Justice League Unlimited #28

December 9, 2006

Quick Rating: Great
Title: Season’s Beatings, Justice League!

The Phantom Stranger takes Flash on a trip to Batman’s Christmas past!

Writer: Mike McAvennie
Pencils: Sanford Greene
Inks: Nathan Massengill
Colors: Heroic Age
Letters: John J. Hill
Editor: Michael Wright
Cover Art: Ty Templeton
Publisher: DC Comics/Johnny DC

Back in the early 90s, DC put out a Christmas With the Super-Heroes special, reprinting some of the best seasonal tales from the company’s history. If they were to produce another such volume, this comic would certainly be one of the stories worth consideration for inclusion.

As the Justice League takes on Clayface, disguised in a festive Santa Claus suit, the Flash rushes in headfirst, screwing up the plan. Because of his carelessness, one of Clayface’s henchmen – a heavily armed “Elf” – manages to escape. An angry Batman sends Flash back to the satellite to sit on monitor duty while the rest of the team goes out to round up the missing elf. Flash finds himself wondering how even Batman can be such a Grinch at Christmas, when a visitor appears to answer that very question.

It’s always fun to see the Phantom Stranger put to use, and somehow he’s always felt at home in Christmas stories. (Maybe that’s because the first time I ever saw the character was in a Justice League Christmas story where they were battling the Key.) He takes Flash to visit two significant Christmases in Batman’s past, trying to help him understand exactly what it is that makes Batman who he is. The resultant story is really fantastic. This may be set on “Earth-Timm,” but the conclusions drawn here would be perfectly applicable to the “mainstream” Batman as well. It’s a great story that sheds a lot of light on the character, leading up to a very strong last page, where things all seem to turn out all right.

Sanford Greene’s artwork is also of note. Like any artist who successfully works on one of these animated comics, he’s found a nice balance between the models of the cartoon show and his own storytelling style. He has a really nice gift for putting emotion on the characters’ faces without getting either too exaggerated or too off-model.

This is one of the best issues of Justice League Unlimited I’ve yet read, and one of the best Christmas comics to have crossed my path this year.

Rating: 9/10