DCU Holiday Special II (1998)

Since Christmas is fast approaching, I thought I'd post the some Christmas themed covers for the next few days up until Christmas.
Today's Christmas Cover  comes the DCU Holiday Bash II from 1998, art by Scott McDaniel & Kevin Nowlan.
DC put three of these Holiday Bash Specials out from 1997 to 1999, each featuring several Christmas themed stories using top characters and quite a few lesser knowns as well.

Cover art by Scott McDaniel & Kevin Nowlan & Dre (??)

Title: DCU Holiday Bash II
Cover Art By: Scott McDaniel (Pencils) & Kevin Nowlan (Inks), Dre (?) (Colors) (?)

Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Genre: Superhero

Printing: First
Printing Date: 1998

Publisher: DC Comics

Book Type: Standard Comic (Double Sized)

Price: 3.95 U.S. * 5.50 Can.
Pages: 68

Notes:

• The Superman & Sgt. Rock stories are silent.
• The Black Lightning story is in black and white.
• Ty Templeton's hilarious Darkseid story was a one man show as he wrote, pencilled, inked, colored and lettered it.
• One of the cover credits is given to "Dre", checked everywhere for info on that individual and could not find anything.
• The stories, "The Present",  "Present Tense", and "The Gift" have been reprinted in the 2000 trade, "A DC Universe Christmas".

Ads:

• Beavis And Butt-Head Do America (VHS)
• Sonic R (Sega Saturn Video Game) (Two Pages)
• Jurassic Park:The Lost World (VHS)
• Mass Destruction (Video Game/Sony Playstation/Sega Saturn/Windows 95)
• Last Bronx (Video Game/Sega Saturn/PC CD-ROM) (Two Pages)
• Tomorrow Never Dies (Movie)
• Star Wars: Masters Of Teras Kasi  (Sony Playstation Video Game)
• Superman: Distant Fires (64 Page Elseworlds Special) (DC House Ad)
• Twix (Candy Bar)
• Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (Video Game/Sony Playstation/Nintendo 64)

There are several stories in this issue, the following is a listing of the Table Of Contents.

Title: The Present
Main Characters: Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Green Arrow (Connor Hawke)

Writer: Devin K. Grayson

Penciller: William Rosado
Inker: Sal Buscema
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Title: The House Of Peace
Main Character: Batman (Bruce Wayne)

Writer: Chuck Dixon

Penciller: Dave Taylor
Inker: Wayne Faucher
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Noelle Giddings
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Title: Present Tense
Main Character: Darkseid

Writer: Ty Templeton

Penciller: Ty Templeton
Inker: Ty Templeton
Letterer: Ty Templeton
Colorist: Ty Templeton
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Title: 'Twas The Night Before Kwanzaa
Main Character: Black Lightning

Writer: Tony Isabella

Penciller: Eddy Newell
Inker: Eddy Newell
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: N/A
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Title: The Gift
Main Character: Superman (Clark Kent)

Writer: Dan Jurgens

Penciller: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Brett Breeding
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Jason Wright
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Title: I Left My Heart At The Justice Society Canteen
Main Characters: Justice Society Of America

Writer: Howard Chaykin

Penciller: Rick Burchett
Inker: Rick Burchett
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Rick Taylor
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Title: A Christmas Carol
Main Character: Sgt. Rock

Writer: Chuck Dixon

Penciller: Russ Heath
Inker: Russ Heath
Letterer: Russ Heath (?)
Colorist: Russ Heath
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Title: The Old Lane
Main Character: Nightwing (Dick Grayson) & Oracle (Barbara Gordon)

Writer: Devin Grayson (Dialogue/Co-Plotter) & Brian Stelfreeze (Co-Plotter)

Penciller: Brian Stelfreeze
Inker: Karl Story
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Title: Ornaments Page
Main Characters: Superman (Wearing the Blue Lightning Costume), Robin (Tim Drake), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Batman (Bruce Wayne), Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)

Writer: Rick Burchett

Penciller: Rick Burchett
Inker: Rick Burchett
Letterer: Rick Burchett
Colorist: Rick Burchett (?)
Editor: Darren Vincenzo

Great Comic Artists: Joe Staton (Part 1)

Here's a few covers spotlighting the somewhat cartoony, loose work of the underrated Joe Staton.

Staton broke into the biz in the early 70's for Charlton Comics working on many of their horror titles and is possibly most known for co-creating E-Man with Nicola Cuti. When he jumped to DC in the mid 70's, he co-created The Earth-2 Huntress and helped revive The Doom Patrol for Showcase and the Justice Society Of America in All-Star Comics. During the 80's, along with (One of my all time faves) Steve Englehart, they did a beloved run on Green Lantern Corps and the somewhat hated 8 issue weekly mini series, Millennium. In 1989, along with Joey Cavalieri, brought The Huntress into the Post-Crisis DC universe with a well received mini-series. In the 2000's, Staton was part of Archie's "new look" concept when he and Al Milgrom with writer, Melanie J. Morgan took on Jughead in a series in which Jughead falls in love. Today, Staton works on the Dick Tracy comic strip with Mike Curtis. I managed to meet him in Oct. of 2013 at the New York Comic Con. He signed my copy of Space 1999 #1.

Haunted Love #4, October 1973.
Staton also did the art for the second story in this issue, "Reunion".
As seen here, John Byrne's females are somewhat influenced by Joe Staton.

Space 1999 #1, November 1975.
This issue is signed by Joe Staton (New York Comic Con, 2013).

All-Star Comics #73, August 1978.
Inked by Joe Giella.
Giella's inks really ruin this cover, He was not the right fit for Staton at all.
The crammed panelling and the awkward positioning of some of the characters, also doesn't help it.

Showcase #97, Feb. 1978.
Inked by Joe Orlando

Jughead's Double Digest Magazine #141, August, 2008.
Inked by Al Milgrom.
Staton took on the "New Look" Archie concept which was designed to give the Archie world a more realistic look but his herky-jerky outlandish goofy style and 90's outdated hair & clothing made them seem more cartoony, not to mention more uglier than ever before.