12/22/23: MALL SANTA CODE

SEASON’S BEATINGS and other festive comics tidings…

Happy Holidays y’all,

It’s a time of year that, personally, I’m only fond of to a point. But the holiday and the gathering of family around it means quite a bit to my mom, and so as a result its gravitational pull has a bit more heft than some of the other seasons.

So perhaps because of that, one of the traditions I’ve tried to uphold for most of my career is making a yearly holiday comic of some sort. Once I even did one for hire.

(Above: Deadpool hates me. It’s canon or whatever. Art by THE Greg Hinkle.)

Looking back on it— SEASON’S BEATINGS #1 was the beginning of the end of my time at Marvel. Charitably put— in the days post-Spider-Gwen I was having a hard time finding an ongoing series that both interested me and Marvel felt I was a good fit for. Ultimately this led to me ping-ponging around from one shot to one shot— trying my best to get my…um… let’s call it a non-conformist vision of superhero comics into print.

Anyway, for about my 4th one-shot, I accepted the offer to write Marvel’s holiday special. Mostly because I couldn’t resist the allure of doing a true HOLIDAY SPECIAL. One I hoped might stand up next to those all-star roasts of yesteryear. 

So of course, while I was off dreaming up the guest list for the classiest of Christmas parties— someone at Marvel mailed out my invitations with Deadpool on the cover. 

Reminding myself of the season— I’ll just say that the silly frustrations that came from just trying to do a fun, theme comic kind of became the tipping point for me. And to be fair— probably for them too. Still, in the end, I got most of the creative teams I wanted to work with approved. And for me, that was enough reason to see the gig through. 

And though it is FAR from perfect— I’m pretty fond of most of what that weird little comic became. In particular, I tend to frequently revisit the wild Kate Bishop/Quentin Quire team-up tale that I told with Veronica Fish. Here’s a hopping and skipping sample of the story: 

Elevator pitch—someone killed the Mall Santa. To solve it— Hawkeye and her telepathic pal Quentin investigate the mysteries of Christmas and the human mind. 

My name is Uwe J. Krampus. I own a mansion and a yacht:

Comedic timing is a nebulous thing to pin down in still images. Even the most seasoned writer/artist duos can struggle with it (see what I did there? Clap for what I did there! Clap damn you!). But even on an absurdly short deadline— Veronica‘s art nailed so much of the acting and tone that I saw in my mind’s eye.

So yeah— murderous, drunken Mall Santas— Festive Fun for the whole family! 

That said, not all of the stories in Season’s Beatings were so dark. The Peter Parker/Miles Morales short with Brunner and Renzi is a nice emotional roller coaster. Squirrel Girl takes a moment to think about Doctor Doom’s feelings. And the work Greg Hinkle did handling the Deadpool/X-Force framing sequences is worth the price of admission alone.

But predictably— the comic came and went without much attention or fanfare. Which really didn’t matter much to me. Because at the end of the day, some talented folks got paid to take a stab at putting fun holiday comics into the world. And I got a chance to try and subvert the kind of comic you’d see thrown into a kid’s Happy Meal. 

Silly, or Grinchy as that sounds— I think if you’re gonna do Holiday comics— you’re leaving too much on the table if you don’t point out that all the carols and egg nog in the world don’t drown out the frustration and absurdity of the other 11 months of life.

(Above: My variant cover for Marvel’s SEASON’S BEATINGS #1- 2018)

Much like that life off the page— when I sit down to do a holiday comic those darker feelings tend to arm wrestle with the season’s call to rise above them. These are big, weird, stories we tell one another this time of year, but if there’s any real point or commonality between them I’d say it’s probably the search for connectivity and community. Y’know— sorta the whole point of stories all together.

I guess that’s why, despite the cynicism carried in this crusty old Werther’s Original I call a heart— you’ll probably find me up late at night on Christmas Eve. Writing and drawing some silly comic about murdering mall Santas or some such.

If you want to read this one— it’s probably still available digitally. Or better yet out there gift wrapped in some yellowing dollar bin. Not a bad fate. Especially if it brings someone budget comics buyer some unexpected holiday cheer.

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Speaking of holidays comics. I was struck at the eleventh hour with an idea for a Frisky Fox entry to the genre. So I’m presently blasting my way through that in hopes that I at least get it out before the New Year.

Here’s a panel from it (believe it or not)…

Okay, okay— that’s it for now. Watch this space for updates. And if you don’t hear from me between now and then—

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, y’all…

-j