DCU Book Club Week 15: CHRISTMAS WITH THE SUPER-HEROES (1988)

On the second story now. Really enjoyed the first!

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ā€œIf Iā€™m wrongā€¦ Iā€™ll apologize.ā€

Fantastic Batman quote from our first story. Very dark and brooding.

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Yes, that good old business philosophy held by many now unemployed, ā€œitā€™s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.ā€

Bubble

My favorites are the first and the last story, what about everyone else?

1988, the year this was published , a very interesting year for DC and comics in general. While all the stories are from the past and not from 1988, the fact John Byrne did the cover speaks volumes that year. He was the man at DC back then I believe he was like on a Time cover or something back then.

Iā€™ll be reviewing the comic tomorrow hopefully, but for now: 1988 for DC meant:
Time features cover and interior art for Supermanā€™s 50th anniversary by John Byrne and Jerry Ordway.

Batman: The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, published by DC Comics.

1988: Action Comics #600: Golden anniversary issue featuring Superman and Wonder Woman in ā€œDifferent Worlds,ā€ by John Byrne and George PĆ©rez.

First issue published in 1988:

Animal Man Release: September Writer: Grant Morrison. Artists: Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood.
Checkmate Release: April Writer: Paul Kupperberg. Artists: Steve Erwin and Al Vey.
Hellblazer Release: January Writer: Jamie Delano. Artist: John Ridgway.

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Man Animal Man is great

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Bubble. Another crazy Sunday, but I hope to report for duty by late afternoon, Commander Matt!

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The DCUBC marches on into the new year!

Wanted: Santa Clauseā€¦Dead or Alive

I never get tired of the stories about redemption, and that is what we have here with Boomer Katz. Batman finds Boomer with some of his savvy skills working at a store as Santa Clause. Apparently Boomer is greatly appreciated and complimented by the manager Mr Jackson as being a valued employee. Boomer unfortunately has ulterior motives, and has planned to leave the door unlocked for 3 goons Fats, Al, and Louie. When Boomer declines to comply with them he is taken by force to the heist where Batman intervenes and saves the day with the help from a Christmas Star

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@IssacBrown

I also love that redemption arc. It caught me off guard too!

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Read the first 3 stories and I loved them all. Though my favorite was the teen titans one because it incorporated the A Christmas Carol story. Also Hal Jordan slipping on a soap bar as heā€™s running out of the shower in the justice league story was really funny, at least to me.

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Bubble

Hal needs to invest in a robe.

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But also I might not actually know what robes are for so please disregard.

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Christmas with the Super-heroes: Waid Intro (he started with DC as an editor in 1987):

The Mark Waid intro was very touching, even if I did have to screen shot it from the PC reader and expand it to read it in Word (see attached, I doubt anyone could read that page with all the signaturesā€¦).

Mark Waid is an uber-famous and much in demand comic book writer, famous here at DCU as the writer of the Wally West version of the Flash (starting in the early 90ā€™s for 8 years) and Kingdom Come (with Alex Ross). Waid then went on to shock the world with his Empire series around 2000, then later, Irredeemable and Incorruptible series (Boom! Studio, 2010) that basically depicts what it would be like if Superman was evilā€¦ and more recently Mr. Waid did a fantastic Archie reboot stint, and currently does Avengers, Champions etc at you-know-whereā€¦ per this attached intro, Mark W had a time early in his career where he was dirt poor. His foreward to this collection talks about going to a comic store around Christmas time at least a few years prior, and deliberately purchasing several comics that dealt with the holiday season on a whim with what little cash he had, and then to his surprise, found that reading them lifted his spirits.

Waid: ā€œTo this day Iā€™m puzzled and a little embarrassed that a grown-up Mark Waid managed to somehow find comfort in a man who dresses up like a bat every nightā€¦but , for what it was worth, it was a Christmas that was slightly less empty, and regardless of how ludicrous the reasons, I remain grateful. ā€œ

Sweet!!!

Intro for those who couldnā€™t read it:

IrBMdV2.jpg

Christmas with the Super-heroes: Wanted Santa Claus Dead or Aiive (Frank Miller Artist. 1979):

Nice in the first story of this collection to again see Batman using his Master of Disguise gag while passing out $1,000 to those who were aiding the impoverished he got the info fromā€¦

Also, great to see the Frank Miller artwork magic even back in 1979 for this first Christmas tale, that we would later enjoy in his The Dark Knight Returns (1986) and Sin City etc!

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