Justice League Unlimited 28

The Phantom Stranger plays ghost of Christmases past for the Flash.

No stranger to time travel, the Flash is transported to times past to better understand the Batman. For those who remember the Grey Ghost episode of Batman the Animated Series the story is all the more poignant. To quote the Stranger, “Happiness does not carry a price tag, Flash, though it sometimes carries a price.”

Mike McAvennie crafts a tale so touching the characters on the page aren’t the only ones left with damp eyes. McAvennie is aided by the simple art of Sanford Greene who captures more emotion with the fewest pencil strokes since Kevin Maguire moving Batman from panel to panel, stoic to awkward to boyish page by page.

Despite a twinge of humbugishness at the outset, Youtube personality ComicDrake delivers a spirited and cheerful review of DC’s Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special (2011) one-shot.

Geoff Johns has forgotten more about comic book history and its characters than most people will ever know as is evident in “Be Good for Goodness Sake.”

Johns dips deep into Santa’s sack for this tale worthy of wrapping for under the Tanenbaum traveling back to the Golden Age. It culminates with a seasonal slugfest and, later, softened with spiked eggnog. Reminiscing leads to a rebirth and an end for a self-imposed exile.

Scooby and the gang can’t catch a break learning ghost catching doesn’t break for Christmas.

Shaggy is none too subtle with his wish list for the 1998 holidays. About the only thing that can deter Mr. Rogers from his quest is the ghost of that season’s most anticipated video game. The meddling kids and their dog manage to make merry despite the interruption and show some compassion in “The Ghosts of Christmas Presents.”

Bruce Wayne threatens to kill Batman to bury past ghosts for a present truth he can’t reconcile. All this with a backdrop trimmed in tinsel and other trappings of Christmas.

Helena Wayne, aka the Huntress, guests from Earth Two wishing to spend the holidays with Uncle Bruce.

As the mystery deepens the Dark Knight musters his detective skills to deduce if a long-time friend or his father is to be trusted.

The centerpiece of DC’s 2008 holiday card, Batgirl and Supergirl exchange gifts. Artwork by Matt Haley.

Super Friends (2008) 22

Santa isn’t the only one who gets letters for Christmas.

A wheelchair bound little girl is visited by the Super Friends for Christmas Eve and learns handicaps are mainly those of the mind.

“All I Want for Christmas” is a touching story, but the best wishes given for those suffering hard times in 2009 really hit home for me. That year was hard on my son and me, but with the help of good friends and family the end of the first decade of the new millennium dawned bright as the curtain rang down on the year.

Let this be well wishes to everyone, especially my cousins and their children who lost a dear one the beginning of December. It may not get easier, but it does get better.

Mad 44

If ever there was a finer magazine…

Alfred E. Neuman and the usual gang of idiots bid farewell to the 1950s with the final issue of 1959. Short of the cover the only seasonal offering are three pages of Custom Made Christmas Cards satirizing the era.

MAD magazine was a staple for the times for over three decades. Still in publication the book has lost some of its teeth even buckling to economic demands and sporting legitimate advertising. But, in its day MAD had no equal. It was the benchmark against which society was judged and no cow was sacred. God rest ye, William Gaines.

Recently, David Santiago shared a heartfelt message with the Back Issue Magazine Facebook Group.  With his permission, we’ve reprinted it here.

Thank you, David, and Merry Christmas.

When you’re a kid who grew up in a family where money was tight and sometimes Christmas was just a regular meal, you tend to appreciate the holiday and some of the little joys that come from it. One Christmas, we were struggling to pay bills and just put food on the table. There were no presents and certainly no one was in the mood for ornaments or even a beat up tree that came from Charlie Brown’s house. One night, I went to my room and stayed quiet as I looked out the window. I could sulk, at least. While feeling bad that there was nothing to do to help alleviate the families’ financial straits except worry (I was only 13 and I had an ulcer), I decided to pull out my comics and let my mind flow into a world of fantasy, and a world where I didn’t have to worry or be scared about what might happen tomorrow. The first comic I pulled was a Christmas comic digest. It was full of stories that were corny, but also filled me with hope. That is what Christmas is about, hope and faith. I pulled out every Christmas comic I had and had my own little Christmas, one just for me with no fears of where we’d find the money to pay the bills. As with all things, the bills got paid, and thanks to a bonus my dad got, we had a smaller than usual Christmas, but still one of the best. I lost many of my comics by the time I got to high school, but I would find this comic a few years later in a marked down box of comics. It was titled Christmas With The Superheroes, and it had many of the stories I read that night. To this day, I keep a copy near me on my desk. It helps to remind me that even when everything feels like it is falling in and there’s nothing to look forward to, there’s always hope, and hope comes to us in different forms, even as a comic book. 🙂

It’s impossible to deny the charm of Mike Maihack’s Supergirl & Batgirl team-up comic strip. Balancing a cheerful, impulsive Supergirl with a serious, more sullen Batgirl, the strip provides some fun, light-hearted holiday stories well worth reading. Be sure to visit Mike’s website for more of his art and comic work.