

For those of you who might not be familiar with it, Power Records was a line of albums that delivered audio adventures of your favorite super-heroes back in the '70s, and if you're into the weirder bits of pop culture that comic books have gotten into over the years they are awesome. Sadly, with the demise of vinyl and no plans to re-release them, Power Records are becoming increasingly hard to find.

But as a wise man once said, "it's Christmas, Theo: The season of miracles." One of those Christmas miracles came today, when CA Reader Jason McNeil sent along a YouTube version of the 20-minute "Batman's Christmas Carol Caper!" So curl up by the fire and get ready to experience the yuletide cheer of three attempted murders, oppression of the poor, and of course, Batman's singing voice!



The Christmas Carol Caper, Part One:

The Christmas Carol Caper, Part Two:



I gotta say, I love this story. There's just so much beautiful craziness going on here, starting with Batman answering his phone. Not only does Batman have a phone, but anyone just call up and start singing murder threats at him. This. Is. Amazing.

For one thing, it implies that Batman's listed in the phone book, which makes me wonder if he's listed under "Batman," or if there's a section in the yellow pages for Costumed Vigilantes. It's also pretty great that Batman, grim avenger of the night, answers his phone with a cheery "Hello?", but I'll give him that one. I mean, it is Christmas, and since "the thousand frightening voices of terror" are a little quieter than usual, Batman's probably in a pretty good mood.

It's also pretty amazing that Batman just cold leaves his house and starts walking down the street, much like he did in those classic Bob Haney / Jim Aparo stories:



Of course, this was during the era when the Batcave was beneath the Wayne building right in the heart of Downtown Gotham, so in that respect, it makes sense. It makes slightly less sense, however, that Batman and Robin talk about how their Batarang can smack people upside the head from around the corner, because "it works like a boomerang!"

First of all, Robin, thanks for pointing that out. I don't know if I would've been able to figure out for myself whether the Batarang was anything like a boomerang. Second, I've played a lot of Zelda games and I'm not really sure that's how boomerangs work.

But whatever the case, it's enough to knock out Rudolph the Red-Nosed Hitman, giving Batman and Robin the confidence to continue on their way. Because he is definitely the only person in all of Gotham City who would want to kill Batman. There is no one else.

And the weirdness just continues, through Batman apparently forgetting the words to "Jingle Bells" (or at least realizing that it reminds him of the time the Joker got away), and the fact that this is quite possibly the only Christmas story I've ever heard that involves the phrase "a sleazy go-go joint." Seriously, how much would it have improved It's Christmas, Charlie Brown if they'd dropped that one in there during Linus's spotlight speech?

But in the end, it's a lot of fun, and here at ComicsAlliance, it's certainly going to be part of our Christmas traditions from now on. Here's hoping it's part of yours too!