(I originally read these comics in late December 2016)
Paul Dini's 'Jingle Belle' is that rare thing: a humour comic that's actually funny. It also gets better as the stories go on, which thus far in my reading is up to 2002. Not that it starts off entirely fully-formed. Stephen DeStefano's cartooning on the early episodes is an acquired taste at best, and writer Paul Dini has Jingle utter frequent profanities (becoming less frequent as it goes on). They're of the milder variety, sure, but they sit somewhat ill at ease in stories about Santa Claus' delinquent daughter that are surely aimed at readers of 'tween' age and up. It's as if Dini is unsure who he's writing for as the stories, while entertaining, aren't exactly deep.
'Jing' is a teenage elf who lives in the North Pole with her Dad, Santa Claus, and her Mum, the Queen of the Northern Elves, whom she refers to as 'Moms'. She's selfish, given to jealousy and a bit of a tearaway who consistently tops her father's 'Naughty List' for bullying her cousin Rusty and sneaking out to get off with the local Eskimo boys, etc. By the conclusion of the first series, which introduces Santa's archenemy the Blizzard Wizard and Jing's flying steed Thrasher, a farting musk ox, everything is in place for an consistently entertaining succession of occasional limited series and one-shots. Jing shows remorse over a previous, long-ago transgression and tries to right it in the Holiday Hullabaloo issue, in which she also enlists the shrouded, spooky Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come as Santa's stand-in for a store appearance. This issue sees Bill Morrison, J. Bone, Jeff Smith and others on art duties, all of whom have more appealing styles than DeStefano, to my eye. Bone is a frequent contributor from this point, and is arguably Jing's signature artist, drawing all of 'The Mighty Elves' comic and a portion of 'Jubilee', which features a crossover appearance from another of Dini's creations in Sheriff Ida Red. She, Polly Green (a teenage witch) and Tashi Ounce (a snow leopard-girl) would appear to become regular guest stars from this point on.
I can heartily recommend 'The Whole Package' to fans of Dini's Harley Quinn who don't mind reading something outside of the super-hero milieu. However, be aware that the collection is erroneously titled as it misses short, online strips from the previous collections and comics and the 'Dash Away All' original graphic novel.
NB. The Oni Double Feature # 12 issue doesn't feature Jingle Belle but does feature a Dini-written strip that is concluded in the succeeding issue and which fans might want to track down.
The Jingle Belle strips from Oni Double Feature (1998) # 13 and Oni Press Summer Vacation Supercolor Fun Special (2000) and Jingle Belle (1999) # 1/2, Jingle Belle's All-Star Holiday Hullabaloo (2000), Jingle Belle: The Mighty Elves (2001), Jingle Belle: Jubilee (2001) and Jingle Belle: Winter Wingding (2002) are collected in:
Softcover:
The Jingle Belle strips from Oni Double Feature (1998) # 13 and Oni Press Summer Vacation Supercolor Fun Special (2000) and Jingle Belle (1999) # 1/2 are collected in:
Softcover:
Jingle Belle's All-Star Holiday Hullabaloo (2000), Jingle Belle: The Mighty Elves (2001) and Jingle Belle: Jubilee (2001) are collected in:
Softcover:
