Comicon Advent Calendar Day 14 — The Reason For The Season With More Klaus
by Scott Redmond
The days are getting colder, but we’re still bringing that warm holiday cheer with day (number) of Comicon’s Advent Calendar.
Every year it feels like the celebration and commercialization of Christmas begins in an earlier and earlier period of time. Other holidays becoming overshadowed by the aisles of decorations, accessories, and items on sale.
What if though, it was Christmas all the time? To some that would seem a paradise, but what if that Christmas always held a dark alien harmful secret? Well now, that sounds like the perfect time for a jolly red-clad hero to step up and save the day.
Tis the season to dip into the wonder that is Klaus and the Crisis in Xmasville from Grant Morrison, Dan Mora, and Ed Dukeshire.
A while back, two years ago to be precise, my good long-time pal Tony Thornley and I extolled the amazingness that is Klaus. The TLDR of the whole thing is the legend of Santa is real, but not what you expect. This isn’t the jolly belly like a bowl of jelly fellow of the stories and Coca-Cola cans. No no, this is Santa as a Robin Hoodesque muscular badass weapon wielding superhero.
The original miniseries was a sort of year one story that showcased who Klaus is and his dedication to his mission. Crisis in Xmasville is one of a number of one-shots that followed, pitting the superhero Santa against a variety of supernatural and otherworldly threats centered around the winter holiday.
Imagine that town we spoke of at the beginning. One where everyone has become a mind-controlled Santa or is put to work in factories, while the children are put in a worse spot. A horrific being is selling their imagination to an alien race that stopped dreaming long-ago. It’s as wild as it sounds, and the team pulls out all the stops.
I don’t want to spoil too much more as it’s worth the full read, but there are werewolves, space ships, magic flare guns, Grandfather Frost (or Ded Moroz) with his own Batcave, and a whole lot more. It’s all brought to vivid spectacular life by the ever-awesome Mora who creates a little different feeling color job giving just a slight shift to his usual work.
Fight back against the corporatism that has taken the holiday by reading this comic book born from creators working under the umbrella of a corporation.
