DC Nuclear Winter Special #1: Happy Holidays!

Rip Hunter: Time Master in “The Nuclear Winter Special”; Mark Russell- Writer; Mike Norton- Artist; HI-FI- Colors; Deron Bennett- Letters

Rip Hunter has to entertain a crowd of Silicon Valley cannibals while his time sphere charges. Pretty funny and clever compared to the otherwise generally pretty dark material. 8/10

Batman 666 in “Warmth”; Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing- writers; Giuseppe Camuncoli- pencils; Cam Smith- inks; Romulo Fajardo Jr- colors; Clayton Cowles- letters

A bleak future has Damian Wayne spending Christmas with his maternal grandfather, Ra’s al Ghul! I loved what this story did to expand the small universe shown in Batman 666 even if it didn’t necessarily make sense in context of that issue. On the bright side we did discover the nature of Batman’s death in that reality. Not bad. 8/10

3. Superman One Million in “Memory Hearth”; Steve Orlando- writer; Brad Walker- pencils; Drew Hennessy- inks; Nathan Fairbairn- colors; Clayton Cowles- letters

Superman One Million brings J’onn J’onzz a taste of home with a celebration of Martian holiday Memory Hearth. This one was a bit weirdly paced but all in all not terrible but hardly mind blowing. 6/10

The Flash in “Once and Future”- Jeff Loveness- writer; Christian Duce- art; Luis Guerrero- colors; Tom Napolitano- Letters

Flash has been sucked into the speed force, again, rather than fight to get back as he did all those years ago, he learns to let go and embrace the future. A bit of a weird story, as it feels really derivative but still manages to tug the heartstrings. Loved the art as well. 8/10

Supergirl in “Last Daughters”; Tom Taylor- writer; Tom Derenick- breakdowns; Yasmine Putri- line art and colors; Deron Bennett- letters

A woman and a young girl walk a desolate wasteland in search of the life giving sun, seeking the highest ground they can, they find it. This story legitimately made me tear up in a way Tom Taylor’s stories often do at the end, with a phenomenal parallel to Superman’s origin. The art was also head and shoulders above anything else in this issue. 9/10

Aquaman in “Where the Light Cannot Reach”; Mairghread Scott- writer; Deter Soy- art; Veronica Gandini- colors; Steve Wands- letters

Aquaman is the last hope to find an algae that can clear radiation deep under the irradiated sea. This story was shockingly excellent on all counts. I loved the art and thought the story was brilliant. 9/10

Firestorm in “Last Christmas”; Paul Dini- writer; Jerry Ordway- art; Dave McCaig- colors; Dave Sharpe- letters

Firestorm finds himself performing a mercy killing against his will, or does he? The decrepit Nuclear Family actually made me smile especially the way they froze in typically Rockwellian fashion. A pretty good story, not nearly enough firestorm these days. 8/10

Kamandi in “Northern Lights”; Phil Hester- writer and pencils; Ande Parks- inks; Trish Mulvihill- colors; Steve Wands- letters

Kamandi takes to the great white north and befriends a young bear while simultaneously infuriating another. This tale was actually kind of an interesting take on the nature of prophecy, which is open to interpretation. In this case a prophecy that applies to the last boy on earth also applies to this young bear. I’ve often said that Phil Hester is on the wrong book when on books like Batman Beyond, clearly his style is cut out for Kamandi, it’s perfect. 9/10

Catwoman in “Nine Lives”; Cecil Castellucci- writer; Amancay Nahuelpan- art; Brian Buccellato- colors; Josh Reed- letters

Catwoman finds herself stealing something a lot more valuable than jewels on Christmas. I didn’t care for this story much, really telegraphed and frankly not super interesting. Art was good. 6/10

Green Arrow in “The Birds of Christmas Past, Present, and Future”; Dave Wielgosz- writer; Scott Kolins- art; John Kalisz- colors; Tom Napolitano- letters

Green Arrow meets up with his pretty bird once again at a Justice League christmas party years in the future. This story was amazingly sweet and still managed to nail the voices and relationships of several Justice League members that are often poorly represented. 8/10