Quick Holiday Comic Reviews

The Punisher: Red X-Mas

by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, & Mark Texeira

Punisher kills bob bosses. Mob bosses wives hire assassin to eliminate Punisher. Punisher defeats assassin, takes revenge on wives. Sounds like just about every boring Punisher story you've ever read, right? The only thing that makes this an X-mas story is the fact that Frank is posing as a sidewalk Santa in the opening scene. Yes, it's nice to see art by Texeira, but there's really no good reason for this comic to exist.

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)




X-Men #165

by Chris Claremont, Salvador Larroca & Danny Miki

It's Christmas at Xavier's, and Claremont uses the opportunity to check in with just about everyone who is currently affiliated with the X-Men. It's not so much a story as it is a series of vignettes, but this is the sort of thing that Claremont is good at, and he does it well. Larroca's art is great as always, and I particularly enjoyed the entry of The Beast dressed as Santa Claus. I'm feeling the Christmas love.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Jingle Belle #2

by Paul Dini, Jose Garibaldi, & J. Bone

The main story features a mystery writer who--haunted by a brief encounter in his childhood--puts off writing his next best-seller to research a book about Santa's ellusive daughter. Dini's story works wonderfully, giving a sense of depth and history to a character who is often presented as flighty. Garibaldi's art works very well, especially the WWII flashback sequence. Dini's back-up story about Christmas in Mutant, Texas is senseless fluff, but it doesn't distract from the strength of the lead story.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Sabrina, the Teenage Witch #63

by Tania Del Rio & Jim Amash

It's not really a holiday story, but "Cabin Fever" features a winter-time story with the gang and Aunt Hilda (as chaperone) taking a vacation to a cabin in the woods. Harvey and Shinji get trapped in a blizzard, and I'll be darned if Del Rio isn't making an effort to actualyl move the characters forward. There's a tendency with Archie comics to keep things status quo, but hopefully the manga influence that Del Rio is bringing to this series will break out of that mold.

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Christmas Covers - December 23

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version from GCD.

Today's cover is 1998's Impulse #34. This cover by Craig Rousseau & Wayne Faucher shows Bart living up to his super-hero name on Christmas morning.

Just 2 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(You can find more comic cover Advent calendars at Polite Dissent and Raw Feed.)

Quick Christmas GN Reviews

Archie's Classic Christmas Stories, vol. 1

by ?????

This volume reprints selected holiday stories from various Archie comics of the 1950s & early 60s. The stories are all just a few pages long (typically six to ten pages) and read remarkably well given their age. Sure they may be a bit dated in their outlook, but all of the stories are told without narrative captions or thought balloons, just like most modern comics. However, they eschew the decompressed style that is prevalent in many comics today, taking just a few pages to tell a complete story. Most of the stories revolve around either Archie tryig to please Veronica's father, or around kissing, with mistletoe being a primary factor in more than one tale. The biggest disappointment is the utter lack of any creative credits for the stories; while I know that Archie was never really big on crediting creators and that records for old stories may be hard to come by, I would think that with a little effort at least some of this information could have been tracked down and included.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




The Vampire's Christmas

by Joseph Michael Linsner & Mike Dubisch

It's Christmas Eve, and Esque the Vampire is cranky. He'd rather sleep through the holiday, but having been awoken by a bell-ringing Santa he now needs blood. But Christmas is a horrible time for hunting, and Esque is frustrated at every turn. Linsner tells a story that is consistant with the whole Goth-Vampire ethos in which this story resides, yet still manages to tell a somewhat heart-warming tale, relatively speaking. The art by Dubisch is painted over Linsner's pencils, and it tells the story well while maintaining the proper mood. I was surprised to find myself liking this more than I thought I would.

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Christmas Covers - December 22

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version from GCD.



Today's cover is 1958's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #9. This cover by an unknown artist proves that nothing says Christmas like Santa & Rudolph on a rocket ship.



Just 3 more 'get-ups' until Santa!



(You can find more comic cover Advent calendars at Polite Dissent and Raw Feed.)

New This Week: December 22, 2004

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:





The Pick of the Week is Ariel Schrag's Likewise #3 from Slave Labor. I'm not a huge fan of autobiographical comics, but Ariel's diary of her high school days is raw, earnest and real. Yes, it's over a year late, but I'm sure it will be worth it.



In other comics:



Alternative has Bipolar #5.



Antarctic has a new issue of Gold Digger (#58), plus a fourth Gold Digger Pocket Manga and the first Twilight X Pocket Manga.



Burlyman has the second Matrix Comics anthology, plus the first issue of Shaolin Cowboy.



Dark Horse has a new issue of The Goon (#10), the second volume of Samurai Executioner (finally!), and the fifth volume of Seraphic Feather.



DC has the first collection of Darwyn Cooke's exquisite DC: The New Frontier, the third issue of Green Lantern: Rebirth, the second issue of Grant Morrison's JLA: Classified, and Richard Corben takes over for the second issue of Solo.



Fantagraphics brings Charles Burns' Black Hole to a conclusion with issue #12.



If your comic shop didn't get last week's Pick of the Week, Thieves & Kings vol. 5, last week, it should show up this week. (Unless they foolishly didn't order any copies at all, in which case you need to use a better comic shop!)



Image has a new printing of JMS and Gary Frank's Midnight Nation trade.



Marvel has new issues of Astonishing X-Men (#7), Black Widow (#4), New Thunderbolts (#3), and holiday stories in Punisher: Red Xmas and X-Men #165 (now with 100% less Chuck Austen!)



Oni has the penultimate issue of Ojo (#4) and a new Queen & Country (#28).



Penny Farthing has the final issue of Stuart Moore's Para (#6).



The guys at Win-Mill have their second issue of Following Cerebus.





A lot of good stuff this week. I hope that you're all done with your Christmas shopping, because after tomorrow's trip to the comic store you won't have much cash left!

More contests, more donation opportunities

BeaucoupKevin is sponsoring a contest where you could win a copy of Julius.



And on the philanthropy front, Prism Comics is looking for donations to eliminate their debt. Despite their name, Prism Comics is not a publisher, but rather a "nonprofit organization that advocates for greater inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) characters and creators in the comic book industry." So after you've donated to CBLDF, Prism Comics could use a bit of help too.



(both items here via Precocious Curmudgeon.)

CBLDF Update

An update on my matching funds drive for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund:



As you may recall, I've pledged to donate $250 to the CBLDF if 10 first-time donors donate $25 to the CBLDF by December 24.



As of this posting, 4 people have taken up the challenge, which means that we still need 6 more first-time donors by Friday to meet our goal. (Or, as they say on my NPR station: *you* and 5 other first-time donors.)





To answer a few questions I've received:



Yes, memberships at the $25 level count the same as $25 donations.



Yes, if less than 10 people donate I'll still match what was donated. (e.g. at this point with 4 donors I'm locked into donating $100--hopefully it will be more!)



Yes, the holiday season isn't the best time for this, but I wanted to get it in before the end of the year for the tax advantages. (Besides, it's the season for giving!)



Yes, if you live in the U.S. and itemize your deductions, you can probably get a tax deduction for your donation. (I say 'probably' because I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant--ask your financial advisor if you are unsure.)





There are just four days left, so let's get to it! (Full details are here.)