Final thoughts and comments - on 2015

So this will be the last post - at least this year - and while I had a few ideas how to make this a special post I decided to do one of these posts where I include everything but the kitchen sink, starting at one point and see where we end up on this day where we unite with friends and family to say goodbye and hello at the same time. And hopefully drink a lot.

2015 has not been an easy year, to put it mildly, in comics and personally and while it still feels a bit early to do an informed resume I have to say that things have improved a bit on TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN.

Though I have been out of commission for a few months due to my knee surgery and the subsequent rehab sojourning where I had no internet access I managed to do 93 posts this year which is the highest number of posts in a year since this blog´s inception in 2006. And speaking about 2006, this year will be the blog´s tenth year anniversary on April, the 11th. We´ll see what kind of post I´ll do on that special occasion. Maybe I´ll do another " best of the best " posts since I did the last roundup of that sort at the anniversary in 2014 and there are many posts - maybe too many - that deserve to be included in that category. Making that selection of deserving posts will be no easy task though because not only did I write over 150 new posts since then I also feel that the overall quality of the posts has increased with more videos, links, bigger pictures, them being longer and animated GIFs added even if that can lead to longer loading times at some point. Now part of this assembly of excellence are going to be without any doubt the new additions to the cult sirens section ( which includes many new solo posts but also the casting call for the Justice League of America movie where I still have to do the last post with the alternates ) much to the chagrin of some readers. I know that some readers would prefer it if this was a comics - only blog but there are others who like those posts and you never know how people will discover the blog. And while my motto is not " come for the boobs, stay for the comics " I can´t deny that these posts get more comments than usual.

I tried to do two separate blogs in the past and that didn´t work out. So if you were hoping to see the end to all that boobage I have to inform you that I will continue these posts in 2016 especially since I have now a lot more where I can just re - post the old posts with some new added stuff.

But fear not comic fans there will be still enough comic related posts for you to read. I hope to continue the series I started like DEATH IN COMICS, INFERNO CROSSOVERS and the SECRET WARS II crossovers, John Romita Jr´s DAREDEVIL run, Marc Silvestri´s UNCANNY X - MEN run, 90s comics and REMEMBERING ERIC MASTERSON but I hope I can also do some posts about current comics. I don´t want people to get the wrong impression, that I´m an old fart who only reads old Bronze Age comics and scoffs at all the new comics that come out ( well the " old fart " bit is true and also that I read a lot of Bronze Age comics ) so I will try to write more about new comics even if this seriously endangers my mission statement to concentrate on being positive about comics. My brother had the glorious idea that I should try how long I can post without writing about Marvel or DC but while it´s true that they have enough money to do their own promotion they also tend to be overly optimistic with their own product.

So while they still don´t send me any review copies I will neither try to score points with my readers by bashing DC or Marvel nor try to deny their existence. I will probably still write about the comics I find great ( since I have just gotten DC SHOWCASE PRESENTS : BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS and SUPERMAN - THE MAN OF STEEL 5 as a late Christmas present to myself and have cashed in my other Christmas gift, an amazon gift certificate to pre - order the AVENGERS BY JOHN BYRNE OMNIBUS which contains John Byrne´s run on WEST COAST AVENGERS / AVENGERS: WEST COAST ) but also about those collections where they fumbled the ball.   

That said, I did an " independent comics / non Marvel or DC comics " month before and if there is enough reader interest in that I might give it another go. Especially since there are more of these books in my monthly comic reading stack and the number of posts a month have increased.

And speaking about my comic reading stack, this year I have added quite a lot of new hardcovers to that including some omnibus books and I will try to read these before buying new comics. As always money is tight and while I can´t afford to pass on the occasional bargain book at amazon or my seriously shrunk pull list ( I already missed two issues of ASTRO CITY so I´m thinking of making the switch from single issues to hardbacks ) it may be a good idea to read the comics I have before getting too much new stuff. There are still a few series which I intend to complete and re - read and now that the FANTASY STRONGHOLD has moved into the AIGNER bookstore in Ludwigsburg I will also get the occasional comic book there.

Another new series I hope to start next year will be about the famous Hammer movies since I already did all the necessary GIFs in advance.

Since I mentioned posts where I already prepared stuff for I will probably continue on this blog with the oddest Christmas comic covers I found although I will probably have to split ti into two separate posts : one with the really weird ones and the ones where you either never knew they had a special Christmas issue or where you didn´t know the series existed. 

And another one about Christmas issues of science fiction comics which is not a connection you normally make. Unless you´re from the UK where Christmas and science fiction go hand in hand because of all the Doctor Who Christmas specials and 2000 AD which also has a few issues about that topic like issue 450 with an Alan Davis wraparound cover. Most websites only have the front but I managed to find the complete cover.

And speaking about wraparound covers, some readers might remember that I posted this SUPERMAN / BATMAN comic cover by Jim Aparo.

Well, I have found the comic in question which was not a comic done exclusively for the german market like I first suspected but the cover to WORLD`S FINEST issue 255. Here is the original art for that cover.

Here is the colored version from the GCD website and you can find a bigger size at THE WORLD`S FINEST BLOG which has posts on this and other warparound cover issues like 253 , 254, 256 , 257 and 258 . 

I also hope to post more wraparound covers and original art in 2016. Last but not least there are the cosplay posts I have discontinued and who knows - maybe I´ll even get to finally do my big Yaya Han post after all.

So the clock is ticking down the final minutes of 2015 and it´s once again time to wrap things up and prepare the grapes. Here´s hoping 2016 will be better than 2015, good luck, health and lots of love and comics !

So what are you looking forward to in 2016 ? I have to say for me it´s not so much movies and more television. There are the usual suspects like THE BLACKLIST, SLEEPY HOLLOW, Marvel´s AGENTS OF SHIELD, and DC´s series iZOMBIE and ARROW that I follow but what really has me on the seat of my pants is when they are going to continue with THE FLASH ?



You can´t end the year without posting at least one more video of sexy Yaya Han cosplaying as Chun Li. At least I can´t. Enjoy this one, guys !



So this year is now officially over and the new one has just begun which means it´s time to party down. And if you need a new party game .....



Coming from people with a microphone faking it to people keeping it real here´s another casting video, this time from BRITAIN`S GOT TALENT.



And to end this post in style here´s The Muppets All Star Comedy Gala.



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Christmas with Batman and the Outsiders

Just when I was ready to start on my post about the " Craziest Christmas Comic Covers " I came across some pages from Jim Aparo´s excellent Outsiders books BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS and THE OUTSIDERS which included three Christmas issues I wanted to include in my last post. Oy.

I thought about just adding this to the old post but then I decided against it because I want to do shorter posts. Which might not be possible since it´s one of my all time favorite series by Jim Aparo we are talking about.

Longtime readers are probably already sick and tired of hearing me go on how great this series was and what a shame it is that still nothing of this is collected in a nice hardcover or omnibus like the NEW TEEN TITANS BY GEORGE PEREZ. Okay, maybe the binding on these books is suboptimal but at least the printing is all right and the pages look just gorgeous in the bigger format. Speaking about those omnibus books I may be one of the few whose favorite issue of vol 2 is BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS 5 which was included because it was a crossover with NEW TEEN TITANS 37.

You want to know how much I love this issue ? I love it so much that I have multiple issues of the original version, I got the german version in BATMAN SONDERHEFT 35 and I´m probably going to buy it again when I buy the SHOWCASE PRESENTS : BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS trade which for some strange reason still is not part of my Jim Aparo comic collection.

Now I could go on a whole rant about this issue but since this post is about the Christmas issues from the series I´ll just let Mathew Peterson from MAJOR SPOILERS back me up with his Retro Review of the issue.

Now the first Christmas issue is BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS 8 in which the Phantom Stranger teams up with Batman and the Outsiders to battle an old enemy. Sadly I haven´t read the issue or don´t remember reading it and maybe it was not translated to german because it involves evil demonic superbabies. I´m not kidding. If you don´t believe me just read the entry on THE PHANTOM STRANGER homepage. In any case it´s nice to see Jim Aparo draw one of his signature heroes again although this would not be the last time he drew him. That was in the Neil Gaiman penned prestige comic GREEN LANTERN : THE LEGEND OF THE GREEN FLAME which was supposed to be the version of Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow ? which lay in storage at DC for decades because of some minor continuity inconsistencies. I know, it´s ridiculous when you look at it now because DC has turned into one giant continuity inconsistency.

The second Christmas story from that series is issue 19 ( where Geo - Force goes up against Superman and wipes the floor with him ) because The Battler was so kind to put the entire issue online at SAVAGE TALES.

So thanks for the scans which have made this part of the post possible. Now in the issue ..... say what ? Did I just say that Geo - Force wipes the floor with Superman ? Okay, maybe he doesn´t win in the end but .... okay, I think we should start at the beginning of our little Christmas tale.

At this time the Outsiders already knew THE Batman´s secret identity and yes, this story takes place when it was THE Batman not just simply the Batman. I guess DC was trying to make him more mysterious. I love this. Anyway, Halo starts telling Bruce Wayne why Geo - Force is probably going to do something he´s going to regret and we get a nice scene of Halo and Brion preparing for Christmas when Brion whips out a present for Halo.

Now to set the next page up you must know that Halo and Brion both had feelings for each other but they were still struggling with that and had also not talked about this. Oh, and Brion´s sister Tara had died in The Judas Contract although the Teen Titans didn´t tell Brion the whole truth about that ( which was rather unusual at that time ). He thinks she died a hero´s death. Anyway, Mike W. Barr shows once again that he can write compelling characters which was one of the great pulls of the series.

So Halo tries calling Katana who is not answering the call.Katana had become like a surrogate mother to Halo but at this point Halo has found her real parents and Katana thinks it´s better to keep her distance and let Halo celebrate Christmas with her parents so she can get re- aquainted with them ( when Halo joins the team she suffers from amnesia ).

And I have to agree with Black Lightning, that´s bull. That´s the same kind of bs like when the X - Men thought the other x - teams were better off thinking them dead. The relationship between Tatsu and Gabrielle is a really powerful connection and it´s one of the main reasons why this book is so well written as Mike W Barr excels at the funny scenes that occur 

with the same seemingly effortless ease as the more serious moments.

Speaking about Black Lightning he was one character that this series dusted off again and deservedly so. I don´t want to go into the whole topic how underrepresented afro - american superheroes were at that time ( though I love the fact that in one comic book he said that his reason for calling himself BLACK Lightning was just so people made no mistake and knew he was a brother ) - and still are - but he was one cool cat. If always pictured him as kind of a Sidney Poitier type and I have to disagree with Michael Carlyle on THE CRAPBOX OF SON OF CTHULHU in his review of THE OUTSIDERS 1. I loved his Saturday Night Fever disco look with the puffed sleeves, the open chest and the fly wing collar.  

But back to our story in progress. Brion gets a call from a friend who overdosed on sleeping pills and he and Halo rush off to save her.

They arrive in time to save her and before she´s taken to the hospital Brion learns that she did it because one of her teachers blackmailed her into having sex with him. So Brian goes to kill the guy and the Batman enlists the aid of one of the few heroes who can stop him. You know, this is pretty heavy stuff for what some people still consider kids stuff and I remember the days when Batman and Superman were actual friends and he could just contact him when Batman needed Superman´s help fondly. 

Superman arrives much to Halo´s delight who is the wide eyed, naiive teenager of the group who´s still impressed when she teams up with somebody like Superman. Now this was written in March 1985 so when somebody tells that the whole approach to superheroes in the new MS MARVEL series is so innovative and refreshing and totally new - sorry, you have not be reading comics long enough. Mike W Barr did it much better here and it was not a new concept back then. So just because you add religion and social media doesn´t mean you´re breaking new ground here.

Meanwhile Geo Force is confronting the slimeball teacher at a skiing lodge and is all ready to bash his head in when Superman intervenes. But Geo Force is too ticked off to listen to reason so he let´s Superman have it. 

Which turns out to be not such a great idea after all. Oooouuuuwwch !

While Geo Force and Superman tussle we have a quick interlude with Rex Mason and Sapphire doing some last minute Christmas shopping that shows what a forgiving character he can be. Even though Sapphire´s father tried to kill him he doesn´t want her to build walls between her father because he´s the only family she has. And it´s Christmas, right ?

We cut back to the fight which goes much better for Geo Force since he realized that Superman owes a great part of his powers to Earth´s lower gravity. And guess who controls gravity ? It´s on ! And Superman and Geo Force are debating the pros and cons of vigilantism while duking it out.

Yup back then heroes were really good at multitasking and you didn´t have all this bloody realism. Anyway, it dawns on Superman that he is going to loose this fight if he doesn´t find a way to stop Geo Force so he causes an avalanche, the old cheater. Geo Force totally had his number.

Superman and Geo Force return to the skiing lodge where the teacher tries to weasel out of the rapist accusations but THE Batman arrives and he has been busy finding other victims who are willing to testify. While some may find this resolution cheesy and a bit naiive I find it interesting that probably nobody realizes that THE Batman just used Superman as a diversion so he can do his detective thing and be the great hero in the end. That´s kind of in character for a guy who dresses up a little orphan boy in bright colors as a bullet trap for gangsters. Superman was just used as Geo Force´s punching ball although he doesn´t seem to mind.

With all the strings tied up neatly we get the Happy End that befits every good Christmas story with Brion paying his friend in the hospital a visit.

Did I say all the strings are tied up neatly ? That´s not entirely true as we get one more page that foreshadows the events of the next issue where we will find out more about Halo´s past. And not all of it will be pleasant.

I know there are people out there who thought it was a brilliant idea when Peter David revealed in his SUPERGIRL series that the Linda Danvers Supergirl had merged with had not been a nice person or when Logan finally regained his memories only to find out he had been pretty much a giant a$$hole for most of his life but again - it´s been done before, guys.

All in all I found this issue highly enjoyable and I probably have to read it in the SHOWCASE edition as DC will not put out any hardcover editions from this anytime soon. Which I find a bit strange since you can read all the issues in electronic form and did they not have to polish them up to make them available this way ? I mean that´s one of the reasons why Marvel does so many omnibus editions. If you make the issues available in electronic form you have already done all the work necessary to do a hardcover edition, it´s already been recolored and ready for printing.

Be that as it may before I have to end this post I have to mention THE OUTSIDERS 5 which is Mike W Barr and Jim Aparo´s third Christmas issue involving the Outsiders. But not Batman who had at this point left the team. Sadly I couldn´t find much on the issue but it´s basically a retelling of Charles Dickens´ A Christmas Carol where the team dresses up as the ghosts of Christmas to get information from a mob bookkeeper whose name is Eben and who had a partner called Morley. It´s not very original but the fun part of it is to see Geo Force as Morley´s ghost come to haunt Eben, Halo as the ghost of Christmas past, Metamorpho as the ghost of Christmas present and Black Lightning as the ghost of Christmas to come.

So this is the end of this post but not the end of the Christmas themed posts as I have to at least do the post I initially wanted to do Today.

There will also be another big Jim Aparo post coming up in 2016 but in the meantime here are a few links beside the ones I put in the post.

COMIC BOOK RESOURCES has two entries on Jim Aparo ( well, they probably have dozens of them but these are the two I came across Today ) in Day 21 of their Year of the Artist series and as the greatest Batman artist after Neal Adams , WEDNESDAY`S HAUL has an Outsiders cover by Jim Aparo for AMAZING HEROES 78, Mathew Peterson at MAJOR SPOILERS ( again ) offers the extremely long Hero History of Black Lightning , the SECRET ORIGINS PODCAST has an episode on issue 10 that has some nice art by Jim Aparo and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez from the issue that had four different origins for the Phantom Stranger, BABBLINGS ABOUT DC COMICS has a whole slew of entries on Walter Simonson´s classic MANHUNTER series and last but not least Penelopecat at SINISTER URGE gives a raving review of LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT : ALAN DAVIS Volume One.  

Since this is still kind of a Christmas post here is the first of two videos I didn´t want to post during the holidays. But since I put the Ms Claus stripper contest in my last post I think it´s okay to post Sara X´s video.



The same goes for the 24 Days of Elves video ( which I found at Terry Hooper´s COMIC BITS ONLINE ) since there are probably some people who have already enough of all the sweet and sickening Christmas cheer.



Because Superman was in this post here is a nice video where the latest version. Henry Cavill, meets the gold standard : Christopher Reeve.



Again I managed to name drop Neil Gaiman so here´s another video with him. And no, I still haven´t had time to read the GRAVEYARD BOOK comic.



Originally I wanted to post the DISCWORLD - WYRD SISTERS video since I always associate Terry Pratchett´s movies with Christmas ever since watching the brilliant HOGFATHER. But since the embedding on that was disabled here is a Doctor Who anime since there´s also this connection of Doctor Who and Christmas. And no, I also haven´t seen the Doctor Who Christmas Special The Husband Of River Song yet but I will do that Today.



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Justice, like lightning, should ever appear to some people hope, and to other men fear !

What is red and green on Christmas Day ?

Once again there is nothing good on television during the Christmas holidays so we continue the topic of what superheroes do on Christmas.

Okay, there are some good movie on tv but nothing I haven´t already seen and while my Mom is hogging the tv I´m writing yet another post.

This year Christmas has been okay where the presents are concerned - more if you look at how my presents were received than what I got. I have stopped a long time ago to judge Christmas depending on what I got because in most cases it´s disappointing and the important thing is the joy we can bring other people, right ? Speaking about that I´m almost done with The Big Christmas Contest as there is still one package I have to prepare although this one is a whopper. As I mentioned in earlier posts the response to my little charity where I give away free comics has been less than overwhelming and I was already counting on having to put most of the remaining comics into the bucket for next year´s competition. But at the last moment somebody has come up who will take most of the comics left so there will be only a few that will be available next year.

Speaking about next year, don´t expect as many updates as I have made this month which had more posts than usual almost coming down to a new post each day this week. But enough about that and let´s get this post started. My last post about how superheroes spend their Christmas got a bit out of hand lengthwise which is why I couldn´t include the following two examples which turned an already Marvel heavy post into a Marvel only post. So in this post I will feature two stories from other companies starting with DC. A lot of posts about Christmas cover feature FLASH 87 because you have Flash fighting three Santas on the cover by Alan Davis but the best Flash Christmas stories is One Perfect Gift from FLASH 73.

Spoilers : the cover blurb " Guest - starring the original Scarlet Speedster " is true and leads the comic reader to assume it means Jay Garrick.

There are some FLASH issues from the second volume that I have bought and still I haven´t read because I am still missing issues 1 and 70.

Which is one of the reasons why I haven´t done any FLASH FRIDAY posts lately. I´m still hoping to find the issues so I can re - read the entire run in one go starting from issue 1 but I´m not sure if I can hold out until Erlangen which is my last chance to find them because I have already tried all comic shops I know. The new Flash tv series is really a blast and I want to do more posts about the Flash but right now I´m undecided.

Okay, back to FLASH 73 the issue which takes place on Christmas Day starts off with Wally West and Jay Garrick having a conversation while they run through Central  City doing super deeds. Now this is one of the reasons why Wally West is my Flash and nobody will ever take his place.

I know that DC is trying to sell Barry Allen right now and I know that is the one we get in the tv series because of DC´s NEW 52. But even the guys from the tv show couldn´t help but steal Wally West´s famous tagline " My name is Wally West and I´m the Flash, the fastest man alive. " from the comics. I also know that Barry Allen has a lot of fans and I myself grew up with him being the Flash. But contrary to what popular belief tells you your favorite version of a superhero is not always the one you grow up with because then I would prefer Barry Allen over Wally West and Hal Jordan over Guy Gardner. My thesis has always been that you tend to the character you can relate the most to or the one you find most interesting.

And while Barry Allen is the iconic one I never found him very interesting.

His sacrifice in Crisis is the thing that defines him the most apart from The Trial of Flash ( I´m ashamed to admit I still haven´t read it yet ) and he was never very memorable in all his other stories. Which is the reason why they came up with the idea that his mother was killed by the Reverse Flash. Call me crazy but that was not part of the flash canon when I grew up. Nowadays they always kill a loved one if they want to make a hero interesting. Whatever happened to good writing ? Speaking about good writing let´s get back to FLASH 73 since I have to include another story. Jay Garrick and Wally West are talking about Wally´s plans in life. 

When Barry died Wally assumed the mantle of Flash which was something that had not happened in comics before. He was the first sidekick who " graduated " and inherited the super hero title after the hero´s death.

He still wasn´t fully grown up and in the second volume of FLASH - and also in the JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE book - we see him become more of an adult and a responsible hero who´s more comfortable in his role. He even changed the look of the Flash costume to individualize him and make people realize that he´s his own man not only a copy of the original Scarlet Speedster. Wally also made the evolution from a guy who always has a new girlfriend to someone who has chosen Linda Park. So the question of marriage comes up as well as what Wally wants for Christmas.

Jay Garrick had become a surrogate father for Wally West and the most interesting issues were when those two get to interact with each other.

So while they are having a conversation and doing their good deeds all over Central City they come across a woman who is about to give birth.

To make matters worse her husband just got fired and plans to knock down his old workplace and help himself to some unplanned holiday gratification. The flashes have to find him and talk him out of it which would be no problem if they could get the woman to a hospital. But because of her delicate condition they have to bring the doctors to her and Jay stays with her while Wally goes to the husband´s workplace.

Finding the errant husband should be a piece of cake for Wally. Except that the guy´s old workplace turns out to be a department store. Okay, usually the Flash would be in and out in a few seconds but it´s Christmas Day so the shop is full of people and Wally can´t use his super speed.

Some people have problems writing such powerful characters like the Flash because they get paralyzed by all the things he can do. But good writers like Mark Waid concentrate on the things he can´t do instead. So in the story Wally of course arrives at the last minute and all things end well. Which is not why this is such a great Christmas story. Everything that has happened until now gives the reader a nice Christmas tale while at the same time fleshing out ( no pun intended ) the character of Wally. 

No, the best part is in the final pages when Joan Garrick asks Wally if he is expecting a visit from " the man in red " and Wally answers that he couldn´t imagine anything Santa Claus could bring him that would be better than what he´s already gotten. Wally is talking about his girlfriend Linda and his extended family with Jay and Joan but Mark Waid still manages to pull a surprise out of his hat that involves the cover blurb. 

Which should not have been that big of a surprise because Jay Garrick never was actually called the Scarlet Speedster but Barry Allen was.

Come on, that´s not a spoiler, the story is almost twenty - three years old. And that´s only the tip of the iceberg. Because with issue 74 the story The Return of Barry Allen began which is one of the best Flash stories of all times. Barry Allen had not be seen in the DC universe and so far death had been final and irreversible. There was a way that Barry Allen could still appear - after all he went to the events of Crisis after spending many years in the 30th century -  but whatever you thought was going to happen next you could not have predicted what happened here.

I can´t wait to elaborate more on this in a future FLASH FRIDAY post. Before closing I want to talk about another comic series : Erik Larsen´s SAVAGE DRAGON. Erik always puts this guy through the wringer and in the early issues of the book Dragon spends the Christmas holiday - and most of the winter - being impaled after a super villain took his right hand.   

And as bad as that was things only got worse when Savage Dragon was finally found - because it was by someone he would have liked to avoid.

Another great Christmas story from the series is issue 70 which is an open homage to Frank Miller´s SIN CITY one shot Silent Night.

I CAN`T BELIEVE I FORGOT THE GL - AVENGERS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

I thought about doing a post on the weirdest Christmas Special covers but after a bit of research I found out that this kind of post has been already done to death. So while I may still do that if I have the time let´s start the link section of this post with links to other blogs who covered this.

By the way, these are just the ones I found while looking for Christmas covers and I know there are more out there. If you have done a post and want to be included in the list do contact me. First up is COMIC ATTACK which has done an impressive seven posts ( 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 ) on Christmas covers, many of which were unknown to me. Blog BEHIND THE PANELS also has a post on crazy Christmas covers, Chris Sims at COMICS ALLIANCE lists DC Comics Best Holiday Specials ( including THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD issue 148, which I already covered in this post ), Graeme McMillan over at THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER enlightens you with 10 Underrated Christmas Comics and another post by Chris Sims compares the different holiday mythologies of the DC and the Marvel universe.

One of the things the last post mentions is that in the DC universe there is no clear rule if Santa Claus really exists or not and it rather depends on the kind of story that they are trying to tell. When Dan Jurgens wrote the Superman books he did a story in which Superman spends one day each Christmas answering requests and pleas for help. The story was called Metropolis Mailbag and there even was a follow up during the World without Superman storyline in which the other heroes tried to uphold the tradition. Now in these stories Superman or the other heroes often had to deny most of the requests because it was not in their power and they couldn´t ask Santa for help because Santa obviously did not exist in the post Crisis DC universe. In the pre Crisis DC universe Superman even met Santa Claus twice,  once in the Golden Age in SUPERMAN`S CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE 1 and once in the Bronze Age in DC COMICS PRESENTS 67 .

Next up are posts that cover one particular Christmas comic or story : SUPERMAN 165 , DC SPECIAL SERIES 21 , the aforementioned FLASH 73 which is where I found some of the art for the post, GLX - MAS SPECIAL 1 , COMICO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 1 , THE BEANO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL , just for my pal Terry Hooper and ACTION CHRISTMAS 1 which is where I found the picture for the beginning of the post. Thanks and kudos to all of you.

One of the things I like on the Flash tv show is how they introduce characters and how they pay homage to the comics. If you haven´t seen the second season you should not watch this but since Jay Garrick is in the first Christmas story of this post here is the Flash of Two Worlds.



Here´s a Christmas clip for the more adult audience of the blog.



Today´s musical video is the CMA Country Christmas show from 2014 as I always try to post more music that is not usually played on german radio. I wanted to post the show from this year but the account was cancelled.



I only mentioned Frank Miller briefly but I still want to post this docu because I don´t think my next DAREDEVIL post will include him.



To close things here´s the Flash cartoon with Barry Allen and Wally West.



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