Happy New Year’s, everybody! DC put out a nice tie-in for the holiday season this past month, what’s more it actually focused more on New Year’s than Christmas which is a nice change of pace (we can all use a breather from Xmas, right?).
#spoilers
In eighty pages there’s a fair amount of variety here. It’s also an excellent showcase for some lesser known creative talent; there’s a couple familiar names, but a great amount of different.
There are several stories to chew on here. Joker gets frustrated with someone trying to imitate his work. Black Adam visits the real world Santa Clause who’s actually a wizard in Ancient Myra. Chronos attempts to alter his fate by pulling several “wonderful life” scenarios on his father. Harley Quinn shows her appreciation to Detective Montoya by giving her a fun night in. Calendar Man learns new tactics in his schemes. Ares pays a blood debt to his ancient love. Sinestro pays a visit to a planet he once defended to look upon his legacy. Toyman attempts to influence children’s interests over techy gifts for Christmas… and I think that’s all of them? I’m just going off memory, but I think that’s all of them. Oh yeah, there’s a Prankster one, too, about him celebrating his assistants for a year well done. I think THAT’S all of them… I think.
They’re all good stories. I find the Ares and Chronos ones rather dark, but they relay an interesting message. I think the Chronos one hits pretty hard, but I like the simplicity of Toyman’s as well as Black Adam’s. All in all it’s an entertaining dip into each of these villains during the holiday season.
If you can still get a copy I’d go for it. These types of books are few and far in between, and this one succeeds in all the right ways.
TL;DR Score: I mean… come on, the Jim Cheung cover alone is worth the buck.
TL;DR Comics 