Believe it or not, there was a comic book version of this holiday "classic" flick...
...in 1966, from Dell Comics!
Next Friday: Santa's trip to Mars...
(...not to be confused with Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars!)
The writer/adaptor is unknown, but the art is by Bob Jenney, who did quite a few movie and tv adaptations for Dell.
The actual title of the comic is Dell Movie Classic #725. Not only was it sold on newsstands, but it was packaged with an LP album of the movie's audio including dialogue, sound effects and (shudder) the earworm-creating theme song! (Remember, they didn't have streaming services, DVDs/Blu Rays, or even videocassettes back in the 1960s!)
Starring a host of tv and b-movie actors including handsome-but-wooden Leonard Hicks as the benevolent Martian leader Kimar, 60s villain/voiceover artist Vincent Beck (who did lots of work for Irwin Allen's sci-fi shows) as the film's mustache-twirling, scenery-chewing Martian villain, Voldar, and John Call as a pretty damn convincing cuddly Santa Claus, the film is classic kiddie matinee programming at its' retro campy best!
The plot's pretty simple.
The children of Mars are in a funk.
The adult Martians deduce it's due to the children's strict and sterile upbringing, and that to "normalize" them, the kids must have fun!
And what could be more fun than celebrating Christmas?
But, to do a proper Christmas, you need a Santa Claus!
Thus, the Martians journey to Earth to kidnap Santa Claus and force him to create a Christmas celebration on Mars!
Then, as they used to say in TV Guide's plot listings, hilarity ensues! (well, sorta)
As an example of low-budget filmmaking, it's amazingly-effective.
Every penny (what few of them they had) is up on the screen.
The costuming and Santa's Workshop and Mars sets are as good as those of tv shows of the period.
(The Martian robot is probably the weakest element from a design and execution standpoint, but, hey, nobody's perfect!)
There's extensive use of military stock footage (from Dr. Strangelove, no less).
And, the idea to utilize the then-current Wham-O Air Blaster toy guns as Martian weapons was either a stroke of marketing genius or clever use of limited funds. Either way, sales of the guns shot thru the roof after the film hit the kiddie matinee circuit!
If you're between 3-9 years old, the flick's a lot of fun.
If you're between 10 and whatever the local drinking age is, it'll drive you nuts, especially the theme song! And to prove it...here it is!
If you're over the local drinking age...do so before watching! It's available on a host of public domain DVDs and BluRays as well as one of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 snarkfests.
BTW: The image at top is the cover of the comic book tie-in. There was also a 45rpm single of the theme, a spoken-word LP album of the movie's dialogue (which included the comic book), and a novelization, all of which are HTF...and expensive when you do find them!
Be Here Next Friday,
when we begin our re-presentation of the comic book adaptation of the movie!
Now I can't get that damn theme out of my head..."Hoo-ray for Santy Claus..."
Craig (Golden Age Sandman) Flessel told the tale (with, admittedly, a lot of editing) in two pages, as shown in the Yuletide issue of Boys' Life Magazine (December 1952)! MERRYCHRISTMAS!
But this little guy was almost as popular in the 1950s, though, sadly, largely forgotten today!
To Be Continued...
Next Friday!
Written by the character's creator Charles Tazewell and illustrated by Mel Crawford, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color Comics #864 (1957) is an original tale, not an adaptation of a previously-published prose tale!
