THIS WEEK: The DC Round-Up team — Cori McCreery, Joe Grunenwald, and Zack Quaintance — convenes for a roundtable discussion about Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1 and a Titans: Beast World check-in.
Note: the reviews below contain spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bolded recommendations without our discussion for our final verdicts.
Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Michele Bandini
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
ZACK QUAINTANCE: Hello everyone, and welcome back to another DC Round-Up Roundtable. We’ve got sort of a special holiday edition this month. So, let’s just get right into it. What did you all think of Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1 by writer Jeff Parker, artist Michele Brandini, colorist Alex Sinclair, and letterer Pat Brosseau? The first issue of a weekly holiday-themed series running this month…
JOE GRUNENWALD: I’ll just come right out with it: Batman/Santa Claus rules.
CORI MCCREERY: Why is Prancer possessed?
ZACK: As opposed to another reindeer being possessed, or just generally?
JOE: Everyone knows Rudolph’s red lightbulb nose is a sign of demonic possession.
CORI: Generally Zack. Prancer’s glowing eyes are going to haunt my nightmares for months. Other than that, I really enjoyed the comic.
JOE: I assumed his eyes glow because he’s a magical and/or alien creature. Which, for some reason I didn’t expect there to be as much magic in this comic as there is, and it works so perfectly.
ZACK: Oh yeah, it’s basically a DC magic comic, which is really cool in this context. For my part, I think this book is fun and exactly as advertised. It’s called Batman/Santa Claus…it gives you Batman/Santa Claus, having a totally absurd adventure that blends Batman tropes with Christmas-themed magic.
CORI: For me, Santa in this felt like a Pathfinder character. Thinking Ranger with a Reindeer animal companion and an inventor multiclass archetype. I know this is all nonsense to Joe, but I immediately started theory-crafting how to play this version of Santa.
JOE: I do recognize a lot of those words, but in that order they are gobbledygook. What I liked is that Santa is basically Thor. Basing him in an established public-domain mythology – even if it’s one readers are probably more familiar with from another publisher – is such a smart in to the character beyond him being freaking Santa Claus.
ZACK: Did either of you read the Grant Morrison-Dan Mora comic Klaus? That’s the reference I was thinking of here. It’s a different tone with 1000 percent more Batman, but it kind of takes a similar approach to Santa, making him a tough guy sort of adventurer but also based in part on old mythology. I’d imagine the creators here had to at least think about that series while working this out.
JOE: I haven’t read that series, but this book makes me want to. You’ve also got Dan Mora on covers here, so it feels related in my mind even if it’s really not. Santa aside, I’m in the bag for any Batman comic written by Batman ‘66 scribe Jeff Parker, and his dynamic duo here is absolutely wonderful.
ZACK: Yeah, Parker’s scripting is a blast. If you like quippy, sort of absurd-leaning comics, this one is a joy.
CORI: I really enjoyed Santa just casually dropping childhood addresses of the heroes he was meeting to prove who he really was.
ZACK: Any other individual moments anyone wants to point out here before we get to verdicts? It felt like there were a lot of fun little details in this one.
JOE: I just wanted to add how much I enjoyed Michele Bandini’s work on this issue. His linework and Alex Sinclair’s colors pair very well together, and they fit the tone of the story really nicely.
ZACK: It is a very good-looking book. Santa in particular looks great. I like how they made him like larger-than-life, which you can see soon after he first appears and sort of looms over Zatanna. Fun stuff.
CORI: Also buff as shit.
ZACK: Yes, let it be known Santa is a total beefcake in this book. So what are our verdicts?
JOE: I was excited to read this already, and it completely exceeded my expectations. I loved it and I hope there’s a hardcover collection. It’s the easiest of BUYs for me.
CORI: BUY unless you hate Christmas and fun, you scrooge.
ZACK: BUY from me as well. If you’re looking at our advice, you probably have at least a cursory interest in the concept, so I can’t imagine this one lets you down.
Titans: Beast World
Titans: Beast WorldTitles: Titans – Beast World #1, Titans – Beast World Tour: Metropolis #1, and Titans – Beast World: Waller Rising #1
Writers: Tom Taylor, Nicole Maines, Steve Orlando, and Chuck Brown
Artists: Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Fico Ossio, Keron Grant
Colorists: Brad Anderson and Luis Guerrero
Letterers: Wes Abbott and Rob Leigh
ZACK: Moving on! For the second half, we’re doing something different here. We’re doing a check-in on the new Titans: Beast World event, which started last week and hasn’t been written about yet on this site. We’ve got the first issue of the main book out now, as well as two one-shot tie-ins…I’m curious, what did you both think of all this Beast World so far?
CORI: I really liked the first issue of the main series, it was not what I was expecting this event to actually be with multiple twisty-turns in one issue. I’m a little annoyed at the tie-ins though, because they take place after other issues of the main series that haven’t released yet. You can’t tell me that this takes place after Beast World #3 when I don’t have that issue to refer to to know why it comes after.
JOE: I agree that the order of the stories is a bit puzzling, especially as it didn’t feel like there was any specific context from future issues of the event that we were missing in the Metropolis one-shot. It didn’t detract from my enjoyment of those stories, though, as they still basically boil down to ‘person turns into some sort of animal monster.’ Going back to the first issue of the event, I was pleasantly surprised at how much it felt like just an expanded issue of Titans, with other DCU heroes sprinkled in for extra flavoring. The character arrival and twist halfway through the issue was completely unexpected as well, and executed pretty flawlessly.
ZACK: I caught that as well, one of the tie-ins is set after a comic that’s not out yet. Which will surely bother anyone that reads and follows weekly comics, because WHY, but I also agree that it doesn’t really have much bearing on what’s in the actual book. LIke I have no idea why that note was in there even now, having read everything that’s out so far. But yeah, it’s a very Titans-y event. I think this is definitely going to have its detractors, which is true of anything in comics, but this being labeled as an event and having a little bit goofier tone (thinking here of how often the phrase “Garro” is used), feels like it’s going to be a lightning rod for grumbling.
CORI: Garro was great. Just the idea of Gar realizing his potential to become a giant starfish is so good. Good on Gar for growing up.
JOE: On that note, I implore you, DC: please stop calling him Beast Boy. Changeling is a great name, or come up with something else, but he’s not a kid anymore. He hasn’t been a kid for twenty years. End this pointless charade! I’m getting worked up! Someone else say something!
CORI: Didn’t know you felt that strongly about heroes who use Boy and Girl in their names long into adulthood Joe. Well except one specific one that everyone knows you hate.
JOE: Gar was in his twenties when he went back to going by Beast Boy! It doesn’t make any SENSE.
ZACK: Maybe he was uncomfortable getting older or with the terrifying impermanence of life and switched back to recapture the simplicity of a more comforting time. I support Gar’s decision.
CORI: Me too. Joe’s just being a grump about it.
JOE: Just call me Doctor Hate.
ZACK: So, getting back to the book…what do you all think of the overarching concept here, which is that the world is starting to transform into animals, I think not even of their choosing.
JOE: I think it’s a very similar concept to Lazarus Planet, where something is raining down from the sky and causing people around the world to experience strange transformations. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the similarity between the two – and the structure of the one-shots especially – did strike me as I was reading. It’s a decent overarching concept – so decent they’ve basically used it twice.
ZACK: That’s true, it is another “whole world gets hit by some fantastical thing” story. I didn’t connect that dot.
JOE: And I get it, this is the DC Universe, the whole world is always going to be getting hit by some fantastical thing. It just really stuck out to me for some reason, particularly as I was reading the Metropolis one-shot, which actually picks up on threads for Dreamer directly from Lazarus Planet.
CORI: It was nice to see her again though. I’ll keep enjoying reading Nichole Maines written Dreamer until she’s tired of writing the character, and I don’t think that will be anytime soon. I alos loved that she pulled Nia’s TV roommate Yvette into the canon DC Universe with this.
JOE: I think the Metropolis one-shot was a nice mix of stories that are setting up other stories while still standing alone well, plus the absolutely wonderful Turtle Boy story from Dan Jurgens and Anthony Marques that was not setting anything else up but that I wish was.
CORI: BIIIIIIIIBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! That’s all I just wanted to yell my man Bibbo’s name.
JOE: Mission accomplished. What’d you two think of the Waller Rising one-shot? I was glad to see Chuck Brown writing Black Manta and Gallous the Goat again personally.
CORI: My biggest thought on that one was that it felt very exposition-heavy. That might just be me, but it felt like it took too much room to set things up than to actually do anything of substance.
JOE: I can definitely see that. It took a long time to actually establish what “The Kingdom” is and why Doctor Hate wanted to…destroy it? I think? And I’m still not entirely clear on what it is.
ZACK: I will say though, that I am probably always going to like stories about shady machinations happening behind big wild superhero events. I just know this about myself, so I enjoyed that part of it, for sure.
JOE: And given Waller’s overall role in the DCU right now, that story felt very Important, even if it’s not entirely clear at this point in what way it is Important.
CORI: I’m guessing it will come into more focus as the main series goes on, which again brings me back to my point about making sure you publish in an order that makes sense. At least this one was only supposed to be after the first issue, but it still feels like it could have come out a little later.
ZACK: We’re going long here, so let’s get to verdicts for Beast World so far. I’m a BROWSE so far on this event generally, mostly because I want to see where it’s heading more before giving it a full endorsement. I also think the tone may not be for everyone.
JOE: Yeah, it’s a BROWSE for me as well right now. Really liking the main book so far, but I hope some of the future tie-ins are a little tighter.
CORI: I am a BUY on the main series and a BROWSE on the tie-ins I think. I think the main event is worth picking up for sure. Also, I predict that Gar’s severed arm is going to save the day.
ZACK: And so mark those words as this event goes on! Thanks everyone as always for reading, and we’ll see you back here soon.
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