DC's T'was the 'Mite Before Christmas #1

This year's annual holiday release from DC Comics is representative of the complaints many of the fans of the publisher have been grousing about all year. The story telling is pretty darn good; but could be better. The artwork has devolved collectively. And the DCU is just too full of lame characters in an attempt to diversify it's lineup in order to appease every demographic.

As with 80-page giants of year's past, there are 8 stories inside. Batwoman outsources some help when the Riddler terrorizes Gotham over the 8 nights of Hanukkah. Superman gives a dose of his signature hope and optimism to a young man in crisis on a lonely Christmas Eve. Batmite makes a holiday visit to the Batcave where he encounters Damian Wayne for the very first time to disastrous effects. Lex Luthor is visited by a trio of spirits while the Raven is left home alone at Titans Tower during an attack by members of the Fearsome Five. Harley Quinn and Princess Amethyst switch roles for the holidays as a techno-virus turns Booster Gold into a clone of Santa Claus. And then there's a D-level former member of the Teen Titans who feels sorry for himself and receives a dose of It's a Wonderful Life. 

All of the stories except for that last one were of a quality ranking for a 6 or higher. The Superman, Lex Luthor and Raven stories were 9s or better. Booster's tale, the Harley switcheroo and Batmite stories were decent. The Batwoman story could have been better. Yes, it is very heavy on LGBTQ+ themes. But that's not why I ranked it low. The solutions for the Riddler's puzzles were really confusing and that art of the last page looked like it was drawn by somebody else. It just didn't look right from the rest of the story.

The one story that stunk was indeed a part of DC's Pride line-up. But again, that's not why I gave that story a 2 out of 10. It was a lame story about an even lamer superhero named Bunker, who I've never heard of in 40 plus years of reading comic books. That being said, I refuse to believe that someone as virtually unknown as Bunker would really be the catalyst to saving the DC Universe from Dominators. I could think of dozens of low-level characters who would have more of a direct impact over the DC Universe if they weren't born than Bunker. Ragman. Obsidian. Crazy Quilt. CALENDAR MAN!

I'm also shocked that of these 8 stories there's not 1 tale starring a black or Asian character. 

Another thing missing has to do with something I applaud DC for at least making a small effort to include. As I mentioned, the Superman story involves a young man who is about to commit suicide on Christmas Eve until the Man of Steel stops him. Inside the back cover of this book there are a couple of phone numbers and other contacts for suicide prevention including the Jed Foundation for teens and NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). As one who experienced a best friend killing themselves (and was a huge DC fan), I appreciate DC Comics including those contacts. But why didn't they include 988, the new, easier to remember phone number of the National Suicide and Crisis hotline??? I asked my wife about this omission and her being a social worker was appalled at 988's absence. 

I liked a majority of this book. The Ben Caldwell cover and the clever pun to A Visit From St. Nicolas with the book's title were awesome. It's just that there was too much focus on characters that aren't big names in DC Comics. I can't believe I am gonna say this but I think it would be best if DC killed off 50% of it's cast of characters. And not for a brief snap like with The Infinity Gauntlet. Kill off all of the C and D list characters. Get rid of all of the legacy characters. Keep it to one Flash, one Robin, one Superman for 5 years. (Multiple Green Lanterns would be allowed. Just not as many as usual.) Write good stories that focus on quality instead of quantity. You can still have black, Asian, gay/queer, and Latino characters. Just make the field of players smaller for a little while in order to appeal to readers who want to be entertained. I understand that people need to feel represented in the media they enjoy. But just because I have a pair of adopted goats, I don't need DC to create a superhero who has a Nigerian Dwarf for a sidekick to feel like I have a place in this world. 

T'was the Bat Mite Before Christmas had good storytelling. Now DC should get back to great storytelling instead of trying to check boxes to make everyone happy. And while you're at it, recruit some new art talent. This holiday special was definitely NOT a feast for the eyes. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

DC Pride Through The Years #1 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

DC Comics August, 2023

Reprinting the following material:

The Flash #53 August, 1991
Detective Comics #854 August, 2009
Supergirl #19 May, 2018

Since 2021, DC Comics has released an annual 80-page special devoted to the LGBTQIA+ characters of the DC Universe. This year, along with DC Pride 2023, the House of Superman released an anthological look at LGBTQIA+ characters from the past 4 decades of DC history.

DC Pride Through the Years contains 4 stories; 3 of which are reprints. 

First is The Flash #53. This issue is considered by senior manager of the DC Archives Benjamin La Clear, to be the first main stream DC books with an openly gay character after the Comics Code revised it's standards against the portrayal of sexual orientation in 1989. True, it took 2 years before William Messner-Loebs had the Pied Piper reveal his sexual preferences to Wally West. But in reality, comic book readers were already aware of homosexuality and non-traditional gender identities in comics for decades. Both real and implied.

If you are going to write about the history of comics, at some point and time you're going to come back to Dr. Fredric Wertham. His 1955 book Seduction of the Innocent blamed every facet of juvenile delinquency on sequential art. One of Wetham's most famous examples used was to blame the rise of homosexuality in teens on characters such as Wonder Woman and the Dynamic Duo.

Wertham more than implied that the relationship between millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his young ward, Dick Grayson, was anything but wholesome. Wertham even went so far as to frame the nighttime exploits of the two in the guise of Batman and Robin as a sort of sadomasochist gay fantasy that in today's vernacular would be considered the equivalent of 'sexual grooming'. As a result of this attack, DC Comics introduced a new character into the Batman Family- one Ms. Kathy Kane, AKA the Batwoman. 

Though Batman already had love interests in the form of the villainess Catwoman and reporter Vicki Vale, DC felt the need to introduce a super-hero love interest into the Batman dynamic to counter the damage inflicted on the character by Wertham and the resulting Senate subcommittee hearings led by Estes Kefauver. After a couple of years, once the fervor over Batman and Robin's sexuality would subside, Kathy Kane would be quietly retired. She wasn't exactly a very popular addition to the Batcave anyways. However, the character would be re-explored again, this time in a reboot that introduced Kate Kane as the new Batwoman of Gotham City.

A cousin of Bruce Wayne, on his mother's side, Kate Kane has some military training having been enrolled in West Point. It is at this time that Kane is first outed. While given a chance to refute those allegations, Kane admits to being a lesbian and is drummed from the institution just before what would have been her graduation. The Kate Kane Batwoman is also one of the few Jewish superheroes in comics and her debut as the lead feature of Detective Comics is used to commemorate the character's place in LGBTQIA+ history at DC Comics. 

DC Pride Through the Years then examines the non-super-powered members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Though non-binary (or as one might have referred to as gender-bending) characters have existed in DC Comics for years, such as Sir Tristan in 1982's Camelot 3000 and Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol creation of the sentient genderqueer Danny the Street, this book decided to focus on a friend of the Girl of Steel. 

In Supergirl #19, readers are introduced to Lee Serrano. Lee is a non-binary teen who is befriended by the Maid of Might after a being saved during an attack from the Cyborg Superman. Lee is being bullied at school and through Supergirl's own complicated relationship with an adopted planet that see's her as both a hero and a villain, the teen is inspired to stand up against their bully.

The fourth story involves the complicated character of the Alan Scott Green Lantern. One of the original pillars of the Justice Society of America, the character underwent changes during DC's New 52 event when it was revealed that Earth-2's Alan Scott was gay. With this new version of Green Lantern, a lot of readers were confused. Scott had previously been married with two children, who became super heroes just like their old man. While some were quick to point out that historically, gays and lesbians confused by their sexuality, have married those of the opposite sex and had children, some readers felt that Alan Scott's reboot wasn't sufficiently explored or explained. 

Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey's 'Past Prologue' is the introductory chapter into the 6-issue miniseries Alan Scott: Green Lantern. Debuting in October, 2023, this pre-World War II set epic will dive into Scott's origin; both as one of the founding superheroes of the DC Universe and as a closeted gay man.

Cover by Derek Charm.

Completing this review completes Task #44 (A New Release) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Showcase Presents World's Finest, Volume 1

Presenting some of the most off-the-wall adventures starring the Man of Steel, the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder. Aliens, love-sick dames, giant robots and rather unusual new teammates to the trio of heroes make up the list of opponents faced by the World's Finest. 

This black and white collection also contains the first ever meeting between Batman and Superman from the pages of Superman. The original Batwoman, Kathy Kane, attempts to shatter the glass ceiling in competition with Batman and The Man of Tomorrow. Lastly, in an all-time classic, The Joker and Lex Luthor join forces against their arch-enemies.

But where's Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen? The cub reporter was an integral part of the World's Finest issues of my father's that I used to read by the literal trunk-load as a kid. Jimmy and Robin would often have a generational gap competition in the pages of this DC Comics team-up. Not having the ginger teen in these stories is just rather weird to me. Perhaps he'll pop up in volume 2...

One unforgivable disappointment is the overuse of plots. Yes, with comic books, being nearly a century old, it's nearly impossible to not reuse plot lines. But to have so many repeat plot lines less than a year apart in time; things got predictable quick. Maybe if I was a reader in the mid-1950s approaching these as they were published on a bi-monthly basis, I wouldn't have noticed the lack of imagination. But I doubt it.

Still, this was a great collection of 1950s DC stories. Their naive optimism was a nice transition from the bleakness of the Atomic Knight and Great Disaster stories that I had been reading prior to this archive of Golden Age works.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

A Very DC Rebirth Holiday

Reprinting a trio of holiday themed issues from DC's Rebirth era. 

Reprinting Batman: Annual #1, spend the holidays in Gotham City. Marvel at a band of acrobatic thieves. Get caught under the mistletoe with the Scarecrow. Harley Quinn catches a ride back to Coney Island with the Dark Knight. Plus, the origin of Ace, The Bat-Hound is finally revealed. 

Then in the contents of Harley Quinn #10, Santa Claus has gone catatonic. The only person who can help him is Dr. Harleen Quinzel. Taking the term 'head shrink' to an all new meaning, Quinn is shrunk into Santa's brain in hopes of restoring his holiday spirit. 

Lastly is the DC Rebirth Holiday Special from 2016. Hosted by Harley Quinn, the Joker's Ex puts on a sort of old school variety show much like Sinatra or Andy Williams used to host. Just about every holiday of the season is explored through the eyes of Batwoman, the Green Lantern Corps, and the Titans. My favorite story is a Christmas Eve romp with Detective Chimp and Batman. There just aren't enough stories with Detective Chimp and this team-up was fantastic!

This should have been called Harley Quinn's Rebirth Holiday Special. She features prominently in all three main stories. I'm not complaining. This was great fun. It was way more enjoyable than 2018's DC's Nuclear Winter Special. There's just no way around it- Christmas-time specials need to be light-hearted and fun; not dismal and bleak.

Featuring the talents of Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Scott Snyder, Neal Adams and many more. This was classic DC fun in a Rebirth wrapper!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

DC Rebirth Holiday Special #1

    Harley Quinn is your host in the super hero holiday spectacular to end all holiday spectaculars. Batman Adventures legend Paul Dini (who also created the character of Harley Quinn) pens the framing segments before a host of holiday themed stories starring Superman and son Jon, Batman and son Damian, Wonder Woman, John Constantine, the Titans, members of the Green Lantern Corps, Batwoman, and many, many more...
    At $9.99, this special is a bit pricey. But it is a 96-pager and there were several stories that I loved so much, I had to read it over. The Batman/ Superman story and the Batman/ Detective Chimp story were the best. But the Paul Dini penned vignettes were the highlight. Nobody does Harley Quinn better- nobody! This book just dropped last Wednesday, but it's getting such rave reviews, I don't think it's going to be on store shelves for long! So act fast!!!
   Featuring a slew of DC talent including Cullen Bunn, Steve Orlando, Dustin Nguyen, and Gustavo Duarte, this was the best DC Special I think I've ever read. And I'm not just saying this because of how excited I am to see DC returning to making holiday specials (it's been 6 years since DC published the last one! Curse you, New 52!) 
    Rebirth has been a great thing for DC Comics and this holiday special was just another great example of how DC is the real mover and shaker of the Big Two! I look forward to 2017 and the next volume!
       
    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

DCU Infinite Holiday Special #1

DC did it again with this 2006 holiday special set against the backdrop of the Infinite Crisis and 52 story lines. Here Santa asks Shadowpact for help while Supergirl is tasked with brightening a little’s Christmas as Batwoman proves that there really are Hanukkah miracles.

But the best story is the Elseworlds themed tale in which Superman plays Santa to a little boy. The ending is totally unexpected and completely wild and I love it!

I hate that DC doesn’t do holiday specials anymore. Hopefully, that is a trend that will pass very soon. I understand they are busy with their New 52 story lines, but it’s been 2 Christmases now and we’ve gotten bupkis.

DC is also the better creator of Christmas and holiday themed specials. Hopefully, someone will read this plea and I’ll get my holiday wish.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.