A Marvel-ous Christmas

 

Marvel Holiday Special

I’ve got time for one review this Christmas Eve, so let’s make it a review of a new Christmas comic. Marvel puts out a holiday special every year or two. I’m not gonna tell you they’re the greatest comics in the world. But they ain’t the worst either, and they’re some pretty good holiday fun.

Let’s hit the stories in this issue one by one, a’ight?

Our first story, “Piece of Cake” by Andrew Farago, Shaenon K. Garrity and Lou Kang, focuses on Wolverine and Spider-Man. Logan is trying to bring in a psychotic mall Santa who has acquired his very own giant Sentinel robot. Spidey, meanwhile, just wants to deliver an improbably large cake to his Aunt May’s house for a Christmas party. As expected, hijinks ensue. This is a great story, full of all the stuff we love about Spidey and Wolvie both. Funny jokes, outlandish action, improbably large cakes, Christmas puns.

Our second story — well, really, it’s just a two-page feature. It includes cartoons by the great Fred Hembeck of a number of Marvel characters wearing Santa Claus suits. It originally appeared back in 1984, and it’s still fun.

Third, there’s a short holiday story by C.B. Cebulski and Alina Urusov about a group of characters called the Loners having a Secret Santa gift exchange. If you know anything the characters, the story might mean something to you. However, if you, like me, have never heard of these guys, it’s just gonna be a waste of space.

Finally, there’s “The Meaning of Christmas” by Mike Carey and Nelson (that’s all, just “Nelson”) in which a reporter for the Daily Bugle travels all over the Marvel Universe asking villains and heroes what they think the meaning of Christmas is. It’s cute fluff. Not much more than that.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The first story alone with Spider-Man and Wolverine is worth the entire cost of the comic all by itself. The others are a nice little bit of tinsel on this package, too. If you can find it, pick it up.