B'wana Beast Holiday Special '09

DC Universe Holiday Special '09 (B'wana Beast)
"The Hunt for Christmas"
Writer - Beau Smith
Art - Gary Kwapisz
Colors - Pamela Rambo
Letters - Travis Lanham
Editors - Adam Schlagman & Eddie Berganza

Wouldja believe... the B'wana Beast?!  Not a character one might expect to see in a circa-2009 Holiday Special... and not one I have all that much in the way of experience with.  Only B'wana Beast story I can remember reading was when he appeared in the early issues of Grant Morrison's run of Animal Man.  Never considered the fella a "leading man", but here we are!

Also, it's worth noting that this "branded" cover was a tremendous pain-in-the-butt!  I can often find cleaner art online or I can snap a picture and remove the background... but with B'wana Beast?  It wasn't that easy.  I'm still not entirely happy with how it came out... but, it'll have to do.

--

We open with some smugglers attempting to flee the B'wana Beast and his animal pals.  Oh, it's Christmas, by the way.  With the aid of a rhino and some monkeys, the Beast is able to overtake the baddies... and commandeer their loot-filled truck!  All the while, a hymm credited as "God Moves in Mysterious Ways" by William Lowper fills our narrative captions.

The Beast is able to kick off the final few smugglers, perhaps even sending them to their deaths... I mean, one dude goes flying off a cliff!  Even if he survives the fall, I don't see him surviving all that long!

Anyhoo, the B'wana Beast flips the truck... and has to use his larger animal buddies to deliver the loot back to a nearby village who had been offered aid by a Christian Mission.  And so, it looks as though they will have something to celebrate this Christmas.

--

This was an odd one, wasn't it?

First, I mean... it features the B'wana Beast.  I know he had a bit of a surge in popularity (relatively speaking) due to an appearance or a few on Justice League Unlimited... heck, I'm almost positive he got an action figure out of the deal.  Still though... a weird pick to be featured here.  At least to me.

Second, the fact that it's so heavily rooted in religion.  This was kind of a shock, seeing a nearly "current year" comic book narrated via a hymm... kinda jarring!  It's not something I minded all that much, though I could see it taking some folks out of the story.  Worth noting, the citation here isn't quite right.  I did a little digging to see if this was a "real" hymm... and it is, only rather than being called "God Moves in Mysterious Ways", it's actually called "God Moves in a Mysterious Way"... and the fella who wrote it is William Cowper, not William Lowper.  Now proofreading and attention to detail like that actually does make this feel like a "current year" comic!  Good work, folks!

Now, as far as the "story" is concerned... there really isn't much of one.  B'wana Beast is doing a nice thing for a poor village on Christmas... and, I suppose that's all it really needed to be.  The art's pretty good, I never had to second-guess what I was looking at... and sometimes that's all we can ask for!

Tomorrow: A Captain Marvel story... where he ain't called Shazam!  A Christmas Miracle!

Guy Gardner: Warrior #29 (1995)

Guy Gardner: Warrior #29 (March, 1995)
"It's My Party and I'll Fight if I Want To"
Writer - Beau Smith
Penciller - Phil Jimenez
Inkers - John Stokes & Dan Davis
Colorist - Gene D'Angelo
Letterer - Albert DeGuzman
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Warrior's Designed by - Brad Gorby
Cover Price: $2.95 (gatefold) $1.50 (standard)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I was planning on doing a "Green" book today (Arrow or Lantern, natch).  While flipping through my books, this one just jumped out at me.

Visiting Warrior's Bar should be a nice way to hold me/us over until the weekend.  At least at my house corned beef, cabbage, soda bread, and family will be in abundance come Saturday.

--

We open on Darkseid and Desaad curiously observing a large conglomeration of superheroes.  They appear to be gathering for reasons other than battle.  What event could be so significant as to pull nearly the entirety of DC's metahuman community together?  Well, today is the opening of Guy Gardner's WARRIOR'S.  Part bar, part Planet Hollywood, Warrior's features tons of superhero ephemera to peruse and enjoy while you dine and drink.

We watch as Guy interacts with just about all of the movers and shakers of the DC Universe at the time.  No pun intended, this issue really is a "Who's Who?" of the DC Universe circa-1995.  One interaction of note concerns Aquaman.  This is shortly after Aquaman loses his hand... Gardner approaches, and Arthur fully expects a snide comment about his new hook-hand.  Instead Gardner gives a snarky comment about the length of Aquaman's hair.  Too funny.

A (very convincing...) impostor in a Superman outfit gets evicted by the real steel deal.

This opening is receiving television news coverage, so we become privy to the thoughts of those watching from afar, including a collection of super villains currently locked up in Blackgate Prison (a handy note informs us that at this time Arkham Asylum was destroyed).

In a tiny panel, we observe that Zatanna and the then-Vertigo imprint only John Constantine are present.

The Blood Pack introduce themselves.  They appear to be a team consisting of the new characters introduced in the Bloodlines crossover... and Jade?

Look out, Dylan McKay!

Current (at at the time, final) Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner meets up with former-GL Arisia (who may at this time be part of Guy's side-cast).  They discuss the recent happenings regarding Hal Jordan.  Kyle apologizes thinking he may have killed Hal.

Captain Atom shows up... don't dig Nate with the longer hair.  Doesn't feel right to me.  As he is settling in, Guy... in full Vuldarian Warrior form, lands a blow that sends Atom flying.  Guy blames the Captain for what has happened to his former squeeze, Ice.  She had apparently died at the hands of the Overmaster in a recent Justice League story line.

Donna Troy (now a Darkstar) has a brief confrontation with Artemis, who is the current Wonder Woman.  Just as the discussion gets heated, the entire party gets interrupted by...

The main man, Lobo.

Guy and Lobo begin brawling, inciting the entire establishment into a riot.  As the brouhaha continues, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis arrive on the scene, perhaps to scope out the competition to their own Planet Hollywood venture.  They decide discretion is most definitely the better part of valor, and vamoose.

Later on, we find that Lobo has passed out.  He had apparently finished off every drop of beer in the bar.  Gardner himself is conspicuous by his absence.  Arisia and Veronna head up to Guy's office to check on him.  The blast open the door, and find a potentially un-well Warrior... and we are [to be continued...]

--

This issue proved to be one of the more difficult to synopsize/spoil.  So many guest stars... and just so much going on.  If I'm honest, DC Comics really weren't my thing in the mid-nineties... so many of these characters (and/or their current circumstances) are somewhat unfamiliar to me.  I also don't have a large Guy Gardner(: Warrior) collection, so the main cast is rather foreign to me as well.

This was an extremely fun romp through mid-nineties DC Comics.  It's incredible that they were able to pull such an issue off.  I highly doubt anything like this could be done today.  For the near ubiquity of cross overs and guest shots in contemporary comics, a story such as this is still a wonderful novelty.

The first Beau Smith I'd read was actually not in comics, but in a column he kept in one of the Two-Morrows Publishing's "How-To" magazines... either Sketch, or Write Now!  His real-man persona is quite engaging, and he is one of the writers whose work I actively seek out if I come across it in the bins.  This issue was very well written, all that appeared felt very much in character... and they all seemed as though they were having fun.  Fun was a precious commodity during this vintage, I am glad that a book like this existed back then (wish we had more like it now).

Phil Jimenez is at his George Perez best here.  I would have sworn some of these pages/characters were actually drawn by Perez in this issue... Donna Troy, especially.

Highly recommended.  This issue has not yet to my knowledge been collected, and is unfortunately absent on DC's Digital Comics site.  So, this will be a single-issue only experience.  I have come across it several times in the wild.  Should not be terribly difficult to procure, if you are so inclined... and it won't set you back much.  Read this one as you down your next green beer.  Now, what say you, Guy?

Umm... Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all!

--

The version I own features the gatefold cover.  When we open the fold we are treated to a view of the inside from over Superman's (or his swarthy mustachioed doppelganger's) shoulder.

The standard edition features perhaps an even better image.  It is an homage to Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks.

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Interesting Ads:

I have absolutely no recollection of this...

$15 for a year's worth... yes, please!

In an era where I'm surprised when books make it to issue #25...

... seeing those about to hit #100 is somewhat bittersweet.