Christmas Covers - December 25

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.

We finish this season's celebration of Christmas covers with a stained-glass scene of the nativity from the cover of 1947's Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact #35.

We'll be back in December 2007 with twenty-five more holiday-themed covers (and for those of you who have been patiently waiting, we'll be back to Monkey Covers next Sunday!)

(2005: Dell Four Color #1274)
(2004: Captain Marvel Adventures #19)

(Polite Dissent's 2006 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Two newcomers this year: ShadZ and Brendan McKillip; and Kevin Melrose does it all in one post.)

(Looking for a little Christmas cheer of your own? Tune in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2006 mix with over six and a half hours of seasonal songs.)

(Please support our Third Annual CBLDF fund drive!)
 

Christmas Covers - December 24

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.

Today's Christmas Eve cover is a visit from Santa on the cover of 1955's Dell Four Color #666.

Come back tomorrow for our final Christmas cover of the year.


Just 1 more 'get-up' until Santa!

(2005: Dell Four Color #1274)
(2004: Captain Marvel Adventures #19)

(Polite Dissent's 2006 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Two newcomers this year: ShadZ and Brendan McKillip; and Kevin Melrose does it all in one post.)

(Looking for a little Christmas cheer of your own? Tune in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2006 mix with over six and a half hours of seasonal songs.)

(Please support our Third Annual CBLDF fund drive!)
 

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.

Even the manga gets into the Christmas spirit on Mario Kaneda's cover for Girls Bravo vol. 6.

Come back tomorrow for our penultimate Christmas cover of the year.


Just 2 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2005: All-New Collectors' Edition #C-53)
(2004: Impulse #34)

(Polite Dissent's 2006 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Two newcomers this year: ShadZ and Brendan McKillip; and Kevin Melrose does it all in one post.)

(Looking for a little Christmas cheer of your own? Tune in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2006 mix with over six and a half hours of seasonal songs.)

(Please support our Third Annual CBLDF fund drive!)
 

Best DC Cover Ever

In this week's DC Nation, art director Mark Chiarello is asking readers to vote for their favorite DC cover ever.

Now I know that there are a lot to choose from, what with all the wonderful monkey covers and all. But once you stop and think, I'm sure you'll agree that there is only one possible choice: the cover to Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #141 by Jack Kirby:




David Campbell agrees with me, and you know he's never wrong about these sorts of things. Brendan McKillip does too.

So I call on all of my fellow comic bloggers and readers to do the only sensible thing and cast your vote at DCNATIONCOVERS@dccomics.com for Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #141. (Votes must be sent in by 12:00am on January 5, 2007).

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.

Dumbo goes caroling with Mickey, Donald, Goofy and the rest of the Disney crew on Tony Strobl & Norm McGary's cover to 1959's Dell Giant #26.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 3 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2005: Man-Thing #3)
(2004: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #9)

(Polite Dissent's 2006 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Two newcomers this year: ShadZ and Brendan McKillip; and Kevin Melrose does it all in one post.)

(Looking for a little Christmas cheer of your own? Tune in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2006 mix with over six and a half hours of seasonal songs.)

(Please support our Third Annual CBLDF fund drive!)
 

Review: A.L.I.E.E.E.N.

A.L.I.E.E.E.N.
by Lewis Trondheim
First Second, $12.95

The conceit of Trondheim's A.L.I.E.E.E.N. is that the book isn't of his own devising, but rather an artifact from an alien culture that he found left behind from presumably a UFO landing. This conceit is carried forward in the high class packaging that we've come to expect from First Second, with the cover and interior pages having faux wear and singeing. The dialog is written in an alien language, making this effectively a silent comic, the type that Trondheim excels at.

There are several short stories, each of which features cute little alien creatures doing rather disturbing things to themselves and each other. Eyes get poked out, body parts get swallowed, and in one case momentous defecation commences. The separate stories turn out to be interlocked, so seemingly random events in one story turn out to have relevance in another. Trondheim is definitely channeling Jim Woodring here, and with good results; fans of Frank will find a good deal to enjoy here.

The conceit of this being an alien comic adds another level to the proceedings. We don't know what the intended audience for this book is in its native culture. Is this typical children's humor for little aliens? Or is this a subversive comic akin to the underground comix of our own culture? Is this what the aliens look like, or is this their version of funny animals? Would this book be banned or embraced? Is this high art or low? Reading through this comic with different sets of assumptions can radically change how we react to the material, and brings in question how we react to all those other comics where we know--or think we know--the context in which it should be read.

Rating: 4 (of 5).

Christmas Covers - December 21

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.

Wacky Squirrel has a very different idea on the usage of mistletoe on Jim Bradrick's cover to 1987's Wacky Squirrel #2.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 4 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2005: Archie Giant Series Magazine #15)
(2004: DC Comics Presents #67)

(Polite Dissent's 2006 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Two newcomers this year: ShadZ and Brendan McKillip)

(Looking for a little Christmas cheer of your own? Tune in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2006 mix with over six and a half hours of seasonal songs.)

(Please support our Third Annual CBLDF fund drive!)