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.
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