Christmas in the Comics
The holidays come once every 12 issues.
Comic book time is strange. A comic that came out a few decades ago occurred only a few years ago to the characters. And yet every December, somewhere within the Marvel and DC universes, at least one title is having a Christmas issue.
Here’s just a sample of holiday-themed issues—not a “best of” list or any sort of ranking, just some good comics that have something to do with the holidays.
Uncanny X-Men #143 (by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, 1980)
Not everyone celebrates Christmas, of course. The newest and youngest X-Man, Kitty Pryde, is experiencing her first Hanukkah away from home. Worse, the rest of the team has gone out to enjoy Christmas Eve, leaving the kid all alone in a big old mansion. Even worse still, a monstrous demon attacks the mansion that very night.
Kitty, still early in her training, must combine skill, brains, and courage to stop this demon, though she’d settle on merely surviving its attack. It wasn’t long ago that one of the original X-Men died, which raises the stakes and sense of vulnerability here.
This is like Die Hard before there was a Die Hard, and it’s an excellent done-in-one Kitty Pryde story that cements her as an X-Man with tons of potential (which she would indeed live up to over the years). The kid did a lot of growing up on this Christmas Eve.
Superman #76 (by Dan Jurgens, 1992)
Superman had just died in #75. “The Death of Superman” wasn’t really about his death, though; it was about what came after his death. “Funeral for a Friend” and “The Reign of Supermen” defined Superman by his absence and showed the world why the character still mattered.
Superman #76 occurs in the middle of the funeral storyline, shortly after the funeral itself. The Justice League honors Superman’s memory by carrying on his Christmas tradition.
The Metropolis Post Office receives numerous letters addressed to Superman every year, all seeking his aid in ways that don’t involve facing off against supervillains. Each Christmas, Superman would try to answer as many as he could—not in writing, but by performing an array of smaller good deeds. But he’s gone now, so other superheroes are stepping up and following his example.
Meanwhile, the only civilians who know Superman’s secret—the Kents, Lois Lane, and Lana Lang—share their grief and discuss whether to reveal Clark’s secret. Jimmy Olsen bonds with a teenager who was saved by Superman during his final battle and is experiencing survivor’s guilt. Attention-seekers try to capitalize on the national mourning. And nefarious people steal Superman’s body.
It’s a shame that the death issue is the one that got all the media attention.
Flash #87 (by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo, 1993)
When does Christmas not feel like Christmas? When an unseasonable heatwave raises temperatures to 90+ degrees, turning Keystone into a city of cranky Grinches and Scrooges.
Flash (Wally West) normally loves the season, but he’s plenty cranky himself. It’s been a rough year. He was looking forward to some Christmas cheer. But instead, he encounters greed and selfishness everywhere—and not just from criminals, though they’re plenty active too.
Wally scores a victory against some drug dealers, which starts to raise his spirits … until he learns he’s being sued for negligence.
A Christmas issue doesn’t have to be a feel-good break from the usual action. As with other examples here, it can also be woven into ongoing storylines. This one ties into a supervillain’s plot to wear down the Flash and bring him to his breaking point. Just like in the real world, sometimes the holiday season runs us ragged.
Generation X #4 (by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo, 1995)
Generation X featured the next generation of young mutants who were learning how to survive a world that feared and hated them. Banshee and the White Queen served as the teachers, and most of the students were new characters we were still getting to know in the fourth issue.
This story is set during the holiday season, but it’s not cheery. The team encounters a horribly disfigured kid who’s been banned from a local school for fear that he’s a mutant who might “contaminate” all the “normal” kids. One kind teacher vouched for him, but the rest of the community treated him as a monster. This leads to an unfortunate hostage situation with a tragic end.
The Generation X students learn how relatively fortunate they are. For all their many problems, they’ve at least found a place to belong. Not everyone can say the same.
Starman #27 (by James Robinson and Steve Yeowell, 1996)
The 1990s Starman series by James Robinson is excellent overall and deserves a full retrospective post at some point. Back in the first issue, the original Starman needed to retire, so he passed the mantle on to his oldest son … who almost immediately got himself killed. The younger brother, Jack Knight, reluctantly accepted the superhero role (though not the costume), but he still needed to grow into the role and learn to appreciate his father’s legacy, a maturation that would occur over the course of the 80-issue series.
This Christmas issue shows Jack being heroic in a smaller but still meaningful way, and it also showcases quiet moments with the ever-evolving supporting cast.
The plot is simple: Jack encounters a sad, homeless Santa Claus and helps him reclaim a lost memento, even though doing so makes Jack late for Christmas dinner with family and friends. The fate of the city is not at stake, but Starman’s assistance means the world to this one person who’s lost so much.
The book ends on a heartwarming note and shows how Christmas stories don’t need to be big—and often shouldn’t be.
Superman #165 (by Jeph Loeb and various artists, 2000)
Superman visits his JLA teammates one or two at a time and gives them amusing little gifts. What do you buy the Flash? Tube socks, of course.
But that’s not the substance of the issue.
This takes place shortly after Lex Luthor was elected president of the United States in the DC Universe, and Superman had been struggling to come to terms with the results. How could the American people cast their votes for a man as despicable as Luthor? And what, if anything, should Superman do about it? (And no, Lex is not a stand-in for any real-world politician. I believe this stemmed from the realization that the DCU president doesn’t need to be the real-world president, leading to a “Wouldn’t it be interesting if …?” sort of idea.)
Talking with friends and listening to their diverse viewpoints helps Superman get some perspective and come to some sort of peace. He’s still not happy about the election, and he’ll remain vigilant about what President Luthor does in office. But as Wonder Woman says, “If you let this turn into an obsession, then Luthor has already defeated you.”
So, he decides not to let this consume him. Life will continue. He’ll enjoy Lois’s company for a weekend getaway in the bottle city of Kandor. And somehow or another, the American way will prevail in the end. As will the Christmas spirit.
The issue features several guest artists—a different one for each of Superman’s visits with his teammates. Normally, the drastically different styles would be jarring, but it suits the structure of this particular issue and adds to its “holiday special” feel.
The Spectacular Spider-Man #27 (by Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham, 2005)
Christmas and ghosts have gone hand in hand at least since Charles Dickens, but even in comics, the ghosts don’t need to be literal. Memories of lost loved ones can haunt as well as comfort. And Peter Parker has lost many loved ones during his young life.
Writer Paul Jenkins delivers a quiet, character-driven issue, without even a glimpse of any villainous scheme. Peter visits the grave of his Uncle Ben and imagines a conversation with this kind man who raised him—and whom he failed.
We see snippets of Peter’s happy childhood in which he and Ben would build elaborate snowmen, much to the consternation of Aunt May. The book then goes even further back in time to when Peter’s parents were still alive. Peter recalls an excruciatingly awkward moment in a school play, when he failed with everyone watching.
This nonviolent story shows how guilt isn’t the only thing that created Spider-Man—an abundance of love also shaped him.
Detective Comics #826 (by Paul Dini and Don Kramer, 2007)
The festive holiday season provides a backdrop to gripping tension and action. During a moment of desperation, Robin (Tim Drake) makes the mistake of getting into a stranger’s car. Turns out, the Joker is at the wheel.
Joker ties up the Boy Wonder in the passenger’s seat and makes Robin watch helplessly as he runs over random pedestrians. And whenever he gets bored killing innocents, the Joker will probably kill Robin, too. It’s a death trap with psychological torture thrown in.
This is one of those done-in-one short stories that writer Paul Dini excels at. The Joker is at his most terrifying, and Robin needs to be at his most resourceful, which will require him to maintain his calm in the face of horrific murders.
It might not get you into the Christmas spirit, but it is a great comic set during Christmas.
Hawkeye #6 (by Matt Fraction and David Aja, 2012)
The story depicts six December days in Hawkeye’s life, but out of order. The reader, then, must piece everything together along the way, kind of like assembling a jigsaw puzzle.
Appropriately for a holiday issue, the theme is home. Specifically, Clint has recently moved into an apartment—he’s even bought the whole building—and he needs to embrace his new home and resist his usual impulse to run away to the next thing. The book also throws in some indirect echoes of It’s a Wonderful Life, as Clint learns about his own value, too.
“I know it’s a mess and it’s half-taped together and it’s old and busted—but it’s mine. And you gotta make that work, right? You gotta make your own stuff work,” Clint says late in the chronology but early in the book, before we know exactly what he’s talking about.
David Aja’s art is terrific throughout. He’s a master of incorporating tiny panels into his layouts, which must be a challenge for any comic book artist. However, the most memorable image is a splash panel of an injured Hawkeye getting ready to defend his home. Clint appears small in the lower foreground while a bland apartment building consumes most of the page, with only snow breaking it up. It’s a wonderful image that encapsulates what the issue is all about.
Those are merely some of the many holiday-themed comics published over the years. There’s no way I was fitting them all in a single post. Feel free to highlight other good ones in the comments!