlie Brown in festive attire. I wonder if the Christmas tree behind them is that magical fir from the holiday special. 

And now for the DIY ornament. For this one, you will need yellow paint, a black puffy paint pen, a wooden disc ornament and some type of ribbon. First up, paint the disc yellow. When it dries, use the puffy paint pen and create a zig-zag pattern like on Charlie Brown's shirt. Unlike in the image above, I recommend making the zig-zag a little bit more thicker but don't be afraid to be a little sloppy as that was Schulz's style. When the black paint is dry, tie a ribbon loop through the hole of the ornament and hang on your tree to give it a touch of Peanuts class!

Archie Giant Series #219

My childhood dentist used to give you a free comic book at the end of your visit. Based on what he had to offer, my favorite selection were the Archie Digests as they were huge. And if you could get your hands on a Little Archie Digest, you were golden! 

One of the highlights were the Li'l Jinx stories that were peppered in. At the time, I didn't know that the digests were primarily, if not entirely reprints. As I had never run across a Li'l Jinx led comic book before, I thought that you'd only find Li'l Jinx in the pages of Little Archie Digest. Just this year I learned I was wrong!

Li'l Jinx debuted in Pep Comics way back in 1947. She then appeared in her own comic way back in 1956 before it became Little Archie. A small revival in the early 70s of a short-lived Giant series called Li'l Jinx Giant Laugh-Out ran for about a dozen issues. Yet in nearly 45 years of collecting, I've not once ever come across a Li'l Jinx title. Since that was the case, I never ventured out to see if there were Li'l Jinx books out there. But this year, I decided to really organize my comic book collection and discovered the existence of this book.

Just as DC had Showcase Presents to test out potential new titles, Archie Comics had the Archie Giant Series. Along with some holiday one-shots, the publisher would try out a variety of titles on a semi-regular series to gauge if interest in a new series was there with the general public. Li'l Jinx was one of those properties that was tested out. Obviously, there was some smattering of interest as a Li'l Jinx feature was released a couple of times yearly as part of the Archie Giant Series for a span of most of the 70s. There just never seemed to be enough popularity to bring Li'l Jinx back in a self-titled series.

Most of the stories in this issue are either Christmas themed or set during Winter. Most are one-page gags or brief 2-to-3-pages that are essentially wind ups to a very lengthy joke. Compared to Little Archie, the hi-jinx of Li'l Jinx and her friends are rather elementary. And I love it. But it's the opening tale that has me most intrigued, if not despondent.

One of Jinx's friends, the selfish rich girl Gigi, mentions that she has two mommies and two daddies and that she can't decide which set to spend her Christmas with. This issue was published in 1974 and I am just amazed how divorce is actually tackled somewhat in a kids book for the time period. Yes, the words divorce and remarriage are never uttered in this story and the extra parental units are not referred to as step-mom or step-dad. Yet for a book aimed at audiences I'd say of ages 7-12, the subject matter was groundbreaking stuff. 

Sadly for Gigi, both sets of parents are too busy to return home for the holidays. Thus, Gigi is going to have to spend Christmas with her servants. That is until Li'l Jinx saves the day and invites the spoiled little rich girl to her home for Christmas fun. Still, to have a child abandoned at Christmas, having to spend it with the maids and butler, just seems like child neglect today. Yet in the early 1970s, it seems like nobody batted an eye.

An interesting look at how family dynamics have both changed and stayed the same over the course of nearly 50 years. It's rather tragic. While it might seem out of place, I can recall several other TV shows and films that have lonely, if not flat out abandoned kids at Christmas. What the heck was Hollywood and us as the viewing public thinking?

Thankfully, the majority of this issue is much more cheerful and nostalgic. But it just doesn't make up for there being such a sad story at the beginning of this mostly Christmas themed comic.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 23

I made a change on my Advent. Game Day decision I guess you could call it. I just felt that I was omitting a pop culture franchise that really represents Christmas to me- Scooby-Doo! I'm going to do things opposite today and give you my Advent present first. 

See when I was little, I used to have this really cool Christmas record that I would listen to religiously as a tyke every year. Titled Scooby-Doo and Friends: Exciting Christmas Stories, this LP from 1978 had 2 full-length mysteries. On the A side, the gang had to solve the mystery of the missing Santa as the guy hired to play Kris Kringle for a bunch of orphans is nowhere to be found. Then on the B side, the Mystery Inc. gang head to the North Pole to help Santa as someone has stolen all the presents and kidnapped all of the elves! Add in some holiday tunes and the original cast voices of Frank Welker and Casey Kasem, I really thought that this album was the soundtrack to an animated Scooby-Doo special. It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned that wasn't the case. 

The first story was my favorite of the two. So as my gift for Day 23, I am sharing with you 'The Mystery of the Missing Santa' in its entirety. It runs about 15 minutes. Be sure to turn the lights down low and snuggle it to set the mood for this festive mystery.

Enjoy!

What Child Is This?: A Sherlock Holmes Christmas Adventure by Bonnie Macbird

With illustrations by the incomparable Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows, Harley Quinn), I really thought that this was a graphic novel. Without doing any further research, I promptly ordered this through Amazon with trade credit and awaited to spend the holidays with the master detective. Imagine my disappointment when this package arrived and inside was a novel! Only a few pages were graphic and most of those pages were of small trifling items like a bottle of booze and as gas light. 

I thought about it long and hard. Do I return this? It's clearly not what I wanted. But I do love me some Sherlock Holmes. And a little bit of Frank Cho artwork is better than no Frank Cho at all. Plus the book is only 225 pages and it's set during Christmas. Thus I decided I will read me another prose novel this year!

Sherlock Holmes and trusty Watson are tasked with solving 2 mysteries; both involving sons. A nobleman asks the sleuth to locate his son who has gone missing in time for Christmas dinner. Then when a young child is nearly kidnapped in broad daylight in the streets of London, Sherlock takes it upon himself to find the would-be abductor and to determine why.

I can't really go too much into the specifics of these cases; least I spoil the book. This book debuted just a few months ago and it's just too new to ruin it for you. Needless to say, I actually figured out both mysteries in this book ahead of time and that's rare for me when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. True, those original mysteries were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But to say I figured things out was also in no way a slight towards Bonnie Macbird. 

Macbird's version of Holmes is just as inviting as the original. The only difference is that while Macbird's Dr. Watson, the story's narrator, is just as loquacious and poetic in his descriptions, this book isn't filled with Victorian era vocabulary and old-dated Londoner terms that would require me pulling out the dictionary to decipher. Though the author may not have intended it, I very much can envision Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as the main characters of this story as I read it. 

I enjoyed this book very much- despite not being a graphic novel. I enjoyed it so much that after the holidays, I'm going to order the first book in the Bonnie Macbird series. I'm looking forward to a return to Victorian London and with Mrs. Macbird as my guide, I'm rather confident that I shall not get lost.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Green Lantern #36

Hal Jordan rejoins his brothers to celebrate Christmas. 

Wait a minute! I thought Hal Jordan was Jewish! In 2016, it was revealed that Hal's dad was Catholic and mom was Jewish. This issue took place in 1993. So technically, when Hal was converted in the pages of Justice League: The Darkseid War: Green Lantern #1, nothing altered the possibility that the Jordan family could have celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah. It's possible that that year's Festival of Lights had ended days prior and so when Hal was able to come home, it was for Christmas festivities only. 

This issue has a lot of other things going on that I wasn't really aware of. For one thing, Doctor Light had at one point died and as a sort of passive aggressive punishment, was turned into a wave of light by a demon. Then for some reason, Hal Jordan no longer works for Ferris Air and has become a taxi pilot. Now Hal has always been flighty when it comes to working at Ferris as he keeps leaving and returning. But now Carol Ferris is no longer with the company and is instead working for Hal's small business. That sort of career move doesn't make any sense to me. Obviously, a lot transpired in the issues prior. 

That's a real problem with holiday issues that occur in the pages of a regular non-humor series. There always seems to be a lot of talk about past problems that had transpired in the last couple of issues. And if you aren't a regular reader of those books, you're often in the dark trying to understand what happened. 

This sort of thing doesn't deter me from wanting to own holiday themed comics. But it does move me to lower my rating as I feel that books that take place during Christmas, Halloween or even St. Swithin's Day, should be self-contained because these type of issues have generally been the introductory pieces for comic collectors. I can't tell you the number of posts I see on social media of fans pointing to a holiday themed book being what got them into reading and collecting comics. Sure, this issue is nearly 30 years old and there's nothing that can be done to fix it. However, this is definitely a lesson that all comic book publishers should learn from going forward.

Festive. Adventuresome. But full of drama that really doesn't help move the story along very much without confusing the casual reader.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 22

Just to be clear, Muppets from The Muppets Show are different from those Muppets from Sesame Street. Thus, it's perfectly fine day I've got a day devoted to those more mature Muppets after having spent some time with the gang from Sesame Street on Day 20. 

Of the Muppets from both shows, only Kermit the Frog has regularly appeared on both shows. When on Sesame Street, for the most part, Kermit is an intrepid reporter who often gets into sticky situations. On The Muppet Show, Kermit is the stage manager of the vaudevillian type review. Naturally, I've got to start my look at Muppet ornaments with Kermit. I chose this glass ornament from Target. It's got Kermit wearing a festive Santa hat. But what I love the most about this ornament is how amazing those points on his frock looks. 

My favorite incarnation of the Muppets were when they were toddlers. The animated Muppet Babies cartoon series aired on CBS from 1984-1991 for an impressive 107 episodes. I'm also a big fan of the Star Comics adaptation of the show. Trying to get all 26 issues of the Marvel imprint series is on my massive comic book wish list. To honor the Muppet Babies, I selected this 7 piece rubber foam set available on Amazon. There's a purple penguin included in the set. I don't remember her. She must be from the 2018 reboot that aired on Disney Junior.

I love the oddball characters of The Muppet Show. I feel terrible that nobody thinks Fozzie is all that funny and I just love how weird Gonzo is. For Fozzie, I chose another rubberized foam style ornament. This one has the comedian hopefully holding his hat, just begging that people find him hilarious- which I do. For Gonzo, I selected a 2008 Gold Crown exclusive magic ornament. It has Gonzo about be shot out of his signature cannon and if you press a hidden button, you hear Gonzo's spiel that he does getting ready for his stunt. 

Next up is the Swedish Chef. As a Chef myself, I'm awfully fond of the character. I love how nothing ever seems to go right for him, like when he tried to cook some lobsters and they held him hostage! Hilarious and captured forever in this 2014 ornament from Hallmark. 

Speaking on Hallmark, time to go back in time. I remembered that my Grandmama had a couple of Muppets ornaments on her tree. So I went hunting. I found several vintage editions. But this 1982 satin ball ornament was the only one I remembered. The plastic sleeve around the globe shows the Muppets having their annual holiday party. With just about every character imaginable including Miss Piggy and Kermit's nephew Robin, I spent hours studying this scene. Wish I had one to call my own.

I'm sharing this ornament of Sam the Eagle from Tagotee in honor of my wife. When she gets indignant, she furrows her brow and it reminds me so much of the patriotic Muppet. I love it when she gets madder that I'll egg her on to exclaim Sam's catch phrase, 'What Is Wrong With America?', as she looks even more like him when I do!

On the Etsy front, I really like this painted wooden ornament. The seller has several ornaments using the same medium boasting scenes from 1992's A Muppet Christmas Carol. My favorite of the bunch is this one in which someone accidentally set Rizzo the Rat's tail on fire. I think the goof was made by Gonzo. Can't remember. But it was a great memory made into an ornament. Honorable Mention- this adorable ornament during the opening song Scrooge depicting this family of poor hungry Meeses... Don't worry- Scrooge gave them some cheese after his Christmas night transformation!

And no look at Muppet ornaments would be complete without a one starring those ornery elderly hecklers Statler and Waldorf. In this 2014 Hallmark ornament, the pair are seated in their balcony chairs. With the push of a hidden button, some of the duos best insults are issued. 

We've got a DIY ornament today for you. To make your owner Beaker (Dr. Honeydew's clumsy lab assistant), you will need 1 toilet paper tube, 3 Styrofoam balls, pink paint, black sharpie marker, orange yarn, scissors, hot glue and some white and silver duct tape.

To make this ornament, paint the tube and 1 ball pink. Use the marker to make eyeballs on the remaining 2 balls. When dry, hot glue the eyes and nose on to the tube. Also, draw a sad frown underneath the nose with the marker. Using the white duct tape, wrap about 1 inch of it to the bottom of the tube. Try to fold some ends to look like a lab coat. Then using silver duct tape, fashion the top of a neck tie in the middle. Lastly, hot glue the yarn coming from the top of Beaker's head wildly. With a couple of pieces, don't forget to make a loop in order to hang this creative trinket from the limb of your holiday tree.