Pinky and the Brain Christmas Special

Yes, Brain, there is a Santa Claus.

Pinky and the Brian attempt to do what they do every night, but world domination isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Especially during the holiday season.

Brain’s latest scheme is to infiltrate Santa’s headquarters, reprogram processors for 1995’s seasonal hot toy robot and, all together now, “…take over the world.”

As with all best laid plans of mice and men Brain winds up bruised and battered and a little wiser in the ways of the world as he and Pinky trudge home to regroup for another plan to take over the world.

For the 1975 Christmas season DC gave us “Robin’s Very White Christmas” in Batman Family 4. This was a time when Dick Grayson was still Robin adventuring on his own and attending Hudson U.

Really nothing special, but a nice piece of nostalgia with Robin sporting his old green speedos in a winter storm attempting to foil a renegade Santa and his evil “elves” all the while trying to make it home in time for Christmas.

Batman and Robin finally join Santa Claus on the cover for the 1944 issue.

“A Christmas Peril,” simply put, are the Dynamic Duo working as ghosts of Christmas present to show young Scranton Loring the error of his ways while combating evil uncles wishing to take control of his fortune.

The Batplane cum Christmas sleigh returns.

Man-Thing (1997) 3

Better get all eight issues of this series to make sense of “Christmas in Bedlam!”

By 1997 the comic’s industry had taken a beating after the bean counters played on the greed of the carpetbaggers. Marvel was on the verge of bankruptcy as Avi Arad stepped in to take control of the purse strings and save the paper portion of the company with licensed likenesses.

DC had launched its Vertigo line spearheaded by writers like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. In doing so they also earned literary accreditation with adults who wanted more than spandex and capes.

In my opinion, Marvel took note and attempted to do the same with a relaunch of an eight-issue mini-series of Man-Thing written by J.M. DeMatteis.

Issue three spends its entirety touching on the plot with time slips to the past to save look to the future.

If you’re buying this for more than the cover, pick up the previous two and the remaining five issues.

A graphic retelling of redemption spun with zombies.

While short on carnage there are some genuinely creepy imaginations plotted between writer James McCann and pencilers David Baldeon and Jeremy Treece. The wording is as eloquent as a Victorian dance step.

There are worse ways to tackle the new millennium than with the Tick.

Always entertaining – sometimes confusing – Tick and Author are especially welcome in every household at Christmas time. Short of the celluloid classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, where else ya gonna find a misplaced alien bent on world domination during the happiest time of the year?

Spoon!

This was a surprise for the 2013 Christmas season. It wasn’t even on my radar, but my friendly local neighborhood comic book pusher hooked me up for this goofy story filled with holiday cheer and imagery.

Thanks, Mike.

Cain and Able extend happy holidays to escaped convict “Killer” Cowan who chooses to wait out the dragnet on Christmas Eve with the caretakers.

Part of the Dollar Comic line of the time, the pair teamed when DC foreclosed on the House of Secrets and moved Able in with his abusive brother. Throughout this issue the duo tag team to entertain Cowan until he finally learns the true meaning of consequences at the behest of Santa’s helpers.

Marvel Holiday Special 2011 TPB

The early days of the Christmas Treasury Editions and their skimpy Santa’s bag of holiday stories were long past when Marvel published this volume.

Each of the offerings is a reprint beginning with “Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas” from Marvel Team-Up 1 followed by “Demon” from Uncanny X-Men 143. The remainder of the book pulls from either the 2004 and 2005 Marvel Holiday Specials.

Of course the first two stories are a glimpse of Merry Marvel of old, but the newer offerings provide a look at how far the House of Ideas has come.

The Punisher was a hot commodity in the early 1990s so it was no surprise Marvel used one of its bigger money makers to fill the coffers even more. Taking that same character and putting in a setting as harmonious as Christmas time was a nice dichotomy.

Beyond that, The Punisher Holiday Special is anything but special. The first two stories are unspectacular just putting Frank in a position for blood letting. The third is a three-part act that’s as textless as it is tacktless.