DC's Batman Smells, Robin Laid an Egg (2024) #1

DC Anthology Specials

by Dorado Quick, M.L. Sanapo (Artist), Arif Prianto (Colorist)

Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg, the Batmobile lost a wheel… and you know the rest! Read these six merry tales about characters from the DCU set during the holiday season. Be enthralled by Dr. Midnight’s literally silent night, become captivated by a Deadman story written by Marv Wolfman, and ponder the in a world without the Joker’s torment, is it really a wonderful life? Probably not. DC’s Batman Smells, Robin Laid An Egg, is a heartwarming new holiday anthology coming as a gift to you this this holiday season!

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Christmas, Comic Book, Superman, Superheroes, Batman

Kindle Edition

Published December 4, 2024

Reviews

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

DC’s Batman Smells, Robin Laid An Egg #1 is a DC Comics holiday anthology issue written by Dorado Quick, Drew Maxey, Ricardo Sanchez, Alexis Quasarano, Marv Wolfman, James Reid, Zipporah Smith, Calvin Kasulke with art by M.L. Sanapo, Marianna Ignazzi, Aaron Conley, Marcial Toledano Vargas, Paul Pelletier, Francesco Francavilla, Andrew Drilon, and Anthony Marques.

A collection of stories all revolving around Christmas and the holidays: Green Lantern John Stewart must help Mrs. Claus secure Santa’s bag of toys stolen by Toy Man, the Secret Six do a secret Santa, John Constantine has to help protect a young woman and participate in Christmas traditions or else she is destined for hell, The Joker experiences what life in Gotham would be like if he never existed, Deadman helps a group of miners trapped in a collapsed mine, Dr. Mid-Nite is confronted by the moral dilemma of a father who stole to help his sick daughter, Vixen is in search for the perfect holiday gift, and Superman tries to figure out why all of a sudden he is blindingly glowing.

I always really enjoy DC’s anthology issues. This year’s holiday special is no exception. The Secret Six story is hands down the best story in the collection and is a 5 star tale in its own right. Secret Six was a favorite series of mine when I got big into comics in the mid 2000s so it was great to revisit this team. The Joker story was also extremely good while the Dr Mid-Nite, Green Lantern, Constantine, and Superman stories were all entertaining as well. The Deadman story felt pretty forced and I wasn’t feeling the Vixen tale. This is a fun book if you are into Christmas-related stories and Bane fans should definitely seek this out for the Secret Six short story.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year's DC Holiday issue is good. I really liked the story featuring John Stewart and the one featuring Bane (though that one was very text heavy). The rest were clever in the way they told their story (Dr. Mid-Nite), or they had their moments (Superman).

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 stars

Santa’s Oath? - 4.5 stars
Secret Santa - 4.5 stars
Ghosts of Christmas Present - 4 stars
It’s a Criminal Life - 4.5 stars
Deadman Walking - 3.5 stars
Silent Nite - 3.5 stars
The Perfect Gift - 2.5 stars
O Glowy Night - 2.5 stars

[B. P. Rinehart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been a minute since I read a Christmas-themed comic. DC Comics has been putting these out for years and like always with anthologies—it’s a mixed-bag. Some stories are good, some decent, and some clearly phoned-end. I am happy to say this collection is mostly decent to good. The stories featuring Bane, Deadman, and Vixen being the stand-out. Contrary to cover, Poison Ivy does not appear in this collection.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun and sweet collection of stories, perfect for the holiday spirit. I specifically picked this issue up because it is the comic debut of Drew (drewxdeficit) that I follow on TikTok. Such an awesome creator that works in a comic book shop and is a teacher and now a DC comics writer!! His story specifically focused on the secret six and was packed with great characters and Easter eggs all over the place. More specifically it was from the perspective of Bane, as the team forces him to participate with secret Santa, he drew Scandal from the hat, which is something he doesn’t fully understand nor enjoy as he doesn’t like not knowing who is getting him something. As he is thinking about this and the lives of his other team members, they are also on a covert mission to break into a base and secure a package. But as they run through goons and automated traps, they finally get to the end to find a present…the entire situation was setup to be his secret Santa gift and he was given a teddy bear reminiscent from his youth. No one admits they are his secret Santa and I have no clue how they could have known that about him, but it’s quite impressive. The story ends on a high note as bane breaks the rules and admits to Scandal he is her secret Santa and he knows what to give her. He empties a vial he keeps in his belt and gives her a vial of his blood, according to bane she is the closest he has grown to and now wit this blood they shall be together whenever she wishes. It’s just a sweet story seeing the life bane grew up in being directly compared to the misfits and family he works with today.

Some of the also cool stories featured in the book included John Stewart helping Mrs. Clause after toyman stole Santa’s bag as she was filling in for him while he was helping other dc heroes. She also had her own ring of Hope and recited this oath to get it going: “In fearful day, in raging night, with strong heats full, our souls ignite, when all seems lost in the war of light, look to the stars, for hope shines bright!” Which is just so cool.

We also saw John Constantine tricked on Christmas into saving a Jennifer Coolidge lookalike by his demonic copy as other demons continually tried to kill her. At the end of the night it was revealed she was actually a demon and Constantine banished his demonic copy back to hell.

We also got to see the joker on a “it’s a wonderful life” type story, as Robin beat him up so bad he started to question if it was worth it. He was then visited by the ghost of the Robin he killed to show him a world without him…and everything was better!! Crime was non existent and everyone was way happier, joker couldn’t stand seeing this and it didn’t take much to burn the entire place down. Seeing this made him realize how much he is needed to cause chaos and he woke back up in the real world happy again, which is so awful but I love it lol.

We also got a Marv Wolfman special as he wrote a deadman story about a mine that collapsed on Christmas. Switching between the families outside and the miners inside he is able to direct the effort to clear the rubble without a cave in. But then it ends with the children singing silent night to keep their minds off their dad’s possibly dying, the day is saved but that’s a questionable song choice.

We also got Dr.Mid-Nite in “Silent Night,” which is quite clever wordplay as the entire issue is without dialogue and instead we follow through as Mid-Nite goes after a 40s bank robber who was just trying to save his sick kid. At his house the cops show up and shoot him, and Nite immediately pulls gear out of his utility belt to stitch the guy up. Later on he comes back as a normal day doctor with medicine that should help the sick child. It’s a sweet story about helping those who do the worst things for the best reasons.

Vixen also has a story where she struggles to come up with a gift idea for bronze tiger. It’s so fun jumping into her life as a busy fashion designer and super hero. At one point she was asking livewire for gift ideas. Eventually she used her abilities to rip out a chunk of a tree and carve it into a specially made and meaningful bracelet, which is so cool.

Then our stories end with a Superman story. After defeating toyman, Superman starts to oddly glow. Toyman didn’t do it, Lex didn’t either, and he won’t stop shining and can’t stop it, and it’s starting to affect his personal life. While hilariously sitting on top of a tree making it seem like a real star is on top, the culprit finally appears…who else than Mr. Mxyzptlk who turned Superman into a star to light up the humans during the winter season when it doesn’t shine as bright. And the only way to currently temporarily turn it off…is by clapping. He turned Superman into a clapper, hahahaha. And unfortunately for Superman, clapping is also what makes Mister return back to the 5th dimension before he can remove it permanently, let the 3 month countdown begin, lol.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

DC's annual holiday anthology. This one starts out really strong with John Stewart having to team up with Mrs. Claus. It was good enough that I'm going to seek out whatever else Dorado Quick has done. The Secret Six story was a nice surprise as well. I loved that Gail Simone penned series and this team does the series justice. The other stories weren't quite as good and a couple of them, John Constantine and Superman I'm looking at you, were downright bad.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's another anthology hodge podge from DC

The good? John Stewart and his meeting with a Hope Lantern wearing, Mrs. Claus...
The bad? Constantine meets his demonic doppelganger and his future is foretold...

[RunningRed NightBringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent collection of short holiday-themed stories.

[Wm · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Bane story is a 5-star tale and just about worth the price of admission, though most of the rest of the book is cringe.

[Jacob Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This holiday collection is better than some, the standouts for me were John Stewart, Secret Six, Doctor Midnite and Supeyman

Happy Holidays 2024!!

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this one more. The short stories didn't grab me as much as I wanted them to. I really liked the art in these though - that's what boosted my rating

[Christian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gotta stop giving these people money. Almost everything is utter crap here, nothing to see. Nothing in the cover is in the book

[Juan Fernando Acosta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entre el texto algo excesivo de la historia de Bane y lo nada de texto de la historia de Dr. Midnight, esto hizo un balance bastante agradable de historias sobre navidad.

[Rebecca Alexx · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun anthology issue. Secret six was my fav but I also enjoyed joker, Constantine and superman.

[James B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this peaked with the Bane (secret santa) story and then just went downhill.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doesn't hit quite as much as other collections. I think the Vixen story is my favorite, though.

[Isabelle Tranner]

Highlights included John Constantine in a sweater and Clap-On-Clap-Off Superman.
Im a sucker for What a Wonderful Life parodies and Mr. Mxyzptlk

[Garth · Rating 3 out of 5]

2024 - Year of The Bat (366 Days of Batman)

Day 344-347: 2.5⭐️, rounded up. Batman Smells with no Batman?! I feel cheated.