G-Man Comics Christmas Special #1 - G-Man Comics

G-MAN COMICS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL No. 1, December 2021

Published “just in time for the holidays” in December 2021, Rik Offenberger’s trio of stories for this “G-Man Comics Christmas Special” certainly bristle with Yuletide cheer and festive spirit. But whilst many of this anthology’s readers may well just enjoy its narratives for their pulse-pounding punches, bone-crunching kicks and action-packed antics, the book also includes a handful of notable insights into some of the other winter-based celebrations too – such as how the American military spend their time serving their country abroad, Chanukah, Las Posadas and the weeklong Kwanzaa.

First up on the Agent’s “Hot List” is the reasonably straightforward Sergeant Flag seven-pager “Saint Nick”, which focuses upon the colourfully costumed super-hero thwarting a robbery at the Twin Pines Mall’s jewellers. Ordinarily not one to shy away from filling a location with plenty of bullets, this tale surprisingly has artist Dean Juliette swap out Rob McFarlane’s fiery gunplay for some good old-fashioned fisticuffs, following a plea from the shopping precinct’s Santa to protect the packed place’s hapless children; “What’s wrong with you! There are kids all around, for Cripes’ sake!”

Far more emotionally perturbing is arguably Offenberger’s “Silent Night”, which depicts teacher Maya Santiago stumbling upon one of her pupils and the girl's mother when the cowled crime-fighter is busy beating up a group of malcontents who decide to trash a homeless encampment in the north-western quadrant of Washington D.C. Despite being so poor its clear that Anna’s lone parent is still doing her very best to keep her infant child happy, and such heart-warming devotion is rightly rewarded when the pair are sketched by Arnaldo dos Santos Ferreira Junior being taken in by team Lynx’s alter-egos for the festivities.

Lastly, the former “retailer at Paper Hero Comics” pens the somewhat short-lived “Christmas Dinner” featuring the intriguing Atomik Bombshell. The radioactive “almost a villain” has the terrifying power of causing a nuclear meltdown if upset, and this results in some careful handling by the Agent when she inadvertently loses control inside the heavily populated Brookland-CUA Metro Station. As origin stories go, this particular plot generates all sorts of questions as to the future of Meredith Fremont’s time on the G-Men, particularly as its suggested her formidable ability understandably makes some of her comrades-in-arms a little nervous when in her presence.

Written by: Rik Offenberger, and Art by: Dean Juliette & Arnaldo dos Santos Ferreira Junior