The Scrooge-like Clown gets visited by three phantoms of his own on Christmas Eve - - the Yank, the Ghost and the American Spirit - - and the results of their showing him his life's errors of don’t play out like anything Dickens could’ve imagined.
The Good
Berkenkotter's art is just fantastic. I’ll gripe often about ink-less pages, but his lines are tight enough to pull it off. He’s actually able to pull off a lot - - from bizarre superhero business to mundane sidewalk conversations - - and give it all the requisite style. Actually, style's the key word, here, as Jerwa uses a mildly-nightmarish tone to tell a story that’s got a real message and dramatic tension while still wholeheartedly embracing all the hokier tropes of the golden age.
The Bad
Even for superheroes, it seems like a hard-to-swallow for the Clown to turn evil simply because his girl stepped away for him for a moment to see a street performer. It felt like some crucially-important line of dialog was missing somewhere there.
The Verdict – 4/5
A Christmas Carol has been remade, parodied and paid tribute to thousands upon thousands of times. Thus, it’s an accomplishment that Gerwa found a way to take some digs at the story while still following its beats rather sincerely. This reminded me of some of the better Astro City stories where a self-contained character portrait is told against the surreal backdrop of a superhero world.
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