I went through a great deal of back and forth over the last couple of months on whether or not to do a holiday edition of Still on the Shelf. I figured everyone else was going to do something special for the holidays, so I decided to take a different approach. I figured everyone does Christmas, why not spend some time going in depth into uncharted territory- a Hanukkah book! I spend weeks researching, and though I met with much failure, I did stumble across ONE title that might fit the bill. Unfortunately, after some initial excitement by the creator of said title- they dropped off the face of the earth. A shame too, that one would have been fun.

So, I went back to my original idea- Paul Dini’s Jingle Belle. This was my original idea, however, since Oni pushed back the release of the new Jingle Belle graphic novel, Dash Away All from late November to New Year’s Eve. As it was so eloquently put by Blake Petit- that would be as ridiculous as a “Simpson’s Halloween Special coming out on November 1st- ummm…” It seems that perhaps Oni has seen the error of their ways, and have recently announced that the book will come out this Wednesday after all, which can only mean good things for sales on this book.

Cast of Characters

Jingle Belle Kringle is the one and only daughter of Santa Claus. Though she is well over 200 years old, she is still very much a teenager by elf standards. As one might imagine, being the daughter of the one and only Saint Nick would mean all of the presents her heart could desire- unfortunately this has made her perhaps the most spoiled child in all of existence. Now a “teenager,” she both rebels against her father and on occasion tries very hard to please him- both of which almost always end in disaster, and a lump of coal for Christmas (but I wanted a snowboard!), which she has gotten for the last one hundred and sixty-nine years.

Santa, her father, is very much like any frustrated father of a rebellious teenage daughter would be. It is clear that he loves his daughter very much, but she infuriates him to no end. He longs for the days of his sweet, innocent child, but it is really unclear (is it ever in this situation) exactly what it would take for Jing to get back into his good graces. He married Mrs. Claus, the Queen of the Northern Elves, after rescuing her from the evil Bliz Wiz, Santa’s arc enemy. Mrs. Claus is very much the doting, loving mother, much more forgiving of Jing’s foibles than her father, though Jingle does drive her to eat an entire box of bourbon balls on occasion.

Rusty, Jingle’s cousin, is the bane of her existence. Very much like a little brother would be, he is slimy and annoying, and always seems to be looked at with much more favor by Santa than his own daughter. Quite rightly, he is the target of much abuse by the vindictive Jing, when she can get her hands on him.

Jing may not have reindeer of her own, but when she needs to travel, she relies on her faithful ox Thrasher. Magic corn is not enough to get this lumbering steed off the ground- he needs a healthy dose of beans to get the job done. As you might imagine, the take-offs stink quite a bit.

Ida Red, Polly, and Tashi are Jing’s “girl-pals,” who turn up from time to time. Polly is the future Halloween witch, Ida is the super-powered sheriff of Mutant El Paso, and Tashi is Jing’s snow leopard adversary who she has established something of a friendship with. All three pop up from time to time and keep Jing distracted from the hell that is living at the North Pole.

And lemmings. Lots and lots of lemmings.

Thoughts

In a word, Jingle Belle is charming. You really can’t go into a title like this and expect deeply meaningful storytelling, even though there is a small bit of that hidden here and there. The art is also black and white, which should be expected coming from Oni, and ranges throughout the different issues from somewhat fair to outstanding. The stories are fun and accessible, no need to have ever read a single issue of Jingle Belle to pick up and enjoy a new one. Ideal for a “holiday treat.”

There is really very little in the way of analysis that I can say about this book. The issues I managed to scrape up (as you might imagine, tracking down old Oni issues can be something of a chore) were quite fun reads- the only real drawback being the issues where the stories had heavy involvement of Jing’s “girlfriends.” I much more enjoyed the interaction between Jing and her family, in her never-ending quest to be accepted by her father for all the wrong reasons. When Dini delves into very un-Christmasy material, the story starts to drag a bit. The title really hits its stride when Jingle has somehow ruined Christmas, or hurt her father in some way in an effort to please him, and has to go and pick up the pieces.

A good number of the stories definitely had the feel of a half-hour holiday cartoon special, which is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping it would be. While I would not mind seeing an actual Jingle Belle holiday special on TV at some point, news that development on a Jingle Belle film leaves me a little worried. I fear seeing a Britany Spears clone clad in Santa-slutwear saving Christmas, which would really ruin the whole point of the story. I suppose I will have to wait and see before I pass judgement on that.

Bottom Line

As much as I enjoyed the subject of this week’s column, I was pretty well disappointed that I failed in my quest to come up with a Hanukkah book to cover. I know that it is unlikely that such a title would meet with great success in the mainstream market, but you would think that there would be an independent publisher out there somewhere with their finger on the appropriate market for that sort of book. Even if it is somewhat educational in nature- so few people outside the Jewish faith seem to understand what the holiday is about- I have to think there is a place for that sort of book in today’s multi-cultural market.

Jingle Belle was a fun read, and is pretty well perfect for a semi-annual Holiday season purchase. If you are at all curious about what you will be getting into picking up an issue of Jingle Belle, go check out Dini’s website at jinglebelle.com.

Until next week- Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry-whatever-else you might celebrate! And be sure to log onto X-World Comics and sign up for the weekly newsletter- now penned by your’s truly!

(And be sure to check out another Paul Dini project- Duck Dodgers! Man, I am loving that toon….)

Credit where credit is due-

Jingle Belle- Dash Away All is by-
Paul Dini
and Jose Garibaldi
with Dave Mandel and Steve Rolston

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