Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Today (the 23rd,) was actually Festivus, so I hope you all aired your grievances and competed in Feats of Strength.

Now that you've pinned your relatives and won glory by climbing the Festivus Pole, it's time to usher in Christmastime.  Justice League Style.

Here's a nice little bit of Christmas cheer courtesy of the Justice League and featuring CMMH! favorite, the Martian Manhunter.  Sit back and grab a cup of hot chocolate and relax.

Anyone else slightly amused that no one cares that Batman spends Christmas alone?

Custom Green Lantern iPad by Jim Lee

Despite being a diehard Apple fan since before the days of Macintosh, I really can't see the point in owning an iPad.

But this particular iPad would be awesome to own!

How'd you like Hal Jordan on the back of your iPad?  Wow, that sounded somehow not right.  Jim Lee did a series of iPads (including some Batman ones) which were given away to lucky fans at New York Comic-Con.

Just a few reviews

Okay, so I'm a little behind in my comics-reading.  There doesn't seem to be anything really exiting me lately in the comics world.

I did have a chance to read Booster Gold #39 on the weekend.  When Giffen and DeMatteis took over from Dan Jurgens, I was a little thrown off by the change in tone.  Jurgens did a nice job continuing the groundwork laid down by Geoff Johns, and G&D took a few steps back.  The stories got ridiculously silly and even violated a few of the intricate time travel "rules."  Being a fan of the JLI years, it hurts to not like something written by Giffen and DeMatteis 100%.  But this month's issue jettisoned the silliness for the serious side of the Booster Gold/Blue Beetle dynamic.  I'm hoping they continue along the lines.  The downside is, that this month's story seemed like an effort to hammer the final nail in Ted Kord's possibly-but-never-to-be-resurrected coffin.

That, and I read the Batman Annual.  I must have subscribed to it a year ago, and forgot to drop my subscription, so finding it in the mail was a bit of a surprise.  And what, may I ask, is going on in the Bat-universe?  I finally dropped my last tie to the Bat-world, Streets of Gotham, a few months ago, and now I have no idea what's going on.  I had a vague notion about Batman Incorporated, but apparently the government of France has signed a deal with them.  And not only that, but Bruce Wayne himself approaches the French prime minister and acts like...well, Batman.  What happened to playing the foppish playboy to derail any theories identifying him at the Batman?  If Bruce Wayne swoops into your country, finances Batman, Inc., and throws all sorts of technical jargon around and acts and speaks like the World's Greatest Detective, isn't that all a little too obvious?  *sigh*

Ah, well, I'm hoping some good comics will come my way soon.

1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Fire Character Card front

Eep!

That week went by fast!  I've been preoccupied with non-comicsy things lately, and kind of got out of my little comic blogging routine, and before I knew it, the week was over.

Anyway, I know Chanukah and Mayfairstivus are over, but the menorah is still lit in the town center (last time I drove past anyway), so I'm using that as my excuse to post what cards I have left.  (Or maybe I should save them for next year?)

Here's Beatriz DaCosta's card:

Bea looks like she's feeling a combination of boredom and annoyance, so I can only guess she's on monitor duty and Guy Gardner said something idiotic to her at the same time.  It looks like G'nort grabbed a bottle of blonde dye at the A&P instead of green by mistake, so that's why we're not seeing Bea in her usual acid green tresses.  She also decided to mix things up with an orange cami under her jacket.  I guess even superheroines get tired of wearing the same thing every day.  (Just ask Wonder Woman!)

Let's look at Bea's stats:

Being a second- (or maybe even third) stringer, Bea's stats are expectedly on the lower side.  What will be fun to do is compare her stats to her friend Ice, becuase I always assumed their powers were more or less equal in intensity.  I don't know if that's how it really is in "real" life, but I'd like to think that best friends have an equal chance to save each other in battle.  It just seems right to me.

Let it also be noted that Bea is one of the chosen few heroes (along with Booster Gold and John Constantine) to be listed as attractive.  Mayfair is pretty selective with who they consider attractive.

Well, sorry to fall off the face of the Earth for a week.  It was a nice trip in orbit, though.

Harley Quinn Pencils by Loston Wallace

I love how word gets around so quickly on the internet!  Over the weekend, Loston Wallace, who drew the sketch I featured the other day, sent me a note of thanks along with some hi-res scans of his Harley Quinn art.

I love seeing art before it's been finished, either inked or pencilled, becuase I feel as though it's a window to the artist's process.  Stare as I might at pencilled or inked comic art, though, and I think maybe I'll learn through osmosis how to draw like that.

Loston says he used a B pencil on Bristol board (a thicker, smoother kind of paper) to draw this sketch, which was later finished and colored in Photoshop.  I love how clean the lines are.  I'm a sucker for some nice line weights, what can I say?  If you'd like to see more of Loston's art, you can check out his website or his DeviantArt page.

Characters!

Since this blog isn't character-centric, I thought I'd list the characters you'll see appearing on this blog.  Just so you have a little heads up.  Also, I needed another tab up there besides my Pull List, and I'm having fun with Blogger's tab feature.

So here's my favorite characters, in no particular order:

• Martian Manhunter
• Two-Face
• Booster Gold
• Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)
• Adam Strange
• Hal Jordan and other Green Lanterns (yes, even Guy Gardner)
• Batman
• Harley Quinn
• The Phantom Stranger
• Fire and Ice
• Just about any other Justice League International character
• The Atom
• Just about any Bat-villain
• Rip Hunter
• The Flash (Barry Allen)
• Huntress
• The Metal Men and Dr. Magnus
• The Rocketeer (okay, I know, not DC, but still)
• Vril Dox
• Magnus, Robot Fighter (also not DC)
• The Spirit

Okay, I lied.  They're definitely in some kind of order.

1989 Mayfair RPG Game Card: Batman

I was poking fun at Batman in my post from last night, and Frank took that as a sign that Batman was destined to be covered on this blog.  I am a pretty big Bat-fan, after all.

First off, a shoutout needs to go to Tom Hartley, who sold Frank his Mayfair RPG card set for a very fair price, I'm told.  I didn't get to thank either of them yesterday for their part in this.  So thanks, guys!

Now let's take a look at the Batman card:

Batman looks pretty spiffy in his blue-and-gray Batsuit.  I hadn't realized until recently that Golden Age Batman wore gray and black and that the blue was (correct me if I'm wrong, folks) a Silver Age addition.  Though modern Batman runs around in gray and black today, kids Batman still sports the blue and gray.  I guess gray is too boring to children.  (Can you tell I'm looking through toy catalogs for my nephews?)

Let's take a look at Bruce's stats, shall we?

Never one to miss a stray detail, DC made sure Bruce's stats reflect even his most eccentric hobbies, like his stint in Gotham Community Theater when he once danced Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream.  You don't get an Actor stat of 8 without a little greasepaint.  The folks at Mayfair also made sure to factor in Bruce's time spent as a juvenile deliquent immediately following the death of his parents by giving him a Thief stat of 10.  Yes, he swore to avenge them, but not without keying a few Studebakers, hassling a few soda jerks and knocking off a Walgreen's here and there.  What, you think a rich, privaleged, well-balanced guy like Bruce Wayne doesn't commit crimes and act like a jerk in his spare time?  Oh, the evidence is here, my friends, and it is hilarious.

Let it also be noted that the Bat Rope (TM) is only the length of 4 A&P stores put end-to-end, and that could be a drawback when chasing Man Bat up Wayne Towers, which is about 6 A&P's in height.  I guess that's where an Advantage like having Superman (TM) as your personal peon comes in handy.

And, like I predicted yesterday, Bruce Wayne's Wealth stat is indeed 5,000,000.  That means he'll win any battle, becuase money always trumps intelligence, brawn, and sheer brute strength in any fight.  Don't you remember that part in Final Crisis where Batman dropped a couple hundred Ben Franklins in front of Darkseid and said, "Dance big man, dance!" and then Darkseid sent Bruce on a lovely little vacation back in time to show his appreciation?

That's also the reason why Darkseid is such a pimp.

Want more Mayfairstivus coverage?  Want to air your grievances?  Go ahead and shout at random people on the street, and then check out these sites:

The Anti-Didio League of America

The Aquaman Shrine

Booster Gold: BOO$TERRIFIC
The Continuity Blog

DC Bloodlines

Diana Prince as The New Wonder Woman
Doom Patrol: My Greatest Adventure #80
Firestorm Fan
Flash: Speed Force
Girls Gone Geek
Green Lantern Corps: The Indigo Tribe
Hawkman: Being Carter Hall 

Justice League Detroit
Martian Manhunter vs. The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Once Upon A Geek
Power of the Atom
Subject: Suicide Squad [Task Force X]
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary 

1989 Mayfair RPG Game Card: The Question

Welcome to Comics Make Me Happy!'s small and meek contribution to the Mayfairstivus, the blogosphere/RPG card enthusiast/comic book fan's answer to Festivus.  I shall now perform Feats of Strength, and then Air My Grievances.  Wait, I do that last one enough as it is.

I am in no way qualified to comment on this RPG game, as I've only played an RPG game once in my entire life.  I have pretty fond memories of sitting down during my best friend's weekend-long high school graudation celebration and playing a Star Wars Episode I Phantom Menace RPG card game with her boyfriend, and any attempts to play RPG games since have ended with myself or one other person swearing at a game manual and yelling at each other.  Really, it doesn't work for me unless there's an experienced player around who can explain the rules.  But I did like making the little spaceships that went along with a recent Star Wars trading card/miniatures game.

Anywho.

Let's file this RPG game under the category of "Awesome Things I Missed Out On When They Came Out," along with The Goonies and The Breakfast Club.

The front of the card shows the original Question, Vic Sage, looking pretty spiffy and all 80's, fresh from his Denny O'Neil run.  Too bad you're dead, Vic, or you'd be happy to know shoulder pads are making a comeback.  I'm not really sure if those awesome elevated shoes would be a success today or not, though.

The back of the card shows his stats.  Having non-powered humans characters in a game with somebody like Darkseid always makes me smirk.  It's pretty indulgent to think even Batman could take on, oh, I don't know, Sinestro.  I don't know what Batman's stats are, but here are Vic's:

These stats are chock-full of suprises.  Like Nike (TM), Hub City (TM) has become a valuable intellectual property, along with Charles Victor Szasz (TM), and I had to pay DC fifty cents just to write this sentence.  Vic ranks a 9 in willpower, and I'm assuming that's a scale of 10, so that means Vic would make an awesome Green Lantern.  Green Lantern Question: oh yeah.  Someone please draw me that fan art for me, will you?

I also never knew having a Secret Identity could be a drawback.  I kind of thought that would be an advantage, but what the heck do I know?  Vic is lacking some initiative, which I'm sure the nuns at the orphanage told him on a daily basis, and apparently all those martial art sparring sessions with Lady Shiva didn't do a bit of good, becuase that Strength stat is still suck at 4.  Too bad whoever came up with these stats didn't count all the Zen teaching and Eastern philosophy towards the Spirit, Mind, and Aura stats, otherwise Vic would be off the charts.

He's also got a Wealth rating of 5.  I'd like to know how wealth plays a part in this game.  Can you buy off Doomsday if you have enough in your bank account?

Check out other blogs participating in the Mayfair RPG Festivus Crossover:

The Anti-Didio League of America
The Aquaman Shrine
Booster Gold: BOO$TERRIFIC
The Continuity Blog
DC Bloodlines
Diana Prince as The New Wonder Woman
Doom Patrol: My Greatest Adventure #80
Firestorm Fan
Flash: Speed Force
Girls Gone Geek
Green Lantern Corps: The Indigo Tribe
Hawkman: Being Carter Hall 
Justice League Detroit
Martian Manhunter vs. The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Once Upon A Geek
Power of the Atom
Subject: Suicide Squad [Task Force X]
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary