Review: Batman-Santa Claus: Silent Knight trade paperback

As I write this review of Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight, there’s already a sequel on the stands, and indeed I can’t imagine why DC wouldn’t want a whole library of these — a trilogy, at least, and followed inevitably by deluxe editions and omnibuses and Absolutes. Enjoyable as this book is, if I might abandon the holiday spirit for a moment, it must surely be for DC like printing money.

Joining the recent trend of “Santa warrior” fiction, writer Jeff Parker brilliantly toes the line between a story wholesome enough for Christmas fare and serious enough to rise above the standard holiday anthologies (catch a reference to Knight Terrors, for gosh sakes!). Though I’m well into reading Dawn of DC titles, I haven’t actually read that much of Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest — but even I can recognize the distinct “World’s Finest-ification” in play in this book, from main artist Michele Bandini’s Mora-esque artwork to Parker’s story, where there’s still a threat to fight but all the heroes get along.

Subversive and sincere, mythological and mainstream, Silent Knight is a lot of fun.

[Review contains spoilers]

From the jump we’ve got a variant cover by Derrick Chew in which Zatanna sits on Santa’s lap while Santa sweats suggestively, and then an opening scene in which the Gotham carolers have to reluctantly sing one more tune at the insistence of Todd (oh, Todd) — and get massacred by bat-creatures. There’s nary a humbug in this book, but at the same time, Parker shows, neither is this book’s Christmastime going to be all sleigh bells and sugar plums.

[See the latest DC trade solicitations.]

Parker’s Santa is not wholly the blood-soaked figure depicted elsewhere; whether it’s taste or IP or coincidence, we only see Santa impale one bat-creature from off-screen, and then Santa is mostly guiding events from the background or landing some chaste two-fisted blows. Though not the jolly old man, Parker’s Santa is far from unlovable, and a running schtick is that every time he meets a hero, he speaks their childhood address.

This is Batman–Santa Claus because DC knows from where their fortunes come and here even Santa loses top billing to the Dark Knight, despite that the story quickly spreads beyond the Bat-family. (DC Universe villains are absent; the sequel, Silent Knight Returns!, seems to largely trade on esoteric DCU heroes, but surely there’s another story that sees Santa with or against the Legion of Doom.) Parker and Bandini have a to-the-minute Robin Damian Wayne and Batgirl Barbara Gordon, plus Renee Montoya as Gotham police commissioner and that Knight Terrors reference, though I also noted some times of the creative team doing their own thing — Jo Mullein (a great Green Lantern but not the most recognizable one you’d expect for this project), a slightly off-model Green Arrow, and most strangely Miss Martian instead of J’onn J’onzz himself.

But that is to say, though I’ve long since stopped ducking into a comics shop just to get a loosely connected DCU Holiday Bash, a “Claus in canon” story (as the book says) is precisely tied-in enough for me to recognize, and general enough for a new fan, for DC to get both of our hard-earned dollars for it. I ought not say more, else DC parlays this successful formula into even more incidental miniseries for me to buy.

Main art again is by Bandini, channeling DC house style with some extra animation, like Mora or Ed McGuinness. DCeased’s Trevor Hairsine fits when it comes to flashbacks to Santa’s past, even if characters get off-model (Robin the same height as Batgirl). I did wish we’d had Bandini the whole time though, as Hairsine draws more of the present story in the third chapter and then Danny Kim and Stephen Segovia arrive in the last. It'd be nice if DC would consistently list which artists are doing which pages in the credits; some pages feel melodramatic (possessed Superman with the rictus grin) and others are passable, but still none quite approach Bandini (hopefully Lucas Ketner can do the entirety of Returns!).

I’m not enough of a scholar to know if Jeff Parker’s intimation in Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight that Santa can hear children’s wishes through a Christmas tree is original or not, but I thought it was a lovely sentiment. Also Parker finding in Santa the attributes of DC’s Big Three — driven like Batman, hopeful like Wonder Woman, giving like Superman. And further, again, keeping with this book’s give-and-take, it seems also that Santa’s not really the gift-giver any more; he’s too old to keep up and leaves it to the parents, though he still takes a hand now and then. Tied-in, not too treacly — seems to me DC’s got something here as evergreen as a … well, you know.

[Includes original and variant covers]

Rating 3.0