Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Twelve!

First, Merry Christmas!!!!

Second, this, the final entry into Splash Page's inaugural Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas, features my favorite Christmas themed story to ever grace the pages of comics! I read this as a reprint in the early 90's and immediately fell in love. It's a light-hearted, classic team-up between two great Marvel characters.

Of course, it's only appropriate that it's...

Marvel Team-Up #1

"Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas!"

March 1972

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: Ross Andru

Inker: Mike Esposito

Letters: Artie Simek

This issue starts out with Peter Parker on assignment for the Daily Bugle at the beach on a cold Christmas Eve. He's there to snap a few pics of the cold-weather-lovin' Polar Bear Clan. 

The PBC run and jump in the frigid waters, but are startled when something emerges on the beach.

It's classic Marvel villain and sometimes good guy, Sandman!

The local beach security force, sans Hasslehoff, attempt to bring Sandy to justice, but find it a lot harder than expected. So, Spidey swings in to save the day, but even he is unsuccessful. When he offhandedly mentions it's Christmas Eve, it seems to shock Sandman, whose sole interest suddenly becomes getting away instead of sparring with the Webhead!

Sandman gets away and Spidey's not entirely phased by the whole ordeal. He's got a date with Gwen he doesn't want to break, so he figures since Sandman's not just HIS villain, he might be able to enlist the help of some other heroes: the Fantastic Four!

He travels to the Baxter Building, but finds only one of the FF there: Johnny Storm, the Human Torch!

He gives Johnny the scoop on the Sandman and the two put their heads together to figure out where he might be. They realize they've both tussled with him at the George Washington Bridge, so they figure to start there. He's not there, so they head into New Jersey and, along the way, stop a burglary and a runaway truck!

They finally spot Sandy and engage him. He gets the best of them and ties them up, leaving them to drown in a water tower. Naturally the fellas escape and catch up with Sandman as he's entering an apartment building.

Turns out this is Sandy's mom's place and he comes to visit every Christmas Eve. He pleads with Spidey and Torch to let him see her. She has no clue about his criminal ways, so he asks they leave him be for the time being and he'll turn himself over to them as soon as he's done! The guys agree, but Spidey doesn't let him see her without giving him the gift he was going to give Gwen Stacy on their date. He tells him to give it to his mom.

Well, naturally, Sandman gives them the slip after seeing his dear old mom. Spidey and the ztorch aren't too upset, though, and feel like they've done a good deed regardless after seeing Sandman's mom sleeping peacefully with the gift she was given. 

This ones ends on a happy note. I still remember the first time I read it and how it made me feel: warm. To see these two guys, friends and rivals, coming together and actually helping a mutual villain was a great and almost unusual sight for the time I began really reading super hero comics. Back then everything was grim and gritty; big guns, over-the-top art and occasionally vapid stories. Here, though, from a bygone era, we had excellent writing and downright fantastic art.

There've been a million great things said about Roy Thomas and I agree with them all. Ross Andru, unless you're familiar with this era of Marvel and Spider-Man in particular, can be something of a forgotten legend. He was the artist on Amazing Spider-Man for five years, working with Gerry Conway for much of it and co-creating the Punisher. When people talk about Spidey artists, you always hear Ditko and Romita, but I'm telling you, Andru's name shouldn't be lost in that breath. Amazing artist.

That's it for this year's Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas. It's my intent to make this an annual event, featuring a rotating roster of comics. I'm just happy I made it twelve consecutive days, which is THE record for this blog. I hope that my three readers enjoyed my synopses and occasional stupid observations. I'll be taking a couple days off to truly enjoy the holidays, but I've some more stuff coming up!

Hope everyone's holidays are wonderful!

See you soon!

Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Eleven

Closer, my friends! Closer!

Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #7

"Jingle Bombs!"

March 1973

Writer: Steve Englehart

Artist: George Tuska

 

This is another oddball Christmas story from Marvel.

 

Basically, Luke Cage encounters and fights three different bad guys, each of which loosely represents the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. They all turn out to be one guy and all he wanted was to find one decent person in the world and it turns out to be our favorite 70's jive-talker, Luke Cage.

 

So, dressed as Santa Claus, he knocks Luke out and kidnaps him. Later, at the secret hideout, it turns out the villain managed to steal a computer and an atomic bomb from the U.S. Army. He hates the current world and wants to decimate it, so this is how he's gonna do it!

 

Our villain, whose name I don't even know, gloats and gloats and gloats until a sound is heard from the chimney behind him! Who is it? Santa? It doesn't matter because it gives Luke just enough time to attack the distracted idiot and take him down.

 

So, no really, who was in the chimney?

 

Oh, just some criminal that got stuck up there while trying to case the joint for burglary. We end the story with Luke having destroyed the computer controlling the bomb, beaten up the villain and watching the sunrise with the chimney burglar.

 

I love Steve Englehart's work and George Tuska's art is great, but this one doesn't hold up entirely well if you don't enjoy it on its level as a product of its era. Luke Cage has become a well-loved character, but these are his comic book roots. He's a street level hero, like Daredevil, whose book initially struggled to justify its existence. Fortunately, it went on to join with Iron Fist and things were great after that, but this is just a weird Christmas tale, but cool enough to make it to my list!

Note: I've had to jump through hoops to get scans onto this blog. For some reason I'm having issues with blogger AND my scanner. I'll post better pics when possible.

 

 

 

Let's Help Norm Breyfogle!

If you're a comic book fan that keeps up with the news, then you've no doubt heard that artist extraordinaire, Norm Breyfogle, suffered a stroke last week. He's a left-handed artist that's, tragically, now paralyzed on his left side. Hopefully, with the help of therapy, he'll be back to his talented, amazing self soon enough.

Unfortunately, he has no health insurance and mounting bills. Fortunately, however, the three of you that read this blog might be interested to know you can donate to Mr. Breyfogle's Medical Stroke Fund and get steady updates HERE!

Let's all do our part to help out someone that's contributed so much to our favorite medium!

Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Ten

Only a couple more days until the BIG day. I hope everyone's holidays are going well so far.

Now, on to today's entry!

Superman #64

"Metropolis Mailbag"

February 1992

Writer: Dan Jurgens

Artist: Jackson Guide

This issue begins with Superman meeting Lois Lane at the Metropolis Post Office. Also there are two postal employees that guide Superman to a rather large room. The world's biggest boy scout is visibly dismayed, despite the Christmas season, as he walks with the others. Lois is there to document today's events, which are an annual occurrence. It's become such a big deal that the large room they're going to was specially set aside. Inside is a metric ton of mail, all addressed to the big man himself.

  

 

You see, every year around Christmas, Superman comes to this post office to answer and read mail addressed to him and, in some cases, even lend a hand. Sounds great, doesn't it? So, why's Supes so upset? 

Easy, this guy's got the world on his shoulders. He feels obligated to help as much as possible and some people's needs are great; some are within his power; some are get rich schemes. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It's all within the letters.

The first letter he's able to actually help with he sets off to reunite two long lost sisters, separated during World War II. He flies the sister living in the United States to a rest home in Germany where the sisters see each other for the first time in decades. 

The next letter he responds to is a bit different. A child asks Superman to remove a tumor from his dad's brain. He decides to visit the child and tell him that he's unable to. Upon arriving he finds the boy's mother, who tells him the father has just passed. The boy eventually sees Superman and is mad at him for not helping.

While Superman is talking to the child, a nurse comes by and asks if the father was a donor. He wasn't, but Superman convinces the wife to make him one. He does this and takes the heart to a patient in need of one that had written him earlier. It was long shot the donor heart would match the patient, but miraculously it does!

Superman goes back to the post office and speaks more with Lois, who asks him to help out at the Daily Planet's Christmas party for disadvantaged children. There's a strike and no Santas are available, but Superman has an idea.

He visits Professor Emil Hamilton, who whips up a quick invention to help. Superman jets over to the Metropolis Zoo to gather a couple more things and we cut to the Christmas Eve party where the children are being led to the rooftop of the Daily Planet.

That's Supes in a black suit, carrying Emil, a sleigh and deer! He wants to make the evening more about the children and Santa than about himself, so once he drops the sleigh off, he disappears out of sight and has a brief moment with Lois. Shortly after, he heads back to his apartment where he finds an invitation to the wedding of Lana Lang and Pete Ross!!

The End.

I wouldn't exactly call this one a tearjerker, but it's pretty close. Seeing Superman go out of his way to help your average citizen is a great thing. It's a peek into his world; his frustrations, his joy; his sadness that even the Man of Steel can't do everything.

Dan Jurgens, you're the man. Jackson Guice? Amazing!

There's a sequel to this story in Superman #76, also written by Dan Jurgens. It's post-Death of Superman, so his allies fill in the void. It's also awesome!

Find these in your back issue bins!

Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Nine

Not a lot of crotches in tonight's entry, but a good one nonetheless. This one comes from Tom DeFalco and Paul Ryan's underrated run on Fantastic Four!

Fantastic Four #361

"Miracle on Yancy Street"

February 1992

Writer: Tom DeFalco

Artist: Paul Ryan

We begin this story with the ever-lovin' Thing, Benjamin J. Grimm, getting fitted for an oversized cast on his arm by Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic. After the fitting, Ben gets a visit at the Baxter Building from a friend from the old neighborhood, William "Slugger" Sokolowski.

Slugger's got a problem: his son, Jimmy, might be on drugs. He's hoping a pep talk from the blue-eyed Benji will set him on the right path. Thing says he'll give it a shot and sets out for Yancy Street.

And speaking of, while Ben's on his way, we meet up with a kid on Yancy Street that just might be Jimmy. He's being followed by some weird dude, so he cuts into an alley to lose him, but is cut off. Up above the alley, a weird drummer guy starts playing the roof...

Ben makes it to the old neighborhood and is immediately assaulted with a snowball. He chases his attacker into an alley and stumbles upon a gang of ruffians: it's the new Yancy Street Gang! We've got the vocabulary hip, Dictionary Dawson. The big guy, Little Larry Lee. Smooth Manny Merengues, who is... smooth, I guess... and the rooftop drummer from before, Rhythm Ruiz. The self-described getaway driver, Lugwrench Lubowski and short tough gal, Two-Fisted Tommie Boyd round out the crew.

Very cheesy, but definitely an homage to the Simon and Kirby Newsboy Legion, so it's given a pass. Ben tells 'em he's looking for Jimmy and they eventually give up the info that Rhythm Ruiz saw him being kidnapped. The Yancy Street Gang, along with Thing, take off for an abandoned warehouse where they think Jimmy's being held.

They're confronted by the same guys Jimmy was kidnapped by and during a short battle it's revealed they're robots! It's not long before the big bad reveals himself:

 

It's really not a surprise since he's on the cover and I REALLY love the cover, but it could have been a surprise. Anyway, Doctor Doom reveals he's actually trying to cure drug dependance, which sounds great, but it turns out some of the people he's tried to cure have died as a result. Jimmy Sokolowski's his most recent addition, though still alive, but Ben and the Yancy Street Gang's interference has cause Doom to lose interest in this endeavor. So, he outright blames Ben for what could have been a great cure and just leaves.

Doom, being Doom, rigs the warehouse to explode, but our gang makes it out just in time.

"Slugger" Sokolowski shows up and Ben hands Jimmy over to him. After a heartwarming reunion, Ben tells the Yancy Street Gang they're all right. Of course, they pull a little something...

Ben makes it back to the Baxter Building in a foul mood after finding the sign taped to his back. Fortunately, this being a family book, the rest of the FF and Alicia, his former girlfriend, bring Ben around to the Christmas spirit and the book ends on a humorous and fun note.

I liked this story and, like many of the writers that have graced this countdown, I'm a big fan of Tom DeFalco. Unfortunately, his and Paul Ryan's run on this book is generally not favored by fans. It has its ups and downs like any run, but I'm a fan. It's worth a look if you've not read it before. Also, pretty easy to come by, which makes it cheap and I love that.

Until tomorrow!

Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Eight

Welcome back, friends... friend, to the eighth day of our countdown. Today's book is probably more known for its cover than the actual story inside, but I'm here to shoot you a short synopsis for your reading pleasure. You'll be able to make it through this one in one sitting in the bathroom. Promise.

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #112

"You Never Make A Sound"

Writer: Peter David

Artist: Mark Beachum

This book starts with a decent amount of character development and plot threading, but we'll skip all that and jump right to the Christmas stuff, okay?

So the main story here revolves around a dirty Santa collecting the names and addresses of children that come to see him. That sounds awful by itself, right?

Well, Santa's using this info to break into these kids' homes and take their stuff. And wouldn't you know he's about to break into the wrong apartment!

"Dirty Santa," as we'll call him, breaks into the apartment of Peter Parker's neighbor, Bambi. She hears a noise and finds ODS (ol' Dirty Santa) in the act and he points a gun at her.

This sets off the spider sense of her friendly neighbor, Spider-Man, who comes in through the window to intervene! Unfortunately, the landlord, who also heard ODS' commotion, gets in Spidey's way, allowing the not-so-jolly turd burglar to get away and to the roof.

BUT once he hits the roof, there's a familiar fellow ready to take things into his own hands: THE REAL SANTA CLAUS! Or, at least, that's what the story alludes to. We only actually see red boots with fur, so it could've been any ol' drag queen.

The next day, Peter gets a message to come to the office and finds the burglar there. He's got the stuff he's stolen, but he's also handing out presents! He confesses to everything and to prove he's turned over a new leaf, he gives Peter a note he was told to deliver. It tells him to call his Aunt and to have merry Christmas! Who else could have give him this advice, but Santa? 

In the end, Peter celebrates the holiday with Aunt May, Mary Jane and Aunt Anna! Okay, that's not technically the end. We actually see an unknown couple of people, one wielding a knife, standing outside May's home. You can tell they're there for Peter (or are they?), but decide to do unkind things another day. Okay, the end for real. 

Peter David's another one of my favorite writers. Just about everything he does is gold in my book and this story is no different. Beachum's art is really good, BUT he has a thing for women's crotches. Seriously. Almost every woman in this book is drawn spread eagle at some point and the crotch is very much the focal point. It's an odd and unnecessary choice that, to me, takes the focus away from the story. It's like PAD is telling the story I've described above, but Beachum is telling one about women's lady parts. I'd have appreciated that more had I read this when I was thirteen or fourteen. Now, at thirty-two, it's just distracting!

This one's definitely worthy of a back issue bin-dive, for the story or for the crotches. Whatever.

Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Seven

Okay, no seriously, this ones gonna be short. I'm with family for the day, celebrating the holidays. I've committed myself to this series, so here I am!

Batman #239

"Silent Night, Deadly Night!"

February 1972

Writer: Denny O'Neil

Artist: Irving Novik

Inker: Dick Giordano

The story opens up with Batman finding a charity Santa, who has been mugged, in the snow. The Santa tries to tell Batman his story, but Bats finishes the story for him. Apparently a guy in a tan jacket has been robbing these charity Santas (think Salvation Army Santa) of their money.

This one manges to sound the offender and Bats is able to track him to a local Christmas tree sales lot. Bats quickly defeats the guy, but before he hands him over to GCPD, the mugger pleads his case. He wants to show Batman WHY he's been stealing from these Santas. Batman gives him the benefit of the doubt and takes the guy back to his apartment.

As it turns out, "Uncle Tim" has been taking this money to care for his niece, Betsy, who is very ill. Batman tries to talk some logic to him, but the Tim has excuses for everything: he was laid off from his job at a toy company and promised his job back, but the company was sold and the new owners didn't want him. Batman convinces the bad guy he's blamed the world for the wrongs done him when his old boss, Richard Lee Evans, is actually to blame, if anyone.

Tim realizes Batman is totally right and takes it to a whole new level: he smashes the off guard Dark Knight with a lamp, knocks him unconscious and ties him up. Bats wakes up and finds himself tied to the radiator. He asks Betsy to help him, but she says she can't because Uncle Tim asked her not to. Batman manages to free himself (duh, he's Batman), but realizes he can leave Betsy alone. He takes her with him in the batmobile, heading to Tim's old boss' house.

Unfortunately they run into a lot of snow and have to walk the rest of the way. Turns out its a long walk and Bats doesn't think they'll make it in time. Miraculously, they stumble across and sleigh and horse and make their way quickly to Evans' home.

When they arrive, Uncle Tim is clutching Mr. Evans' body in his arms. Batman thinks him dead, but Evans pipes up and says he's not dead yet, just sick! Using the sleigh, Batman takes the four of them through the snowy streets of Gotham to the hospital.

Inside, Tim is beside himself with guilt. He admits he initially intended to kill the elderly Evans, but couldn't do it. All he wants now is for the old guy to be okay. Batman tries to console him, even saying the Wayne Foundation could help him with his crime. The doctor comes out of the emergency room with good news: Evans is going to be fine!

Tim assures Batman he's going to pay him back, but Bats says he already did when he decided not to kill Evans. Tim leaves and Batman realizes he needs to return to sleigh, but it's already gone. A star in the sky twinkles brightly and Batman realizes just who helped him that night.

Great story. It's dark, but ends with an uplifting side. Definitely not your modern Batman (Tim knocks him out with a lamp!), but this was a transitional period of time for this book, trying to get away from the campiness of the previous decade. Denny O'Neil is my favorite Batman writer, so that doesn't hurt. The art is appropriately dark and if you let go of some of those modern Batman concepts, it really works.

Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Six!

Welcome back! We're halfway through the countdown and, for this blog, six consecutive days of posting IS a record!

Each of the issues I'm featuring is a favorite, but today's has a special place in my heart. It's an anthology, so I won't be spending too much time on each part. Instead I'll list the creative team and a summary. Mostly just an overview. I have a problem with rambling and no one wants this one to get out of control...

EDIT: It got out of control.

Marvel Holiday Special #1

December 1991

Cover Artist: Art Adams

"A Miracle A Few Blocks Down from 34th St"

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Artist: Dave Cockrum

Inker: Joe Rubenstein

Colors: Paty Cockrum

Letters: Roxanne Starr

Talk about talent: check out those credits! Whatever you may think of Scott Lobdell's work now, there's no denying he was THE X-Men writer of the 90's. And it's my opinion that he's one of the best ever. Yeah, I said it. Do something.

If you're an X-Men fan, you'll gather by the costumes that this story takes place in the past. The story itself alludes to somewhere right after X-Men #97, which has that iconic cover featuring Cyclops and his brother, Havok, facing off in front of a destroyed airliner. Chronologically this means this team has just gotten together and the tale here reflects that.

The story is quick and light with these all-new X-Men trying to locate the "most powerful mutant ever registered" by their mutant tracking computer, Cerebro. They go to the source of the signal and end up fighting the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, of course. This super powerful mutant ends up being Santa Claus himself, who intervenes in the clash between teams by shrinking the bad guys down to size. Action figure size, that is.

"A Christmas Coda" 

Writer: Walt Simonson

Artist: Art Adams

Inker: Al Milgrom

Letters: Brad Joyce

Colors: Marie Javins

This tale revolves around the son of Reed and Sue Richards, Franklin, as he comes across a ghost in need of help. Franklin has to give up everything in his possession, including the cool Christmas ornament his mother bought him, to free the ghost from shackles.

Franklin succeeds and is rewarded with an antique box. Inside is the ornament he gave up and an original British shilling from 1843! The very first page notes: "With apologies to Charles Dickens" and the entire story references A Christmas Carol successfully.

Another quick and light story, but with a cute and sentimental touch from the perspective of the child of two members of the Fantastic Four. Excellent creative team here, as well.

"Midknight Drear"

Writer: Steven Grant

Artist/Inker: Klaus Janson

Letters: Phil Felix

Basically, The Punisher is watching a deal amongst two gangs go down. He takes advantage of the situation and chases down the worst of the two groups. Fortunately for him he doesn't have to do a whole lot because the briefcase these guys just exchanged with the other gang explodes in the trunk. It was a setup the whole time.

The car is engulfed in flames and careens off a bridge to the ground below. As it does, money rains down into the hands of the homeless living beneath the bridge. 

 As evidenced by Day Two of this little countdown, I do love Punisher holiday tales and this one is no different. It manages to put a slightly dark, but oddly heartwarming spin on the Christmas season. The conflicting nature of the story is compelling and sits well among the other stories in this book. 
But, really... what says Christmas more than ultra violence at the hands of a vigilante?

Nothing. That's what.

"Twas a Mid-Winter's Night"

Writer: Tom DeFalco

Artist: Sal Buscema

Letters: Roxanne Starr

Colors: Glynis Oliver

I'm gonna get this out of the way first: I LOVE Sal Buscema's art. Maybe it's because, as a kid, I cut my teeth on a lot of Spectacular Spider-Man or maybe it's just simply because it's awesome... or both. Whatever, I love it.

The story begins with a man named Sigurd, lost at sea during a hefty storm. We find his love, Sia, praying to Odin that Sigurd arrives home safely. However, Sia's mother thinks the Gods have more things to worry about than her wishes.

In Asgard, Odin and Thor are worried about an approaching asteroid. The evil Grylak the Greater appears and taunts them about HIS asteroid. Fast forward and Thor destroys this asteroid, which causes a great brightness in the sky. As a result, Sigurd sees this and is able to find his way home! 
I also shouldn't forget to tell you that Odin manipulates much of this to make himself into a Santa Claus-like being. That guy... a master of multitasking.

"Precious Gifts"

Writer: Len Kaminski

Artists: Ron Lim & James Sanders

Letters: Roxanne Starr

Colors: Marie Javins

While the Punisher story certainly has my vote for awesomeness, this one grabs my vote for sentimentality. We catch up with Steve Rogers, Captain America, volunteering at a soup kitchen. Turns out the lady running this kitchen, Rebecca Proctor, has a long, lost brother that Steve was very familiar with. You see, Proctor is her married name, but Barnes was her maiden name. This shocks Steve to his very core, having never known Bucky had a sister. She wishes she knew what happened to him and only heard rumors of his demise. They parted company on bad terms, which she greatly regrets.

Steve verifies her story via the Avengers' computer and shows up at her house in full costume. She and her family are shocked to have Captain America at their door, but Cap's come for a very specific reason: to let her know how heroic her brother was and to give her one of his uniform patches.

She insists he stay for dinner and tells her he has a place for Christmas anytime he wants it.

LOVE this story. Heartwarming and drawn well.

 "Ghost of Christmas Present"

Writer: Howard Mackie

Artist: John Hebert

Inks: Al Milgrom

Letters: Michael Heisler

Colors: Evelyn Stein

Like the Punisher tale, this one's definitely not your run-of-the-mill Christmas story. No, this one features Ghost Rider and is equally awesome.

A blind child is kidnapped from his bed on Christmas Eve, but manages to escape his kidnappers and flee into the woods. He ends up in a graveyard, of course, and is saved by none other than Ghost Rider himself. The child thinks GR is Santa. That sounds insane, but it's pulled off really well.

GR does his Penance Stare to the bad guys and returns the child home and all is excellent.

"A Spider-Man Carol"

Writer: Danny Fingeroth

Artist: Ron Garney

Inks: Mike DeCarlo

Colors: Steve Buccellato

Letters: Richard Starkings

Peter Parker meets J. Jonah Jameson at a local hospital to photograph him giving the place a $1 million dollar check courtesy of the Daily Bugle. Pete snaps the pic and gets a great idea. He hurries away and returns as Spider-Man to entertain the children, all while J.J.J. is present and attempting to get him to leave.

Throughout the story Jonah tells the children Spidey is a menace (shock), but each one of the children give a reason why he's not. What makes this special is each of these children, or one of their relatives, have been saveD by Spider-Man in the past. I don't mean these saves were made up for this story, either. Nope, they actually reference issues of Spidey's books! The brother of Tim Harrison of "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" (one of the greatest Spidey stories EVER) from Amazing Spider-Man #248 shows up to recountS a bit of that story. 

 Now, of course, this being a Marvel book, some bad guys arrive and the wall-crawler takes care of them. The story ends with Jonah being convinced by the children and Spidey's actions to lay off of him... at least for the time being!

Like the X-Men story, this one touches a lot on the past, but does so within specific established continuity. It works quite well too and it's a great way for Marvel to wrap up this special book. 

It's also time for me to wrap this up. My words do it very little justice, but I hope my enthusiasm for it infectious enough to get you hitting the back issue bins at your local store!

Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Five!

I grew up a Marvel guy in terms of comic books. I liked DC's Batman, Superman and The Flash, but that was about it. That is until I picked up DC's JSA at the urging of many, many people. I was immediately hooked and because of the book's emphasis on legacies, it helped me branch out and discover the rest of the DC Universe. So, while I may have been mostly a Marvel kid, I became a DC adult!

With that being said, today's entry in our countdown comes from the very book that put DC on my mental map!

JSA #55

"Be Good for Goodness Sake"

February 2004

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artist: Leonard Kirk

For the uninitiated, J.S.A. stands for Justice Society of America. They were actually the first super hero team, debuting in All-Star Comics #3 in the Winter of 1940. The original roster consisted of the original Flash, the original Green Lantern, Spectre, Sandman, Hour-Man, Doctor Fate, the Atom and Hawkman. Each of these characters had their own book or shared books at two different companies, DC Comics and All-American Publications.

Across the years of its publication, there have been multiple incarnations of the team and definitely mix-ups in continuity (it's DC Comics, duh). In my opinion, we didn't get a real stable team until this volume, which debuted in 1999. Many of the members of this incarnation are legacies, but there are many of originals still present.

And that's what we have in this issue, which begins with old-school members Alan Scott (Green Lantern), Wildcat (Ted Grant), Hawkman (Carter Hall) and Jay Garrick (The Flash) on their way for an annual Christmas Eve visit with a friend in New Hampshire.

Elsewhere, Santa Claus stops his car to help a stranded motorist and her children. Consequently, Santa ends up being late for his appointment at the mall.

But, this is comic books, so the worst thing to happen couldn't just be Santa being late to his mall job! That's right, some robbers show up at the mall wearing Santa masks. They demand the money of all the parents standing in line to see Santa, but someone sounds the robbery alarm. Desperate, they change their plan and decide to take hostages! Santa's having none of it and, fortunately, the JSA show up just in time!

The JSA do their thing and take down ALMOST all the bad guys. One of them gets away, but an unlikely hero steps in:

Not only is the mall Santa not a HE, it's the original Red Tornado, Ma Hunkle! Ma originally debuted in All-American Comics #3 in 1939 and has a history with the JSA and its characters. Here, though, she's just taking care of business!

After the mix-up at the mall, the guys and Ma head back to her place for some food and reminiscing. Ma explains how she was forced into retirement and hiding years ago after revealing her true identity in order to testify against a crime family. Jay reveals to her that she need no longer hide because the last member of that family recently died.

They invite her back to the JSA's brownstone in order to help take care of the place and its members; to offer some veteran guidance. 

The issue ends on a touching note with Ma's Red Tornado costume taking its place amongst the other famous JSA-ers in the trophy room while Ma herself takes her place amongst the JSA group as den mother.

THIS is the DC Comics I love. The emphasis on family and legacy was a staple of the DC Universe prior to the New 52. It really set DC apart from Marvel and the other guys. While the idea of the legacy character had been around a long time in the DC Universe (Infinity, Inc, Mark Waid's The Flash, etc), Geoff Johns managed to capture the lightning in a bottle and his JSA run is the ultimate expression of it.

I cannot say enough good things about it. I miss it terribly.

Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Four

Today's book is a bit more straightforward. While comic books, in themselves, might not exemplify holiday spirit and cheer, just simply based on the somewhat insane premise of super heroes and paranormal ongoings, this is about as close as you can get to an example of a "traditional" holiday story in comics.

I'll go ahead and apologize for my lack of brevity here.

Marvel Two-In-One #74

April 1981

"Christmas in Peril!"

Writer: Mark Gruenwald

Artist: Frank Springer

The 74th issue of Marvel Two-In-One opens with a familiar holiday scene, albeit somewhat different considering the fantastic nature of the people involved: Reed Richard, Benjamin J. Grim, Johnny Storm and Sue Storm, collectively known as The Fantastic Four are just returning from an evening of shopping. With them is Ben's girlfriend, Alicia Masters. 

The group is preparing for their annual Christmas party, but Ben's not exactly in the holiday mood. Alicia suggests he send out Christmas cards, but Ben rebuffs, explaining the only people he'd send cards to are the ones that'll be at the party already. Alicia explains he shouldn't send out cards to just people he's already friends with, but people he might want to have a better relationship with. For example: Alicia's father, Phillip Masters, the criminal "mastermind" known as the Puppet Master!

Ben scoffs, but relents because it's her dear old dad.

We fast forward from this scene and shift locations to Riker's Island where we find Phillip Masters is being released from prison for good behavior! How convenient! The prison guard gives him the greeting card upon release, but Pupper Master just tells him to put it with his things.

The guards drop Puppy off at the pier and he finds no one there waiting for him. He immediately decides he needs no one and can continue his career of crime! He returns to one of his hideouts, but finds that his radioactive clay, which he shapes as his victims in order to control them, has gone bad! The only place he can get more is in his homeland of Transia, but how can he get there!? He has an idea!

We shift scenes again to the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four, on Christmas Eve and find the group hosting their party. I have to pause for a moment because of this:

It appears someone from Lynyrd Skynyrd has dropped by to enjoy the party.

Actually, that's just Wundarr the Aquarian sporting some sweet hair. He was created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik during their run on Adventure into Fear, featuring Man-Thing, which was tongue-in-cheek (and brilliant) to begin with. His place in the Marvel Universe is somewhat ridiculous (which is probably on purpose) and that costume... awesome.

So, anyway, The Puppet Master shows up uninvited, but in the spirit of the season and due to his being released early for good behavior, he is invited by Reed to take part in the evening's festivities.

BUT, when it comes time to exchange gifts there isn't one for him. The Puppet Master explains it's not a big deal, but says what he'd really like a trip to Transia. Reed agrees to the idea and Ben reluctantly pilots Pupper Master and Alicia to Transia.

While there, Puppy goes off on his own and locates some of the radioactive clay, but is captured by giant toy soldiers!

The next day both Ben and Alicia discover Phillip is missing and begin searching the town. After zero luck they are directed to a cottage occupied by an old woman that locals swear sees and knows everything.

It turns out to be Bova, a cow/human hybrid, engineered by the High Evolutionary to take care of his "New Men." She has taken into her charge the child-like former villain, and occasional hero, Modred. He is child-like because of a bunch of continuity I won't go into here because this thing is already way too long. Wikipedia is your friend.

It turns out that Modred, a former master of the mystic arts, has retained some of his ability. While he sleeps his toys come alive. Also, thinking both Ben and Pupper Master as bad guys, he has shrunken them to toy size!

 

After Ben and Puppy spending much of their time battling the toy soldiers, the heroes of this book turn out to be Alicia and Bova, who both convince Modred to return the guys to their regular size.

In a rare moment of kindness that's ultimately a result of seeing some of himself in Modred, the Puppet Master helps the former mystic use his power to turn his toys into friends, which is something he's woefully short on. It's a sweet moment that's just right for this holiday story and a proper way to end it. 

 See you back here tomorrow!