The Super Heroes Monthly #3

I remember exactly when I bought this. Earlier this year, I was at my favorite comic shop. I had just finished buying some new release stuff I had ordered when I saw it. The book hadn't been put out yet. It was on top of a pile of things to be bagged, boarded and priced. But from the cover, I was enticed. I had to have it!

The book was actually a magazine from the U.K.. Filled with holiday reprints from DC Comics America, I was fairly certain that I already had copies of all 3 stories. But because of that Bryan Talbot cover and the title's exotic nature, I needed this as part of my Christmas comic book collection.

The cover reminds me of that scene from the beginning of Lethal Weapon where we first meet Mel Gibson character of Riggs... or is it Murtaugh? Anyways, the character is working undercover at a Christmas tree lot trying to weed out drug dealers. With Batman standing over the body of one of Santa's helpers in the middle of a tree lot with guns pointed at the Dark Knight, I feel like this is what would have occurred if the first Lethal Weapon film took place in Gotham instead of L.A..

The 3 tales inside are classics. Batman investigates the appearance of a boat owned by an underworld kingpin and stumbles upon a Christmas Eve theft at a local department store. Paul Levitz pens a tale set a thousand years in the future with Superboy invited to spend Christmas with the Legion of Superheroes. Lastly, Len Wein crafts a murder mystery where the Justice League of America investigate the killing of a man playing Santa Claus. Guest starring John Stewart subbing in for an injured Gal Jordan, the investigation turns into a race against time when the mysterious killer reveals in clues that he's set a bomb somewhere in the United States at the stroke of midnight!

Like I said, I've read all 3 stories before. I don't think I own any of them in their original formats. But over the years I've managed to collect them in reprint form. A fascinating glimpse of British comic books published by DC Comics in 1981. Since nothing over the pond seems to ever be issued first run or even in chronological order, I don't think I could live permanently in the UK and be a comic book collector with any sort of sanity.

A great time capsule. My only problem, it's oversized, like a tabloid,and I don't have a comic book box that will fit it. So where am I going to store it???

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.