Creators Pick Their Favourite Christmas Comics 2025

Seasons Greetings From The Industry

A couple of years ago Tripwire’s editor -in-chief Joel Meadows and contributing writer Paul Neal put together a fun article that asked some of our friends to discuss their favourite Christmas comics. Indeed, it was updated with new contributions in 2024

A link to that that updated article is provided below. It is worth reading.
https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/creators-pick-their-favourite-christmas-comics-2/

Regardless of the dark nights and the cold weather, Tripwire chose to fearlessly charge on with the festive spirit in mind for 2025. Neal once again asked some our latest friends to share some of their favourite memories of reading Christmas comics…

John Wagner
(Legendary Judge Dredd co-creator and writer, Batman, writer, A History Of Violence)
One story I did enjoy re-reading was A Merry Tale of the Christmas Angel.  It’s got a lobotomised Mean Machine Angel fostered on an innocent couple for Christmas dinner.  They make the mistake of giving him a present of a cute little Dredd jack-in-the box that pops out swinging its daystick setting Mean off on a butt-fest.  He goes on to launch a spectacular dive butt at Dredd as well as butting the donkey in a very non-PC version of the nativity play.  It can be hard coming up with something different for a Christmas story, but Alan Grant and I had a real laugh writing that one.  As a bonus it also has Steve Dillon art.

TRIPWIRE NOTE: The story John Wagner references was originally published in 2000AD Prog 450 published on 28 December 1985, it was also reprinted in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 9.

Andrew Sawyers
(’77 Artist, Shift, Pandora)

Comic Books and Christmas? Paul and the boys at Tripwire surely come up with some tough questions, but this is no Turkey…

Hmmmm, being such a puritanical zealot as a young child – it was quite literally 2000AD or bust, and I would only, stubbornly peruse occasionally Battle Action, or the odd copy of Commando or War Picture Library!!!

My first experiences of comics and Christmas were pretty much distilled for many years down to the Christmas Annual – yup you guessed it 2000AD and Judge Dredd – so much so, as long as I got those things I cared for little else and was otherwise very happy to celebrate the big day as is…

That’s just how good they were. You’d have to have the festive Prog and two spring to mind. McMahon’s Prog 296 – which quite frankly terrified me with a looming monolithic Judge Dredd stomping through the snow past aghast children.

Like previous entries, and as many contemporaries have may have stated, one of the purposes of a cover is to tell a story. The old age adage is a picture tells a thousand words, Mighty Mick has surely achieved as such here – hours, days perhaps even weeks were spent staring at this cover. Where was he going, why is everyone so fearful?

Conversely – those who know me well, Alan Davis is king in this house and quite possibly was the touchstone, along with the British Invasion to encourage me to explore the rest of comic fiefdom. Again, everything comes back to 2000AD, and Alan’s cover for prog 450 in 1985 had the infamous DR & Quinch hijacking Christmas!!! It was beautifully executed, and even as a super serious kid this raised a festive smile and stirred a little Yuletide cheer.

Which leads me to Grant, Giffen and Bisley’s 1991’s Lobo: Paramilitary Christmas – hot on the heels of the super successful miniseries the Tres Diablos, The Triumvirate of Terror were back with a Christmas Special.

Naturally with Alan Grant as one half of the writing team – that anarchic punk chaos humour was in full riotous effect and only furthered to encourage Simon Bisley to almost jam on the page ‘heavy metal demo’ style with abundant glee. This was the perfect palette cleanser to a preceding decade of otherwise doom and gloom and, in their own unique way, spread a little festive cheer.

Shaky Kane
(writer-artist, Deadline, Bulletproof Coffin)

A favourite Christmas comic book? Although not strictly a Christmas comic book, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen issue 49 from December 1960 ‘The Fat Boy of Metropolis’ springs readily to mind.

During a visit to Professor Potter’s Laboratory, in a cruel twist of fate, Jimmy inadvertently drinks the Professor’s vitamin formula. A formula which effects the thyroid glands of animals doubling their weight overnight. Following a work sleep-over, Jimmy awakes to find his pyjamas splitting at the seams, as the formula takes effect. Perry White kindly loans him his father’s Sant Claus costume!  In one memorable panel Lucy Lane spots the oversized Santa bearing Jimmy’s resemblance.

But that’s impossible, she reasons, Jimmy’s face is thin not fat!

José Villarrubia

(Comic Book artist and colourist, Promethea, Fantastic Four 1234, Amazing Spider-man and many more)

My favourite holiday comic short stories are all by Richard Corben. Christmas horror was a common theme for Creepy’s special issues, and Corben contributed three of his best works to the genre. My personal favourite is “Bless Us Father,” (Creepy # 59) about an escaped killer in a Santa suit. While Johnny Craig pioneered this premise in the classic EC story “And All Through the House,” writer and artist Bill DuBay structures this version with two parallel narratives. Corben uses a painted style here reminiscent of the work that Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder and Jack Davis did for Playboy’s “Little Annie Fanny.” It is a storytelling tour de force that anticipates the experimental narratives of the next generation of writers. And it has a surprising “happy ending,” or, more accurately, a bittersweet one.

Interest in the occult, paganism, and witchcraft was on the rise in the late sixties and early seventies. The film Rosemary’s Baby (1968) had recently introduced the coming of the Antichrist to contemporary audiences. Clearly influenced by this, “Anti-Christmas” (Creepy # 68) (written by Gerry Boudreau) features a pastor attempting to stop such an arrival. The art tells the story through a contrasting combination of cool winter images and violent bursts of red, an effect seen in the Italian Giallo horror movies of the era.

Finally, “The Believer,” (Creepy # 77) written by Budd Lewis, is a Dickensian Christmas fable. It offers another variation on the ‘wrong person as Santa Claus’ theme, but with a much more positive, even sentimental, message. Corben’s pitch-perfect character design, expressive acting and immersive settings make the story’s twist ending pack a genuine emotional punch.

Brad Walker

(Artist: Superman, Detective Comics)

Not sure if anybody’s mentioned this one yet, but my pick is Amazing Spider-Man 314, by David Michelinie, Todd McFarlane, Bob Sharon, and Rick Parker. It might seem a slightly basic answer, but it was the first issue of Spidey I bought off the rack, with my own money. I’d bought a bunch of GI Joe and Batman previously, and I had a stack of Spidey’s a family friend had given me. But this was the first one I took the initiative to pick up, and it’s where my comic and Spider-Man collecting really cemented themselves as fixtures in my life.

Apart from the personal aspect though, it’s a great, 22-page Christmas tale, and just a great, “done in one” Spider-Man story. It’s about a normal guy, going through a rough time during the holidays, fighting, doing the right thing out of pride, and ultimately letting go and making himself happy by making others happy.

There’s some fun Todd McFarlane action that would seem obligatory, but it actually does relate thematically and move Peter’s personal dilemma in the right direction. I love the repeated bit where he hesitates at going into action, but takes a deep breath and relents, first at Mary Jane’s prodding, then just finding the drive within himself. It’s a nice reminder that Peter is not an extraordinary person, like Superman. He’s a normal person who struggles, screws up and resents his responsibilities like we all do. But he always shows us to pause, find our centre and do what we know is right. I always connected with that aspect of the character. It folds neatly into a Christmas story by reminding the reader that Christmas is for helping people and thinking of the ones you love, not just carols, lights and presents.

But even apart from all that, I think my favourite moment in the whole issue is a simple, little page where he visits Flash Thompson. His friend and former tormentor, without even being asked, he offers Peter all he has in the world, to help him out of a rough spot. It punches me in the gut every time I read that page, and it’s as Christmassy a scene as I can think of anywhere, comic or otherwise.

It’s a beautiful little issue, and it’s well worth a read or a reread.

Dakota Alexander

(Indie creator of “The Hunter”)

I love Christmas-themed comics, though surprisingly I haven’t read too many Christmas themed comics.

One comic though that I got as a Christmas stocking stuffer was the DC anthology comic Christmas with the Super-Heroes.

I would say that the Christmas with the Superheroes holds a very nostalgic place in my heart out of pure nostalgia, but upon a quick reread, I find that it is really a great collection of Bronze Age stories with a huge roster of talent: Nick Cardy, Frank Miller, Neal Adams, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Curt Swan, Denny O’Neil and Len Wein.

My Personal favourite was the 1979 Denny O’Neil / Frank Miller story, “Wanted: Santa Claus- Dead or Alive!” which is the story of an ex-con who does a Santa gig in order to pull a heist at the department store- only to have a change of heart. Really great early Miller panel work to fit O’Neil’s writing.

Though if I had to pick which Christmas Story I enjoy the most, it would be Hellboy A Christmas Underground by Mike Mignola.

There isn’t really a Mignola Hellboy story that I don’t like. And this one is such a great caper with so much fantastic Irish folklore woven in. It’s funny, it’s gothic, it’s mythic, and it looks great. Del Toro even lifted the idea of Hellboy carrying a corpse for his own 2004 Hellboy film and spoilers! This particular story is the catalyst for the entire Hellboy/ Nimue finale storyline to exist. It all started here, folks! This story even inspired me to do my own Hellboy art. Merry Hell-Mas!

Dave Elliot

(Veteran comics writer/ editor, A1 and current mastermind of the A1-Deadline relaunch)

Here’s my offering: Justice League of America issue 110.

Most of the other stories or comics that came to mind were already taken, but all of those were mainly for the covers, especially the Marvel Christmas Treasuries.

I bought this issue off the stands, and it always resonated with me. I loved the Green Lantern issues by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, where they introduced John Stewart, and I liked the contrast between Hal Jordan and John. This issue of Justice League pulled one of their greatest differences to the fore, something that O’Neil and Adams touched upon briefly in Green Lantern.

John Stewart had lived a very different life from Hal Jordan. He’d lived the life of a black man in 60s America, something Hal couldn’t fully empathise with, but Oliver Queen had a better idea. The interplay between these two was different to Ollie’s usual interactions with Hal. I would have loved to have seen a run of Green Lantern with both John and Hal, with Green Arrow and Black Canary. That would have been a real interesting mix for some social commentary of the times.

It was only John who would have thought to let the buildings at the end of the story blow up, and only then rebuild them, as the Guardians wouldn’t have allowed him to just rebuild their homes with his ring. Green Arrow saw right away the real man behind the ring in that moment and saw a brother in John Stewart. I think I was only ten at the time, but it really struck me, clearly because I’m still thinking about it 50 years later.

Nice inks by Dick Giordano on Dick Dillin’s pencils. Either Neal Adams helped out on a few pages, or Dick really tried to channel Neal on some shots of John Stewart. John Stewart was Santa Claus that Christmas.

Howard Victor Chaykin

(Legendary comics writer-artist, American Flagg, The Shadow, Black Kiss and more)

I have, to be sure, a complex relationship with Christmas. Like Jesus, I’m illegitimate, and Jewish. I never knew my biological father, either.

In the name of my mother’s shame, I spent the first three years of my life hiding in plain sight in an extended Catholic family, who invested a certain effort in showing me the error of my Jewish ways.

And in that regard, Christmas presents were just great. All this notwithstanding, despite my easily and early acquired atheism, I’ve done three Christmas related comics pieces over the checkered history of my over a half century career.

The first was an eight-page story for a Marvel Christmas special, a sentimental narrative that still resonates in script, with a certain regret over the visual execution. It featured Nick Fury and told the story of a hard memory making its discomfiting return on what should have been just another Christmas Eve.

I’m a child of the 1950s and spent my boyhood in the company of men who’d served in the Second World War, who shied away from actual accounts of their experience, encoding their stories in rueful comedy and schmaltzy sentimentality, mindsets that I caught and caught hard.

It may be hard for the reader who thinks he knows me, but I am a serious weeper, and easily victimized by sentimental music, story, and yes, fragrances that set off a memory, real or imagined.

I remain proud of the script, and regret the execution of the artwork, which feels slapdash. I wish I’d done a better job in the service to a good script.

On the other hand, the matter of fact ’ness of the artwork serves to distance the story from the usual one note and on the nose melodramatic melancholia that continues to pass for character depth and development in modern mainstream comic books.

So, who can say?

The second was another eight pager, this time for DC Comics, in collaboration with the wildly undervalued Rick Burchett.  A much happier memory, this, to be sure.

My first serious gig in comics was assisting Gil Kane, an autodidact like me, and a veteran of that war. He always insisted that there was a tether connecting those early comic books, drawn by children barely out of short pants, and the big bands of that era.

I never understood this, until I came to understand the impact of the work of Frank Loesser, Van Morrison and Ry Cooder, to name only a few, on my comic book stuff.

Whereas that Marvel story was steeped in melancholia, the DC piece was eight pages of jumping jive, transliterating Hollywood and Broadway’s Stage Door Canteen into a Golden Age superhero story, a good script if I do say so myself, vastly improved by Rick’s confident and charm filled visuals. He made me look better than I have ever deserved, and comic book fans should be embarrassed at not noting Rick Burchett’s casual excellence.

The third is an entry in my rampant river of antisocial smut, the Black Kiss saga, forty-some-odd pages of utter filth under the title of Black Kiss—Xmas In July.  To what I hope is the surprise of no one, I completely reject the censorious notion of “…Gratuitous…” as applied to “…Sex…” or “Violence…”

Fuck that. As they used to say at the late lamented Lone Star Café, “Too much ain’t good enough!”

As ever, trust me on this.

And, as ever, I remain,

Howard Victor Chaykin…A Prince…although not necessarily of Peace.

Comics Tony

(Comics Journalist, Publisher, Comic Scene)

It’s hard to choose your favourite Christmas comic – there have been some great titles but in the UK we also think Christmas Annual, pouring over the pages in between your favourite telly programmes on Christmas and Boxing Day.

I can’t really remember the contents of the comics but it’s the covers I love.  The 1950s or 60s classics from the US with Batman or Superman helping Santa down the chimney or giving him a hand with his sack of presents with an extra bit of Robin are personal favourites. Or the Christmas with Superheroes comics when the Man of Steel gazes suspiciously at a box helpfully labelled lead.  It’s Christmas distilled into one gag.

But I love a British Christmas comic, each one giving the same feeling you get when you unwrap a Christmas present. Pure joy. The festive specials from the Beano, 2000AD or my personal favourite humour title Cheeky Weekly that understood the true meaning of Christmas. A temporary suspension of the weekly comic rules, something a little different with a hint of sparkle.  Christmas allows comics to be louder, sillier, surreal with continuity being thrown out of the window.

They are loved Christmas gifts that many of us kept and reread at this time of year again and again, appreciating something new in the pages as you get older.

I suppose that is why I chose to publish Peter Pan by Stref and Fin Cramb. It’s a classic story by JM Barrie but as it is performed in pantomimes across the country it feels like a Christmas story. I think as you go through different life stages you read something new in the comics pages every time. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Michael Powell

(Writer, Creator and Why I Love Comics admin)

Christmas and comics go together so perfectly, especially as a UK reader used to the tradition of Winter Specials, that choosing just two has been really tricky, but I’ve gone for one British title and an American one.

Christmas comics can sometimes be overly sentimental but are normally fun as well. My first selection, DC’s Ambush Bug: Stocking Stuffer (1985) from Robert Loren Fleming and the late, wonderful Keith Giffen isn’t just fun, it’s one of the funniest comics I’ve ever read.

Behind the cover warning of ‘Caution: Do not open before December 25!’ and an Image of Ambush Bug dressed as Santa singing Happy Birthday to Jesus (“Happy Birthday little swaddling infant!”) lies a tale of murder (“Oooh that felt good!), grave robbing (“Missing Coffin!!), the undead (“My sweet little baby boy! He can’t be a zombie!”) pagan sacrifice, Bugs Bunny parodies and pretty filthy Exorcist references (“Your mother darns socks in Hell!). Fleming and Giffen don’t so much play with the format of comics as play Twister with the format, breaking more fourth walls that Deadpool fighting the Juggernaut. There’s a happy ending as Bug is reunited with resurrected puppet son (probably best not to ask) and as a bonus feature we are told the True Meaning Of Christmas. And the Joker’s in it too!

Next up is something tonally quite different but certainly just as much fun, released during the same Christmas (but cover-dated February 1986) is Captain Britain 14, specifically the story ‘Should Auld Acquaintance…’ from Alan Davis. Set on Christmas Eve, Cap and Megan are visited by DI Dai Thomas, the police officer who had been sniffing around the good Captain’s secret identity since the original Claremont/Trimpe run a decade earlier.

The story itself is a nod to classic video nasty Basket Case complete with mutant child in a bag eating people and it’s certainly very grizzly in parts but it’s also a great end (it’s also the last issue) to a fantastic run, one that had the unenviable task of following Alan Moore’s ground-breaking tenure on the strip. It ends with an immensely satisfying final page that somehow manages to tie up all the loose ends in a neat bow without a single line of dialogue except perhaps my favourite sign off, “Never the end”.

Chris McAuley

(Bestselling writer, StokerVerse comics)

The Transformers Annual 1989 is one of those Christmas gifts that always stays in my memory. I was already a devoted fan of the cartoon, the kind of kid who carried those voices around in my head all day at school, but that annual was the first time the world felt mine in print. It had that proper annual heft to it, like it mattered, like you were being handed something bigger than a normal comic. And right away, Simon Furman’s writing gave the Transformers a weight the TV episodes only hinted at, bigger stakes, sharper character voices, and that slightly haunted sense that these weren’t just toys smashing together, they were veterans of a never-ending war.

What hit me hardest was how Furman made the mythology feel adult without ever talking down to a kid. The ideas felt bold and strange in the best way, fate and identity and the cold mechanics of conflict, but still packed with forward momentum. Even in the recap material and framing, you could feel the confidence of a writer who knew exactly how to make this universe feel coherent and consequential, like every choice left a mark.

Then there was “Altered Images!” and that’s where I got properly hooked on comics as an art form. Lee Sullivan’s sequential storytelling in that strip absolutely entranced me, the way the shapes and shadows carried motion, the way a panel could hit like a drumbeat, the way you could feel time bending just by how an image was composed. It wasn’t just “nice art”, it was the first time I consciously understood that comics have their own kind of spell, that alchemy of pacing and framing and revelation.

And years later, talking with Lee about it, finding out that this was his first sequential art put a glow around the memory I didn’t expect. Suddenly this formative moment for me also had this powerful human origin story attached to it, an artist taking an early step that ended up rerouting some kid’s entire creative life. When I look back at the way I build scenes on the page now, the way I chase clarity in action, or linger on a revealing close-up, I can trace a line straight back to that annual, and the moment I realised comics weren’t just something I liked. They were something I wanted to make

My first experience of 2000AD came through the 2000 AD Winter Special 1994, a Christmas gift from a friend who knew I was ready for something sharper than the usual weekly stuff.

It felt like a proper portal into a whole new corner of British comics. One minute it was festive in the way only 2000AD can be, the next it was weird, grim, funny, and heartfelt. The Judge Dredd strip “Horror House” was the hook that got its claws in first. Dredd dropped into a nightmare funhouse scenario, written by John Wagner and drawn by John Burns, and it had that perfect blend of satire and menace that made Mega-City One feel real. It was my first time meeting Dredd on the page, and I instantly understood why people spoke about 2000AD like it was a rite of passage.

What really stayed with me, though, was the sense of range. The same special also featured Durham Red’s “Ghosts” by Peter Hogan and Mark Harrison, which carried a darker, more atmospheric bite. That mix of tones, genres and voices showed me comics could be hard-hitting and violent. It was a step away from the safety of the Dandy and Beano and into the dark alleys of twisted, creative minds.

Ian D Peterson

(illustrator and comic artist for Warhammer, Vampirella, Tripwire )

When I was asked to write a few words about my favourite Christmas comic, the first thing that sprang to mind was the Rupert Annual dated 1970. Whilst the cover by the brilliant Alfred Bestall has all the characters in a wonderful snowy setting, the interior contents do not really have anything to do with Christmas.

Which brings me to Captain Britain issue number #14 from 1986. Wow, what an issue. “Should Auld Acquaintance…” The final issue of this short, but incredible run.

Scripted and pencilled by the always excellent Alan Davis, the perfect artist for Captain Britain. The story opens on Christmas Eve with Brian and Meggan at home in their lighthouse. Quite unexpectedly, Captain Britain’s ongoing adversary Inspector Dai Thomas knocks on their door, explains that he has figured out his true identity and despite previous issues, would now appreciate some help. The mutual respect that these two characters develop for each other in just a few pages is fantastic. The story progresses from there, a trip to Glasgow, a visit to an alternate reality, a holographic AI butler and a general resolution of most recent storylines. It also has quite a few scenes set in the snow. Very Christmassy.

It would be a couple more years before Captain Britain would return in Excalibur. But for me, this was a glorious ending to my favourite era of the good Captain.

Laurence Alison

(Writer and creator The Odyssey Graphic Novel series and more.)

My Xmas go to book is Craig Thompson’s Blankets. It’s not specifically about Christmas, but it’s set principally in the Midwest of America, and most of the volume is set in the snow, so it always reminds me of that time of year. At over 600 pages, it’s a mammoth, read it over 20 years ago, I guess. And I still have a great fondness for its simplicity… and humble storytelling.

The strange thing is, my son is now in northern Minnesota studying, so it reminds me yet again of a poignant time in my comic reading career when I wasn’t focused on superheroes and a ton of action. People will know that I tend to write plenty of action and plenty of forward momentum, and Blankets is kind of the opposite of that, telling the story of a young man who gradually tells his parents that he’s fallen out of love and faith with Christianity. It’s very gentle storytelling. It’s very Midwest. It’s very beautifully illustrated. And for me it’s very Christmassy.

It’s one of several books that I got after being disillusioned with much of what was going on in both the British scene and overseas in the in America. I got into a period of reading books by Dan Clowes, Chris Ware and even going back to some of the underground stuff by Robert Crumb which is more self-reflective and autobiographic. I’m getting some kind of yearning for that now, if I’m honest, as we head towards Christmas and after a difficult year.

I think as we tend towards the end of the year, Christmas is a good focusing point for us to reflect, think of family, be reflective about ourselves and how we’ve behaved throughout the year with hopefully some of that self-reflection being self-improvement too. Christmas is all about slowing down and my life is 100 miles an hour all the time. I should pick up Blankets again as a Christmas read. It’s beautifully relaxing, it doesn’t have heavy themes in it, and it’s very, very gentle. There’s a place for that in comic books, and there’s a place for that at Christmas time.

Alan Holloway

(Writer, Sentinel and Falcon)

After I graduated from comics like The Beano, Buster and their ilk, (all of whom had a very jolly time at Christmas), my illustrated Christmas cheer was left to 2000AD. Whilst the vast majority of strips ignored Christmas, there has always been a festive Judge Dredd tale, normally something daft. One that stuck with me for many years featured in Prog 44, the very first Christmas issue for the fledgling comic (it’ll never last).

Written by the absolute legend that is John Wagner and illustrated by the other legend that is Mike McMahon, it’s a simple six-page story set when Dredd is a Marshall on Lunar 1, with a ridiculous cloak and all. Whilst the main plot is about a perp trying to cut Dredd’s head off (a reinforced collar puts paid to that malarky), the best bit is the final page, where Dredd agrees to give his feeble robot, Walter, half an hour to give him his presents, which include an automatic nose wiper that I’m still bloody waiting for someone to invent for real! Dredd gives Walter a new drinks dispensing tap, showing a softer side that would get well ironed out in the coming years. This strip holds a special place as it was the start of a tradition, plus it manages to combine B movie action, comedy and pathos in a way that few writers can really achieve (legends can do it, natch). McMahon, of course, effortlessly handles everything as well as ever, and it’s testament to the creators that this daft tale holds up so well nearly fifty years on. Dredd isn’t all softy, of course, sentencing a litter bug to ‘six months penal servitude’, but at least he also wishes him a merry Christmas as he nabs him. See – he isn’t so bad!

As a writer who grew up with 2000AD, it was nice to see Garth Ennis tackle the Christmas story challenge with his customary aplomb in issue #22 of his Hitman series in 1998.

Perhaps influenced by John Wagner’s occasional rhyming Judge Dredd stories, the story of a Christmas hating janitor who accidentally gets a pretty nasty nuclear death touch is accompanied by poetry in the caption boxes. A good example of what to expect here is “Children were handing out seasonal wreaths, and Batman was kicking in seasonal teeth”. As with Preacher, Ennis brings along a permanent artist for the series, this time in the shape of John McCrea, who gets better as the series goes on, and that’s after a very solid start. The series itself, for those not in the know, concerns Tommy Monaghan, a hitman who only takes out bad guys (in his eyes), and has mind reading powers gained from one of DC’s many batshit crossover events, (Bloodlines in case anyone cares). Ennis and McCrea started him off in The Demon as a side character during the event, but I guess they liked him. Hitman itself starts off reasonably light (“Zombie Night In The Gotham Aquarium” anyone?), but gathers seriousness as it goes on, ending up as a real feather in the lads caps. This issue is an obvious fun filler, but I’m glad it’s there, giving readers a bit of fun before things get dark with the six parter “Who Dares Wins”, where Ennis brings out his “invincible SAS lads” trope and much death ensues. Basically, this is only here to make us happy, and “Anyone bitching and moaning instead, might get two in the back of their miserable head”. Merry fekkin’ Christmas.

Marc Deering

(Comics inker and Flipside Comics founder.)

The Spectacular Spider-Man #112

Christmas Comics. I’ll be honest, I cannot recall a lot of comics that were Christmas themed in execution that were favourites of mine. I just never put the two together. BUT, when I thought about it, this is the one that popped into my head immediately. Mostly because of the striking cover by Kyle Baker of Santa Claus with sunglasses on holding a gun. I remembered nothing of the story itself inside but on going back to it, it is a great reminder of what made Spider-Man comics so interesting.

The story is by Peter David (OF COURSE, that’s why), with pencils by Mark Beachum, Inks by Pat Redding and colours by Nelson Yomtov/George Roussos. Spider-Man comics are best when the creatives involved make Spider-Man and his life as complicated and hard as possible. It’s really what brings out the best of him. This issue is filled to the panel borders with drama, confusion, and most of all, frustration for our antagonist, Spider-Man. Every 3 steps forward for him there are another 2 steps backwards.  But the drama comes mostly from his supporting cast. Robbie Robertson has an appearance, Felicia Hardy has a scene where it seems she may be changing her thieving ways, Mary Jane is taking a bath thinking about Peter. But strewn throughout the story is a Mall Santa that is slowly taking notes on certain people. That all comes to a head when he tries to rob Peter’s neighbours, Spider-Man thwarts that but he gets away only to meet the real Santa Claus.

There’s lots of Christmas cheer in here as the issue wraps in a very happy way but also leaves plenty of room for more bad things in the next issue. The story and art works really well here. This is, again, kind of a classic Spider-Man story that is very fun to revisit. I highly recommend it. 😊

Chuck Dixon.

(Novelist, writer of Batman, Punisher and many more)

Two of my favourite talents, Bob Gale and Phil Winslade on an action/adventure Christmas story featuring Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Bob (writer of the Back to the Future movies) is one of the few Hollywood writers to dip his toe into comics who really understands the medium. There’s none of the yak, yak, yak present in the work of too many screenwriters slumming in comics. Bob obviously loves the medium and understands the language. And he wisely writes an invisible hand script that lets Mr. Winslade bring his awesome drawing and storytelling skills to bear.

A sweet little tale told to perfection.