“DC’s ‘Twas The “MITE Before Christmas”
Artists: Logan Faerber, Rebekah Isaacs, Bob Quinn, Gavin Guidry, Soo Lee, Andrew Drilon, Marcus Smith, and Juan Bobillo
Color Artists: Logan Faerber, Kurt Michael Russell, Bob Quinn, Ryan Cody, John Kalisz, Andrew Drilon, Hi-Fi, and Juan Bobillo
Letterers: Dave Sharpe, Ferran Delgado, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Becca Carey, Lucas Gattoni, and Travis Lanham
Review by Carl Bryan
Fire Whoever put the wreath up on our building. It clashes with the Lexcorp Logo!”
– Lex Luthor in “A Lex-laculor Christmas Carol
DC’s ‘Twas the ‘Mite Before Christmas pulls out all the feels of the holiday season by inserting some of our favorite and some not-so-favorite characters (Ahem, that’s you Luthor) into some of our most famous literary and movie plots… all with a DC twist!
Settle in with a blanket, a nice fireplace, and some hot cocoa for a solid read of familiar stories with a twist!
Zipporah Smiths’ “At Home Alone in Titans Towers” gives the story away immediately in the title, but more importantly, we get to see a struggling Raven get a taste of family. Much like the Kevin character in Home Alone, Raven goes through a bit of conflict with her existing Titans before battling some break-in buffoons and realizing who her true family is… no matter the situation.
Rob Levin provides a tale akin to “The Holiday” movie in his turn writing “The Princess Switcheroo”. What better twist than to have Harley Quinn and Amethyst switch their roles so Amethyst could get a bit of rest and appreciation of what her role is in her kingdom? However, choosing Harley to be the “Friggin’ Princess a’ Gemworld” may come at a cost!
Ethan Sacks offers a visit by three spirits to the mighty Scrooge himself…Lex Luthor! Lex’s father kicks things off in “A Lex-laculor Christmas Carol” as the lead-off spirit as Amity Arkham, Deadman and Spectre represent Charles Dickens’ ghosts from A Christmas Carol. Top that off with a visit from one more visitor who deals with spirits and death on an hourly basis, and you have quite the tale that can even melt Luthor’s cold heart!
Natalie Abrams writes “Riddler on the Roof” giving Batwoman a turn on a loosely based rendition of the hit movie. Abrams puts her fingerprint on the tale by addressing the strained relationship between the Riddler and his daughter Faith. This one’s a sad tale, but everyone needs to be in their “feels” a bit around the holiday to appreciate all the good that surrounds them!
Jillian Grant tackles Booster Gold’s character in “The Santa Copies”. Reminiscent of “The Santa Clause”, one can see Booster’s ego finally realize that even a superhero cannot replace Santa!
Michael W. Conrad hits the grand slam of a tale with his “Streaks in the Sky”. Superman takes center stage in this story as he helps a fellow citizen of Metropolis work through a myriad of holiday feelings. Some of the statements that Conrad writes in Superman’s dialogue are absolute treasures! The advice given in this story is so strong and so reflective that everyone needs to have this issue alone for what people may feel in the swirl of the holidays!
Josh Trujillo’s “It’s a Bunkerful Life” adjusts the lends of Bunker who is comparing his life to that of Blue Beetle and being a former member of the Titans. When given a bit of perspective from Extraño (I got to pause here as this character is a complete knockoff of Dr. Strange… what??? Extraño’s even the Spanish word for Strange). Bunker appreciates his journey as he should, but Extraño…. I’m still scratching my head on that one! Why do we even have a Dr. Strange-type character when we already have Dr. Fate? Whew… that totally distracted me in Trujillo’s tale.
Sholly Fisch ends the collection with a visit from Bat-Mite to Damian Wayne in “Wonderful Toys”. Yes, Damian… there’s a Bat-Mite, a character who takes on the very impish role of his predecessor, Mr. Mxyzptlk. In this issue he really gets down to some core family issues as Damian misses his mom. I loved that Fisch really explored some of the major romances in Bruce’s life in one burst of dialogue. He gives Damian (and the reader) a lot of layers to Bruce Wayne, even when he’s not even a part of this story!
The artists throughout DC’s ‘Twas The “MITE Before Christmas need to be celebrated as we get a change of pace in pencils and colors throughout this wonderful holiday book! Juan Bobillo’s work in particular is really great.
Conclusion
You know what you’re getting in this book. That could be taken as a positive or a negative, but it’s a topic to be considered considering that the authors were given the task of “copying” elements from well-known holiday classics!
While much of this issue will feel familiar to us story-wise, we do get to see a ton of DC flavor inserted! To be completely fair, Michael Conrad’s Superman story is out of this world and simply perfect for anyone who finds themselves a bit melancholy over the holiday season! While the book as a whole gets an 8 from me, this tale is a perfect 10, and you should purchase this fun collection for that alone!
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment