Teen Titans #13 (January-February, 1968)
"The TT's Swingin' Christmas Carol!"
Writer - Bob Haney
Artist - Nick Cardy
Cover Price: $0.12
Merry Christmas, friends! Hope everyone woke up to a tree-full of great stuff from Santa.
Today we're going to wrap up our Twelve Days of Christmas on Infinite Earths with one Swingin' Christmas Carol. I know what you're thinking... "Chris, you merry elf... you covered this story last year!" To which I say... well, yeah... I did!
We looked at this story way back on December 21, 2016 as part of the 1988 Christmas With the Super-Heroes Special. So, why do it again?
Well... I finally came into a copy of the original... which has been one of my "white whales" of collecting... also, I get to share all of the groovy ads and letters page... last year I was only able to dedicate about a paragraph to this in our "discussion" section... and finally, it affords me the opportunity to "organically" promote the fact that Reggie and I included this in the Cosmic Treadmill Christmas Special... now available for download!
Before we hop in... I'd like to once again wish everyone the Merriest and Brightest Holiday! Thank you all for a great year of comics chatter... and look forward to our 700th Daily Discussion coming in just five days!
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We open at Ebeneezer Scrounge's Junkorama... oi... inside Scrounge is being a slave-driver to his employee... Bob *hm* Ratchet. Bob asks Scrounge if he might have Christmas Day off to be with his son, Tiny Tom... is any of this sounding familiar? No? It's just me, then? Anyhoo... Scrounge is all "Humbug", but tells him if he gets his work done he can have the day off. Hmm, sounds reasonable, no? Suddenly a truck pulls up, and Scrounge decides to shoo Ratchet off for the evening.
Just as this occurs, Tiny Tom rolls up in his not-so-deluxe wheelchair. He overhears Scrounge and a pair of thugs making a deal on some old garbage. Ya see, they've got a sort of ray that makes old garbage into new stuff. Why, they'll make millions!
Tom rushes home to tell his father what he'd heard. He suggests he confront Scrounge with it... which, goes about as well as you might imagine. Scrounge decides that poor Ratchet's gonna have to work Christmas after all. Tiny Tom's outta tricks, so he decides to call in the cavalry... the Teen Titans! Not sure how he got a hold of them... but, c'maaaaaan, it's Christmas... we'll allow it.
The Titans hide under the bad guys' truck as they head out. They are stopped by a giant of a man who starts wrecking fools left and right. The Titans bail out and decide to trail their potential ally... all the way back to Ebeneezer Scrounge's run down mansion.
The big man beats on the door onto Scrounge answers... it's Jacob *hm* Farley, fresh from the clink... still wearing the stripes, even! He's here to take some justice from the ol' skinflint's be-hind.
The Titans enter the mansion before Farley can obliterate the old geezer... and we come to find that he was Scrounge's scapegoat for some scummy dealings, which caused some on-the-job injury. Scrounge knows his rights, and decides to phone up the police... Farley and the Titans both scram before they get arrested. Outside, the Titans compare what they're going through with Dicken's A Christmas Carol... okay, so we're going there, fair enough.
The gang decides... what the hell... let's keep playing along. Maybe have ol' Scrounge visited by some ghosts and what-not... which, ya know... is exactly what they're gonna do. First it's the Ghost of Christmas Past... who I'm guessing is Wally, because he comes in through the wall. He spooks Scrounge pretty good... causing him to flee the mansion...
... where he meets the Ghost of Christmas Present... who is, I dunno... either Robin or Aqualad, I guess. He takes Scrounge out to where he can see Bob Ratchet digging through the snow for spare parts with which he can repair Tiny Tom's wheelchair... good thing there's a perfectly good wheel under that snowdrift, right?
Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Future arrives... which is, get this... Wonder Girl in a cute little Santa onesie, with her hood up. We hear some phantom voices about Scrounge's legacy, including a very nice one from Tiny Tom. The baddies arrive during the haunting... and, not messing around... shoot her right out of the sky. Ouch. Anyhoo, the jig is up.
The next scene is a... weird fighty bit, where the Titans get sucked into a giant "garbage tree" or something. I guess it's an anti-burglar device... that, I dunno... attracts human flesh?
Suddenly, the attractor starts... attracting, Tiny Tom's wheelchair. It falls and gets crushed... and they say, that Ebeneezer Scrounge's heart grew three sizes that day. Seeing the wheelchair of the only boy who ever said anything nice about him destroyed is enough to set him off. He turns off the machine, and frees the Titans.
Scrounge has seen the light... he decides to turn over a new leaf... he even goes as far as to buy Tiny Tom a state of the art, groovy electric wheelchair!
Not only that, Ebeneezer replaces Wonder Girl's cute little Santa suit so the gang can all pose and deliver a very special (and of course, swinging and groovy) Holiday greeting!
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This one just gets sillier (and better) every time I read it! I think it's the perfect note to end our Twelve Days of Christmas on Infinite Earths feature on.
We really acquainted ourselves with this story for the latest Cosmic Treadmill Podcast... there was so much great far-out dialogue in here that I was toying with the idea of scripting out the entire thing!
The thing of it is now, however, is that I almost feel too close to this one to give it a "fair and balanced" review. I think I can safely say this one won't rock everybody's socks. It's pretty light on action... and it's, ya know, a parody/homage to A Christmas Carol (by Dickens, if ya dig), so we get pretty much exactly what we expect.
Scrooge/Scrounge is visited upon... then has a complete change of heart. That's the quick and the dirty on both stories. It still tickles me thought, that the Titans actually come to the revelation that their situation is strikingly similar to A Christmas Carol halfway through the issue. I mean, it sets up the second half... but it's still just so weird!
Nick Cardy's art here is fantastic... and just like we mentioned during the podcast, his work on the Titans and the A Christmas Carol knock-offs is quite different. The Titans still look like their usual comic book selves, whereas the rest have sort of a rougher look... heavily shadowed... almost as if they'd literally just stepped out of an old book. It's a great look and doesn't distract from the storytelling one bit.
Overall... this story gets a huuuge recommendation from ol' Santa Chris. It's available digitally, and has been reprinted a whole slew of times (including 1988's Christmas With the Super-Heroes, natch). If you see this one, definitely grab it... I think you'll have a great time with it.
Before I cut out (for another handful of Christmas cookies that I shouldn't be eating), I want to once again wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season. Thanks for making this a great year... and hopefully some of my silliness has helped in some small part to brighten yours!
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O' Christmas Tree 2017:
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas on Infinite Earths, I give to you Teen Titans #13, Adventures of Superman #520, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12, JSA Classified #33, The Spirit #13, Justice League Unlimited #28, Shade the Changing Man (vol.2) #19, Action Comics #762! Young Justice #40, Superman: The Man of Steel #109, Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special, and a Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #2 Review. Merry Christmas, friends!
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Adventures of Superman #520 (February, 1995)
"Christmas Thieves"
Writer - Karl Kesel
Penciller - Stuart Immonen
Inker - Jose Marzan
Colorist - Glenn Whitmore
Letterer - Albert DeGuzman
Assistant Editor - Chris Duffy
Editor - Mike Carlin
Cover Price: $1.50
Merry Christmas Eve everybody! Today we discuss what will probably be the last book with a February cover date... for at least a little while!
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We open with Superman flying right at us with incredible urgency. Ya see, it's Christmas Eve (feel like we've been saying that an awful lot lately!) and he's trying to track down a Limited Edition "Date With Debbi" doll for Lois... which is apparently a big deal with all of the baby-boomers of the day. As is to be expected with our main man, this won't be an easy task. In the distance, he hears an alarm ring out... and wouldn'tcha know it, it's those geeks he took out on his first day back on the job (following the Death).
Deke Dickson, otherwise known as Loophole, is using his powers of intangibility to rob a safe... all the while very loudly discussing the Night of 100 Thieves that the underworld is engaging in this evening. Superman, of course, hears all of this... and fries Deke's tech, causing him to become embedded in a wall. Kinda hardcore for Superman... but we'll allow it. It's Christmas, after all.
Superman realizes he now has quite the busy night ahead of him... 98 more thieves are all planning on robbing various Metropolis hot-spots (I should mention that Deke had his faceless lady friend with him for his caper). Anyhoo, first stop... a jewelry store, where Superman easily takes down a trio of geeks (led by a guy calling himself Power Fork).
On the way out, we see Mountain Man and Piton... whoever they are... about to conduct some thievery. That is, until they run afoul of... Babe?! Ya see, Babe was a friend of Jimmy Olsen's who got turned into a vampire... or something like that. She was very seldom used, with good reason. Anyhoo, she scares the bejeezus out of the pair... to the point where they beg to be arrested.
The next B-Villains are a trio of intangibles calling themselves, get this, The Untouchables! Oddly enough, they get taken down by a smoke boomerang, courtesy of Captain Boomerang! Superman arrives moments later to (literally) toss Digger himself into a garbage can. Not sure if Captain Boomerang truly was on the "straight and narrow" at this point, and Superman just didn't get the memo... or if he was just robbing other robbers. Either way, it was neat to see him! Strewth!
Next up... The Royal Flush Gang. Wow, we really are scraping the bottom of the barrel here. Superman does his thing and takes them out. Maggie Sawyer and Terrible Turpin are present to help wrangle the baddies up. Superman engages in some super-counting, and tallies the night at sixty baddies collared. Only forty to go... and he's got a plan!
He has the Metropolis Police Department speed through the city to corral the criminals into a construction site... and then swoops in and wraps them all up in a nice little package. Cop out? Yeah... maybe.
By our updated count, we're sitting at 98 B-Listers caught... only two more to go... and they're a doozy of a pair. It's our friends from Charlton, Punch and Jewelee. Superman meets up with them at a toy shoppe... and after pummeling them with... balls... Christmas (Eve) is saved! As a "thank you", the store owner gives Superman the last Date With Debbi doll he has in stock. Oddly enough, that's exactly what Punch and Jewelee were there to steal!
We wrap up on Christmas morning, and Lois wakes up next to her Date With Debbi doll. Somewhat strangely, Clark's note reads "Happy Holidays". Ya know, I'm not one of those "War on Christmas" types... I'm cool with a "Merry Christmas" or a "Happy Holidays"... whatever you're comfortable saying, I'm comfortable receiving... but, c'mon Clark... Lois is your wife. I think you can say "Merry Christmas" to your wife without worrying about offending anybody. Ehh, who knows... maybe it was the only card left at the store.
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This was a fun one!
This story falls into one of my more pronounced Superman "blind-spots"... that whole post-Death pre-Electric Blue era is kind of jumbled together for me... so figure, if it's a story where Superman has a mullet... I probably only read it once... if at all!
I've been wracking my brain trying to recall what the Date With Debbi doll might be an analogue to. Throughout my life there have been plenty of "rushes" on toys... Cabbage Patch Kids, Furbies, Tickle Me Elmos, Nintendo Wiis... I don't recall what might've been the hot toy back at Christmas 1994. A scan of the internet brings back POGS and Power Rangers... but I don't recall either of those being terribly hard to come by! Regardless, this was a neat "hook" for our holiday tale.
Speaking of neat... seeing (and introducing) a bunch of B-tier baddies, was a lot of fun. It's not often we get a Punch and Jewelee mention, let alone an appearance! The Captain Boomerang cameo was also really cool. Wish I could remember if he was actually acting heroic here... or just gittin' while the gittin' was good.
Wrapping up about forty thieves at once was a bit odd, and kind of a cop out. I mean... why not just start the issue with forty thieves? We didn't need a hundred! It reminded me of a "novel" a friend and I wrote back in like the fifth grade. It was a fantasy story, taking place in medieval times... and basically ripped off every fantasy/role-playing video game we'd ever played.
Throughout the story we introduced so many silly things... like the heroes would have to locate four orbs (Final Fantasy), eight gems (Zelda II: The Adventure of Link) and a slew of stone tablets that, when put together, would form a map. A map to what? Who knows! We eventually got to the point where we had more maguffin than story... and since the whole thing was hand-written in a notebook, we couldn't just edit these bits out. So, we just had our heroes find everything at once! Just like Superman did with the thieves at the construction site!
Overall... I really dug this. I recall really disliking Immonen's art back in the day... the looseness was really off-putting to me. I suppose I've softened in my old age, because this time around, I dug it! Never a fan of a long-haired Superman... so that's still a bit cringy, but otherwise... everything looked great! This one's a mainstay in the quarter-bins... so it shouldn't be too hard to procure. It's also conveniently available via DC Digital.
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Interesting Ads:
On the Eleventh Day of Christmas on Infinite Earths, I give to you Adventures of Superman #520, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12, JSA Classified #33, The Spirit #13, Justice League Unlimited #28, Shade the Changing Man (vol.2) #19, Action Comics #762! Young Justice #40, Superman: The Man of Steel #109, Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special, and a Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #2 Review.
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Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 (February, 2010)
"Final Christmas"
Writer - Landry Q. Walker
Artist - Eric Jones
Colorist - Heroic Age
Letterer - Rob Clark, Jr.
Assistant Editor - Harvey Richards
Editor - Michael Siglain
Cover Price: $2.50
Heading back into the animated world for the Tenth Day of Christmas on Infinite Earths... and it's a take on yet another animated series that I haven't seen a frame of... though, if I'm being honest... this one actually sorta tickles my interest.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008-2011, Cartoon Network) feels like the kinda show where more of the oddball DC characters might get their chance to shine (just checking the Wiki tells me that 'Mazing Man was a part of this!)... which, is right up my alley. Might have to actually check this one out!
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We open, and it's Christmas Eve... in the city that seems to have more Christmas Eves than any other, Gotham! Batman is on the trail of the Calendar Man. We get a bit of cute dialogue referencing how un-threatening the Calendar Man is in comparison to some of the other Christmas Eve battles the Batman has had, "Your rampage of irritating misdemeanors ends now, Calendar Man!"... however, before our man can collar the crim, he vanishes! And so, Cee-Emm celebrates... until the Earth explodes.
We rejoin Batman as he is being pulled to Rann via the Zeta Beam. Upon arrival, he meets up with... you guessed it, Adam Strange... who is locked in combat with... are those Shadow Demons from Crisis on Infinite Earths?!
Batman and Adam fight off the throngs long enough for Alana Strange to show up with the heavy artillery... and a rocket-hover-gimmick for the trio to escape on. Unfortunately, there is too much anti-matter interference for them to take off. Not that that'll stop Batman though! He has his own toys... that somehow don't have to comply with silly things like "anti-matter interference". The Stranges hitch a ride with the Bat, as though he were a reindeer pulling a sleigh!
The heroes successfully escape... and make their way to the Psion Base. There we get a cute bit of Batman over-complicating their approach. He begins to meticulously plan how the trio will split up to look for the Central Control System... until, of course, Alana informs him that they're already there.
Batman is miffed, and claims he's have realized that soon enough... which leads us to a "girls can do anything that boys can" speech from Alana. It's passive-aggressive sure, but doesn't come across as politically charged and angry as it would be if written today. Sensing danger, Alana swats Adam aside... and is blasted for her troubles!
It's a Psion baddie... who unfortunately brought a gun to a Bat-fight. Batman makes short work of him... and then presses for answers. The geek informs him that the Anti-matter generator is locked in overdrive... and has caused the Shadow Demons to bust in from Qward... and wreck all sort of havoc, including knocking over the first domino in deleting the universe. Oh, so that's what happened to Earth! Satisfied with the information, Batman hits the goof with some kayo-binaca... but not before learning that all of the deleted universal information is being stored on "data orbs".
And so, it's up to our Zeta-beam saturated heroes to "restore the universe to an earlier date". The following morning (Christmas morning), Adam and Batman grab the data orbs... and instead of being rendered out of existence, their Zeta-beam residue holds them together... and somehow makes Adam Strange look kinda Santaish... and Batman look more like Bat-Mite!
Batman and Adam Strange release the orbs while Alana reverses the Anti-Matter signal... and before long, the Earth (and presumably the rest of the universe) is back in business!
This new big bang ends with... a bang! Well, actually a "Thoooom". Batman and Adam pop back to Rann, however just moments later the former's Zeta Beam wears off returning him to Earth...
... precisely at the moment he left! Sorry, Calendar Man... it's just not your day.
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I really wasn't expecting to like this. Figured it was going to be another "kids book" that pokes fun at how "silly" comic books are... but actually found that not to be the case at all!
I mean sure, there's some Calendar Man silliness... but, more than not, this feels like it was written with a very real love of DC Comics and DC Comics history. So often I feel like these "all-ages books" are produced by folks too far detached from the source material... sort of just "piss takes" on superhero conventions and "har har hars" on how silly spandex-wearing crime fighters truly are. Which, really now... just isn't necessary. We're all "in" on that joke (and have made peace with it!)... we don't need it drilled into our skulls.
I was absolutely shocked to see the freakin' Shadow Demons of Qward. That's one helluva deep-cut for a book of this sort. Between that and the story title "Final Christmas" during the year that Final Crisis is on the shelves... c'mon, that's great. Especially for an idiot who is running a Christmas on Infinite Earths special for the second year in a row.
Of course the story ends conveniently... but, when it's Christmas I find that I'm more willing to give that sort of thing a pass. Miracles are par for the course this time of year... so, it's hard for me to get mad at it.
The art here is really good... though, still not really my cuppa tea. I do like it quite a bit better than the normal animated-style-in-comics look though.
Overall... this was a pleasant surprise! Not sure it will enter the annual rotation for me... but, had more fun with it than I expected! Worth grabbing if you come across it in the wild, or if you have young children (along with the fun story, there are plenty of neat activities included--see below)... also, available digitally for just a buck!
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Letters Page:
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Fun Stuff:
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Interesting Ads:
On the Tenth Day of Christmas on Infinite Earths, I give to you Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12, JSA Classified #33, The Spirit #13, Justice League Unlimited #28, Shade the Changing Man (vol.2) #19, Action Comics #762! Young Justice #40, Superman: The Man of Steel #109, Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special, and a Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #2 Review.
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JSA Classified #33 (February, 2008)
"Ghosts of Christmas Past"
Writer - Junior Thomas
Pencillers - Staz Johnson & Mike Norton
Inkers - Rodney Ramos & Mike Norton
Colorist - Allen Passalaqua
Letterer - Jared K. Fletcher
Assistant Editor - Harvey Richards
Editor - Michael Siglain
Cover Price: $2.99
Feels like it's been a long time since we covered the Justice Society... and, I suppose it kinda has! Haven't read any JSA since I landed in the new house... I'm assuming when the movers "arranged" things, all the boxes I had toward the top of the stack were moved toward the bottom. It also doesn't help that over half of them were put down with the box numbers facing the wall!
Anyhoo... came across this issue in a cheap-o bin not too long ago, and held on to it for our Twelve Days of Christmas on Infinite Earths special.
JSA Classified... hell, all of the Classified books... felt to me kinda like X-Men Unlimited. It was a slot on the shipping schedule... however, after their "big" initial arcs quickly fell to being something of an afterthought. Just "try out" stories... that didn't really matter, and were largely forgettable.
Does this Green Lantern issue live up to my expectation? Let's find out...
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We open on Thanskgiving, where Vandal Savage has just torn the Starheart from Alan Scott... and used it to manifest a specter of Alan's late daughter... Jennie-Lynn "Jade" Hayden. Savage taunts Scott... claiming that this Jade "puppet" is currently under his control. Nearby, a woman holds her child... a young girl that the Starheart drained the life force from in order to concoct the Jade manifestation. Ya got all that?
Savage continues to taunt Green Lantern, and threatening the Jade entity. If she doesn't agree to do his bidding, he promises there'll be dire consequences. Not sure how much that might trouble someone who's already dead... but whattayagonnado? Alan, having heard all he can standsk (he can't standsk no more), lifts himself up and wallops Vandal with a willpower-fueled uppercut.
Savage finds the physical assault almost cute... and delivers retribution in the form of... Jade! Jade starts ripping into Alan for being such a lousy father... you'll remember that they didn't even meet until Jennie (and Todd) were adults back in the Infinity, Inc. days.
Alan absorbs one of Jade's blasts before going back on the attack against Savage. He smashes the baddie so hard, it actually knocks Jade off of her feet. Alan rushes to her side... and it looks as though she's trying to fight off Savage's control of her. It doesn't last long, however.
Savage begins to stir once more, so Alan nabs the Jade entity in a construct bubble to take her away. They don't get all that far, but far enough so they can have a brief chat. Jade realizes that she no longer belongs in this world... and intends to return the Starheart energy to her father... and the life-force to that little girl (remember her? I didn't!).
Jade and Green Lantern return to the fray... and, with their powers combined, make short work of the ol' caveman.
Alan and Jennie share a final hug before he reluctantly draws the Starheart energy from her back into his ring. No sooner does she vanish than that little girl begins to stir... no worse for the wear.
As the dust settles, Lantern's teammate Wildcat arrives on the scene. He's confused, thinking he'd just seen Jade. Alan asks that he remain to help with the clean-up efforts... and leaves.
We jump ahead about a month... and it's Christmas Eve. Alan arrives at the Justice Society brownstone, and is invited inside by Ma Hunkel. We see the team trimming the tree... but Lantern just can't get into the holiday spirit this year.
He decides to leave the party early... claiming he has "a lot to do". He takes off for a night flight over New York City, eventually arriving at Rockefeller Center. He spies the young girl from Thanksgiving ice skating with her mother... and realizes that he'd made the right decision... hell, the only decision, four weeks earlier.
We wrap up with Alan returning to the brownstone to celebrate with his friends.
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Well... this was alright. I definitely feel like it had a stronger second half... though to be honest, the art was a bit more solid during the first!
The opening Vandal Savage fight felt like it went on a bit too long... and felt a bit overwritten. It was as though Thomas really had a lot to say here... perhaps enough for a second issue, but was then told he had to do it all in one. There are some rather wordy captions... and dialogue balloons here.
I feel like the bit about the Jade entity taking the life force from the young girl didn't get enough play. It was mentioned very briefly... like, blink and you miss it briefly... but would ultimately be a main factor. First time through, I missed it... and didn't understand the urgency. Though, perhaps I shouldn't blame the story for that. I just feel like this should have been more central during the fight.
I get that Alan's going to be conflicted seeing the specter of his late daughter... but, I mean... dude's been a superhero for a hundred years at this point, like he's never seen something like this before? I feel like priority one should have been saving the little girl the whole way through.
The second-half was a treat... storywise. The art felt quite a bit looser... there were two pencillers listed here, but I'm not sure who was responsible for what.
I swear I could've read an entire issue of the Justice Society trimming their tree. For whatever reason I always associate the JSA with the holidays... really not sure why, but it just feels "right". It's always nice to see the group together. DC teams of this era (and today) so rarely feel like they're a "family". I think I just assume that teams like the Justice League and Teen Titans celebrate the holidays separately... so, it's neat that the JSA comes together.
Overall... if you're a fan of the Justice Society, you're going to really enjoy this... at least the second half. Does it feel like an afterthought? Well, sorta. Is that a bad thing? Well, not always. I'd say if you come across this on the cheap, don't hesitate to grab it. I don't see this one becoming a "Holiday Tradition", but it's enjoyable enough nonetheless. Available digitally.
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Interesting Ads:
On the Ninth Day of Christmas on Infinite Earths, I give to you JSA Classified #33, The Spirit #13, Justice League Unlimited #28, Shade the Changing Man (vol.2) #19, Action Comics #762! Young Justice #40, Superman: The Man of Steel #109, Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special, and a Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #2 Review.
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