Time sure finds a way to get away from you, we it does for me at least. Guess I needed a little break, but I hope to get back into the habit of writing again. This is going to be a tiny bit late, but if you find yourself still in the mood for some holiday fun then you might enjoy this holiday special from 2016. Today I am going to recap the 2016 DC Rebirth Holiday Special #1. There are multiple mini stories interwoven over a main story. I'll try to keep things as clear as possible. Also this is an 88 page issue, so this is going to have to be a two part post or it will just be too long.
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A Very Harley Holiday: Intro: In the always fun fourth wall breaking way, Harley welcomes the reader to, "A Big, Splashy, Holiday Special!" She is at a party that is full of DC heroes. Harley slides up to Jessica Cruse, making a joke about how no one really knows each other at these parties and Jess indeed has never met Harley. On a stage Black Canary starts to sing the Twelve days of Christmas while Zatana pulls all the items magically out of a hat. Harley suggests to the reader that this might take a while and it could be a good time to finish up that holiday shopping.
Superman and Batman in: The Last Minute: Our first story starts with Superman and Batman fighting a monster in Ecuador. They beat the monster and start talking about still needing to find gifts. Superman as not been able to find the new video game that Jon wants. Batman tells Supe he better hurry, and the man of steel flies off to find the perfect gift. At home Jon is chatting with Damian. Jon is just relaxing, while of course Damian is fighting a bunch of dudes. Superman/Clark hit up stores all over the country but he cannot find the game system that Jon wants. While passing over Gotham he spots a truck hauling the games, but before he can intercept it, he hears a gunman threatening a store Santa. He stops the crime and is at the store ready to buy the last game on the shelf, but none other than Damian Wayne is there to grab it right before him. Later that night (Christmas Eve), the super family and the bat family are having dinner. Each boy then gets to open one gift. Clark is disappointed he couldn't get Jon the game he wanted, but it turns out that Damian was buying the gift for Jon. Later, Bruce offers an apology to clark for Damian stealing his thunder, but Clark looks in on the boys playing the game and says that Damian's real gift to Jon his is friendship. Not to be totally left out the two dads then challenge each other to what I assume is a snowball fight. Harley, who was narrating this tale, gives a fun fact about what they call Christmas Eve in Ecuador. It is known as Nochebuena which simple translates to "Good Night."
Harley Holiday: Interlude: Harley is by an old looking TV playing a movie that looks a little like Rudolph, but all the ice villains have frozen the reindeer. Lucky for Santa, Harley arrives with Krypto to save the day. She then introduces our next story that also happens to be about a boy and his dog.
Superboy in: For The Dog Who Has Everything: Jon wonders aloud if Krypto knows that he isn't a normal dog. Lois is pretty sure all the drooling is normal dog behavior. Jon thinks that it has been a tough year for Krypto (he did get eaten by The Eradicator). Clark suggests they go find Krypto a gift and Jon assumes they are off to the mall, but Clark takes Jon to the Fortress of Solitude. Clark shows Jon his trophy room. It is full of tons of Kryptonian artifacts and many of Clark's old Superman outfits. They share touching father and son moment talking about how hard it can be to feel out of place and being different. Jon gets an idea and we cut back to the Super fam's home. Jon has taken the belt from his dad's first outfit and made it into a collar for Krypto. They may all feel alone sometimes, but they are alone together and maybe that is what family is.
Harley Holiday: Interlude: Now Harley is ready for some presents, she goes to open one when a mass text goes out to everyone at the party. They are all getting the gift of a donation in their name to The Wayne Foundation for Police Retirement Fund. Batman is happy but everyone else is less than impressed.
Batman and Detective Chimp in: The Night we Saved Christmas: Bobo, aka, Detective Chimp and Batman find themselves on a snow covered roof with what looks like the body of one of Santa's elves. Cut to two days earlier in Los Angeles. A mall Santa named Noel wants to hire Bobo to track down an employee names Jimmy "Fingers" McFinnegan, who stole the Santa's prize winning dog. Bobo takes the case and finds out that Jimmy is from Gotham. Bobo heads to Gotham to get some help from Batman to track down Jimmy. Seems that Bobo goes way back with both Alfred and Bruce. Batman tells Bobo he can't help because he has another case. Bobo quickly figures out the case Batman is working on so Batman agrees to help Bobo track down Jimmy. They finally end up at the docks where a bunch of holiday workers, most still dressed up as Santas and elves are having a party. Jimmy is there trying to sell the dog to Penguin. Jimmy spots Bobo and runs for it. They end up on the roof and bobo pulls a gun. Batman tells Jimmy to stop and there is a BANG. Batman is shocked Bobo would shoot one of Santa's elves. Bobo tell him that he just shot in the air to scare Jimmy, causing him to slip and the red on the snow is the drink Jimmy was holding. Jimmy comes too and tells the duo where to find the dog. They recover the "dog" only to find a reindeer with an oldly glowing nose. They call up Noel who arrives very quickly and takes back his "dog." Everyone is pretty sure that they helped the real Santa that night, but of course that can't be...right? Either way, it ends up being a nice Christmas as both Bobo and Batman take a break from crime solving to enjoy good friends and some good cheer.
Harley Holiday: Interlude: Harley asks Wonder Woman about some holiday memories. Themyscira doesn't really do Christmas but they do have some Solstice traditions. It is a funny story about how some Amazons would dress up as does and be hunted by other Amazons. Superman just says his parents put up a tree, which causes Wonder Woman to start talking about the bloody past of the Christmas tree.
Wonder Woman and Constantine in: Dreaming of a White Christmas: It is the Winter Solstice in Lancaster and Constantine is at a witchy celebration looking for someone named Brangwen, who cast a spell on him, giving him nightmares. John bumps into Wonder Woman who is looking for a missing Dionysus. They team up after finding out that Brangwen and Dionysus might be hanging out together. John recruits a bunch of ghosts to help in the search. Wonder Woman asks who all the women are. Most are the ghosts of dead witches. One steps up and claims she was a midwife that was executed for being a witch. The ghosts indeed lead our duo to Brangwen and someone who is not actually Dionysus. Fake Dionysus runs off and John wants to stay and deal with Brangwen but WW wants his help. John asks the ghosts for one more favor and they slow the fake "god" long enough for John to catch up and punch him in the face. John guesses that the guy is Jack Frost. WW asks Brangwen to lift the spell from John and she will but only if John tells her what the nightmare is. He doesn't want to but eventually whispers it to her and she busts out laughing. WW flies off with Jack Frost and John heads to the place he is staying hoping for a good night's sleep, but it looks like maybe the spell is slow to wear off. (I'll post a picture because I do not think I could do it justice.)
Thoughts: So I am going to stop here because this is about the halfway point and it is already getting a little long. A lot of work went into making this issue and I do like to talk about writers and artists, but I would have to have a post just for that. So for this post I am going to simply suggest you read this volume and look up all the writers and artist because I have loved reading this. Harley really is the perfect story teller and who can say no to a bunch of mini stories with all my favorite characters?
Check in later this week for part two of this holiday special recap!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
Next Post: DC Rebirth Holiday Special #1, Part 2
Note: All images belong to DC™
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