Archive for Christmas

Welcome Back to Christmas

My friends, none of us have a single good thing to say about this absolute tire fire of a year. COVID-19 turned everything upside down, the comics industry started collapsing, Trump was in office all goddamn year.

We lost so very many great people. We lost Chadwick Boseman, Wilford Brimley, Kobe Bryant, Mary Higgins Clark, Sean Connery, Richard Corben, Mac Davis, Kirk Douglas, Mort Drucker, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stuart Gordon, Ian Holm, Grant Imahara, Terry Jones, Tiny Lister, Little Richard, Ennio Morricone, Denny O’Neil, Martin Pasko, John Prine, Carl Reiner, Diana Rigg, Kenny Rogers, Richard Sala, Joel Schumacher, Joe Sinnott, Jerry Stiller, Alex Trebek, Eddie Van Halen, Max von Sydow, and Fred Willard, among far too many others.

I know my expectation is that, somehow, 2020 will find a way to get even worse in its final week. But for now… well, it’s Christmas, and even in 2020, that’s not bad. So let’s have some fun with some comics covers.

Y’all have a merry one, please. Let’s try to squeeze a little goodness outta 2020.

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Christmastime, Christmastime!

Hey, you guys and gals, Merry Christmas! Hope everything’s merry for y’all — and if it ain’t, well, I hope things are better for you next year. Honestly, I hope things are better for us every year…

While we’re on the subject of merriment, I’m taking a break from the blog for a week or so — just to maybe recharge the batteries a bit and see if I enjoy not thinking about comics for a while. See y’all sometime in 2016!

And now — Christmas comics covers!

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Christmas-Carol-Illustrated

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Xfiles-Xmas

Archie661

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Marvel-Comics-Holiday-Magazine-2

Y’all be good to each other, y’hear?

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Comics for Christmas

Merry, Merry Christmas, everyone! I’ll be taking a week or so off for the purpose of not having to worry about blogging while I’m trying to enjoy the holiday. But in the meantime, let’s enjoy our very favorite holiday tradition: seasonal comic book covers!

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ScoobyDooChristmas

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Everyone stay safe, don’t eat too much (it makes the post-holiday diets easier to handle), and I’ll see y’all back here as quickly as we can!

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Friday Night Fights: There Are No Strings (of Lights) on Him

We’re less than a week away from Christmas, and that means we need to give our usual Friday Night Fights a bit more of a holiday flavor. Tonight’s battle comes to us from 2005’s Marvel Holiday Special, in a story by Jeff Parker, Reilly Brown, and Pat Davidson, as the Avengers tangle with a less-than-jolly old elf…

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I hope you’ve finished all your holiday shopping — but just in case, I’ll have a bit more Holiday Gift Bag recommendations next week, so be sure and check back in.

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It’s a Clint Barton Christmas!

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Hawkeye #17

In a flashback to a previous issue, Clint falls asleep while watching a cheesy Christmas cartoon and dreams that he’s a cartoon dog who has to rescue the superheroic and holiday-themed Winter Friends — even though he has no superpowers. He’s assisted and hampered by a bunch of other cartoon dogs with suspicious similarities to his friends and teammates. Can he save Christmas?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Glorious cartooning by Chris Eliopoulos. Really, I don’t know what else I can say — just plain glorious cartooning by Chris Eliopoulos.

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The Fox #5

Paul Patton finds himself trapped in the past — stuck in a battle between the Druid and a trio of WWII supersoldiers — the Shield from America, Master Race from Germany, and Hachiman from Japan. The Druid plans to use his magical powers to destroy the world, and the humans can’t stop fighting each other instead of the true menace. The Fox has to convince them to join forces — not just as superheroes, not just as fellow humans, but as kindred spirits.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A nice story, and a nice wrap-up to the series. Nice to see the rare example of the Axis supervillains given a chance at redemption, too.

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Black Widow #4

Natasha gets a very routine assignment that gets very complicated when someone blows up an embassy right out from under her. The villain is some sort of deluded powerhouse monk, and he’s more than a match for the unpowered superspy.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Much more enjoyable story this time — it makes it much more bearable for this character when she’s taking on people who are tougher than she is, instead of a bunch of normal schmucks.

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Christmas Capers

Hey, it’s Christmas! Merry Christmas, you guys! Let’s celebrate with random comic covers!

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ScoobyDooXmas

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HowardtheDuckHoliday

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On that note, I’m going to take a little time away from the blog ’til early January. Oh, I know, it’s forever, isn’t it! But there aren’t a lot of comics coming out over the next week or two, so this is a great time to rest and recharge. See y’all in 2014!

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Friday Night Fights: Snowball Fight!

Whether you made it onto Santa’s Naughty List or the Nice List, I suspect we’ve all just about had it with Christmas this year. The stores are packed, our fellow shoppers are unpleasant, every store is playing the worst possible Christmas carols over the loudspeakers, and Fox News is waging its own special War on Christmas by trying to make the holiday synonymous with douchebaggery. Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward Men? Not if Santa’s black, dammit!

It’s the last Friday before Christmas, and that means it’s time for holiday-themed mayhem and… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Today’s truly epic battle comes from the DC Comics holiday card from (mumble mumble) a few years ago by Travis and Jordan Kotzebue.

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Pshaw, that’s not violent at all! But I’ll allow it anyway, mostly because I couldn’t find any comics that featured Black Santa kicking Megyn Kelly’s racist butt.

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Merry Merry Merry

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, and Feliz Navidad!

And because it wouldn’t be a holiday without holiday comic book covers, we now present: Holiday Comic Book Covers!

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XMen109

Panic1

BatmanandOutsiders19

ChristmasCarolComics

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BoneHoliday

Nam23

HellboyChristmasSpecial

Simpsons52

SpiderGirl54

SupermanSantaClaus75

Kirby bless us, everyone…

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Please Exercise Your Compassion

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I don’t know what it is about this time of year. We’re told that Christmas is, to quote my pal Charles Dickens, “a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”

And with all of that ringing in our heads, it’s also the time when the hard-heartedness and meanness and cruelty of our species really seems to start working overtime.

I mean, I don’t care what your politics are, when you hear that someone’s shot up an elementary school and killed 20 first-graders, the right response is never to start whining that libruls are comin’ to take yore guuuuuuns, or that the real problem is that pretend guns in video games are the real killers. Seriously, if you’re ever tempted to do that, just keep your fool mouth shut. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the people who have really been wronged here — it’s not you, it’s the victims and their families, and no one wants to listen to gun-worshiping silliness at a time like that.

Heck, it’s not even the only symptom we’ve got of Christmastime cruelties. People want to cut off aid to the poor, they scream at waitresses and store clerks, they fume about every imagined slight, from the entirely mythical War on Christmas to big crowds at the malls. I know it’s not everyone — heck, it’s not even most people — but it sure seems like there’s more of it at this time of year.

My preference would be for people to be compassionate for those who are suffering or less fortunate all the time, but it particularly seems like they should try to be more empathetic around the holidays. I understand that it’s a stressful time, everyone wants everything to be perfect, and there’s enormous pressure on just about everyone — and sometimes folks just snap and let that stress come boiling out on someone else. But it happens too dang often, and it’s really, really messed up.

It’s not like I want everyone to go volunteer at soup kitchens. If that’s your thing, sure, go ahead — but it’s just not for everyone.

But fer cry-eye, be nicer to employees in stores and restaurants. They don’t get paid enough for doing nice things for you, so smile, thank ’em, and wish ’em a merry holiday. Be a bit less aggressive on the highways. Don’t be snippy with friends and family. Try to put yourself in other people’s shoes and remember that there’s pain out there greater than yours, no matter what some angry douche on the TV or radio tells you.

Do it for Christmas — and heck, do it every dang day you can — but be more compassionate, caring, and patient, okay? It’s good for all of us.

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Friday Night Fights: Seasons Beatings!

Awright, kids, it’s the last weekend before Christmas, and if you think we’re gonna go easy on the harmless cartoon violence just for the sake of the holiday, you’re sadly mistaken. It’s mere days from Christmas, and it’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s festive rannygazoo comes to us from February 2007’s DCU Infinite Holiday Special #1, in the story “Yes, Tyrone, There is a Santa Claus” by Kelley Puckett and Pete Woods. Superman has decided to help a family in need, and because the kids don’t believe in Santa Claus, he’s decided to get dressed up as Old St. Nick to rekindle their love of the holiday. However, it turns out that Batman does not approve of the masquerade.

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Yes, Batman, we know. Your parents are DEEAAAAAAD!

So Batman talks Superman out of the charade, but the Man of Steel later decides he’ll pay the family a visit anyway. And what to his wondering eyes should appear…?

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That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

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