This is my last blog for 2008. So I'll do this one and then . . . . I'll see y'all next year. I've always enjoyed these holiday specials from DC. But I think that the recent batch is even better because they've also served to progress the stories of the various characters involved. They aren't just 'holiday' stories. They're also becoming more connected to the main titles and characters portrayed in them. I think that's a good choice. The first is interesting. It's by Matt Cherniss, Peter Johnson, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado. By the way, Ivan and Joe make a fantastic art team. Anyways, this story looks like a retelling of Superman's origin, when actually it's a possible origin of Santa Claus. I don't know if y'all know this, but Santa Claus is actually a viable character in the DC Universe. Granted he doesn't show up much, but . . . he's been involved with many of these characters over the years. Look it up some time. Anyways, the second story is by Dan Didio and Ian Churchill. It's a story that resembles Christ's birth. Aquaman saves a ship at sea, that's under attack by pirates, only to find out that the 'precious cargo' on board is actually this woman's baby. And, the woman's name is Mary. It's an event that fills Aquaman with hope. Plus, it's the first time that we've actually seen Aquaman in almost 2 years. Does this mean there's more of him in the future? I hope. The third tale by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen was a Batman tale. Of sorts. It's actually titled Good King Wenceslas, and it's set in a Camelot type setting. It's interesting. I'm not sure what the point was, but . . Dustin's art was incredible. We then move on to a tale about Gotham itself by Joe Kelly and Mick Bertilorenzi. It's called A Day Without Sirens. For some reason there's a day in Gotham where there's no crime . . no emergencies . . no 911 calls. Gordon and the rest of his police force find it to good to believe and are apprehensive all day. As the day progress' they just seem more and more convinced that the dams about to break. So much so that they end up not really enjoying the day at all. It's almost a relief when at 12:01 the phones light back up. We end up finding out that the whole thing was orchestrated by Oracle and Supergirl. We don't really know how, just that they were involved. Next Dick wants to surprise Tim by bringing him a little present. It's Christmas Eve and he knows that he'll be at the theatre watching It's a Wonderful Life, because it was his dad's favorite movie. What they don't realize is that they're also going to find Owen, Boomerang, there too. It's was also his dad's favorite. It was a nice little reconnecting of these characters. This one was done by Art Baltazar, Franco Aureliani and Tim Levins. Next we see a tale of irony about how this one family of thieves has fought a Blue Beetle, of some sort, down through the ages. It was by JC Vaughn and Lee Garbett. Lee's pencils were great. They almost had a Howard Chaykin type feel to them. Anyways, it tells how the current member of this family, recently brought in for the second time by Jaime, has decided to try to break the cycle with his son. He knows that he's also in the business, but . . right now he has a clean record. He doesn't want that to change. He basically talks him in to quitting and going away with his mother. Next is a Huntress tale by Amanda McMurray and Rafael Albuquerque. Basically she's comparing her life as a crime-fighter to that of a principal. She thinks the principals job is harder. But, when breakthroughs are made . . it's also infinitely more rewarding. The next tale was the one I actually like the most. It's about the Teen Titans and it's brought to us by Rex Ogle and Mike Dimotta. First of all the art was incredible. We need to get this guy on a regular book. The story is about the Titans, the current ones, going to NYC for a little vacation of sorts. Jaime has brought along Traci, and Eddie and Amy are there also. To me the best part of the story was the progress that's made with Amy's character and the relationship between Jaime and Eddie. Also Megan shows up for a brief instant. She says that she wanted to stop by quickly and say "Hi!" to Eddie because she's missed him. Cassie makes a great observation. "If we're a family, we're a dysfunctional one at best. We're still a team, we're just . . . changing into something new . . . . . yup, I think the team is evolving. Into something better." The next tale is about the Justice League and Shaggy-man. John Stewart and Roy take him down, after a heist or something, but they're missing the Christmas Party at the satellite. Vixen is giving John grief, "You're gonna have to take him to STAR security, fill our reports, sign papers . . it's gonna take forever." So they show up at the party with Shaggy-man. Roy shot him with an arrow full of some of Batman's tranquilizers, so . . he's pretty loopy right now anyways. So Shaggy-man's there, not really knowing where he is, and taking part in the festivities. However, by the end of the party the tranqs are starting to wear off. He's about to go postal, but . . then they include him in the gift exchange. And all ends well. I know. It's sappy. But it was a nice tale by Alan Burnett and Kevin Maquire. And anytime we get Kevin doing the Justice League . . it's a good thing. Finally we have a tale about Dr Light, Kimiyo Hoshi. It catches us up on her life and what she's doing. Now that the other Doctor Light is dead, her powers have come back and they're stronger than ever. Even though she wears the same costume as the bad Doctor, she won't change it. "The name Doctor Light should be . . will be associated with hope, not evil. It's time to really step up my time as Doctor Light to show the world . . prove to them that light . . light is . . beautiful." It's brought to us by Adam Schlagman and Rodolfo Migliari. And again . . Rodolfo's art is simply stunning. All in all, I thought this was a great book. There's a lot of stories here . . . 10 total . . along with the introduction and ending pages. And, a total of 70 pages of art. That's amazing. Especially in this day and age. Sure it cost $6.99, but . . I think it was worth it. And if it give the reader a message of hope . . then it's done it's job. Happy Holidays everybody!
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