***THIS REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE NERD BLITZ PATREON***
For the holiday season this year I thought I’d dive back into my Marvel Holiday Special Magazines from 2009 and 2010.
See if I could dig up some quality stories that are appropriate for the season as well as worth recommending.
Now the description for this short 8-pager says it’s about the pride of Yancy Street, the ever lovin’ blue eyed thing as he celebrates Hanukkah with his best friend.
Which basically tells me nothing about what may happen, so let’s buckle up and find out together, gang.
Be prepared, at just 8 pages this may be the most appropriate ***SPOILER ALERT*** ever!
Art by Nick Dragotta: While, up to this point, I was unfamiliar with Mr. Dragotta, I can say for certain that this is stunning work.
It’s a squishier version of a classic 60s Marvel/Kirby style.
But it’s also a bit more expressive and a wee bit cleaner.
I’m gonna have to hit up the Google machine and see what else this dude has done, cause I love the way this looks.
Story by Stan Lee: Ben gives his teammates a quick lesson in Judaism before he heads to his synagogue.
While Ben is inside, the team deals with some graffiting shitheads outside.
I did say this was a short story, didn’t I?
There’s a lot of beauty in the simplicity of a Stan Lee script.
I don’t care how old I am, I’ve always loved how straightforward and uncomplicated a Stan story is.
Right away you understand that these characters are a family, though I must admit I found it a bit odd that, in all of their years together, this is the first time that the rest of the team asked Ben about Hanukkah and Judaism.
And even if this is a year one story, I’d think Reed would have taken a bit more interest in his best friend’s life and traditions before now.
Reed taking charge and humiliating the assholes tagging outside, rather than just bashing heads, was a nice subtle moment to show his true leadership skills.
Too often Reed is played as an aloof knob, uninterested and unbothered unless it involves some cosmic or grand threat that he can use his superior intellect to solve.
I’ll be honest, more than once I have wondered why Sue stuck with him given all of that.
Not the case here, thankfully, and I appreciate it.
While I wish it would have had a bit more about Jewish traditions and such than just Ben attending Shul and telling the crew Hanukah is spelled many ways (ya know, kinda how Christmas traditions are always foisted upon you at all turns from late November til January), it’s a pretty good quick hit peek at these characters and a little slice of their universe.
I don’t know what the current availability of this story is, gang, but if you can find it, I think it’s worth your time.
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