THE HOLIDAYS AREN'T OVER UNTIL I SAY THEY ARE!
Don't look at your calendar! Don't check your phone-like-computing-device-with-both-still-and-motion-picture-camera! Don't even ask your most trusted friend... I mean a REAL friend not one of those "Insta-Book-Tweet-Gram-Face" type friends!
Once you begin reading anything at this site, you enter a world where (just like the old OUTER LIMITS TV show) *I* control everything you see and hear! ...Okay, maybe just SEE, unless I link to something with sound! And that remains in force until you break the connection, and go read some other Blog... and why would you ever want to do that?
So, when I say THE HOLIDAYS AREN'T OVER UNTIL I SAY THEY ARE! ... Well, THE HOLIDAYS AREN'T OVER UNTIL I SAY THEY ARE! ...Okay? Fine!
We've just celebrated Christmas with DC Comics' THE THREE MOUSEKETEERS in THIS POST...
...Now, we celebrate Chanukah with Batman and Ragman in this wonderful issue!
This comic is based on the superb animated series BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, which we posted about HERE, HERE, and HERE to cite just a few! The comic, especially when in the very capable hands of writer Sholly Fisch - who masterminded such issues of SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP like THIS - was easily the show's equal! Here's just one reason why...
The animated series would open on a teaser of Batman teaming-up with another DC hero, before moving into the "main story". It would also pull the most obscure characters out of DC Comics lore for these team-ups. So imagine my sheer joy, when I opened the issue - and, on page one saw THIS!
YESSS! It's CRAZY QUILT! CRAZY QUILT, whom I first encountered in this comic! (...And have rarely, if ever, seen since!)
DETECTIVE COMICS # 535 (Cover Date: February, 1984)
And he's brought Doctor Spectro (from Captain Atom) and Rainbow Raider (from The Flash) with him... to... to... um... hold Gotham City for ransom... or they'll turn all the snow from white to pastel colors... so, so... um... Gotham will never have another "White Christmas"? (At right: Crazy Quilt in animation!) 
Batman finishes-off this color-centric crime cartel so quickly that there isn't even anything for Blue Beetle to do... but watch the opening title/theme sequence, that would occur here, if this were the show instead of a comic!
Then, after the team-up-teaser and theme, we would get to the main story...
"Small Miracles" 20 pages. Written by Sholly Fisch, Pencils by Rick Burchett, and Inks by Dan Davis. (Click to enlarge any and all images!)
A rabbi from a poor section of Gotham tries to pawn his heirloom watch to help raise funds for the community's Chanukah celebration. The pawn shop proprietor is Rory Regan, who operates as the street-level hero known as "Ragman".
We learn a little of Rory Regan's background before the conversation is cut short by a call for help, prompting Rory to take action as Ragman.
As the robber is taken away, Batman shows up - as silently and mysteriously as ever. You know he's probably been watching the whole thing.
And he gets quite the earful from Ragman!
WOW! Anyone else thinking Denny O' Neil and Neal Adams' GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW right now?
Very well done by Sholly Fisch, especially in the context of "a children's comic book" (quotes quite intentional)! ...But, I was interrupting a great exchange between Ragman and Batman...
And, for those of us playing "Six Degrees of Scooby-Doo", there are even greedy land developers praying on this forgotten sector of Gotham...
...With a business name that would add Alfred Hitchcock to those "Six Degrees of Scooby-Doo"...
...If this comic didn't do it first!
...But, enough of that!
You can almost feel those words sting Bruce Wayne, from inside his bat-suit! But, before he can reply...
Since we don't so spoilers, now is usually the time we leave you on a cliffhanger - and urge you to buy the book if you don't have it, or re-read it if you do!
But in this case, we'll skip slightly ahead and present this wonderful sequence that begins with Ragman asking the rabbi why he stays in this community...
The rabbi goes on to call Ragman a "miracle"...
I was so impressed with this issue that I asked Esther to read it! She is not a comics fan (...but I love everything else about her), and she barely reads my own stuff - so, for me to do this is an indication of just how moved I was!
She, too, was very impressed. And she doesn't impress as easily as I do - not by a long-shot!
So, here's to Sholly Fisch - and Rick Burchett, and Dan Davis (though, as a writer, I tend to "weight things" in that direction first - sorry, artists) for a superb holiday effort that entertains AND teaches (...or reinforces that which we should already know)!
BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (Second Series) # 14 should be available wherever fine back-issue comics are sold.
You still have time to get a copy and read it (...or re-read it again and again) because...
THE HOLIDAYS AREN'T OVER UNTIL I SAY THEY ARE!
BONUS GCD LINK: I may start a new TIAH tradition with this! As a bonus, I'll provide a link for the issue being discussed or reviewed to its index at Grand Comics Database!
I didn't write this one, but it nicely sums things up in significantly fewer words than I would! Go to it HERE!
And, since THE HOLIDAYS AREN'T OVER UNTIL I SAY THEY ARE, expect at least one more looong holiday-themed comics review to come - even if it comes early in the new year!
8 comments:
In that panel where the Rabbi suggests Rory should take down the Menorah to light it for Khannukah? It's not a Khannukkah Menorah. If Rory's gonna light candles he should get a legitimate Khannukah Menorah.
Happy Holidays.
Marc:
I checked with Esther… and you are correct!
My guess is that the artist may not have been Jewish, and/or used improper photo reference.
And Happy Holidays back to you and the family!
Hey, it's only the 5th Day of Christmas! (Cue Miss Piggy!) Not only is it still "the holidays" (which most Americans would allow, since it's not yet New Year's), it's actually still Christmas! Keep those holiday posts coming....
Elaine:
I foresee them coming into the new year! After all, as you know, there’s at least one more comic that’s on my “Nice List”!
OK, more on-topic, now that I have a few minutes... I'm not surprised that Sholly Fisch here demonstrates that he actually knows what he's talking about when he tells us the meaning of Hanukkah...because I have observed from a couple of Looney Tunes stories he wrote that he definitely knows his (Hebrew) Bible! My two favorite Looney Tunes stories that do not include Marvin the Martian are Sholly Fisch's "Pepé and Delilah," the story of Samson and Delilah with the part of Samson played by Pepé Le Pew!!, and "Noah Place for a Duck," with Porky Pig as Noah and Daffy Duck as a disgruntled passenger expecting a cruise ship (that one ends in surreal silliness). If the issues of Looney Tunes are indexed on GCD, maybe I should scroll through the GCD and see whether he wrote any other biblical parody stories! I just happened on these two by good luck.
Elaine:
“Happening” on just about ANY story by Sholly Fisch would be good luck, as is documented throughout this Blog.
I’d say your best bet in this regard WOULD be GCD!
Search on Looney Tunes DC, or Sholly Fisch as writer. You should get what you’re looking for. Let us know what you find.
Fantastic story, with a deep and powerful message we don't hear often enough. Who doesn't feel like Ragman from time to time? This story would make a phenomenal Hanukkah TV special... it would be an instant classic. In my eyes, it cements Sholly Fisch's place as one of the great comics writers working today.
“Fantastic” indeed, Sergio! “Fantastic” indeed!
In my view (and particularly to my own sensibilities) Sholly Fisch is the best writer working in comics today. His were the ONLY comics I enjoyed reading MORE than the IDW Disney Comics at their (more-or-less-universally-agreed-upon) height, when “Our Team” was involved with the editorial process and translation and dialogue assignments.
A magnificent TV special, it certainly would be. Though, by now, I’ve read a number of Fisch’s issues of BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, and can say that ANY ONE of them would have made great episodes of the TV series.
…And one of them ACTUALLY DID! See HERE! Such excellent use of the characters!
And, if at all possible, read his five-issue MIGHTY MOUSE series SEEN HERE! Click on the individual issue numbers in GREEN for issue details. Amazing stuff.
…Hope he’s not reading this! I’m probably embarrassing him! :-)
But there aren’t enough comic book writers who can do the sort of things he does… Or, perhaps, there aren’t enough of the type of comic books (with committed publishers) out there to allow them to proliferate! You decide!
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