Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Unsuitable Suit"

We showed you how Kris Kringle received his first red suit...

...but what happens when, after centuries of wear-and-tear, it needs to be replaced?

There are no credits for writer or artist(s) for this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Santa Claus Funnies #1274 (1962), so whe don't know who to thankk for this  almost 60 year-old bit of whimsey!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics This Christmas!

Visit our

Santa Claus

Collectibles Shop

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Christmas in Many Lands"

Here's a kool illustrated text feature about...

...which appeared in Four Color Comics (Santa Claus Funnies) #205 (1948), illustrated by Arthur E. Jameson.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics this Christmas

Visit the

Cool Christmas
Collectibles Shop

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Ticky Tack the Littlest Reindeer"

You know all about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer...

...but I'd bet you've never even heard rumors about this guy!

This story from Dell's Four Color #205 (1948) aka Santa Claus Funnies, is an original tale by writer/artist Walt (Pogo) Kelly, who mostly did adaptations of fairy tales modified to fit the Christmas season or straight-out re-tellings like "Night Before Christmas".

There have been other "Littlest Reindeer" tales, but none with this particular plot or characters (besides Santa and the rest of the classic reindeer, of course!)!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics this Christmas!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "First Christmas Tree"

 An never-reprinted tale from Dell's first Santa Claus Funnies (1942)...

...details a "legend" (involving young Jesus Christ) about how the tradition of Christmas trees came to be!

Well, it's as plausible as any theory that combines Christianity with the pagan tradition of decorated fir trees...
If the artwork looks "classier" than the usual comic book art, that's because illustrator Arthur Jameson was already a major artist in the pulp magazine field when he debuted in comic books with this tale!
As a result, his work was largely confined to fairy tale-themed and holiday comics.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics at Christmastime!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Monday Madness / Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Christmas Comes to Mars"

A decade before Santa Claus Conquers the Martians...

...this short story about little (non-green) Martians meeting Saint Nick showed the Christmas Spirit could be universal...

Illustrated by workhorse Dan Gormley, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color #666 (1955) jumped on the then-popular flying saucer craze.
Gormley began in 1940 by doing super-hero, sci-fi, and horror strips, then transitioned after several years to humor and funny animal, spending the bulk of his career doing lighter fare.
He had a real knack for matching various animation styles and illustrated numerous tales and covers based on animated films and TV shows from the Walter Lantz, Walt Disney, UPA, and Warner Brothers studios until he retired from comics in 1965!

The story is part of the annual Santa Claus Funnies anthology which ran in Four Color every Christmas from 1942 to 1961, and most of the tales have never been reprinted!

So we're going to correct that omission this year, running a number of these stories along with Walt Kelly's Christmas with Mother Goose tales.

Watch for them.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics at Christmastime!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Monday Madness / Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "How Santa Got His Red Suit"

Didn't you ever wonder...

Well, here's the answer, from Dell's Four Color Comics #61 (1944)!

After being published annually as it's own title in 1942-1943, Santa Claus Funnies became a Four Color Comics feature, publishing annually from 1944 to 1961.

This tale was written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, before he created the classic comic strip Pogo.
Beginning with a two-part adaptation of the novel Gulliver's Travels in New Comics in 1935,  Walt began an almost two-decade run in comic books, almost all of it for Dell Comics, where his distinctive style quickly developed into the "house style" for humor and funny animal stories that other artists would try to emulate.
Walt was the primary artist on the ongoing Santa Claus Funnies and Christmas with Mother Goose series, and, as we said, we'll be presenting quite a few of those stories this Christmas season.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics This Christmas!

Visit our

Santa Claus

Collectibles Shop

Monday Madness / Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Toy Trouble"

We'll begin the week with a never-reprinted, silent one-pager...

...by Walt (Pogo) Kelly from Dell's Four Color Comics: Santa Claus Funnies #91 (1945).

Simple.

Effective.

Cute.

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Carolers"

Walt (Pogo) Kelly doesn't need captions or word balloons...

...to tell his story in this never-reprinted one-pager from Dell's Four Color Comics #91 (1945).

It's just red and black because it's on the inside back cover of the comic, which was printed with only two colors, instead of the usual four (CMYK) colors to save money.
And, if you're wondering why we're running Christmas-related material so early this year...why not?

Stores (both on-line and brick-and-mortar) are already displaying XMas products and running Black Friday specials, so, why not join in?

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Our

Cool Christmas Collectible Store!

(which features exclusive designs, not available anywhere else!)

Friday Fun SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Santa's Jeep!"

One of the koolest Christmas covers ever...

...which most people don't realize is a wraparound, since they've only seen the front and, as a result, don't get the joke!

This cover for Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942) has never been reprinted in full!

I've seen the front cover in a number of reference books, but never the back one.

BTW, the reason Santa's driving a Jeep is, well, let Santa himself explain on the inside front cover...

"Too bouncy", eh?
Though the artist is considered "unknown" by the Grand Comics Database, it looks a lot like Walt (Pogo) Kelly, who was working at Dell, and contributed a couple of stories to the book.
(Yeah, I know it's after Christmas, but it's before New Year's, so if you can leave the tree and decorations up, I can do a couple more Yuletide-themed posts!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Santa in Wonderland" Conclusion

When Last We Left Santa and Alice...

The night before Christmas Eve, Santa was disturbed when a little girl named Alice appeared at his door and pleaded for him to "bring Christmas to Wonderland".

The blonde girl lead Santa to the rabbit hole/entrance and showed him mushrooms that reduced both of them in size.

Once in Wonderland, Santa encountered inhabitants including the Mock Turtle and the White Rabbit, who shrank while using a white fan which Claus inadvertently also uses...

This story originally appeared in Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #2 (1943), but was not the cover feature!

It was reprinted in a stand-alone giveaway, Dell's Alice in Wonderland Meets Santa (1951), to capitalize on the release of the Disney animated film Alice in Wonderland, based on the Lewis Carroll stories Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass!

The reprint's new cover art (as shown at the top of the post) by an unknown artist, shows Alice rendered with the same hairstyle and blue dress as the movie version, rather than the hairstyle and violet dress shown in the comic story.
The other characters on the cover resemble their Disney versions, as well!

Since Dell was then currently-publishing licensed Disney comics (including the comic adaptation of the animated Alice in Wonderland)...

...it's likely the similarity on the cover was permitted!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics This Christmas!

Visit our

Santa Claus

Collectibles Shop