I'm back, out of reviewer retirement to help Jackson, Aaron, and Akash cover this holiday anthology. These books are always interesting though rarely consistent, so, let's see if it's worth a read!

Lex Luthor in "Lex and the City"

Aaron: Inspired by the column and hit television series of nearly the same name, writer Sina Grace tells an eerily similar Metropolis romance. Basically, Lex Luthor has a meet cute with a Daily Planet columnist named Trish Q, strongly paralleling the relationship between "Mr. Big" and "Carrie Bradshaw" respectively. At first, Trish sees the profile on Lex as a work opportunity, while Lex and the Daily Planet disregard her article as fluff. However, upon meeting Trish and seeing her potential, he begins to accidentally on purpose court her to advance her career. Surprisingly enough, she doesn't bite and calls out his antics, including a random kayfabe involving Atomic Skull.

In fact, much of the rest of the issue becomes a flirtatious comedy. In some weird way, Luthor sees himself as helping Trish, but in truth, it's damage control for his public image. Yet, it truly feels as if Luthor really wants the best for Trish, despite the challenge to her integrity. Even still, I think the romance between the two is genuine, but ultimately problematic. Otherwise, it is a colorful story with its heart in the right place, if not a little silly at times.

Score: 6.5/10

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy in "A Valentine's Day Gift for Poison Ivy"

Aaron: "A Valentine's Day Gift For Poison Ivy" is a simple but whimsical one-shot following an unstable but indecisive Harley Quinn. Seemingly at the last minute, Harley must find Ivy a gift that she would appreciate. Not unlike fables such as Goldilocks, Harley explores several very wrong options before settling on an answer. Curiously, Maggie Tokuda-Hall portrays this version of the character in her original evergreen form as a misguided trickster. So, while this version of Harley is willing to rob, assault or threaten to get what she wants, she is also oddly loveable. The character also breaks the fourth wall to interact with the narrator like a cartoon character.

One key feature of this particular one-shot is the Shōjo-style artwork. It keeps the pandemonium cute and tonally light. In fact, Leslie Hung's version of Bruce Wayne is overtly handsome and shockingly lenient. Although, I'm not so sure Bruce should be watching or recording the couple on a tablet. As for Harley, while she begins the story with chubby rosy cheeks, she slowly deteriorates throughout the narrative. Regardless, the artwork is heavily flawed. Hung's backgrounds and vehicles lack detail, and the foreshortening needs work. Not to mention, the bat is swinging upward in one panel, but the victim reacts in the wrong direction. Overall, I think lighthearted comic strip-style stories are fine, but work best for children's stories rather than adults.

Score: 5.5/10

Mr. Freeze in "Beautiful Lies"

Jackson: Despite nominally being a Mr Freeze story, this isn't really about him. He's more of a backdrop to set the stage for our real protagonists: a young couple named Gigi and David. The story focuses on how much they're struggling to pay the bills, but persist in their love despite of the challenges that life throws at them. That is, until they tragically encounter one another having secretly gotten jobs as henchwoman and security guard respectively.

It's that cruel irony that drives the pathos for the story. The reader is meant to witness in horror as everything falls apart for the young couple who were both only trying to make a better life for each other. For the most part, it works. The characters are both sympathetic, even if the circumstances of their "Gift of the Magi" style twist might be somewhat clichéd.

Their fate is tied back into Freeze and Nora's, (you knew they had to come up in a story like this) as he recalls his own love for his wife reflected upon the young couple. His subsequent mercy, arguably even compassion, touches on what makes him an interesting character.

If I had one main criticism, it would be the artwork. Its simple and cartoony style fits a story like this one, but the actual character proportions are incredibly inconsistent. It's distracting and at worst can make them look misshapen. That being said, when the art is at its best it has some impressively dramatic shots of Freeze himself, especially in its use of shadows.

Score: 6.5/10

The Titans in "Together Again"

Akash: The boys of the OG Teen Titans return to Happy Harbor, a place of which they have fond memories during their early days. This story shows us a more positive side of these characters, as opposed to these guys clashing and bickering in the pages of their series for cheap soap-opera conflict (see any Titans comic of the last two decades). While I did think the decision to exclude Donna was a bit odd, I did like the celebration of male friendship that didn’t just devolve into bro talk (though admittedly there is some; thanks Roy). It had a very Final Fantasy XV vibe to it, the best parts of which were when the game focused on Noctis and his buddies going on a road trip.

The art is bright and amazing, with some fantastic work by Serg Acuna. Be it the four friends hanging out in a diner booth shooting the breeze or Donna Troy punching a kaiju in the flashback, this story is amazing to look at.

My only issue with this story is the abrupt ending, which could either be because the creative team was told to put the heroes in their costumes in the present day, or they ran out of page space and had to end things quickly on a single page. But its not a terrible ending and it doesn’t taint the overall experience.

Score: 9/10

The Robins in "To Live and Date in Gotham"

William: A story focused on brotherly camaraderie between Batman’s sons is always welcome if it’s done right. In this case it’s a bit of a mixed bag. What’s to like here? Mostly Damian. He might be a little too talkative and a little too emotionally open here but his signature sarcasm is present and I do like his growing relationship with Flatline. (Although a first date is a pretty big step for an anthology book to take.)

On the other hand Tim is (as usual) handled poorly. Bernard having all the personality of a rock aside, it feels like there’s some sort of editorial mandate that every Tim Drake story has to insult the reader’s intelligence. Like Fitzmartin’s portrayal of Stephanie, Brendan Hay has Tim’s first girlfriend Ariana being absurdly supportive of Tim’s new boyfriend. She’s also apparently on really good terms with Tim himself. These two broke up in 1998 and as far as I know she hasn’t appeared in a comic since 1999. Bringing her back for a moment like this just feels like fan fiction to me and that feeling carries through the rest of the story at times. Things are just a little too sickly sweet and that results in a story that while occasionally enjoyable is also rather inauthentic. To be fair, it is a Valentine’s Day themed story.

The art is fine throughout. It’s consistent and smooth which works for the story, though the backgrounds get kind of sparse inside the restaurant. This wouldn't be a huge deal but it clashes with the level of detail in the rest of the story. Overall, the art and scripting are mostly competent but never impressive while the story borders on tacky.

Score: 5/10

The Riddler in "Riddle Me Kiss"

William: Batman villain’s looking for love? Which ones…? Hmm. This story is another mixed bag. I’m immediately a bit turned off by Batman’s biggest villains discussing their dating lives. Clearly this story is meant to be taken lightly and pretty much reads as a comedy. Still, I refuse to believe scarecrow, Joker and Freeze are dating anyone. Freeze is in a committed, if one sided, marriage. I doubt Scarecrow could get a date or would want one and I don’t even want to think about Joker dating (do Harley and Punchline count as dates? I hardly think so). The rest of the story plays just like this, keeping things loose and playing everything for laughs. I think it’s a story that would be better served by featuring henchmen instead of the supervillains themselves. Things would just be more believable and we would get an interesting look at a side of Gotham we rarely see. It also doesn’t help that in execution this just isn’t particularly witty. While it was enjoyable enough to read there was nothing that stood out enough to offset the weaker elements.

On the art front, things are a little better. M.L. Sanapo turns in some reasonable art. I did notice nice looking fabric renderings but the faces are a weak point. Proportions aren’t always consistent and often the characters just look ugly. On the plus side, there is this cool page that’s the highlight of the story.

I was looking forward to the work of Arif Prianto, who is a great colorist, but this art style doesn’t give him a chance to show off.

Score: 5/10

Raven and Beast Boy in "Roses Are Red... Blood Is, Too"

Jackson: It's predictable if not expected that Raven would hate Valentine's Day. It's a well established trope in all sorts of media to have the loner, goth girl be annoyed by all the pink and sentimentality of the holiday. This has that to an extent, but it pivots in a different direction that makes for a more refreshing take on the concept. She still finds the pink and artificiality ridiculous, but embraces the heart of the occasion fully. The first half of the story is devoted almost entirely to Raven going out of her way to make it the perfect Valentine's Day for Beast Boy out of love.

This subversion of the typical cynicism makes for a far more interesting read. When the bad guys do eventually show up (a series of Valentine's Day themed monsters and villains), the driving motivation is that she's worried they will spoil their date. They still fight to save innocents and the usual Titan heroics, but it makes sure to keep focus on theme. The fights themselves are fairly simple and straight forward, all culminating in a villain who tries to steal Raven away from Beast Boy.

Everything from the art style to the conflict to the characterization is cutesy, simple, and sweet bordering on saccharine. In other words, it's exactly the kind of story you would want from a Valentine's Day anthology special.

Score: 7.5/10

Hawkman in "Heartbreak Lake" 

Akash: Hawkman has a bad case of heartbreak and wants to do something about it, even if it kills him. Newly single and unable to connect with either Hawkwoman or Hawkgirl, Carter Hall goes to recover a device that would let him re-live the memories of the moments he shared with his separated love using a Thanagarian device called the Memracon (which is a high-tech version of looking at photos with your ex on social media).

The premise is decent and executed well, with Hawkman being a stand-in for those of us who have trouble letting go of the past and want to keep living in it. However, there are two issues that crop here. One is the fact that I don’t remember Hawkman and Hawkwoman breaking up (Hawkgirl was separated from him because Scott Snyder wanted to set her with J’onn J’onzz) and as someone who read, and recommends, the entirety of Robert Vendetti’s Hawkman run which ended with Carter and Shayera re-united (and their long-time curse lifted but that’s another story), this feels like a bit of a forced breakup.

The other fact is the art… isn’t great. I feel terrible criticizing Howard Porter’s art considering the issues he went through, which led to him having to stop drawing for a while. But this comic is just not great to look at.

Score: 5/10

Recommended if...

• It's a good chance to check out some creators you may not know
• That one gem these collections usually include is enough to justify the cover price
• One-and-done stories found here!

Overall

Overall this seems to be another reasonably enjoyable anthology. DC doesn't swing for the fences with these, of course, but it's a nice distraction from the constant oneupmanship of standard comics and sometimes 10 pages is all you need to tell a story. So, that's that! Maybe I'll be back for the next anthology but in the meantime I'll get back to working on those op-eds I've been promising. Happy Valentine's Day!

Overall Score: 6.5/10

Disclaimer: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.