Reviews
REVIEW: Stranger Things: Winter Special 2021
Book Title: Stranger Things: Winter Special 2021
Book Description: It’s Christmas Day, 1984 in Hawkins. Aside from Max, everyone gets together at Will’s house for the big day. Hopper even lets El come out of the cabin. This is El’s first true Christmas. The year before she was foraging for whatever food she could find before she stumbled upon the Eggo waffles Hopper was leaving her.
El is getting to experience the huge meal. She receives her second present, a radio to communicate with the guys, and it’s a huge upgrade from getting Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Then the guys tell her about the other great thing about Christmas: Christmas specials!
The guys taped every single one so they would have a wide variety of choices. To help El decide which special they should watch they tell her about “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, “A Christmas Carol”, and “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
While this is taking place we get to see El’s imagination depicting the plots of the different specials. The Demogorgon has a role in some of the titles. We also get to see a different take on Mr. Clark, Hopper, and Dr. Brenner. Rather than picking just one, everyone agrees that a marathon is in order.
Book Author: Chris Roberson
Book Format: Paperback
Publisher - Orgnization: Dark Horse Comics
Publisher Logo:
Illustrator: Abel
- Story(3)
- Interior Art(3.5)
- Cover Art(3.25)
- Dialogue(3.25)
- Mechanics(2.75)
- Editing(3)
Summary
I love “Stranger Things”. I still wasn’t sure what to expect with the Stranger Things: Winter Special. There were a lot of different paths we could have found ourselves going down. It was fun seeing Hopper try for the ”big hit” present with El. El’s reaction to how few television channels she and Hopper have at the cabin compared to the guys is terrific.
I liked how we got a “Stranger Things” twist on the holiday specials. The “A Christmas Carol” characters chosen by El were excellent choices. As was her mental casting of the Grinch.
The artwork on the cover is well done. I like how we get glimpses of what’s to come without a full fledged spoiler. The cover doesn’t jump out at you as much as some of the other “Stranger Things” titles.
I was very impressed with the artwork on the interior pages. The coloring on “A Christmas Carol” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” made the characters come to life.
While I enjoyed the story, I didn’t enjoy it to the tune of a $6.99 cover price. The geek on a budget in me would have liked to see more content. As is I would recommend hunting this one down in the ding and dent section of your local comic book store.
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