Jingle Belle in The Fight Before Christmas

Jingle Belle, Jingle Belle, Jingle before May. Oh what fun it is to read about Santa’s kid today.

Yeah, kinda lame but what do you want, something cleaver?

Anyway, welcome to my Christmas Comic I promised you all last week. Since I had more than my fair share of Zatanna magic and wanted something fun and lighthearted, I found my Issue of Jingle Belle. For those of you who do not know, Jingle Belle is the creation of Paul Dini. Paul was one of the big guys from the Batman: Animated Series (The other being Bruce Timm). While it has not been updated in a very long time, the website for Jingle Belle is still up and can be found here.

Jingle Belle herself has a very confusing history that spans many books. Sometimes she is a sweet teen who helps others out, most of the time she is that bratty celebrity kid who is annoyed that everyone always relates her to her Father, Santa Clause, and acts out to try and make a name for herself. Whoever she is in any story, Jingle Belle is always enjoyable to read. So let’s not waste any more time and get right into Jingle Belle “The Fight Before Christmas”.

The cover is awesomely drawn. Well, almost. Jingle Belle’s proportions seem a bit off. Plus her neck is kinda at a weird angle for the head. And the background is just ice and nothing else. Not even an empty stadium. But, uh, that cat girl person’s expression is awesome and her pose for falling is well drawn. Alright, so the cover is only half awesome.

So our story begins with plot expiation with Qiki and Hank Ribbon Seal. They tell us about the rivalry between Jingle and Tashi. And yes, Tashi is a naked cat woman. But when our commentators talk to our main characters, they both say that this game is not going to be about them, but about the teams. Yeah, I can already tell this is not going to end well at all.

After Hank tells Jingle that there is a ME in tEaM if you change the letters, Jingle goes out to the ice for the game. Seriously, I wanted to see Jingle smack him. Right as Walrus is about to start the game, Jingle attacks Tashi. Time out. How did Jingle hit Tashi’s butt with a swing like that? If the action line is to be taken as is, then the swing would have just made her fall down, not fly up. Ah well, it is a gag comic so whatever.

So Tashi attacks Jingle right back and the two of them are put into time out. As Hank chocks on a fish, Jingle and Tashi start talking about their summers.

Wait, what?

Jingle tells Tashi how she was send to so-cal for the summer then asks if Tashi has a new hair cut. It is by the way. But as Jingle is petting Tashi (Awww, such good friends) their penalty is over. Finally, it’s back to the high action. And it looks like we did not have to wait long ad Tashi whacks Jingle. Again, how does one get to that pose from getting attacked from the front with a hockey stick? 

Of course, after this fight, they go back into the box. This time they talk about dating. I got to say, I love the expressions both of them have in panel 2. So finally Hank comes and asks what is going on. No surprise, but Jingle and Tashi planned this since they did say it was going to be about the team this time. Wow. They were telling the truth at the beginning of the comic? My first read through, I did not see that comic since this is a gag comic. I thought they were going to just play the game starting nicer but slowly get as big and over the top as they can. 

Of course Santa gets mad at this since Jingle was his best player. Of course Jingle doesn’t care and hit Santa with a puck. Anyway, Jingle and Tashi talk about the guy they each met over summer. As they talk, they slowly notice more and more that the guy they are talking about sounds the same. Gee, I wonder if it is the same guy two timing them. 

Yep. It is.

Ok, now here is something I don’t get. They are mad at each other and fight for the two timing guy. Why? Seriously, attack the jerk who thought it was totally a great idea to date the two girls with a very open and violent rivalry. Sure, we would not get as much cartoon fighting in the bottom half of this page but having Jingle and Tashi fight each other over this plot point is kinda dumb. 

And it turns out that Brad here was a three timer. This time he is with Heidi needle nose. You can really hurt someone with that thing. So the comic ends with a big fight with Jingle and Tashi attacking Brad, Heidi, and the poor people who got in their way.

Well the story was simple but not messy and the art was like an Animaniacs cartoon. While nothing really gets done with this story, it is just something I read to put me in a good mood. And after last week’s Zatanna stuff, I really needed something fun and stupid that was supposed to be as such.

Next month is May. But in May, on the first weekend, is free comic book day. I think you all know what I am planning. Next month is free month here on Comic_Kathy.

All images (c) Dark Horse