Christmas Flashback: JLA celebrated in 2001

COMIC BOOK, COMICS: Santa Claus, along with the Justice League, faces off against the evil Neron in "JLA" No. 60.

As Christmas nears, today’s post looks back at my 2001 column about DC Comics’ holiday plans 11 years ago.   This column ran in the Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

DC heroes traditionally celebrate holiday season
By Matthew Price
Staff Writer
Published Friday, December 21, 2001

For years, DC’s superheroes have celebrated the Christmas season with comics such as ” Christmas with the Superheroes,” “Superstar Holiday Special,” and “DCU Holiday Bash.” And often, when superheroes meet Santa Claus, wackiness ensues.

This year, in issue No. 60 of the “JLA,” the Justice League of America teams with Santa Claus to stop a deadly menace.

And, in the “DC Universe Christmas” compilation, readers can relive Christmas memories from the Golden Age of comics to recent years with 17 classic holiday stories.

In “JLA” No. 60, Plastic Man tells his partner’s nephew about Santa Claus being elected to the Justice League.

“JLA” No. 60 is written by Mark Waid and is the final issue of his run on the best-selling title. Waid will begin writing “Fantastic Four” in February and continues to write the detective series “Ruse” for CrossGen Comics. Art is by Cliff Rathburn and Paul Neary.

“DC Universe Christmas” leads off with a story written by Denny O’Neil, the longtime editor of the Batman line of comics, and drawn by Frank Miller, the best-selling writer-artist of “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” and the recent “Dark Knight Strikes Again,” the first issue of which is on sale. In their contribution, “Wanted: Santa Claus – Dead or Alive!,” first presented in “Super-Star Holiday Special (DC Special Series)” No. 21 from the 1979 Christmas season, an ex-convict changes his stripes after playing Santa Claus in a department store and gets a new perspective on life.