Anthro by Joe Cavaliari and Carlo Soriano: First of all, I should say that I don’t know crap about Anthro or his world. So maybe everything that’s going on here is par for the course, Anthro-wise. But the dialogue was bad (Contractions are not a modern invention!), the art was too washed-out and almost cartoony, and the art didn’t flow well. Anthro fans, if you’re out there, please tell me he’s not always like this!
Writing: 1/Art: 2

Jonah Hex by Seth Albano and Renato Arlem:  As a Hex fan, I liked this story. Arlem’s art fits this story much better than Soriano’s fit the previous one, even if I’m not a huge fan of how he draws Jonah, and Bruno Hang’s coloring is a huge improvement. The plot is pretty simplistic compared to a normal issue of the regular comic, but this is a solid Hex story.
4/4

Green Lantern by Tony Bedard and Richard & Tanya Horie: Preachy bullshit, awaaay! I haven’t bothered with plot summaries so far, but I feel like I need to explain this one so you can understand the full depths of my annoyance: A rookie GL calls John in to help break up a riot, and John explains to him that it’s a religious ritual and that he needs to be more understanding of other cultures. Not that that’s not a fine lesson, but I don’t read holiday anthologies to be lectured about tolerance. The Hories’ art and coloring are good (if sketchier than I like my GL stories), with one exception: Why the hell is John’s GL symbol black? What color lantern do you think he is, Hories??
1/4

Superman by Kevin Grevioux and Roberto Castro: Hah, I bet you thought that the GL story would be the preachiest bullshit in this anthology, didn’t you? Surprise! Once again, a summary, because otherwise this section would just consist of the word “Ugh” over and over: Superman wins a Hero Award and uses the opportunity to introduce Metropolis to a little boy who was badly burned saving his sister from a fire. Because he’s the real hero. I actually threw the comic across the room when I read that. Castro’s art is pretty terrible, with characters’ faces changing shape from panel to panel and everybody’s faces covered in 90s Lines.
1/1

The Spectre by Dara Naraghi, Tom Derenick and Norm Rapmund: I’m a little surprised that Jonah Hex and the Spectre have stories in this special, because neither of them strike me as go-to characters for holiday stories. This reminded me a lot of the Hex story, actually, in that it was a good showcase for the character but not as twisty as a full-length story would be. There’s a little bit of edutainment in the form a woman explain Norouz (Persian New Year) traditions to children who are almost certainly already familiar with them, but the only lesson there was “this is how Norouz is celebrated,” and I’m okay with that kind of lesson. The art wasn’t too detailed, but it was serviceable.
3/3

LoSH by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Chris Batista, and Rich Perrotta: Of all the stories in this anthology, this one comes closest to my platonic ideal of a holiday special comic. I’m not familiar with the Legion, so I was a little overwhelmed by all the characters, but the dialogue was snappy, the plot had a good scope for this kind of story, and there was a little bit, rather than a huge steaming pile, of sentiment at the end. The colorful art fits, too, though everyone’s faces look a little wonky.
5/4