December
23
Comicbook Christmas
Comic book characters aren’t the most jolly lot. They wear masks, beat people up in back alleys, plot to take over the world and have enough angst and insecurities to keep an entire legion of psychologists in business for a century. But Christmas has a way of bringing out the best even in superheroes. So here’s a few Christmas classics, comicbook style.
It takes guts to turn a sci-fi horror cliché into a classic Christmas tale, but that’s exactly what happened in The Uncanny X-Men #143 (March 1981). Notable for being the last issue from the Chris Claremont-John Byrne team, they bring the creation of Kitty Pryde full circle in a plot fully intended as a swipe from “Alien.” (As backstory, the original look Byrne gave Kitty was inspired by the idea of a teenage Signourney Weaver in the wake of the release of “Alien.”)
So trapped all alone in the X-Mansion on Christmas Eve, a neophyte Kitty runs from a nasty looking evil beastie and destroys most of the mansion in the process of killing it. Of course, Professor X is hardly pleased when he gets home, but that doesn’t get in the way of a Christmas celebration, mutant-style.
It may be a while before the popularity of the movie and the upcoming sequel produces the inevitable “Sin City Christmas Special.” But until then, we can enjoy Frank Miller’s comicbook version, “Sin City: Silent Night” (1994) a near-silent tale told solely in full-page panels in which Marv rescues a young girl from her vicious kidnappers. Like most of Miller’s work, there’s a heart of gold beating underneath the grisly exterior, just waiting for Marv to pull it out and serve it up with some plum pudding.
We all know Batman’s got family issues and thinks criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot. But who knew he had a lovely singing voice? Writer Mike Friedrich and artists Neal Adams and Dick Giordano did, and they revealed it to the world in “The Silent Night of the Batman” from Batman #219 (Feb. 1970). While waiting for calls for help on Christmas Eve, Batman joins in with some police officer in singing carols, while readers see that for this one night, Gotham is infused with enough holiday spirit that crime and mayhem take a little break.
Eric Powell’s “The Goon” took a stab at the holiday tradition of doing yet another version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in The Goon #10 (Dec. 2004). Powell draws a lovely and hilarious version of the classic tale as if it were acted out by the likes of Franky (as the Ghost of Christmas Past), Peaches Valentine (as Tiny Tim, of course) and The Goon himself (as the Ghost of Christmas Present). The art is lovely enough to be on a nice set of Christmas cards and there’s the nice bonus of a prose tale written by Thomas Lennon, star of the Comedy Central series “Reno 911.”
Lastly, only Plastic Man could tell a tale titled “Merry Christmas, Justice League – Now Die!” from JLA #60 (Jan. 2002). In this tale from writer Mark Waid and artists Cliff Rathburn and Paul Neary, the Demon Neron takes on Santa, who calls in his JLA pals and … well, the cover with Neron about to beat the crap out of Santa just about says all that can be said about superheroes and Santa Claus.
Hope you all get some comics in your stocking Christmas morning. Merry Christmas.
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