RETRO REVIEW: The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special

STORY

Given the season I thought it would be fun to review the legendary comic where Lobo accepts a contract on Santa Claus for my retro review. So let’s dive right on in to it.

Black humor barely begins to cover the story in this comic, whew it is sardonically viscous in a way that would make Garth Ennis proud. This comic goes entirely for the throat without holding anything back. It literally starts out with parents plotting kill to their children out of fear of being killed by them because they have no Christmas presents to give them as a bookend to the comic’s story. Lobo is hired by the Easter Bunny on behalf of the other holidays to kill Santa as his holiday has become far to big and commercial to compete with. Giffen’s plot and Grant’s words drip with black sarcasm in a darkly humorous tale that dismantles absolutely everything we love about Christmas as a holiday and Santa as a myth. Finding out that Santa is a ruthless dictator who rules through power and fear and possibly sexual sadism is shockingly funny if you can accept the joke as it is, but this comic wont be to everyone’s taste so be warned. If you can stomach it though this story provides one of Lobo’s most ridiculous and gratuitous escapades and my favorite gag involves the elves less than effective counter attack when Lobo intrudes. Another surprising highlight comes at the end when you think the story is over and done, Lobo takes apocalyptic control over Christmas Eve in a way that only Lobo could.

ART

Giffen is credited with the breakdowns of the book so a certain amount of the staging and page flow can be attributed to him but the art is truly defined by the over the top brutality and balance of hyper-musculature and hideousness that Bisley is known for. He likely owes something to artist Kevin O’Neal (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Nemesis the Warlock) as an influence who is also known for his own extreme art style but Biz is his own unique animal. He gives up on a lot of features like well established set pieces and backgrounds and focuses instead on rule of cool figures, guns and machines. His page flow and storytelling work in a way that I don’t think any other artist could get away with, its only his particular uniqueness that allows for this.

The colors are bold and harsh and purposely so which adds to the jarring violence in the art of the story, However, this being an older book and so before digital coloring was a thing, there is a lack of shading to define the details in the artwork and give it depth. Though this might work in the favor of a story that is already so cartoonishly grotesque.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Definitely not for everyone, but if you are in the mood for a savage parody of a comic that holds nothing sacred or love 90’s Lobo, this is a book for you. Otherwise look for more standard superhero fare.

SCORE: 4.5 out of 5

The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special
Writer:Â Keith Giffen
Dialogue:Â Alan Grant
Art:Â Simon Bisley
Colors:Â Lovern Kindzierski

Also check out the fan-film of the same name: