You want a grim, angry Batman? Because this is how you get one. Artwork by Marco D’Alfonso.

Now we know.

DC’s 2004 Holiday Card with art by Jim Lee.

Batman and Robin spread some Christmas cheer, 60s-style.  Art by Ryan Bullard.

Sometimes, Christmas is about helping those in need despite any differences one may have.  By Ryan Bullard.

This is a classic Christmas cover. Who would believe the merry masked man as a Jack in the Box would one day become the Dark Knight?

As whimsical as the cover is “A Parole for Christmas” is even more so. In 12 pages Batman discovers his doppelganger, is arrested and assists in obtaining parole for his double. This is a story that would be right at home read in front of a fire with stockings hung with care. A great piece of Batman history from a simpler time.

All that and a Catwoman story headlining the book in “Who is the Greatest Villainess of All Time?”

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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.

The Clown Prince of Crime can’t help but be amused.  By George Kambadais.

If you’re in the mood for some Christmas stories this weekend, here’s a little something to compliment Barry’s recent Christmas With The Super-Heroes LP write-up.

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.

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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.