Hee Haw #1(2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

It's a common misconception that the variety TV series Hee Haw was created as a 60-minute commercial for The Grand Ole Opry based in Nashville, TN. While the series, which ran for 26 seasons from 1969-1993, did incorporate a large number of cast and crew that performed at the Opry, the series was originally developed to complete against Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, which was dominating the ratings over at NBC. Canadian TV producers Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth were tasked by CBS to present a variety series that catered to rural audiences with backwoods comedy sketches and country music. 

The series debuted as a summer replacement series after CBS executives tired with feuding with the Smothers Brothers over their controversial topical humor and choice of guest stars, cancelled The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Quickly picked up for the 1969-70 television season, Hee Haw was a top 20 hit. However, as part of CBS's rural purge of popular small-town set series such as Green Acres, the thriving country variety series was terminated in the Summer of 1971.

All was not lost for Hee Haw. Thanks to the new Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR), the FCC declared that the major networks had too much control of their affiliates programming time. This opened up more free hours in need of programming, in particularly, on the weekends. PTAR resulted in a golden opportunity for Hee Haw to go into syndication.

While still airing on CBS, a number of licensed products were produced bearing the logo for Hee Haw nailed together as wooden planks as well as the show's animated mascot, an overalls wearing donkey, including T-shirts, patches and shot glasses. Images of Hee Haw's breakout stars, hosts Roy Clark and Buck Owens soon graced products such as lunch boxes and of course country music albums. 

In 1970, Charlton Comics signed a licensing deal with CBS entertainment to produce a comic book series based on popular characters from the show. Along with Owens and Clark, performers Grandpa Jones, Lulu Roman, Gordie Tapp and Junior Samples were featured. They were joined by the show's second most popular mascot, the sad-eyed hound dog, Kingfish. 

All 7 issues of the series were written and drawn by Frank Roberge. His facial likenesses of the stars were spot on. However, their bodies as well as the full image of the supporting characters who were not based on real persons were cartoony to the likes of Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey, a comic strip Roberge assisted on in the 1950s.

With exception of a 2-page spread at the center of the comic, based on the Cornfield segment where cast members told jokes and one-liners, none of the stories followed the format of the show. Adventures in the first issue include Roy and Kingfish starting a music group together, Gordie trying to learn the secret of Grandpa's success at fishing and Junior entering Kingfish in a dog show. There's a couple of one-page gags, along with an article about the career of Buck Owens as well as a coloring page of the co-host. 

While the comic book didn't last a full year, Charlton also produced a quarterly magazine devoted to the series. It featured full color photos, interviews, a joke page and sheet music to popular songs performed on the air. The magazine ran from 1970-74 for 14 issues.

Going back to the opening statement about Hee Haw not being affiliated originally with The Grand Ole Opry. In 1981, Gaylord Entertainment, the production company of The Opry, acquired Yongestreet Productions, officially absorbing Hee Haw into The Grand Ole Opry family. Gaylord Entertainment quickly created a Hee Haw themed variety show that ran in Branson, Missouri and eventually moved taping of Hee Haw to the home of The Opry, Ryman Auditorium. In 1992, Hee Haw stopped production of new episodes. For the 25th anniversary of the show, classic clips were repackaged with segments hosted by Clark as Hee Haw Silver. Despite a slight uptick in ratings with the clip shows, popularity in variety series were at an all-time low and Hee Haw was eventually cancelled altogether in June 1993. 

Completing this review completes Task #5 (A Comic Book Based on a Live Action TV Show) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Teen Titans Go!: Roll With It!

The Teen Titans take on the genre of role playing games, more precisely, skewering the most popular game of them all: Dungeons & Dragons. 

After endless rounds of nagging, the Titans finally agreed to play a round of 'Basements and Basilisks' with Robin as the game master. Their quest is to locate an enchanted piece of jewelry and then discover a way to destroy it. In the real world, the relic is an anklet that Robin symbolically wears around his leg. But what the Titans are unaware of is that the anklet is really cursed by one of the team's most dangerous foes in a plot to take over the world.

From 2020, this is of a rough series of graphic novels in which the Teen Titans tackle a subject and parody the heck out of it. I call it rough not because of the art or the story itself. Mostly it's because DC has been releasing these theme heavy books without labeling them with volume numbers or organizing them as a set. However, I did feel that the story ran about 50 pages too long. Maybe a bit more.

About halfway into the story, everyone finds out who the mystery villain really is in the real world. Then back into the game world, which has been bewitched by the anklet, they all forget. This happens over and over. And it just started to get boring. It was like being stuck in a time loop only this story had nothing to do with quantum mechanics. 

I also thought that the artist behind the design of the villain didn't do such a great job disguising them. In their secret identity form, they look like a normal human being. However if you examine the outline of their body, and if you have a pretty good knowledge of Teen Titans Go!, then you've figured out who this baddie is. Considering that the mystery villain appears on the very first page, I was not anywhere near surprised during the big surprise reveal of the antagonist. 

I would say that my biggest complaint with TTG is how they'll beat something to death. It's like that song of theirs, The Night Begins to Shine. The first time they used it was great. Then they did a 5-night miniseries about the song and then another special episode and another. The folks behind Teen Titans Go! just can't let a brilliant idea stay fresh. They have to keep milking it and milking it until they kill the poor cow. I thought it was only with the TV show that this kind of overuse occurred. Turns out that the folks behind the comics are forced to reuse material until the point of annoyance as well.

A great start to a story that should have ended needed at least 2 chapters sooner than it did.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Duck and Moose: Duck in the Dark! ( Family Comic Friday)

Duck is a new resident of Denali National Park. He's made an immediate best friend in the like of Moose. However, Duck hasn't experienced his first ever Alaskan winter, where it gets very dark for longer periods of time throughout the day. 

Experience the wild and wacky ways Duck will try to keep the darkness at bay. That's because deep down, Duck is afraid of the dark. He just wouldn't admit it to his best bud, Moose. He's got too much pride.

This is the third book in the Duck and Moose series. My first experience with the series as it was on the new shelf at my local library having debuted in December of last year. You don't have to start on book #1. Author Kirk Reedstrom does a great job keeping the reader informed on the important details on what has transpired previously. Pretty much with 'Duck in the Dark', all you need to know previously is that Duck is new to the region and doesn't know what Alaskan winters are like.

I thought that the book was adorable. And funny. I laughed out loud a couple of times at the highly unexpected antics of Duck. He's the funny guy in the duo with Moose as the straight man in the comedy routine. 

I highly recommend this book. It deals with fears and how to overcome them. There's nothing a parent or guardian of a young reader should object to. No fighting. And despite being considered a slapstick comedy, there's no mayhem on the level of the Three Stooges. Just some very over-the-top ideas on how to survive a dark night in the 50th State. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

The Book of Unusual Knowledge

I bought this book over the summer during the 301 Endless Yard Sale taking place in Smithfield/Selma, North Carolina. A kid of about 15 was selling it. The mysterious title of The Book of Unusual Knowledge intrigued me. The picture of Stonehenge is was enticed me to pick it up. The factoid about how many endless hours it took to erect the stone monoliths sold me on the book. One portrait of Abe Lincoln and the book was mine. 

This book is massive. Just under 600 pages in length if you remove the index. A hardback, it's 'deceptively lightweight' as my bride described it one night when I asked her to hand it to me. 

Inside are articles on the real names of celebrities, Popes who were murdered in the Vatican, famous UFO sightings and much more. Some of the material isn't what I would consider 'unusual knowledge'. Information on the various sightings of the Virgin Mary is unusual. The history of that raining summer in Geneva which inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein is not. With topics like movies, animals, pop culture and holidays, what is considered unusual knowledge is really up to the reader to decide.

This felt like one of those Uncle John's Bathroom Readers. Only there aren't any stupid puns about having to poop. There are a few quiz type activities like linking the musician name with their real identities. No article is longer than 3 pages. Okay; there might have been one or two that were 4 pages in length. Most were only a page long. So there's a ton of relatively short reads. However, it took me a long time to read because of how huge this book was.

BuzzFeed listed this 2012 fact book as one of the best gift ideas for the 2024 holiday season. The retail price on Amazon is decent and publisher Publications International Ltd. offers over a dozen more similarly bound books including one volume about cats and another about crime. I'm very tempted to buy another book to increase my unusual knowledge over as I did enjoy this book even though some of it seemed like pretty usual stuff 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Joker: One Operation Joker, Vol. 2

I love comic book characters that are so insane that their antics borderline on the surreal. The Tick, Madman and Slapstick come to mind in this category. While I've never put Batman's archenemy the Joker in this category before as he's just too mean and violent in his capers, this manga series by Kodansha may cause me to rethink my earlier analysis of the Clown Prince of Crime.

The idea of having Batman transformed into a baby is a concept that I am sure happened during the Bill Finger/Dick Sprang era. However, that de-aging of the Caped Crusader was more than likely an imaginary story or the work of that good intentioned imp, Batmite. No matter what the reason, that transformation was done with a humorous slant and wasn't a permanent thing. 

In Joker: One Operation Joker, not only is Batman's stint as Batbaby a long-term event, (Volume 2 begins a year after the Dark Knight's encounter with similar chemicals that altered the Joker), this story sees the Joker raising the infant as his own. In the Joker's mind, if he can raise the Batbaby back into the symbol of justice that Batman is, it will prove that righteousness is a flawed social concept.

To help the Joker in his endeavor is Harley Quinn, who poses as Batbaby's mom. One of the Joker's chief henchmen is giving him pointers on being a working dad. Plus, the villain is turning to social media for tips on how to navigate the subways and streets of Gotham. Expecting the citizens of Gotham to ostracize him, the Joker is learning that it's a metropolis full of angels... And that sort of care for one's fellow man is driving the Joker batty!

You might wonder how people are interacting with the Joker without the slightest fear he's going to massacre them. Turns out that without his makeup and typical purple garb, the Joker looks like an albino with dyed green hair. And with so many punks and hipsters in Gotham City, nobody blinks twice at some random dad with chartreuse bangs and wearing an occupied baby carrier.

As wacky and off-the-wall the concept of this story is, I am enjoying it. I applaud DC being willing to allow a manga publisher carte blanche in making a story as unexpected as One Operation Joker. It's a breath of fresh air that has been missing from the rather stale ideas DC Comics America has been churning out. I think fans want something new and unexpected and that's definitely what you will get from writer Satoshi Miyagawa. If you're needing those nostalgic nods to the vast 80 years plus of Joker and Batman lore, you'll get that from artist Keisuke Gotou,

As implausible as it seems that the Joker would decide to stifle his impulse in killing a defenseless baby Batman and instead raise him as his son, I want to know how this story ends with volume 3. While I was able to get volumes 1 and 2 at my local library, it looks like I'm going to have to purchase book 3. Not sure why my library does this. But it's a tad annoying. I'll be more than just a tad annoyed if I learn that this whole non-canonical story turns out to be a dream of the Joker's or something imaginary.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: 'The Son of the Sun'- The Don Rosa Library, Vol. 1

I was so enthralled by Don Rosa's epic undertaking of making a cohesive structure of the how of Scrooge McDuck made his fortune. Rosa poured over the countless stories of Uncle Scrooge created by the good duck artist Carl Barks and wrote and illustrated what is considered by many to be one of the greatest comic book miniseries ever made. Needless to say, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck turned me from a Don Rosa admirer into a Don Rosa fanatic.

This past holiday season, I decided to add this book to my Christmas wishlist. I was very fortunate to have my bride get it for me, this beginning my opening foray into Don Rosa's portfolio as the second best good duck artist. 

The Don Rosa Library is a chronological omnibus of Rosa's career as an employee of Gladstone Comics. In this volume roughly covering the years 1986-1987, Rosa has returned to creating comics after having to quit for several years to run his family construction business. A chance encounter with an issue of Gladstone's run of Donald Duck inspired him to take a huge gamble and offer his services as a creator of Uncle Scrooge stories. Having passed his audition, Gladstone hires Rosa to craft a full story. 

Using an old script he wrote years ago, Rosa decides to set his story firmly in the universe established by Barks. 'The Son of the Sun' has a dateline of the 1950s, right around the sweet spot era when Barks was crafting some of his best Uncle Scrooge adventures and when a young Keno Rosa was experiencing those tales his older sister had collected over the years. The main antagonist would be the Scrooge antithesis, Flintheart Glomgold, who challenges McDuck in a race to see who can find a fabled horde of fabled Incan treasure in Peru.

This volume contains about 2 dozen other works starring Scrooge along with nephews Donald, Huey, Dewey, Louie and the uber-lucky Gladstone. Not every story was written by Rosa, but it's all of his handiwork as Gladstone Comics quickly began to rely on Rosa as their go-to artist. 

I love the Complete Carl Barks volumes of Disney Duck stories. But what makes this book superior to them is the commentary. In the Barks volumes, the commentary is by a number of scholars who try to equate a can of soup in the background of a single panel to the artist's opinion on social economics in Communist countries. I don't care for that sort of exposition. But I do love learning about the backstory and history of how and why a story or character was created. By having Don Rosa narrate his personal commentary, it's almost 100% the type of facts and figures I want to learn about. Plus, it's where I learned that Gladstone Comics was named after the character of Gladstone Gander!

Being his earliest Disney works, Rosa is a bit harsh on himself here. Well, they do say that we're our own harshest critic. I just wish Rosa could see his brilliance even in his rawest forms. There's a panel of Glomgold pointing a gun at off panel Scrooge while he's escaping a crashing plane that I kept coming back to again and again. So powerful. So much movement. So full of anger and emotion. Got to be one of my top 10 comic book images all time.

I've long wondered how to classify Don Rosa's art style. He puts so much detail into his work like a George Perez. But he also puts tiny jokes into the background like a Harvey Kurtzman. In the words of the master, he considers himself a student of the school of underground comix. That's fine with me.

I'm looking forward to volume 2! Can't wait to see Rosa's evolution and learn more inside information about one of my favorite characters ever!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Joker: One Operation Joker, Vol. 1 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

After falling into a similar vat of chemicals that changed the Joker into the madman he is today, Batman reverts into the form of a baby. The Clown Prince of Crime is tempted to just kill the child but he sees a greater chance at revenge by becoming the tyke's father and raising him as his son. The Joker feels that it would be a moment of great irony if someone as sick and twisted as the Joker could raise Batman into becoming a symbol of justice. 

However, raising a one-year old isn't all it's cracked up to be and it's eating into the Joker's day job as a master criminal. Hopefully, the Joker can get the child he calls 'Batbaby' into a premium daycare so the fiend can resume plotting his numerous heists. It costs a lot of money to keep a toddler in diapers and with all the sleepless nights and new found responsibility, Mr. J's bank account is just about at zero.

Joker: One Operation Joker was originally a 21-chapter manga that ran in the pages of Morning KC. Published by Kodansha under an agreement with DC Comics, the series appeared sporadically from 2021 until about early 2023. It was written by Satoshi Miyagawa (Space Battleship Tiramisu). The art is by Keisuke Gotou (sometimes spelled Goto), who is perhaps better known as the voice of Beni in the 2014 anime series DRAMAtical Murder and it's subsequent video game spin-off.

While not officially canon, Joker: One Operation Joker culls from over 80 years of Joker appearances in comics, television and movies. For example, in the first chapter, the staircase the Joker uses to exit the Gotham City subway are the very steps Joaquin Phoenix dances on in 2019's Joker. Even if you're not a big fan of manga, fans of the Joker and DC Comics will enjoy the many, many Easter eggs hidden throughout this paperback edition that contains chapters 1-7.

Don't be fooled into thinking that because this story is set in Gotham City, that it is not a traditional manga. This book is very much Japanese in terms of both the art style and the culture. The process the Joker must go through to get Batbaby into daycare is based on Japan's points system that is determined by an applying family's financial hardship and other social factors. Also, like a traditional manga, this book has to be read from right to left.

The entire Joker manga storyline was published in 3 volumes and all 21 chapters can be accessed through the DC Universe Infinite website. 

Completing this review completes Task #35 (A Manga Work) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Police Comics #1 Facsimile Edition

Take a good look at this 1941 premiere issue of Police Comics, published by non-defunct Quality Comics. Off to the side, there's Plastic Man, a one day member of the Justice League and future star of his own animated TV series and numerous solo titles. Underneath is the Human Bomb, a long-time member of the Freedom Fighters of Earth-X and occasional reservist of the All-Star Squadron. Coming in 3rd is the Phantom Lady, another member of the Freedom Fighters and star of her own solo title (twice) in the 1950s. Let's not worry about the clean-up hitter, the Mouthpiece. The world will never see him again after issue #13. Instead, I want you to focus on whom the editors choose to be the star of this anthology: The Firebrand!

Wearing a red bandana and mask, red pants and a see-through shirt, the Firebrand didn't have any super powers. He was just a bored socialite who decided to become a vigilante for kicks. After issue #13 of Police Comics, the Firebrand would also be shelved. Though, he would make a few appearances with the Freedom Fighters under DC's banner. However, his new home wasn't all that welcoming to him, unceremoniously being killed off by a super powered foe in the never published Cancelled Comics Cavalcade before just being retconned onto the sidelines and replaced by his sister in the All-Star Squadron reboot in 1981. 

Yes, Firebrand made his debut in the pages of this book. But so did Plastic Man, the Human Bomb, Phantom Lady and the Mouthpiece (remember, I told you to forget about him.) With all of these first appearances, I have to ask: why did Quality Comics choose the Firebrand to be the lead off character of this book?

Reed Crandall was the co-creator on Firebrand. He was a wunderkind writer for Quality before scaring the pants off of me in various E.C. horror titles. Maybe they were trying to build up his participation on this book. But why not give Crandall credit on the cover and not just the splash page on the Firebrand's opening story?

Based on his lack of powers, maybe Quality was trying to compete against National's (now DC) Batman. But in 1941, Batman wasn't even in the top 10 best selling superheroes. About to enter into the second World War, it was patriotic heroes like Captain America and mega-strong heroes like Captain Marvel and Superman that were dominating newsstands. Yet, for several issues, Quality kept banking on the Firebrand to be the hero to lead the title. Finally with issue #5, the publisher realized that they had a hit with Plastic Man and he became the cover star for a majority of the title's 127 issue run. 

I wish I was able to have owned an original copy of this book. However, it's a facsimile edition from 2024. Though I've read the origin of Plastic Man several times before, I still wanted to own this book. I've never read any of the other stories inside previously and I love going back in time exploring the ads and editorial material. It was a good read. The main superhero takes were the best. The other stories involving vigilantes or average Joe's taking on various criminal elements were the weaker stories. Mostly because of how over-the-top the dialogue was. Lots of cheesy one-liners and over use of 'criminal slang' that I've never encountered in my frequent watching of crime noir or as a teen devourer of Philip Marlowe. 

Oddly enough, there's very little presence of policemen in a comic book titled Police Comics. There's not even a single story starring any of the boys in blue. I find that strange. Rather strange.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

This is Little Lulu by Marge

I've really grown to become a fan of Little Lulu in the past couple of years. I credit A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics for that. As a kid, I just couldn't appreciate it's brilliance. That's because cartoonist John Stanley knew how to write as kids think and talk. Little Lulu and her pals have brilliant ideas. They just lack years of experience and wisdom for those ideas to always work properly. But when one of those ideas succeeds, it's absolute genius!

This 1956 Dell First Edition book features work from Stanley as well as Little Lulu creator Marjorie 'Marge' Henderson Buell. You can tell which works are the works of whom. Buell's Little Lulu is taller, thinner and has pupils. Marge's strips are also generally one panel jokes and done in pantomimes or minimum dialogue. John Stanley's Little Lulu is shorter, more cartoonish and full of masterful dialogue. Plus her best friend bears the name Tubby instead of Joe.

This book and it's reprinted content was written during a time when cartoonists, especially comic book creators, didn't receive billing for their work. Buell managed to keep credit as Lulu's creator after she gave up illustrating the strip with the birth of her first child, by becoming the franchise's creative consultant. I know for sure that one story is the work of John Stanley thanks to the Smithsonian book. It's a favorite of mine, starring Tubby as his super sleuth alter ego, the Spider, suspecting that the reason Little Lulu's father shaved his mustache is because he's on the run from the police!

The rest of this book is material that I've never encountered before. There's a variety of seasonal stories involving Valentine's Day, Christmas and Halloween. The best story of this bunch involves Lulu hosting a ghost party where everyone dresses as ghosts. One kid mentions that he's not wearing anything under his sheet and that's a plot device that leads to hijinks that made me chuckle so much. I was laughing at such a frequency at this yarn that I peaked my wife's attention by wanting to know what was so darn funny.

Finding this book was an absolute fluke. I was looking through a pile of old Archie digests and this book just happened to be stuck in the middle of the pile. The selling price was a little bit higher than I would normally pay. But I happened to purchase it with trade credit. One thing is for sure, I want more Little Lulu and Tubby adventures. I think I might be searching for a treasury on Amazon in the very near future. Getting a complete run of these works might complete with my search for Carl Barks, Don Rosa and Will Eisner omnibuses.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Batman and Robin Adventures #3

Here we are! My final holiday comic review for the 2024 season. Based on the iconic Batman: The Animated Series, this comic sees the Riddler holding a prestigious gentlemen's club being held hostage during its annual Christmas party. 

First of all, when I use the term gentlemen's club, I'm not referring to the seedy nudie bar near the airport. Second, when I use the term holiday comic, I'm actually actually referring to the time of year this book is set. Otherwise, this story is one that could have been told the other 364 days of the year.

Christmas is basically just a prop. The Riddler does cause a fire at the club by turning all of the Christmas tree table decorations into incendiaries. However, the fiend could have set the blaze with any sort of decor. The Riddler's scheme could have happened during the club's annual Easter banquet, Fourth of July fete or Thanksgiving feast. 

This is no Christmas With the Joker.

I also had trouble with the ending. Riddler's escape hangs upon dumb luck. Somehow after escaping Batman's clutches, the villain dons a Gotham City SWAT team uniform. He manages to flee the scene when Commissioner Gordon orders the Riddler's SWAT team 'officer' to request fire and rescue and in order to do that, he's got to get inside a transport vehicle to get on the horn to make the inquiry. How would the Riddler have planned to have escaped if Gordon didn't pick him to contact the GCFD?

The ending really rests on a 'hand of fate' decision. The Riddler's heists are too well planned to the finest detail that having this escape step of his scheme hangs on random selection is just too implausible to me. Considering how perfect Paul Dini's Batman: TAS stories are, he really got a little sloppy with this plot. A Riddler caper has to be like clockwork and I'm not talking about using a sun dial. 

Ty Templeton's art work was flawless. So clean and so screen accurate. It really steals the show... Uh, comic. 

Not a true Christmas story. Not the most well thought out Riddler story. But some darn fine artwork. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Jingle Belle: The Homemade's Tale

Santa's rebellious daughter, Jingle Belle returns in this 2018 one-shot from IDW Publishing. Paul Dini crafts a beautiful story that builds upon the lore of Santa Claus.

Every year after Santa's annual run of toy deliveries, a mysterious woman scours the globe.

But this person isn't giving out more presents. Instead, she's looking for homemade toys that were rejected by their owners, offering them the companionship and love that they should have received on Christmas morning. 

The idea is a lot like the Island of Misfit Toys first visited in the 1964 Rankin/Bass holiday classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Only, this is for toys that were lovingly made by children and parents to be rejected for more illustrious presents such as a video game console or snow skis. 

Let me tell you that this story started out pulling, no tearing, at the old heartstrings. When that first toy gets overlooked by a sibling who'd much rather spend time in front of the hottest new video game of the year, I almost wanted to cry. But I didn't, because of the mystery woman who rescued the handmade horsey with such affection and then is welcomed by a sack full of fellow toys with such camaraderie, it dried those tears. Though it was still very sad.

You think that it's Jingle Belle who's rescuing the rejected toys. The twist was interesting and believable. It didn't feel like a cop out and it definitely wasn't a clone of the Island of Misfit Toys plotline from Rudolph. Sadly, it also felt like the end of Jingle Belle's story.

Things really seemed to wrap up nicely in a big shiny package with an even nicer bow. Especially for Jingle. Santa's got a new assistant with his deliveries. There's a new holiday tradition that guarantees no toy mass produced or one-of-a-kind goes unloved ever again. However, it's been 6 years since this book debuted and unless Paul Dini just all of a sudden gets a tremendously awesome idea that builds further upon that extremely happy ending, I doubt Jingle and her friends are ever coming back to comic book store shelves.

A perfect ending for a bittersweet story. I'm just not ready to say goodbye to this wonderful world created by the creator of Harley Quinn. Ooooo- that would be a fantastic idea! A crossover starring Jingle Belle and Harley. Oh, the holiday chaos they'd create. 

See! I just figured out how to bring this universe back without taking away from the ending! Please, Paul Dini - make this happen!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.