GLX-Mas Special
Written By Dan Slott
Art by Various
The Punisher: Silent Night
Written By Andy Diggle
Art by Kyle Hotz
Marvel Holiday Special
Written By Various
Art by Various
Christmas specials are not new to comics – both DC and Marvel Comics have collections available of previous Christmas comics. For Christmas this year, Marvel released three special one-shots.
Firstly, we have the Great Lakes Avengers in the GLX-Mas Special. For those of you who have missed out on the GLA, they made their first appearance in the late eighties. At the time, Marvel’s biggest super-team – the Avengers – had split into a New York branch and a Los Angeles branch called the West Coast Avengers. It was in this title that the GLA made their less-than-stellar first appearance. The team – Flatman, Mr Immortal, Doorman, Dinah Soar and Big Bertha – made several appearances since then, and last year had their own miniseries written by Dan Slott.
The special features solo stories of the current line-up again written by Slott and drawn by an array of artists, including Ty Templeton, Georges Jeanty, and a rare mainstream comics story from Paul Grist, creator of Jack Staff. Yet again, Slott’s affection for the special little corners of the Marvel Universe that fanboys know and love comes out, and so we have appearances from the great and the strange –M.O.D.O.K., Killer Shrike and Dum-Dum Dugan, amongst others. Between the six stories here, there are laughs, a few tears, and even the odd uncomfortable chuckle. Another Slott success story.
Then we have The Punisher: Silent Night. At first thought, The Punisher’s standard dark, gritty underworld tales wouldn’t seem to mix well with Christmas. Going on this one-shot, that thought would be right. Five pages in, he kills two mobsters with a sniper rifle. Six others are later blown up by landmines hidden in snowmen.
The death toll continues to rise right up to the end, where a priest and a group of orphans find the dead body of a crime boss in a Santa costume. This might just have worked, had it been written with a touch of dark humour. However, none was evident. The writer, the usually reliable Andy Diggle, appears to be having a bit of an off-day here. On the other hand, Kyle Hotz’s art was satisfactory, reminiscent of Sam Keith’s Sandman work, or early Bernie Wrightson. Definitely one of the less essential purchases of the year, possibly not even one for Punisher fans.
Finally, the generically-titled Marvel Holiday Special, a double-sized anthology collection of three Christmas stories. The book is both opened and closed by the Fantastic Four. The first story, by Shaenon Garrity and Roger Langridge, is a light tale of long-time FF villain the Mole Man, whose Moloid followers are kidnapping Santas from all over New York. It isn’t a classic, it may not have the best ending, and it almost definitely isn’t something you’ll find yourself returning to, but it’s worth a look.
In the middle, taking up over half of the page count, we have an Avengers story by Jeff Parker and Reilly. It’s another lightweight yarn, this time featuring a killer robot Santa and a carnivorous Christmas tree. It also features members of both the old and New Avengers teams, new Marvel teen hero Gravity, and what appears to be the child of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. The child appears to be a girl, starts out black, vanishes for almost the entire story, only to appear again at the end as a white kid. It’s entertaining enough, possibly even worth picking up the book for.
The closing story by Mike Carey and Mike Perkins, is told entirely in rhyme. It features an ex-con returning to crime to provide for his family at Christmas. The most surprising part of the whole thing is that it doesn’t end with the words “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!”. Definitely the weakest of the three stories.
Of course, by the time you read this review it will be February, and you’ll be past caring about Christmas comics. However, if you get the opportunity to pick up the GLX-Mas Special or Marvel Holiday Special from the racks (Or the back issue cheapie bin around August), you should jump at the chance.
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Russell Hillman was born in London but now lives in Coventry. His hobbies include precious little. He doesn’t get out much, but thinks reading a lot of comics makes up for it. He’s wrong.