Comicon Advent Calendar 2024 Day 14: Hellish Holidays With ‘Power Man & Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual’
by Scott Redmond
The pressure is mounting. The holidays are truly right around the corner, and the last minute things are piling up. Take a deep breath, because at least there aren’t hell beasts to deal with. See isn’t that a small relief?
Welcome to Day 14 of the Comicon Advent Calendar 2024, where there will actually be hell dimensions, capitalistic greed, and a certain fellow whose belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly. As we bring you Power Man & Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual #1 from 2016. A wintery holiday tale from David Walker, Scott Hepburn, Matt Milla, and Clayton Cowles.
Speaking of pressure, our title heroes are on the hunt for the seasons’ most in demand toy. Not even being superheroes means escaping the commercialism and marketing of the holidays, especially since Luke Cage has his young daughter Danielle. Good thing uncle Danny Rand is hip (and a child at heart), since he loves the video game turned toy line known as the Schuckies as much as Danielle.
What goes down is some typical Marvel style team-up shenanigans as the duo are split apart. Leaving Luke to help new parent Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman with her crying son Gerry while Danny and Danielle hunt for the coveted toys. Outside of the chaos, there are some really sweet and developing scenes such as Luke and Jessica conversing about the hardships of parenthood that are compounded by their chosen life paths.
Too bad for all of them the toys are a demonic plot by the evil Krampus, which Damian Hellstrom has come to stop. Oh, did I forget to mention that the Son of Satan was part of this team-up story? Well he sure is. Decked out in a full Santa suit to boot, because that surly demonic man sure knows how to show off holiday spirit.
Speaking of the man in red, the whole plot revolves around Krampus invading Earth (Christmas being the one day a year he can emerge to feed on wicked children’s souls) because no one has seen the Earth’s champion St. Nicholas/Santa Claus in a century. Smells like some foreshadowing…
This story’s got everything. Demonic toys, evil soul stealing demons, superhero smack downs, quips of every type (epic and cheesy), jokes, parenting woes, comments on capitalism, and a heroic bad ass Santa Claus. Can’t ask for much more. Hepburn and Milla are a dynamic duo themselves here, giving everything this rough yet epic sort of energy. Really capturing the various aspects of Marvel in vivid detail.
So grab some cocoa, put those mounting pressures aside for a few more moments, and prepare to laugh and gasp in that epic Marvel style.
