Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns #1 – Jeff Parker, Writer; Lukas Ketner, Artist; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight was one of the biggest surprises out of DC last year – a weekly minseries that reinvented Santa Claus as a magical badass and pitted him and the DC cast of heroes against a twisted but tragic version of Krampus. Now, the Jolly Old Elf is back – to face an even bigger threat. This issue opens more like a horror movie, with a mysterious magical suit of empty armor attacking people with a sword, leaving them as shriveled husks. The Justice League (or rather an odd collection of heroes including Mera, Nubia, and Irey West) shows up to fight him, but quickly finds themselves overwhelmed by the ancient villain. Superman and Nubia find themselves marked by his sword, cursed if not dead like the rest of his victims. Thunderheart (Irey’s new codename) tries to speed Damian away, but ultimately gets caught and sacrifices herself to give him the chance to escape.
And he chooses to go directly to the only person who might know what they’re dealing with – Zatanna. The mage is a close ally of Batman’s, but even she hasn’t encountered this creature before. But it turns out someone else has – Santa, who is summoned through Zatanna’s Christmas tree and has no delusions about how dangerous this creature is. This version of Santa is a lot of fun – having the warrior’s edge of David Harbour’s Santa from Violent Night, but with a much more classic heroic edge. We don’t see all that much of him this issue, but it seems like he and Damian are going to be taking the lead this time. That’s because the heroes are…indisposed, in a place that feels way too dark for a DC Christmas comic. That’s not a criticism, though – this book’s embrace of old-school Nordic horror-influenced mythology was a big part of the first book’s success, and this looks to embrace that same energy.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
