My Week In Comics 12-22-10

After last week's stunning win, many Eagles fans had visions of finishing at least second in the NFC, if not first overall, dancing in their heads. All they needed was for Chicago to lose a game and New Orleans to lose a game and Atlanta to lose two games and...and...and then they went and lost tonight at home to a very poor Minnesota team, meaning the Eagles get no bye week to start the postseason and are likely to hit the road if they win their first playoff game. What does all of this have to do with my comic books? Mainly it's a way for me to vent a little about a pathetic performance without writing a separate screed. But it gives me a segue in that I think the fans' greed in wanting to believe this team is a serious Super Bowl contender is matched only by the star of the first book I'm discussing this week...

Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special 1 (of 1): I knew this would be ridiculous from the moment I first read it was coming. If you remember back to the Blackest Night stories, Larfleeze is the Orange Lantern, with orange being the color of avarice. So it's in his nature to want, well, everything. And he's learned of the existence of a magical man who gives the people of Earth whatever they ask for once a year. Naturally, Larfleeze has a looooooooooong list for Santa Claus. Hmmmm...I just had an idea: in the ultimate battle of greed, we need a Larfleeze-Daffy Duck crossover...

Batman, Incorporated 2: This series is off to a fun start. Bruce Wayne's development of "Batman, Inc." finds him (along with Catwoman) in Tokyo, where he wants to recruit the Japanese hero known as Mr. Unknown. But Mr. Unknown has been killed by a criminal called Lord Death Man, who somehow is unable to be killed. There's a mixture of action-adventure and humor that makes for a fast-paced story.

Superman/Batman 79: Meanwhile, here's a book I skipped a month ago, and now it begins a story arc featuring the Superman and Batman of the 853rd century (as featured some time back in the DC One Million event -- one million as in one million issues of DC books, not one million years). But a villain from that distant future escapes their grasp and travels back to a time in the past when Dick Grayson was still Robin and calling himself "The Teen Wonder." So this series continues to be just a place to tell stories from any era, rarely connected to current events in DC continuity. I'm feeling it's not an essential book for me to buy on a regular basis any more.