We are taking a few days off from publishing new content for the holidays, so enjoy some of our favorite Christmas-themed writing over the past 11 years! Merry Christmas to all!
We here at Multiversity get pretty excited about the holidays, and this year we’re sharing that excitement with the rest of you as we celebrate that wonder of wonders: THE HOLIDAY COMIC!
Each day for the next twenty-five days, and in no particular order, we’ll be featuring one yuletide yarn set to the tune of tidings of comfort and joy, and today we spotlight a late 1979 DC Holiday Comic featuring surprisingly religion-based Christmas stories starring Jonah Hex, House of Mystery, Batman, Sgt. Rock and Superboy/The Legion of Super-Heroes. It’s the DC Super-Star Holiday Special (DC Special Series #21)!
Check after the cut for more on this not-at-all-tolerant celebration of all things Christmas!
Day #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7
Who Did It? An easier question might be, “Who didn’t do it?” The Jonah Hex segment, “The Fawn and the Star” was written by Michael Fleisher and drawn by Dick Ayers and Romeo Tanghal. “Wanted: Santa Claus — Dead or Alive!,” the Batman piece, was written by Denny O’Neil with art by Frank Miller (!) and Steve Mitchell. The untitled House of Mystery story was written by Bob Rozaks and illustrated by Romeo Tanghal and Dan Adkins. “The Longest Night,” the Sgt. Rock piece, was written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Dick Ayers and Romeo Tanghal. And finally, the Superboy/Legion story, “Star Light, Star Bright, Farthest Star I See Tonight” was written by, who else, Paul Levtiz and illustrated by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and Dick Giordano.
What Is It About? The book begins with a simple retelling of the Star of Bethlehem, which the Three Wise Men followed to find the newborn Jesus, placing this book in a rather religious context for a superhero comic. Each of the five subsequent stories feature the star in one fashion or another. We start with Jonah Hex following it to help a young girl save a fawn from being shot by her father. Next up, Batman hunts down a department store Santa with a shady past after noticing the star missing from the Gotham Nativity Scene. One of the inhabitants of the House of Mystery tells a tale of people on a boat using the star to navigate their way home, while Sgt. Rock uses the star to guide his company after a Nazi shot his compass.
However, the story I want to focus on is the Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes story which manages to be exactly as insane as you would hope it to be.
It begins with Superboy casually breaking the time barrier to the 30th century, and almost immediately being sexually harassed by Phantom Girl (fortunately, our boy Kal-El likes it). What then begins is Superboy’s attack on any Christmas traditions other than his own. Saturn Girl’s desire to work on Christmas is met with a befuddled “it takes all kinds,” and the rage continues with Superboy’s near-fury at Karate Kid’s Japanese tea ceremony. Luckily, Superboy keeps his mouth shut when Colossal Boy’s Hanukah celebration is mentioned, but no other traditions get a pass. Wildfire observes that “There’s a hundred different ways of saying it, Superboy — but the message is still peace on Earth!”
To which, Kal replies “Maybe, Wilfire…BUT MAYBE NOT!”
The Anakin Skywalker-level whining that follows must be seen to be believed:
So, instead of reveling in cultural celebrations far and wide, Superboy decides to take some Legionnaires on a trip to find the Star of Bethlehem, but instead they find a dying planet yada yada true meaning of Christmas is helping others yada yada.
How Holiday Friendly Is It? It seems a little silly to nit-pick a Christmas comic for being about Christmas, so I’ll simply say it was unusual to see a Biblical element being the thrust behind the story, and it is certainly nothing like a Christmas comic you would see today. That said, each story was interesting and unique, and each felt sincere, something I find wholly lacking in most Christmas comics. It was also fun to see characters you would never normally associate with Christmas getting a story here, and I’m sure this can be found real cheap. Track it down, for sure.
