DC Comics has had an interesting relationship with Christmas over the years. During the Golden Age of Comics in the 1940s, Christmas stories were a yearly tradition in the pages of Superman and Batman comic books, but once the Golden Age faded away in the late 1940s, so, too, did most of DC Comics' Christmas stories in the pages of their superhero comics. DC would still do a lot of Christmas stories, but they would typically be in their own titles (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, for instance, had his own yearly DC Comic book for over a decade from 1950-1961).

As the 1970s began, DC started doing more Christmas stories again and also started doing Holiday Specials. By the start of the 1980s, though, the practice had once again fallen by the wayside. After an excellent Christmas collection in the late 1980s, DC hit their biggest period of Christmas stories since the Golden Age during the 1990s, when Christmas stories and Holiday Specials were common releases (DC expanded their release schedule in general, so it makes sense). Recently, after a bit of a lull in the early 2000s, DC has begun doing yearly Holiday Specials once again. Here, we will count down the five greatest DC Comics Christmas stories!

THE TT'S SWINGIN' CHRISTMAS CAROL!

1967’s “The TT’s Swingin’ Christmas Carol!” from Teen Titans #13 by Nick Cardy and Bob Haney tells the story of a young teenager who looks to the Teen Titans for help. It seems that Tiny Tom Ratchet's father works for this guy named Scrounge, who owns a junkyard. Scrounge is letting some bad guys use his junkyard for one of those outlandish schemes that could only exist in a comic book. They have developed a brilliant machine that can transform expensive cars into scrap metal. Thus, when the scrap ends up at Scrounge's junkyard, they then use the machine to turn them back into expensive cars. The whole thing is just an attempt to avoid paying duty on the imported cars. Yes, that is the extent of this villainous scheme.

Anyhow, the Titans decide that Scrounge reminds them enough of Ebeneezer Scrooge that they decide to "haunt" him until he agrees to help them stop the bad guys. Eventually, Scrooge is redeemed and the day is saved. It's a delightfully trippy comic book story by Haney and Nick Cardy's artwork is astounding. Cardy was an excellent "good girl" artist, and his Wonder Girl dressed in a Santa outfit likely gave impure thoughts to a whole generation of comic book readers of the era.

METROPOLIS MAILBAG

1991’s “Metropolis Mailbag” from Superman #64 by Dan Jurgens and Jackson Guice shows Superman letting his then-fiancee Lois Lane in on another aspect of his life (now that she knew his secret identity, she had to get used to a whole lot of new aspects of Superman's life that she never knew about). You see, you know how everyone sends letters to Santa Claus for Christmas? Well, as it turns out, they also send those same types of letter to Superman! Once a year, at Christmastime, Superman shows up at the Metropolis Post Office and answers the letters as best as he can.

The letters vary from the absurd to the heartbreaking. Superman manages to help as much as he can, like reuniting a Holocaust survivor with her sister (who she thought had died during the Holocaust) right before her sister passes away. However, Superman can't help a young boy who believes that Superman should be able to cure his father's brain tumor. At the end of the issue, Superman comes up with a way to throw a party for the needy children of Metropolis with the help of Bruce Wayne and Professor Emil Hamilton. Jurgens did a sequel to this story a year later, in the wake of Superman'd death, his fellow heroes fill in for him at Christmastime (Jurgens re-visited the mailbag concept a few other times in ensuing years).

THE PERFECT GIFT

1992’s “One Perfect Gift” from Flash #73 by Mark Waid, Greg LaRocque and Ray Richardson saw Wally West celebrating Christmas his first Christmas with his new girlfriend, Linda Park. They had actually just gotten together a few issues earlier (as Mark Waid paid off the strong work that William Messner-Loebs had done setting up Wally and Linda's friendship as possibly developing into something much larger) and so things were still very new for Wally. Jay Garrick had only recently returned from a strange story where the Justice Society of America were out of commission for years (they were stuck in literal limbo) and now he was serving as a sort of grandfather figure to Wally.

The impatient Wally gets Jay to agree to go out on patrol with him on the holidays and Wally talks about the oddity of growing up and how Christmas takes on a different meaning when you're an adult and how Wally wishes that he could still capture the feeling he had as a young boy when he got the baseball mitt that he hoped for at Christmas. Jay talks some sense into him while they also help a young woman deliver a baby. It's very much a throwback to the Denny O'Neil Christmas stories of the 1970s, just with a little modern twist.

At the end of the issue, after Wally is shocked by Linda getting him a baseball mitt (I think that those two might have a future together), Wally gets his "perfect gift," when Barry Allen shows up alive! Of course, it wasn't that simple, as shown by the classic story, "The Return of Barry Allen," but in this moment, it is a Christmas miracle!

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SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT

1988’s ” “Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot”” from Christmas With the Superheroes #2 by Alan Brennert and Dick Giordano sees Deadman having a hard time with Christmas. Deadman, after all, doesn't really exist in the physical world. He can possess people and experience a little bit of the holiday through their bodies, but Deadman soon feels like a jerk by, in effect, stealing someone else's holiday.

Once he decides to stop stealing people's holiday experiences from them, he then begins to wallow in self pity. He does so much good but he never seems to get any reward for it. Just sort of existential torment. His wallowing is interrupted, though, by a mysterious young woman who can somehow see him even in his spirit form. She explains to him that good deeds are their own reward and that it doesn't matter if people know you did them, you know that you did them and so even if everyone forgets about you, your deeds will always exist.

The young woman, of course, was named Kara. This was a reference to Supergirl, who, in 1988, had been erased by DC's Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths' continuity. However, even after been "erased" from history, Kara is still a hero and she successfully inspires Deadman. This is a brilliant piece of metafictional commentary by Brennert.

THE SILENT NIGHT OF BATMAN

1969's “The Silent Night of the Batman” from Batman #219 by Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano opens with Batman being called to the Gotham City police department on Christmas Eve by Commissioner Gordon (or, at least, someone who LOOKS like Commissioner Gordon). Gordon asks Batman to celebrate the holiday with them instead of going on patrol. Batman agrees, on the condition that, as soon as a crime or other problem shows up, he will leave and go deal with it. Gordon agrees and Batman begins to sing carols with the other police officers.

Shockingly, though, no crime occurs! You see, all around Gotham, whenever something bad is about to happen, somehow, some version of Batman shows up to stop them. Just, like, a guy in a Batman costume keeps some crooks from robbing some people. A woman tries to kill herself because her soldier husband is dead (she thinks) but she is distracted by a Batman symbol on the water below her. She pauses and is shocked to see that her husband is not only alive, but he is next to her! Stuff like that. Batman finishes singing and learns that "Gordon" was just a Christmas spirit when the real Gordon shows up to tell him that remarkably, no crime had happened in Gotham City tonight! It was a Christmas miracle!

The sight of Neal Adams drawing Batman caroling along with the Gotham cops is truly a sight to behold.