Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Generation X #4

I've read this issue before. But it's such a Christmas classic that when I finally located an issue, I immediately put it in my read pile to read it again.

The main story is that while members of the Xavier School are out for a holiday field trip, they come across a hostage situation. Readings indicate that there is a mutant involved somehow and it's believed that the disfigured lad holding his teacher and classmates is what is causing sensors to go wild. However, in a twist, it's not the boy, though mutated he may look, that is the dangerous mutant on the scene. Instead, it's a character nobody really suspected and I'm not sure very many readers even know who the foe is. New costume notwithstanding...

Indicating that humans with deformities might make them looked upon as freaks in the eyes of society, but it doesn't make them mutants, is a poignant addition to X-Men lore. It had been, and still is debated, that birth defects should make humans into mutants in the Marvel Universe. Yet, this issue clearly states that those humans who might look different from the rest of society, while are not mutants, are classified as such and it's a tragedy that they get lost in the cracks. Mutants have groups like the X-Men to turn to for protection. Who do those with Dome Syndrome or Multiple Sclerosis have? 

While this 1995 issue is indeed thought provoking, it's not the writing of this story, by Marvel mutant veteran, Scott Lobdell, that makes this issue a classic. It's the artwork by Chris Bachalo. Almost every page oozes Christmas. There's an elf narrator throughout the book. His words are presented like scrolls of lost holiday lore. Panels of jingle bells and other holiday icons fill the borders between panels and pages. Not a single inch of space is wasted. It's like a classic TV Christmas special that I don't want to end.

Many, including myself, erroneously think that the title of this book is the 'Generation X Holiday Spectacular' and that this is the 4th edition. I've wasted several hours trying to find issues 1-3 to no success. No, this is 4th issue of the 1st volume of Generation X, which ran from 1994-2001. Adding to the confusion if you're trying to compete the run of this series, Generation X would be temporarily cancelled to make way for Generation NeXt, a 4-issue miniseries tie-in to the 'Age of Apocalypse' storyline that saw a changed mutant society after someone went back in time and assassinated Charles Xavier. 

I gotta say that this is a great issue and if the quality of this lone tale is any indication of the rest of the Scott Lobdell/Chris Bachalo run, then I want it!!! I already own Generation NeXt 1-4, so I should be able to collect them without much further annoyance. I just wish that the storyline of the troubled young man wasn't left so wide open. Did he get the help he so craved? Did he wind up incarcerated? Do we ever see this guy again. Too many questions prevent this from being a happy ending.

Worth Consuming.

Monday, December 30, 2024

Dell Four Color #950- Frosty The Snowman

This Dell Four Color from 1958 stars the second most popular character to star in a Christmas novelty song, Frosty the Snowman.

There's 5 or 6 short stories in this book. Though really, they read like chapters. For instance, Frosty is gifted a new scarf by a new friend he meets and throughout the remainder of the book, Frosty is drawn wearing that new accessory. The book begins with Frosty spending time with his forest friends. After gifting them a Christmas feast of carrots, lettuce and seeds, Frosty meets a little boy who cannot afford a fancy sled. So the lad made his own out of an old wooden barrel. Determined to help the little fella out, Frosty heads to the North Pole to ask Santa to make him a sled for Christmas. However, Christmas might be cancelled because Santa has run out of the magic star dust needed to make the reindeer fly. 

My last holiday read, but not review, for 2024. I really enjoyed this book. Being almost 70 years in age, the pages were fragile and I was seriously afraid that the cover would come off. But the Christmas magic inside the book never faded. 

I couldn't tell you who wrote this book. Nor who illustrated it. From a time when many comic book creators didn't provide their credentials, either purposely or by company policy, the artwork for Frosty was a tad generic. But his forest friends and Santa Claus looked so friendly and festive. The storytelling was quite creative. One of Dell's comics devoted to its youngest of readers, it was of a quality found in a Little Golden Book. And I mean that as a high compliment.

If you are a collector of holiday comics and you can find a copy of this either in the wild or at a shop/Con, it's really worth owning. Just read while wearing kid gloves - literally!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars.

The 2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge is HERE!!!


My reading challenge has been a success on a couple of FB groups. And I've had a ton of fun with it as well. However, I made 1 big change with this year's challenge. I felt like I'd run a marathon trying to get 50 books in as quickly as possible. After a while, I'd hardly have any enjoyment going as fast as the Speed Force to get done in time while scrambling to find books to fit my criteria. I'd also have to scrape fund together or hope the library could help me out on the really difficult items on my list. So I've cut the number of books down to 40. It's still a lot of books to read. But at least I can breathe a little. Feel free to give this challenge a try yourself.

Best of Luck!


THE RULES- which in 3 years haven't really changed:

1. I must read 40 graphic novels or comic books. The only exception is #40, 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 40.


2. I might read a book that fits multiple criteria. But I can only use 1 criteria per book. For example from an older challenge, I might read Star Wars #1 which from the year I was born (1977). As that book was also published during the Bronze Age, I could select that one instead. 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, 2026 since life could get in the way. In a year that has seen power outages, cancelled flights and unexpected illnesses, a couple days grace to complete the last review is probably not such a bad idea.

Saturday, December 28, 2024

Archie Giant Series #467

From 1979, the star is Sabrina the Teenage Witch. There are several stories inside ranging from 1-page gags to tales of about 6-8 pages in length. Every entry is Christmas themed. The twist: how witches celebrate the holidays. Sabrina pretty much wants a modern age. Warlock cousin Ambrose prefers a traditional Christmas. Aunt Hilda has zero clue how to host a Christmas to remember, despite being countless centuries old. Sabrina and Ambrose try to educate Hilda on the holidays. But it fails miserably.

Doesn't Sabrina have a second aunt? Despite being on the cover, younger Aunt Zelda is absent from the interior of this book. It's not explained why. But the kinder, viridescent haired relative to Sabrina Spellman is nowhere to be found. She's not even mentioned in passing. It's almost like someone cast a spell of forgetfulness about her...

Featuring the talents of Archie legends X, Xx and Xxx. Why the X's? Because this book was released during a time when Archie Comics didn't give listing credits to authors and artists. But I wouldn't be the least surprised if Dan Decarlo was among those legends who worked on this book.

One might think that the name of the book is 'Sabrina's Christmas Magic' and that this is the 467th issue of that series. In reality, this is a part of the Archie Giant Series. As a child, I really thought that there were 400 plus Christmas themed issues starring Sabrina and family. The title also is not  Archie Giant Series Magazine like the top banner says. This name confusion often gets on my wife's nerves to the point that if at a con, she'd throw up her hands and give up digging through the long boxes to me and my wish list. So, I totally understand the perplexity over the unofficial and official titles of this book as well as the overall series.

Festive fun with a Halloween touch.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.



Friday, December 27, 2024

Should Eldritch Horrors Be Forgot (Santa Saves Christmas, Book II) by Ben Wolf

The Santa Saves Christmas trilogy ends with the inclusion of Atlanteans and characters from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft. 

Thanks to the many time portals and fractures left open during Santa's battle with Father Time, ancient Atlanteans are coming through a wormhole in the Caribbean wing of the Atlantic. Along with their arrival, the ruins of Atlantis are rising to the surface, causing catastrophic flooding around the globe. Called in by the United Nations to assist in negotiations with the king of Atlantis, Santa Claus and old friend Vladimir Putin seek to find a peaceful way for all races to coexist without sending a large chunk of dry land into the bring deep. 

However, all chances for peace are off the table when a new object begins to emerge off the coast of Australia: the evil elder God, Cthulhu! As nothing in the present day is able to defeat the Eldritch horror, Father Time's predecessor, the Time Raptor travels through time and the multiverse to assemble a ragtag team of warriors, assassins and a dragon or two to defeat the ancient evil once and forever!

Yes, the mystery character that I've been trying to not spoil in my previous two reviews of Ben Wolf's Santa Saves Christmas series is Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Since all 3 books were written before Putin began his lengthy and seemingly endless assault on Ukraine, he's sort of like an anti-hero. He's bad and has done evil things, but he's also willing to save not only Christmas, but his beloved Russia from countless crises. Plus it helps to have the leader of the largest country in the world in order to gain unprecedented access to top secret technology or to get your foot in the door of the UN Building.

Should Eldritch Horrors Be Forgot was my least favorite of the trilogy. I still liked it. It just that it really felt like Ben Wolf was being really self-indulgent here. They're be these scenes where a character, very tongue in cheek would reply 'Who writes this stuff?' Once was clever. Twice was an inside joke. But at a pace of about once every 3 chapters felt really out of place; especially since neither previous book did this.

Something Ben Wolf adds at the end of each book is a 'shameless plug' in which Santa and other characters rave about the author's other works. At about page 200, one of the new characters brought over by the Time Raptor, was using a weapon that sounded really familiar. Yet, it's not something from What The Frost? or It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Raptors. So I grabbed my copy of this book and headed into our office and consulted Amazon. Sure enough, all of these new characters are from other books written by Wolf. Thus, the author wasn't just being immoderate. He was also giving readers a clue about how his other works tie-in.

I'm not sure if some of Ben Wolf's other books are my cup of tea. Many are more fantasy heavy for my taste. However, his standalone Western, Unlucky, about the gunslinger Dalton has peaked my interest. 

Also, thanks to my Amazon research, I discovered that there's a new book in the Santa Saves Christmas series. It's digital only. However, it promises to address the elephant in the room with the presence of Putin in these books. Especially as Russia's current political situations has made their president's role in these books a little more troubling. hey, I've got something to look forward to next Christmas reading season!

Lastly, I got to talk about my favorite character in the series, the cowardly but entrepreneurial Snoot. I almost replaced him as my favorite character with Putin of all people because he got ultra slimy. (Also, if an author can make a sadistic tyrant likable, he must be a good writer.) Snoot now has a girlfriend in the Uber rich business woman Gen. They're obviously having a physical relationship. But Snoot kept making everything with her about sex, even when she's trying to help save the world. It got as annoying as Wolf's love of having every character respond to Snoot's comments with eye rolls. Folks can show disgust in other physical ways.

Thankfully, Gen puts Snoot in his place before the book's end. Hopefully, we'll see a little more character growth in the online book and hopefully further adventures of Santa saving the world. Just take it down a notch with the repetition. I would hate for a great thing to become stale.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Alligator Loki Holiday Special #1

Alligator Loki: the scene-stealing darling of the first season of Disney+'s Loki. In typical fashion, Marvel Comics decided to create a digital comic series based on the character. But because I am strictly a paper comics guy, I didn't know this!

When I saw in a copy of Previews that this book was dropping, I promptly ordered a copy through my favorite LCS. It wasn't the star of the book that was why I wanted this book so much. True, it's touted as a holiday special. But even that wasn't what made this the Christmas comic I absolutely had to have of the 3 holiday one-shots from Marvel in 2024. The reason I had to have this book was because of the goats!

Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder were a pair of goats that stole every scene that they appeared in in Thor: Love and Thunder. In Marvel Comics lore, they are the goats that led Odin's sleigh, whenever the ruler of Asgard visited the Norse people of Midgard. This later inspires the reindeer that Santa Claus uses to make his midnight rides every year. And while I've always been down with this element of Pagan Christmas origins, that's not why this book was a must own. 

No, it's because I own goats as pets. I always saw myself as a cat person. I never knew that I was also a goat person as well.

My impression of this special was that Alligator Loki assisted by Odin's goats were going to save Christmas. I couldn't have been more wrong.

This special consists of about a dozen shorts. With the exception of the first story, and possibly one winter time snowball fight caper in the middle, none of the other tales are Christmas themed nor set. Instead, all of those backups are 'reprints' of Alligator Loki stories from Marvel's digital comics service. The opener is supposedly brand new. It sees Alligator Loki and Asgardian Loki trying their very best to get into the holiday spirit. At least I think that was the case. All of the stories were done with little to no dialogue and most of the dialogue was done as emojis. Just like with Marvel Meow, I kept getting lost. I really needed some dialogue. I also needed an expert on current Marvel Comics.

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems like Loki is now a member of the Avengers. Or at least he's on good terms with them. Plus, is Loki now roommates with Thor? Can someone tell me why these two seem to be sharing a Manhattan apartment together along with Alligator Loki and Frog Thor. Or was that all just for the sake of Alyssa Wong's Alligator Loki series? Could it be that  Alligator Loki isn't canon? I just wish somebody could answer my questions because the Marvel Wiki was zero help.

Had I known that this wasn't a real holiday special, I still would have ordered it. I just wouldn't have rushed like crazy to get my hands on a copy. Who am I kidding? With that adorable variant cover of Alligator Loki driving Odin's sleigh with Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder Nicoletta Baldari,I would have still been impatient waiting for this to drop. (Bless the guys at Books Do Furnish a Room for ordering me the variant cover, which was so freaking Disney and cute!)

Now can we just get a paper collection of the various digital Marvel Unlimited Infinity Christmas specials that have gone unread because I refuse to go paperless?! I'd pay good money for a hardcover edition of such!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Archie Christmas Spectacular 2024 #1

I waited as long as I could to read the Christmas annual I look forward to the most. This year's 2024 Archie Christmas Spectacular did not disappoint in the least. In fact, I feel like Archie Comics might have listened to some of my criticisms, because instead of trying to cram in a brand new magical, they went into a totally different direction.

In order to enjoy the opening story, you had to have read this year's Halloween special. In that issue, a foe of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, threatened revenge upon the blonde pixie. Since that episode, Sabrina gifted her foe, Amber Nightstone, with a holiday present. One that was personal and really well thought out. The story opens with Archie and friends being kidnapped by Amber. But they're not in danger from the events that occurred during All Hallows Eve. Instead, they're being forced to help their kidnapper find an even better present for Sabrina!

There's also 4 other stories in this special. Normally, they're reprints. But not one of them are stories that I've ever read before. So I don't know if they were previously published or if Archie took my advice and crafted more all-new festive fare for their Christmas special. 

The fun begins with Jughead and Big Ethel getting to the bottom of a rumor that Christmas is cancelled. Then Betty and Veronica, as their superhero alter egos Power Teen and Super Teen, help the two Mighty Crusaders who bear the moniker of the Jaguar to recover Santa's stolen sleigh. Betty and Veronica then give a potential new recruit to the Mighty Crusaders a makeover.

Lastly, Archie helps the Shield solve the mystery of a super-weapon that was stolen during a Christmas party at a museum dedicated to America's first patriotic superhero

Every story was great fun. But the last story was my favorite. The story is set up where readers are supposed to examine the party-goers for clues to the whereabouts of the missing artifact. But in reality it was a ploy to prevent the readers from missing the countless cameos of iconic and forgotten characters from 85 years of Archie Comics that were hidden in every panel. While I do wish that I could have solved the mystery, I greatly value the deception because I would have missed out on seeing some long lost friends from my childhood, such as L'il Jinx!

This is perhaps my favorite of all the Archie Christmas Spectaculars. It was magical. It was fun. It was nostalgic. It's everything that I've been asking Santa for in an Archie holiday special.

Keep up the good work!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 25

We made it to another Christmas. There's one last Advent calendar to explore. I know that I've featured an Advent that had a nativity scene. However, that calendar was more about the angels in the tree above the manager and not the story of Christ's birth. 

There are several Advent calendars out there in which you can build your own nativity scene. Most have figures that look more like Fisher Price people and they're great for little tykes. However I chose the advent from Flivoosh because it looked more like the nativity scene I had when I was younger. My nativity which I bought years ago by piecing together at Woolworth's after-Christmas sale looked like it was sculpted from marble. It had a Renaissance look and feel to it and despite being a Christmas decoration, I played with that thing for hours, arranging and rearranging the figures into the perfect lineup.

This advent has 24 windows which contain scenery, animals, the Wise Men and the Holy Family. There's even a piece that looks like the city of Jerusalem forming the background setting. I imagine that the first couple of days worth of offerings involve making up the set. with the scenery pieces. But hopefully, people like the shepherds will be available quickly. The most important thing is that the Baby Jesus is the gift for day 24. It was a rule in my family that the Christ Child couldn't go in the nativity until Christmas Day. I've heard that's been a tradition for many families as well. I really want that to be the case with this advent but since I don't own this set, I'm merely speculating.

Another thing this advent doesn't seem to have is a small instruction book. The listing on Amazon calls this an educational tool about the story of the First Christmas. However, unless a learned grown-up is available to explain all the parts that make up this nativity, there's not much teaching going to happen. I guess folks could always use a Bible. But I'd also like a kind of fact book that dug a little deeper into each daily addition to the manger scene.

And that's my 2024 Advent. I've hope you have enjoyed my adventures through the world of the advent calendar. Before I close, let's see what I received from the final envelope in my Batman Advent calendar...

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Dell Giant: Christmas in Disneyland #1

Instead of gifts from Santa, a little boy and girl ask Santa to take them on a magical trip to Disneyland in this 1957 Dell Giant. 

Santa obliges, telling the children an assortment of stories based on the various lands and rides throughout the park. The Carl Barks classic 'The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama' starts things off with Uncle Scrooge and his nephews marooned on a deserted island at Christmas. Chip n' Dale must rescue Jiminy Cricket from the clutches of Br'er Bear, who forces the wise insect to teach him how to become Santa Claus. Mickey and Goofy attempt to deliver a payload of gold to a group of miners before Christmas Eve. The L'il Bad Wolf thinks his papa is making him a snow blowing machine to help him in his snow shoveling business. And in the surprise of all surprises, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell attempt to rescue Santa Claus who has been kidnapped by the dastardly Captain Hook!

I was extremely excited about that Peter Pan story. The 1953 Disney classic plays into the story of how my wife and I met. I had no idea about the existence of this story. It was such a great read and I loved seeing the Tick-Tock Crocodile fly after getting sprinkled with pixie dust.

There were also several arts and crafts activities and a fun and games section in the back. Considering that this issue is nearly 70 years old and only 1 of those pages was torn out, probably by some child who had zero idea how collectible old comics would one day be, I consider myself very lucky. I paid less than $10 for this issue and if that page hadn't been missing, the book would probably have been priced out of my price range. 

On my wish list of Christmas comic books, I've got issue #38 of Gold Key's Walt Disney Comics Digest. The front invites readers to enjoy 'Christmas at Disneyland'. I have a feeling that the contents of this special are reprinted in that digest edition. I'm still keeping that book on my wish list. However, as I now own this book, in 99.% entirety, obtaining the Gold Key book is on the back burner for now.

Sure, this was a big ol' commercial for Disneyland which had opened less than 2 years prior in California. But the whole thing was jammed packed Christmas fun starring many of my favorite Disney characters and it's a treasured addition to my Christmas comic book collection!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Comics Digest #3

My biggest problem with a comic digest is if they are a holiday issue, that they're never 100% full of holiday material. It's not like Gladstone was hurting for Christmas stories. They could have made this whole 96-pager 1987, about Christmas, if they really wanted to.

The cover is obviously Christmas themed. It's a great gag by Walt Kelly. The opener is about Christmas. It's a Carl Barks classic that sees Donald Duck jealously battling his lucky duck cousin, Gladstone Gander, in a competition to see who is going to win the Christmas turkey raffle. Though in all honesty, you could have replaced Thanksgiving with Christmas in this story and you'd never know the difference.

6 stories remain. They star Disney comics mainstays such as Hazel the Witch, Mickey Mouse and the L'il Bad Wolf. And then there's a full length adaptation of Lady and the Tramp and I couldn't be in a more festive mood about it. 

I didn't realize it, but the 1955 animated film is book-ended by Christmas. Lady is gifted to her mistress on a snowy Christmas morning. Then the story ends a couple of years later with Lady having given birth to a litter on Christmas. These 2 scenes do not make Lady & the Tramp a Christmas movie. But I am counting it as part of the holiday cheer that comprises this book. 

(Side note: adding to Lady & the Tramp's connection to Christmas, a stuffed animal version of Lady was all the rage in the Christmas of 1985. Burger joint Hardee's offered versions of the pup along with a plush Pinnochio, Bambi and Dumbo. I remember how myself and all my classmates just had to have the whole set of 4!)

I should have reviewed this book a couple of years ago. I bought it 2 years ago after a trip to the mountains during Spring Break. I read it later that year. But somehow I accidentally filed it in my Christmas read box before giving my rating of the book. Overall, not a bad find for only a buck in a thrift store I had never visited before. And now it can go back into the correct section of my collection.

Worth Consumimg!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024 Day 24

Santa comes tonight! For the penultimate Advent calendar of 2024, I returned to Solgarden in Mebane, North Carolina. They sell a really neat looking Countdown to Christmas which is 3-D printed and extremely clever.

The main structure is a red chimney. At the very top stands Santa Claus. Throughout the length of the chimney, there are these green planks that are numbered 1-24. Each day, you remove the plank with the corresponding number until on the 24th where you remove the final piece and Santa Claus plops right down into the fire place. 

It's rather brilliant. I'm not sure who manufactured it and I think the asking price was around $50. 


This calendar is very similar to the piece that inspired this year's theme. It's a wooden countdown of Nakatomi Plaza from the Bruce Willis holiday classic Die Hard. Starting from the top, the numbers start at 1 with 24 at the very bottom. Each day, as you get closer to Christmas Eve, you take the small figure of Alan Rickman's villainous Hans Gruber just a little bit closer towards going splat onto the parking lot below. As my brother in law says 'It's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off of Nakatomi Plaza.' With this Advent, he'd be right.

Before I dive into my Batman Advent gift for the day, I want to explain why I didn't choose to focus on the Die Hard advent yesterday or any other day. Why the honorable mention of sorts? Originally I was going to feature the Hans Gruber calendar for the 23rd and today be about Santa as I normally do. But as I got to thinking about it, I didn't want to feature two nearly identical concepts back-to-back. A last minute editorial call, I switched things up to keep things from getting stale. I hope you'll forgive my indulgence and enjoyed my picks regardless.

Monday, December 23, 2024

Happy Horror Days One-Shot

I've been learning over the years how the holidays are filled with creepy characters and horrible stories from around the world. So who better than Archie's horror imprint to provide some festive frights? From 2022, Happy Horror Days offers 3 tales designed to bring holiday fear instead of cheer.

Frank Tieri returns to the Jughead: The Hunger universe he created with a story that answers the question: What would happen if Krampus ran across the path of a hungry werewolf? 

Then Veronica makes an Icelandic immigrant's first Christmas in Riverdale hell by berating their fashion sense. Little does Ms. Lodge know about the legend of the deadly Yule Cat.

Finally, under pressure from his parents, Reggie wishes for a girl he can take to Christmas dinner with. Little does he know that his prayers have been answered by a pair of devilish imps.

The opening story was more black comedy than horror. Lots of funny banter that if the main Jughead: The Hunger books are anything like this Krampus caper, then I most certainly wanna get my hands on them. The other two stories were like most classic horror comic tales. It's the twist endings that elicits the scares. The closing panels to both stories were absolutely creepy. But I think it's that last panel of the Reggie story that is really going to stick with me for a while.

I loved this anthology. The annual Archie Christmas specials are the books I look forward to the most each holiday season. They bring forth a magic of the holidays and this special is no different. Except that it's black magic instead of Christmas magic. I'm kicking myself for not having read this one sooner because I feel like if I had given praise to this one-shot sooner, we could have had 2 more years of scary Archie Christmas comics.

Well, there's always next year.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Adventures in Advent, Advent 2024, Day 23

If you've been a regular reader of my blog, then you'll know that I support endeavors that encourage children to read. You probably have also gathered that I love comic books and superheroes. One of my all-time favorite quotes about the importance of reading and how comic books can be used as such a tool for kids is by LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation Fame.


I feel like today's Advent really plays into the importance of reading and how the interest in subjects is vital if you want children to enjoy reading. It's the Marvel Storybook Collection Advent from Autumn Publishing. The calendar features 24 miniature storybooks recommended for readers 5-8 years of age. Each book is 24 pages long and features characters such as Spider-Man, The Guardians of the Galaxy and Fin Fang Foom


I recognize some of these titles from being listed in the past on the Midtown Comics website for sale in regular storybook size. Those titles retail for about $10 a piece. As this advent sells for $16.99, that's a tremendous value if you don't mind that these are smaller books. I know if I was a kid, I sure as heck wouldn't. They remind me of the tiny Little Golden Books that were readable complete tinier versions of the regular sized classics. And they had a gold string in order to hang on your tree as an ornament. 


I would have liked if these books were also ornaments. With a trusty hot glue gun and some ribbon, you could make that a DIY project with your child, if you like. What I'd really would have liked is for all 24 books to have been holiday themed. Alas, none of them are. Still, if your child is obsessed with the Marvel Universe don't let my opinion stop you from using this as a reading tool and a Countdown to Christmas 2025. Buy it now and be ready for when December 1st rolls back around next year!

Sunday, December 22, 2024

Holiday Tales to Astonish #1

I must have been really good this year. Or Marvel must have gotten tired of me complaining. Because this year, the House of Ideas released not one, not two, but 3 Christmas specials!  

Holiday Tales to Astonish #1 was the first one that I read. It's regular cover by Luciano Maher elicits memories of that pair of tabloid sized holiday specials from the 1970s. It really got me right in the holiday feels. Thankfully unlike those classics, of which I'm still on the hunt for one of them, there's no reprints here. Instead, we get 3 great all-new seasonal stories that represent Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's.

The Fantastic Four star in the Christmas themed story. Don't worry, Ben Grimm is still a member of the Tribe and his faith is represented at the beginning. However, the Festival of Lights is saved for story #2. In the opener, Reed Richards is getting reports of traces of plutonium popping up in Manhattan. Investigating a possible nuclear weapon being armed, the FF instead run into Doctor Doom, dressed as Santa Claus and playing the role of the Grinch by stealing toys from the boys and girls of the Big Apple.

The middle story goes back in time to the Chris Claremont/John Byrne era of the Uncanny X-Men. It shows Kitty Pryde's first Hanukkah at the Xavier School. Don't worry, classic Hanukkah issue Uncanny X-Men #143 is still canon. We just catch a glimpse of what transpired during the other 7 days of Hanukkah. 

The final story occurs on New Year's Eve. When his girlfriend comes under the weather, Miles Morales gets invited to a different countdown to the New Year party by folks he didn't realize considered him a friend. When the Peter Parker Spidey and Hydro-Man interrupt the festivities, Miles learns an important lesson about the personal sacrifices a superhero has to make. 

All three stories were exceptionally written. The art varied. Pat Olliffe is definitely a graduate of the John Byrne school of uncanny art. It felt like an lost tale from one of the greatest partnerships in Marvel history. Dylan Burnett's work on the Spider-Men story was fair. It has more of that teen graphic novel look to it. Not as detailed but still pleasant on the eyes. But what in the world happened on that Fantastic Four story?

Phil Noto was the artist. Normally, his work is amazing. Noto does stunning work on the various Star Wars titles he contributes too. Especially his covers. Maybe that is more of his forte, because the art for the opener was a hot mess. Look, I know that I don't read that much modern Fantastic Four. But what is up with Johnny Storm's porn star mustache? Just because Mr. Fantastic can assume very fluid shapes, that doesn't mean that he should always be drawn like that. And I know that Wolverine is short. But he's not a midget. A lot of long-established Marvel fans criticize the current offerings of art as really bad. I tend to be more forgiving. However, with the first story, along with some of ads for upcoming 2025 projects, I could see what they're talking about.

Speaking of 2025, I cannot wait for the 5 What If... Galactus one-shots coming up in January. They look epic!

Great reading. Varying art. 100% holiday themed. Thank you Marvel for putting out an honest to goodness holiday special! It was a great gift for the fans and I hope it's a tradition that continues for years to come!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.


Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 22

I've been complaining throughout this Advent how I hate it when the packaging ruins the surprises in store. Well I've finally discovered an Advent that not only do you not know what's inside, you don't even know which calendar door to open next!


Exit: The Game is a series of escape room themed board games. This year, game manufacturer Thames & Kosmos released a 24 Day long escape room adventure. Subtitled 'The Missing Hollywood Star', participants must solve a daily riddle. Only when you solve the puzzle, you only then discover which Advent calendar door you open the following day. Presumably, when you make it to Day 24, you'll locate the missing starlet. Though I reality, you should know where she is on Day 23, because the December 24th door will be the only one left unopened.

Best of luck that you get all of the puzzles correct. It would stink if you made a miscalculation and found the actress on Day 6


Another thing you'll need is time. The Amazon posting for this Advent recommends about 15 minutes per day to solve the daily enigma. This isn't an Advent that you'll be able to just rush through 

Saturday, December 21, 2024

Sleigher: The Heavy Metal Santa Claus

When Santa Claus is unexpectedly killed, his son is called to take over the family business. Forging his own way as a heavy metal rocker, the man known as Sleigher, does his new job with a musical flair. On Christmas, Sleigher delivers gifts to all the good little boys and girls of the world. The other 364 days out of the year, this new Santa battles the forces of evil that seek to pervert the spirit of Christmas. Those Sleigher defeats are held captive within the confines of Santa's sack, which obviously have magical properties.

When an ancient race of Christmas mischief makers called the Yule Lads assault Santa's workshop, they steal the bag, releasing countless holiday villains, along with their mama, back into the world. With their escape, the Christmas spirit of the world's populace is replaced with a selfish hedonism.  With the help of Sleigher's grandfather, the Coca-Cola style Santa Claus, and his Elves with an attitude, the Heavy Metal Santa will face a foe so vile, that if allowed to roam the world, there definitely won't be a Christmas next year.

This 2016 volume opens with a lecherous priest trying to put the 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' moves on an innocent choir boy. Thankfully, Sleigher intervenes. However, with this kicking off the story and this version of Santa Claus being heavy metal, which is traditionally a very anti-church genre of music, I was afraid that this was going to be a book that really skewers Christianity. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Does Sleigher talk about raising hell and gestures with devil horns and stuff? Absolutely. But does he love Christmas and take pride in being the new Father Christmas? He sure as hell does!

If the blurb on the last page of this story is true, Sleigher was supposed to be an annual miniseries in which the hero would seek to return one of the escaped yule time prisoners back into his magic pack. Krampus was to the the antagonist for the sequel. Yet, for reasons I've not been able to uncover, Action Lab never returned to this property.

I suspect it might have something to do with the name of the series. Sleigher is of course, a great name for a Christmas heavy metal themed series. However, there's already has been a band named Slayer since the early 80s. I'm wondering if the band's lawyers sent Action Lab a cease and desist over name similarities. Or maybe sales weren't that great. Comic book history is full of promises of forthcoming issues, specials and sequels that never materialized because of poor sales. I just wish I could uncover the reason there never was another season of this irreverent but hilarious holiday comic.

By the way, this comic marks the 4th time this holiday season alone in which Vladimir Putin is a character! I didn't know he was so affiliated with Christmas. Strange. A very strange coincidence, if you ask me...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 21


If you follow my Advents annually, you'll know that I devote one of my days to the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. My wife is half Jewish and we celebrate the festival of lights by putting up a fire safe menorah (because we have cats) and decorate one of the trees in our yard with blue and white lights and decorations.

But 2024 is a bit of an anomaly. Hanukkah begins on December 25th and I always make sure to focus on the birth of Christ on my Christmas Day Advents. I also partially plan out my Advents weeks in advance and I've got my next 4 days set. Thankfully I didn't have a calendar selected for today and I'm able to continue my annual look at Hanukkah.

You might think that they don't make Hanukkah Advent calendars. Well, you'd be wrong. Instead of being 12, 24 or 25 days long, Hanukkah Advent calendars are only 8 nights- NOT DAYS- long. That's because of the miracle of the Temple in which God stretched out the oil for the lamps to last slightly over a week. Plus as with all Jewish days, they start a new at sundown- not midnight.

#1- Astor Chocolate sells a Hanukkah Chocolate Calendar. Filled with chocolate coins, called gelts,  made of dark chocolate and milk chocolate which is the currency of choice for the most serious of dreidel players. 

#2 on Etsy, seller Ohhappydayconfection offers a Hanukkah Countdown comprised of cookies and gummy candy. 

3. With seller Cubinizer on Amazon, you can make your own Hanukkah Countdown. You receive 8 small linen sacks that are numbered and bear classic Hanukkah images. Fill them with treats and goodies. Reuse yearly. 

4. Poshmark and other online sellers has felt  and fabric calendars similar to the one I had as a kid and reviewed for Day 1. It's a multicolored felt countdown equipped with 8 numbered candles. Each night you add a flame until you have the whole octet blazing.

5. Why should the humans have all the fun? Middle sells a Chanukah Countdown Calendar for cats! This countdown features 8 boxes being Hanukkah images filled with an assortment of balls, stuffed mice and more. Made of sturdy material, the boxes can be refilled and reused every year.

6. Make all 8 nights of Hanukkah a movie night (or TV marathon) with the Pop 'N Dulge Movie Night Popcorn Set. You receive 5 bags of corn for popping including a blue and ruby variety as well as 5 seasoning packs. I know that this adds up to 10. But 3 bags of popcorn are of the classic golden variety, so I think for 2 nights you're supposed to highlight the flavor packs and not the popcorn. Anyone for an Adam Sandler film festival?


7. Knitting your thing? Teeny Button Studio from Louisiana has an Advent where for 7 nights, you get a mini skein (length of yarn) of certain colors and for night #8 you receive a full sized speckled skein for a festive project.

8. Celebrate Hanukkah in luxury with Budhagirl's Hanukkah Advent calendar. Over the course of 8 days, you receive a variety of metallic all weather bangles from the noted French jewelry maker. A combined value of $350, the Advent is a bargain at $250 retail.

And there you have 8 Hanukkah Advent calendars. With 4 days until the double holiday, there's still time to get in on the action if you act now. And just so you know, I'm not a paid endorser for any of these companies. I just happened to be looking for Hanukkah gifts for my bride and this is what I came across. Best of luck and Shalom!

Friday, December 20, 2024

The Smurfs Christmas (Family Comic Friday)

The Smurfs Christmas is a festive collection of several shorts. 3 directly involved Christmas. One mentions writing letters to Santa and is set during wintertime. Another involves snowmen, which are holiday icons. And then we've got that one story that involves a very hungry ogre.

Story #1 sees Santa down with a case of the flu. Knowing Gargamel is a sorcerer, Claus seeks a potion to help him complete his rounds. The dastardly medicine man finds opportunity to kidnap Santa and become the Jolly Old Fatman in hopes of infiltrating the Smurf village and stealing some for his Christmas dinner. 

Story #2 finds Gargamel captured by a hungry ogre. Thinking quickly, the fiend convinces the ogre that Smurfs make better tasting meals. There's quite a bit of tension as the Ogre with Gargamel still in his clutches, inch closer to Smurf village!

Story #3 starts off with a the Smurfs building snowmen. With warmer weather in the forecast, the snowmen come alive, trying to make it to the safety of the frigid Northern lands. But an encounter with Gargamel results in the snowmen betraying their Smurf creators.

Story #4 has the Smurfs exploring their nearby territory. Things are awfully quiet with all the woodland creatures taking warm refuge from the winter weather. All this quiet results in Sleepy Smurf cuddling up in a dormouse hutch. As the rest of the Smurfs write their letters to Santa, Sleepy Smurf and friend find themselves unknowingly the target of a hungry poacher- because they're sleeping through their entire predicament!!!

Story #5 stars Lumberjack Smurf who while looking for the perfect Christmas tree, almost chops down a talking pine. Turns out that the verbose tree is actually a little girl who was turned into a conifer by a witch. 

The final tale is a reunion between Gargamel and Santa. Faced with being on the naughty list again, the wizard can earn a gift for Christmas if he delivers gifts to all the Smurfs. But should he fall into temptation, Gargamel will be turned into an earthworm!

When I grew up, religious groups proclaimed the Smurfs to be agents of the devil. There's a little bit of magic in the book. It's mostly Gargamel's doing. Papa Smurf does refer to a book of prophecy in the Orge story. But by the end of it, he burns the book wanting to make his own destiny. There is some Looney Tunes level slapstick. That's mostly at the hands of Jokey Smurf and his love of those exploding gift boxes. 

What got on my nerves was the progressive use of the word 'Smurf'. It's gently sprinkled into the vocabulary in the first couple of tales. By the end of this book, it literally peppered it to the point of overuse. I mean, it smurfingly smurfed getting on my smurfing smurfs! (Hopefully, you get my drift...) It's a Christmas tree! Not a Christmas smurf!!! I don't care what the back panel on the book says...

This was a great assortment of holiday and winter time Smurfs stories by their legendary Belgian creator, Peyo. But why was that ogre story thrown in? I would have been with just those 5 other stories alone in order to make this a more cohesive collection. The only reason I can figure out for addition of the ogre oddity is that this book is about 55 pages long. Without the 8 pages of 'The Ogre and the Smurfs ', this 2013 offering from Papercutz would barely clock in at 47 pages. I have the paperback edition which at $5.99 is a steal. But I bet the smaller page count just wouldn't have been feasible for Papercutz', hardcover edition.Lots of seasonal fun with a small detour in the middle. Sure to delight generations of Smurfs fans.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 20


Some Advent calendars like yesterday's offering are a feast for the eyes. Today's Advent calendar is music to my ears. Manufactured by Coppernrath, the standard cardboard poster board or display box is replaced with plastic and vinyl in the form of a gramophone, which is an old school record player.  (Kids, a record player was a device used to play music on large thin black discs.)

Since this is a miniaturization, the discs are about the size of a drink coaster. Select the corresponding day's disc, which are numbered from 1-24, insert into the center depression of the gramophone, place the needle over the disc and hit play. 


I haven't heard of most of the songs selected. Since this is a German made Advent calendar (Germany, by the way is the birthplace of the Advent calendar), I suspect those carols are from the Old Country. But there are some songs that should be familiar to American audiences such as Jingle Bells and Joy to the World

Throughout this Advent, I've been disappointed in the packaging spoiling the surprise of the Advent gifts. However, considering how many of these songs are ones I suspect not many have even heard of, the playlist on the back of the display box might actually be necessary in order to fully enjoy this unique Advent.

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #131

I don't know how I missed this. I don't know know how my favorite comic book shop missed this. A new Christmas issue of Scooby-Doo

In the cover story, the Mystery Inc. gang are visiting a toy convention where they're collecting toys for the annual Christmas toy drive for the nearby orphanage. Getting donations is going to be tough because an evil elf is terrorizing the attendees of the convention and stealing the toys to boot.

The secondary story is a reprint from the 2010s. It's not a Christmas story. But it features a character that has become affiliated with the holidays thanks to a nearly 60 years old holiday special. An indoor climbing facility is being terrorized by an abominable snowman! 

Derek Fridolfs wrote the main story. While it's set around Christmas, this was a mystery that could have occurred anytime of year. Christmas just happens to be when the story occurs. Except for a festive book-ending, you wouldn't know that the this was a holiday story. I mean Die Hard is more of a Christmas story than this tale.

But those first couple of pages were so Christmasy. I want to live in that world! Plus those supporting characters were so dynamic. I forgot that this was a Scooby-Doo comic. Major praises to artist Walter Carzon.

The Yeti story was kinda silly. Like why would a Bumble haunt a climbing wall? However, this was one of the most un-Scooby-like mysteries I've ever come across. It must be because of the writing talents of the amazing Sholly Fisch! To craft a mystery that has a trio of suspects that have nothing to do (directly) with the story and to make this primarily a story about the plan to take the culprit down - that's a true sign of this Hanna-Barbera comic master's mastery!

Not 100% Christmas. And some of the content is debatable. But I enjoyed the heck out of it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.