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fabled comedian creatorFrank Milleris known by many for his contributions to theBatmanmythos , but few hoi polloi realize it all start with aChristmasstory . TheDC Super - Star Holiday Specialfrom 1980 featured a gay batting order of Christmas - themed tale revolving around various DC character reference including Jonah Hex , The Legion of Super - Heroes , and even the server ofThe House of Mystery . One news report in special gained important significance in the years since its outlet , a Batman story calledWanted : Santa Claus - Dead or Alive!featuring the first published Batman employment by succeeding superstar author / artist Frank Miller .
Most comic devotee are well mindful of Frank Miller ’s best - deal Batman solve . One of thebest origin comics ever written , Batman : Year Onerepresented a sword Modern take on Batman ’s origin that became the model for Batman ’s former days for most every subsequent Batman writer . Meanwhile , Batman : The Dark Knight Returnsshowed readers a futurist world featuring an old Batman coming out of retreat long beforeBatman Beyond . Miller ’s characterization of Batman has become in and of itself linked with the character , with some viewing Miller as the creator of the modern Batman .
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While only time in at 10 pages , want : Santa Claus - Dead or Alive!has some amazing imagination . Santa Claus with a split running down his nerve , Batman throw a miniature Christmas tree at some bad guys in lieu of a Batarang and Santa getting gunned down are only some of the unhinged moments pack into this Christmas narration ( although not closely as disturbed as when theEaster Bunny hired Lobo to vote down Santa . ) The level follows an ex - sting named Boomer who gets released from prison and secures a job as a Mall - Santa in rescript to help his protagonist break in and loot the stead after hours . design fall apart as Boomer has a change of heart - playing Santa has infect him with the Christmas spirit . Boomer ’s vicious brother are n’t felicitous and they force him to let them into the shopping centre . Boomer tries to miss but is photograph down , which Batman hear in clock time to take out most of the bad guys . One of the criminals begin aside with Boomer as a hostage while Batman is n’t looking , but the Christmas star glow a beam on them from the sky , alerting Batman to their front in time for him to save Boomer . really a Christmas miracle .
Not only wasDC Super - Star Holiday SpecialMiller ’s first Batman floor , but it would also denounce the first metre he worked with thelate outstanding laughable book icon Denny O’Neil , who was subservient in Miller receive his vocalism as a Divine . When Frank Miller was approached in tardy 1979 to pencil the Batman story that would come along in theDC Super - Star Holiday Special , he was only 22 years sometime and was already a penciler on his now - legendary discharge on Daredevil , but he was n’t write yet , something that would change due to Miller and O’Neil ’s working human relationship .
Wanted : Santa Claus - Dead or Alive!was written by O’Neil , who would leave DC for Marvel not long after the vacation special was release . O’Neil would turn with Miller again onAmazing Spider - Man Annual # 14before taking over editorial duties on Daredevil and gift Miller a shot at writing . The first Daredevil issue write by Miller wasDaredevil # 168 , the first appearing of Elektra . The remainder , they say , is history .
While unmistakably an early effort onFrank Miller ’s part , his partnership with Denny O’Neil inWanted : Santa Claus - Dead or Alive!marked a turning point for the valet who would help specify not onlyBatman , but comic books in general , which is the trueChristmasmiracle .
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