Gifts of Art

Think About a Comic for The Holidays

By Roz Young
December 2, 2013

When December rolls around, one of the biggest sources of stress and joy is the gifting part of the holiday season. All year we give birthday, anniversary, wedding, baby, thank-you, and I'm sorry presents. They are supposed to remind the people closest to us how much we appreciate and love them. But somehow, the expectations of the holiday season can make the simple act of gifting feel hollow. The cynical Scrooge in all of us watches the Halloween decorations come down November 1st and curses the holly and poinsettias that replace them. Shopping centres fill with hordes of mindless mombies and dad-bots searching for this year's special toy. It's easy to be overwhelmed by the mandatory festive cheer this month. So, let's get back to the basics of giving, whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa or just the wonderful people in your life this December.

I love finding the prefect present for a friend or family member. Sometimes I like to make or buy gifts for people for no particular reason, just because I'm thinking about them. When someone thinks about me and gifts me a comic, it's special. Comics and graphic novels are distinctive gifts. I like bringing new stories to people, and comics can be as unique as the person you're shopping for.

I gifted Batman: Long Halloween as the first comic present for someone a few years ago. It opened a flood gate. Now he reads more comics than I do. My latest comic present for him was The Manhattan Projects. My fondest memories receiving comics are probably when Ranma ½ came in the mail from a pen pal and my first Sailor Moon comic arrived from another pen pal in Japan. It's amazing that we can share our love for these stories and the creative way they're told, with people all over the world.

I asked some of the Sequential Tarts to reminisce about their stories giving and receiving comics.

Katie Frank, Staff Writer

I've gotten a lot of comics as gifts -- most of my friends and family know that I'm into them, and the giver doesn't have to worry about whether or not a book will fit you! One of the more memorable comics gifts I got was one of the original Mixx-released Sailor Moon graphic novels, which my mom gave me when I was maybe ten or eleven. Part of why it's so memorable is that it was the first comic my parents had ever bought me without me asking -- I felt like they were really starting to "get" the things that I was into. The other reason it sticks with me so much is because she gave it to me in order to distract me from a vaccination I was getting at the doctor's office! I absolutely hated shots as a kid, and would proceed to scream and cry and do crazy things to avoid getting poked. When my mom pulled Sailor Moon out of her purse and told me if I behaved and didn't cry I could have it, I clammed up pretty quickly! Since then, I haven't been particularly terrified about shots or blood draws, which I think I can credit to my mom's comics strategy.

Suzette Chan, Features Editrix

When I give comics as gifts, I tend to choose anthologies, mostly because it's easier to find one that a specific friend would not have, and also because they're usually packaged in a lovely, gift-ready fashion.

However, as a recipient of anthologies as gifts, I recognize another value: they recontextualize comics. I found that even if I've read most or all of the comics in an anthology, presenting them in a single volume invites me to view the comics differently.

Such was the case with The Black Canary Archive Edition, Volume 1 (published in the year 2000; sadly, there hasn't been a second volume).

I had read most of the stories as back-up features in the various giant-sized issues that DC Comics was publishing when I was a kid. To me, Black Canary was a tough, glamorous, and stylish member of the Justice League of America. The only problem was that she was sometimes written as Green Arrow's girlfriend more than she written was as an independent hero.

The reprints of Black Canary's adventures in the 1940s featured a blonde bombshell who was the hero and the brains of the operation. Her clueless boyfriend, Larry, was a detective-in-distress, constantly getting knocked out and tied to chairs in new and not really that different ways as an excuse to depict Dinah saving him.

Dinah was also recognizable in her belted bodysuit, bolero, fishnet stockings and fold-over boots. She was one of the few Golden Age superhero characters whose costume did not change in the Silver Age -- although her entire person did. While older characters stayed on Earth-2, Black Canary made the leap to Earth-1, where the main action in the DCU was. So, Alan Scott, the Green Lantern of Earth-2, was replaced in comics by Hal Jordan and an entirely different rationale for his powers. Barry Allen was inspired by a comic book about the first Flash, Jay Garrick, not realizing that Jay was a real person, living in a different dimension. But Black Canary was Black Canary over time and two universes: a consistency of character that almost no current character in the DC universe retains -- including Black Canary.

Reading the Black Canary archive years later, I saw in Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino's creation touches of the film noir femme fatale figure and of comic strip adventuresses like Miss Fury and The Black Cat (the Harvey Comics version, not the later Marvel Comics character).

The Black Canary Archive Edition ends with comics published in 1972, when she was firmly established as Green Arrow's girlfriend. I hadn't actually read those stories; they were too recent to be included in the reprint pages.

The artwork (Alex Toth!) of the later stories is gorgeous, but ultimately, the narrative of The Black Canary Archive Edition is a bit dispiriting: an outstanding woman is widowed, feels she has to move away from home, then subsumes her identity in a new relationship with a man. It's the exact opposite trajectory to the current Amazon.com description about the book: "See how the Black Canary grew from a secondary character into a strong lead protagonist."

I appreciate the role model Black Canary of the Birds of Prey era, and I'm excited about the survivalist Black Canary who appears in season 3 of Arrow, the television adaptation of Green Arrow. But The Black Canary Archive Edition makes me nostalgic for the brash, pulp adventure era Black Canary, including her fishnet stockings and high-heeled boots.

Sheena McNeil, Editrix-in-Chief

I don't end up giving out many comics as gifts because most of my family and friends don't read comics. However, a few years ago one of my brothers was getting into Batman, and he had a few choice graphic novels on his wishlist. I ended up giving him Batman: The Black Glove by Grant Morrison. I haven't read it myself, but out of those on his wishlist, it sounded the most intriguing to me.

I have received a few comics as presents as well -- mostly because of my Amazon wishlist. Over the last couple years my hubby has gotten me some specific volumes from Nightmares & Fairytales, Alice in the Country of Clover, and Kamisama Kiss. I'm totally in love with the Alice series (and hope I get at least one more this year).