There’s only 41 shopping days until Christmas! So let’s get in the shopping spirit in this week’s Heroes & Villains!
100-Page Comic Giant!: Worlds’s Greatest Super-Heroes Holiday Special
Various (W/A)
DC Comics
Now, I haven’t verified this claim but I’m probably the comics blogger that’s given the most digital ink to the DC/Walmart co-venture that is the modern 100-Page Comic Giant! As long as they keep putting out holiday themed comics collections at a bargain price I’m going to keep showing up or it.
Out NOW is the winter holiday version of the book and I’m fighting the urge to call it a perfect stocking stuffer. Okay, so I wasn’t fighting it very hard. I don’t think I can overstate the appeal of these books for me. It reminds me of the comic collections I would get from the local corner store as a kid that I would literally read until they began to disintegrate in my hands. You know, back in the days before I learned how comics are “supposed” to be handled.
I jest, of course. Comics are to be read and enjoyed and these things harken back to the newsstand roots of comics. This is something that can be read and enjoyed by both kids and adults.
Contained within you’re getting a brand new Flash story by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth, a classic Superman tale (“Metropolis Mailbag”) by Dan Jurgens and Jackson Guice, along with a few other surprises. I also feel the need to point out that the book isn’t exclusively Christmas. The general vibe is “peace on earth, goodwill towards all, and oh yeah these characters are Jewish.”
I know that a mass market publication out of Walmart should be the last place I’m looking for broad representation but with 100 PAGES to fill you’d think there’d be enough space to fit everyone in. But, hey, a Batwoman Chanukah story? I’ll take it!
Transformers: Lost Light #25
James Roberts (W)
Jack Lawrence (A)
IDW Publishing
It’s probably been something like 34 years since I got my first Transformer (Windcharger, for the record) and I’ve been a lifelong fan of the property ever since. So I’m more than comfortable writing that Transformers: Lost Light is the best Transformers adaptation of all time. That’s right…better than G1, better than Beast Wars. ALL TIME.
And now it’s over as of last week’s issue #25.
As a kid I was obsessed with the show, the toys, the characters, the Marvel comics. Each birthday or Christmas saw new additions to the Autobot and Decepticon armies I was assembling in my bedroom. I’m fully aware the cartoon was just a toy delivery system cooked up by advertisers, but by Primus it worked on me.
Each toy came with a “Tech Spec”, a clip & collect biography that gave you an idea about the personality of each robot. It was an amazing bit of depth that never was entirely realized on the cartoon.
Then, 30 or so years on, IDW’s Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye (the predecessor to this book) came along and blew everything away. Suddenly, Transformers fans were treated to a serialized narrative, complex characters that grew as the series unfolded. There were tragic deaths, moments of hilarity, and yes…even love.
Lost Light took a lot of amazing chances with the characters and managed to make all of them work. I would have never thought I’d be so invested in the the relationship of two fictional robots named “Chromedome” and “Rewind” but here we are. The books paint an intricate picture of an alien society beyond “cars that turn into robots to fight…and stuff.”
The final issue of the series is not just a perfect ending to the story that has been told over the last 100 issues, it’s one of the all-time great finales. I’d stack it up against the greatest comic book endings and TV show finales…it’s just that good. I left the series feeling completely satisfied.
So, since the holidays are around the corner and you’re looking for the perfect gift for that Transformers fan in your life…get them started on this book.
