Unlike TheNextChampion, I always enjoy Larfleeze, so I’ve been excited about this issue ever since Geoff Johns teased it at SDCC (now please please please let him not have been kidding about the companion piece, the Dex-Starr Valentine’s Day Special!!!).  This week, knowing this story was coming my way had me perhaps unreasonably excited; on Wednesday, I leapt out of bed and spent the whole day counting down hours until I could get to my store and get my stack.

When I did, I quickly flipped through, and I felt a moment of panic.  Then I thought, well, their title associations have been a bit haphazard of late, so maybe I just need to grab my own copy from the shelf.  I looked at the shelf: nothing.  I looked at the special “check these out!” shelf: nothing.  I felt my face fall as I turned to my store owner and said, “Where is the Larfleeze Christmas Special?”  I could hear the Sheldon Cooper-esque panic in my voice and was helpless in a moment of utter geeking desperation.  “Oh, we got shorted by Diamond,” he said casually. 

Now, of course, this happens, and I know it, and I normally just say, “Well damn, guess I’ll get it when I get it.  Thanks!”  But on this occasion, I went Rain Man. 

“But, but, I…I need the Larfleeze Christmas Special.  All I want for Christmas is the Larfleeze Christmas Special.  When I got up this morning, it was my reason for getting out of bed.  I, I, I need it.”  Not angry of course, just kind of…pathetic.  Like the sort of person you like to think you will never ever be.  I looked up at him like the last puppy to be adopted from a much cuter litter.

“Uh, I’ll call over to the other store and see if they’ve got one I could have here for you tomorrow.”

Thursday evening I went back and picked up the comic I’d embarrassingly obsessed over having.  And the logical conclusion to such a tale would be that it was kind of a let-down, because nothing can live up to such a build-up in one’s head, and then I would feel even lamer over my whole Big Bang Theory moment.

But instead, I got a Christmas Miracle.  This book is everything I dreamed it could be and so much more.  My smile grew with every page I turned, and I laughed in delight again and again.  When I closed the issue, I felt a glow of happiness I knew I would carry with me for hours, if not days.  I spent the evening handing it around among my friends, some of whom barely read comics, none of whom follow Green Lantern, and they all reacted as I had, laughing and grinning and passing it along with a “You *have* to read this!”

This weekend, I will be making the Orange Lantern Cookies.  And I don’t have a tree, but I do want to make a good cardstock photocopy of the page with the ornament so I can construct a sturdy version to hang over my desk.  And I did sit there and trace my way through the maze to help Larfleeze reach the North Pole.

Best of all, I will continue to smile and giggle every time I think of the wonderful moments in the story, the gloriously funny Larfleeze-speak and his superpowered childlike perception of our world.  Thank you Geoff Johns for writing this book, and Brett Booth for drawing it, and DC for publishing it, and Arcane Comics for getting me a copy when I clearly needed it!