Each year, I make it a point to pull out my old Christmas specials that came out from Marvel and DC all those years ago. The more recent editions (anything up to about seven or eight years back) are virtually unreadable, in my opinion. But here are a couple that are packed with wonderful stories.
Christmas with the Super-Heroes #2 came out from DC in 1989. Check out the creative line-up on this one! Stories include:
"Ex-Machina", written and drawn by Paul Chadwick. John Nyberg, John Costanza, and Tom McGraw round out the creative team and the whole book is edited by Mark Waid. A man with a terminal disease is stranded alongside the road in a snowstorm and is just about to commit suicide when Superman drops in.
"And in the Depths", written by Dave Gibbons and drawn by Gray Morrow. This is kind of introspective poem set against images of Batman and Robin, with Robin eventually leaving the cave. It's a cool little story, pretty dark colors throughout, but of course Robin's costume and light in the cave sets it off nicely. Great art by Gray Morrow.
"Gifts", written and drawn by Eric Shanower and colors by Tom McGraw. Wonder Woman arrives at the home of a woman who has a troubled visitor--a Christian pastor whose husband has just left her. She wants to learn about the Christian religion of Christmas. They ladies all spend Christmas together, laughing and crying, and the whole thing really reads pretty nicely. I like how you really just peek in on these very fleshed-out characters for one story.
"Silent Night" written and penciled by John Byrne, with finishes by Andy Kubert and colors by Glenn Whitmore. Enemy Ace stars in this silent story, bringing supplies to a military hospital on Christmas during World War I, dances with the nurse, and then meets an unexpected confrontation.
The next story has no title, but it is a satellite Justice League-era story by William Messner-Loebs, pencils by Colleen Doran, inks by Ty Templeton, letters by Albert DeGuzman, and colored by Tom McGraw. I don't know if Ty Templeton has ever inked Colleen Doran beyond this story, but the result is incredible. Flash (Barry) and Green Lantern (Hal) are doing monitor duty on Christmas Eve, when they decide to head to Earth to some random small town to get over their boredom. They take care of some mugger thugs, and try to console the victim. When they realize just how despondent the man is, they dress him up as Santa (as only Hal can do with his ring), and then Flash pulls the man and Hal around in a Green Lantern-ed sleigh. They help out a wealthier family who has just lost their dad, a couple of kids who are trying to prove there's no such thing as Santa, a Jewish man who is alone for the holiday, and finally a family who has fallen on hard times and lives in their car. Love this story so much.
"Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot", written by Alan Brennert, art by Dick Giordano. Deadman stars in this one, remembering what it was like to have a corporal body, entering people's bodies occasionally, and then meeting a woman who recognizes him for what he is.
In a time when an anthology means you may have one or two good stories in a whole mess of clunkers, this is very solid.
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Each year I pull out some Christmas-themed comic to read. Last year, it was Marvel and DC treasury editions. The year before that it was Will Eisner's Christmas Spirit. This year, in a bit of holiday synchronicity, I chose DC's Christmas with the Super-Heroes #1 and #2. The first issue came out in 1988 and was all reprint; the second issue was all new. Although I generally prefer the first issue to the second, I do really like that Chadwick Superman story.
As solid as all of the stories in issue #2 are, the one part I reread every year is Mark Waid's back-matter. He writes about how he was a college DJ when he and his whole crew found out that John Lennon had been murdered. It's a great little article, and somehow encapsulates the whole season. Any time I read it, I just hear "Happy XMas (War Is Over)".
I was in college when Lennon was murdered as well. That's weird, because I thought Waid was older than me.